Category: Gospel

Good Friday

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Cross, Discipleship, dying, Gospel, Jesus, Poetry, spirituality, sufferingLeave a comment

April 18, 2025

Chopin: Nocturn in C Sharp Minor, played by Hauser. (Listen to it all – lovely.)

Calvary was a glass box where God,
confined, no longer touched the world.
It was a white plain, without sound,
not the groaning, blood-soaked hill
the scriptures leave us.

I know.
Calvary hewed itself inside me once
with the chisel of a long sorrow
that fell, persistent, merciless
like cold, steel rain.

It was a place bereft of feeling.
Only the anticipation and
the memory of pain are feelings.
Pain itself is a huge abyss,
bled by a silence that mimics death,
but is not as absolutely kind.

Calvary is the place where
all strength is given
to the drawing of a breath
to linger in it unfulfilled.

God, now I go quietly inside
where you are dying in a glass box, still.
I release all definitions
to pass through and companion you.
I watch the rain, itself like glass,
crashing to an unknown life 
beneath the earth. Where love roots
absolute, unbreakable, I cling to you
in a transparent act of will.           

Agios O Theos
Agios Ischyros
Agios Athanatos
Eleison Imas

Holy God
Holy Strong One
Holy Deathless One
Have Mercy On Us

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 23: 44-49

Scripture

Holy Thursday’s Cup

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

April 17, 2025

Ubi Caritas – Taize Community

Life is change. Like a deep and vast ocean, life moves in waves and currents, never still even at its depths. It is the rhythmic flow of God, drawing all creation back and forth in its power. Yet, at the same time, life is constant. Its source is the eternal well of God which has neither beginning nor end.

These are the waters in which we swim. Whether theologian or kindergartner, each one of us lives this mystery every day of our lives. At times we move with great agility, dolphins dancing in the stream of grace. At other times, our stroke falters. We fall like shelled mollusks to the ocean floor, heavy with our imagined limitations.

This is what happened to twelve men on an April night in old Jerusalem. They had been swimming in the miracle of God’s Incarnation. They had even asked, just weeks before, to sit in eternal glory with Jesus. They wanted their current happiness never to change. They did not really absorb the challenge of Jesus’ counter-question: “Can you drink the cup that I will drink?”

But on this April night, this Holy Thursday, that promised cup was handed to them. The clear waters would turn to wine and the wine would turn to blood. The flow of days would sink now to the depths of their hearts. Could they abandon themselves to its tumultuous current? Could they trust so completely as to be buoyed by God alone? Could they accept the cost of such infinite freedom?

Every change in our lives offers us the same cup. The change may be as profound as death or as simple as a clock ticking. The invitation within each circumstance is the same: will you allow this moment to free you into God’s Heart?

Music: Adoro Te Devote – Gregorian Chant Academy

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Matthew 26:17-30

Scripture

Standing Up

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Faith, Gospel, justice, Mercy, spirituality4 Comments

March 6, 2024

On March 6, 1984, a man named Martin Niemoeller died. He had been a German U-boat commander in WWI. After that war, he became a Lutheran pastor and initially supported Hitler.  But as the years moved toward WWII, Niemoeller became more and more critical of Hitler. Arrested several times, he finally spent seven years in various concentration camps beginning in 1938.  He was liberated from Dachau in 1945.

Martin Niemoeller wrote the following words:

“They came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist
so I did not speak out.  
They came for the Socialists and trade unionists,
but I was neither, so I did not speak out.  
They came for the Jews but I was not a Jew,
so I did not speak out.  
Then they came for me,
and there was no one to speak for me.”

As the world deals with interminable war, terrorism, racism, and cloaked fascism, we should remember that true justice and peace always include BOTH understanding and standing up.

Music: Show Me How to Stand for Justice – Martin Leckebusch

Near

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
November 29, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112924.cfm

Jesus told his disciples a parable.
“Consider the fig tree and all the other trees.
When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Luke 21:29-31

Jesus tells his followers to be attuned to the emergence of God’s Kingdom.

