Category: Gospel

Jonah

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Mercy, repentance, spirituality1 Comment

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101424.cfm

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
“This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation….

At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation 
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.”
Luke 11:29-30;32

In our Gospel, Jesus invokes the story of Jonah to encourage repentance in his listeners. Through Jonah’s second-effort, whale-prompted preaching, the Ninevites were awakened from their lack-luster faith. Jesus calls his followers to come out of the “whale’s belly”, so to speak – to repent and to live with a courageous faith.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Have you ever behaved like Jonah – hearing the call to live a deeper faith but swallowed instead in a cavern of indecision?

We pray for the grace to hear and to respond to the call to ever-deepening relationship with God.

Poetry: from Thomas Merton’s The Sign of Jonas:
In this passage, Merton imagines God speaking to Jonas, and to himself and us. Jonas is a sign of the Resurrection. We move from old life to new by the Mercy of God.

The Voice of God is heard in Paradise:

What was vile has become precious.
What is now precious was never vile.
I have always known the vile as precious:
for what is vile I know not at all.

What was cruel has become merciful.
What is now merciful was never cruel.
I have always overshadowed Jonas with My mercy,
and cruelty I know not at all.

Have you had sight of Me, Jonas, My child?
Mercy within mercy within mercy.
I have forgiven the universe without end,
because I have never known sin.

What was poor has become infinite.
What is infinite was never poor.
I have always known poverty as infinite:
riches I love not at all.

Prisons within prisons within prisons.
Do not lay up for yourselves ecstasies upon earth,
where time and space corrupt,
where the minutes break in and steal.

No more lay hold on time, Jonas, My son,
lest the rivers bear you away.
What was fragile
has become powerful.

I loved what was most frail.
I looked upon what was nothing.
I touched what was without substance,
and within what was not, I am.

Music: Jonah and the Whale – Louis Armstrong

Jonah was a man who got a word from the Lord
“Go and preach the Gospel to the sinful land”
But he got on a ship and he tried to get away
And he ran into a storm in the middle of the sea

Now the Lord, He made the waves just roll so high
The ship begin to sink and they all begin to cry
So they pulled ole Jonah out of the hole
And they jumped him in the water just to lighten up the load

Now the Lord made a whale, long and wide
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
And he swallowed up Jonah, hair and hide
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord

Now Jonah started to pray in the belly of the whale
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
He repented of his sins like a man in jail
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord

Now Jonah must o’ been a bad man, he must o’ been a sinner
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
‘Cos when the whale got him down, he didn’t like his dinner
Lord, Lord waddnat a fish
Mmm, Lord, mmm, Lord

Friendship

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Books, Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, friendship, Gospel, Jesus, Love, spirituality1 Comment

Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 10, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101024.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend
to whom he goes at midnight and says,
‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey
and I have nothing to offer him,’
and he says in reply from within,
‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked
and my children and I are already in bed.
I cannot get up to give you anything.’
I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves
because of their friendship,
he will get up to give him whatever he needs
because of his persistence.

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Luke 11:5-11

In our Gospel today, Jesus describes the meaning of friendship and invites his disciples to receive that gift from God.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask God to show us the profound beauty of Divine Friendship. We are grateful and humbled to be offered such a gift.

William Barry, SJ – one of my top ten spiritual writers – has written an inspiring book about friendship with God. Barry believes, as I do, that the concept of friendship best describes one’s deepening relationship with God.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=William+Barry&i=stripbooks&crid=3N6T8EPSQT76V&sprefix=william+barry%2Cstripbooks%2C93&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

Excerpt from William Barry, SJ:

What does God want in creating us? My stand is that what God wants is friendship.
To forestall immediate objections, let me say that I do not mean that God is lonely and therefore needs our friendship. This is a romantic and quite unorthodox notion that makes God ultimately unbelievable. No, I maintain that God—out of the abundance of divine relational life, not any need for us—desires humans into existence for the sake of friendship.

Music: I’ve Found a Friend – J. G. Small (1866)

Although this hymn echoes some revival tones of the 19th century, I think is still a beautiful and unexpectedtribute to Divine Friendship.

Better

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, Love, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 8, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100824.cfm

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”
Luke 10:38-42

What is the sacred balance between prayer and action? How do we acieve the sweet point where prayer and action infuse each other in mutual inspiration? In this Gospel, Jesus indicates that one element has precedence over the other — there is a “better part”.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We seek to deepen our prayer life while employing it to inspire our merciful service to Creation.

Poetry: Martha and Mary by John Newton (1725-1807)

Martha her love and joy expressed
By care to entertain her guest;
While Mary sat to hear her Lord,
And could not bear to lose a word.

The principle in both the same,
Produced in each a different aim;
The one to feast the Lord was led,
The other waited to be fed.

But Mary chose the better part,
Her Saviour’s words refreshed her heart;
While busy Martha angry grew,
And lost her time and temper too.

With warmth she to her sister spoke,
But brought upon herself rebuke;
One thing is needful, and but one,
Why do thy thoughts on many run?

How oft are we like Martha vexed,
Encumbered, hurried, and perplexed!
While trifles so engross our thought,
The one thing needful is forgot.

Lord teach us this one thing to choose,
Which they who gain can never lose;
Sufficient in itself alone,
And needful, were the world our own.

Let groveling hearts the world admire,
Thy love is all that I require!
Gladly I may the rest resign,
If the one needful thing be mine!

Music: Come Mary, Come Martha – Anna Purdum

Mercy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, healing, Jesus, justice, Mercy, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
October 7, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100724.cfm

But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,
‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.’
Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”
He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.”
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:33-37

Mercy sees you, welcomes you, acts for you, abides with you. Wrapped in Mercy, we find the spiritual comfort which allows us healing rest from those who did not see, welcome, act for, or abide with us.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
May we open ourselves to receive such Mercy. May we strenghten ourselves to give it generously.

Poetry: Xenia – Ryan Wilson

“Xenia” is the ancient Greek concept of hospitality,
the generosity shown to those who are far from home.

One day a silent man arrives 
At your door in an outdated suit, 
Threadbare and black, like a lost mourner 
Or a Bible salesman who’s been robbed. 
Penniless, he needs a place to stay. 
And you, magnanimous you, soon find 
This stranger reading in your chair, 
Eating your cereal, drinking your tea, 
Or standing in your clothes at the window 
Awash in afternoon’s alien light. 
You tire of his constant company. 
Your floorboards creak with