The reality is that the Kingdom of God already enfolds us, but it is difficult for us to see it with our human eyes. When we see a ripe peach or tomato, we know it is ready to come to the table. But are we able to see the Spirit of God ripening in the world around us? Are we ready to pluck grace from our everyday circumstances so that God’s Reign is released into the world?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We prayerfully consider all that blossoms in our daily life. Where is the invitation to holiness within our circumstances? May God lift us to pick the fruit offered.

Poetry: Go to the Limits of Your Longing – Rainer Maria Rilké

God speaks to each of us as he makes us,
then walks with us silently out of the night.

These are the words we dimly hear:

You, sent out beyond your recall,
go to the limits of your longing.
Embody me.

Flare up like a flame
and make big shadows I can move in.

Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going. No feeling is final.
Don’t let yourself lose me.

Nearby is the country they call life.
You will know it by its seriousness.

Give me your hand.

Music: Awakening – Tim Barabas

Thanksgiving

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Faith, Gospel, inclusivity, Jesus, Mercy, spirituality8 Comments

Thursday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time-Thanksgiving
November 28, 2024

Readings for Thanksgiving Day:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112824-thanksgiving.cfm

And now, bless the God of all,
    who has done wondrous things on earth;
Who fosters people’s growth from their mother’s womb,
    and fashions them according to his will!
May he grant you joy of heart
    and may peace abide among you;
May God’s goodness toward us endure
    to deliver us in our days.
Sirach 50:22-24

Poetry: Thanksgiving Presence – Renee Yann, RSM

Music: Now Thank We All Our God

Faithfulness

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Mercy, Service, spirituality, sufferingLeave a comment

Wednesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
November 27, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112724.cfm

Remain faithful until death,
and I will give you the crown of life.

Revelation 2:10

.In Luke 21, Jesus exhorts his disciples to remain faithful. Then he describes how fraught with difficulties that faithfulness will be: denouncement, imprisonment, false judgment, disavowal by family and friends, hatred, and even death. What is so terrifying about the Gospel that it evokes these responses in its enemies? What is so powerful about the Gospel that it will sustain its believers even through such trials?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
I ask myself, “Have I ever really suffered anything for the sake of the Gospel”? What would that suffering look like? Would it not be setting aside my selfishness for the sake of the neighbor – even the unloved neighbor? If we dare to do that, we will surely suffer.

Prose: from Walter Bruggemann in “God’s Neighborly Economy”

“Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)

The Bible is unflinching and unambiguous in its identification of the neighbor: widow, orphan, immigrant, the poor, lepers, the blind, deaf, lame … all those without viable resources or reliable advocacy.

Music: Take All the Lost Home – Joe Wise

Alpha and Omega

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, justice, spirituality1 Comment

The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe
November 24, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112424.cfm

Jesus Christ is the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming amid the clouds,
and every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him.
All the peoples of the earth will lament him.
Yes. Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” says the Lord God,
“the one who is and who was and who is to come, the almighty.”
Revelation 1:5-8

Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in his 1925 encyclical Quas primas. The encyclical was written in response to growing secularism and secular ultra-nationalism. The encyclical, wedged between two World Wars, attempted to focus people’s minds and hearts on Christ whose power unites and directs us to peace rather than domination.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to be agents of peace and justice in our world, sustained by our devotion to Christ who modeled his kingship by loving service, especially to the poor and marginalized.

Music: Hymn to Christ the King by Sarah Hart

Blossom

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, holiness, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 20, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/112024.cfm

While people were listening to Jesus speak,
he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem
and they thought that the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.
So he said,
“A nobleman went off to a distant country
to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, ‘Engage in trade with these until I return.’
Luke 19:11-13

This is a tough parable to get real devotional about. It’s the story of a nasty guy who wants to be king. When his campaign is repulsed, he takes it out on his servant whom he deems unproductive.

But think about where Jesus told the story. He is at the threshold of Jerusalem where, through his Passion and Death, he will reign over the universe. But Jesus will do this by the inverse of what we would expect. He will be rejected by this world to open us to the deeper essence of its heart.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Jesus wants his followers to be productive in spreading the Gospel. He wants us to blossom in faith and service to God’s Name. We pray for the courage to exercise those gifts in faith, hope, and charity.

Prose: Prayer of Walter Brueggemann

You are the giver of all good things. 
All good things are sent from heaven above, 
rain and sun, day and night, 
justice and righteousness, 
bread to the eater and seed to the sower, 
peace to the old, energy to the young, 
joy to the babes. 

We are takers, who take from you, day by day, 
daily bread, taking all we need as you supply, 
taking in gratitude and wonder and joy. 

And then taking more, 
taking more than we need, 
taking more than you give us, 
taking from our sisters and brothers, 
taking from the poor and the weak, 
taking because we are frightened, and so greedy, 
taking because we are anxious, and so fearful, 
taking because we are driven, and so uncaring. 

Give us peace beyond our fear, and so end our greed. 
Turn our taking into giving, since we are in your giving image: 
Make us giving like you, 
giving in joy, not taking, 
giving as he gave himself up for us all, 
giving, never taking. 
Amen.

Music: God Turn Me Into a Flower

What would it take to truly “blossom” for God, to be the Love that Jesus hopes for us, to take the coin of grace and enrich it by our service of the Gospel?

As you listen to this rather mysterious song, you might consider those questions.

Short

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Tuesday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 19, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111924.cfm

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature. 
So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.
When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said, 
“Zacchaeus, come down quickly,
for today I must stay at your house.” 
And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 
Luke 19:2-6

Every scripture passage has a lesson for us. And even though I’m tall, not short, there is a lesson here for me. For you too!

We want to grow in our ability to find God in every circumstance of our lives. But, at times, we may be short on the faith, hope, or charity to do so. We may be short on living the works of mercy. Not to sound hip-hop, but we may be short on “Gratitude for the Beatitude”!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask Jesus to discover us in whatever metaphorical tree we might be hiding, to come under our roof, and to live at the center of our lives.

Poetry: The Stature of Zacchaeus – Amos Russel Wells (1862-1933)

Zacchaeus struggled with the crowd;
A little man was he.
"Vermin!" he muttered half aloud,
"I'll make them honor me.
Ah, when the taxes next are due,
I'll tower as is meet;
This beggarly, ill-mannered crew
Shall cower at my feet."
Zacchaeus climbed the sycomore
(He was a little man),
And as he looked the rabble o'er
He chuckled at the plan.
"I get the thing I want," he said,
"And that is to be tall.
They think me short but by a head
I rise above them all."
"Zacchaeus, come! I dine with you,"
The famous Rabbi cried.
Zacchaeus tumbled into view
A giant in his pride.
He strutted mightily before
That silly, gaping throng;
You'd think him six feet high or more,
To see him stride along.
Zacchaeus listened to the Lord,
And as he listened, feared;
How was his life a thing abhorred
When that pure Life appeared!
Down to a dwarf he shrank away
In sorrow and in shame.
He owned his sins that very day,
And bore the heavy blame.
But as he rose before the crowd,
(A little man, alack!)
Confessed his guilt and cried aloud
And gave his plunder back,
I think he stood a giant then
As angels truly scan,
And no one ever thought again
He was a little man.

Music: Zacchaeus – Miriam Therese Winter, Medical Mission Sisters

See

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, healing, spiritualityLeave a comment

Monday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time
November 18, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/111824.cfm

Jesus stopped and ordered that the blind man be brought to him;
and when he came near, Jesus asked him,
“What do you want me to do for you?”
He replied, “Lord, please let me see.”
Jesus told him, “Have sight; your faith has saved you.”
He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.
Luke 18:40-42

This Gospel story is filled with images and interactions that might speak to our souls.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We consider this:
What if Jesus asked you that question right now? “What do you want me to do for you?”

What would your request be? Would you be tempted to respond as if Jesus were a genie who deals in wishes not hopes?

Or would your answer grow from your deep faith as it does with this blind man? Upon his healing, heaven’s window was opened to him. The Gospel tellsus that “he followed” Jesus. His newfound vision was put fully at the service of God.

Poetry: Blind Trust – Irene Zimmerman

Bartimeus sat outside
the town of Jericho.
The more they told him where to go,
the louder he cried.

He had no pride --
when Jesus asked he simply stared:
"Lord, I want to see!" and waited
to be eyed.

Music: Heaven’s Window – Peter Kater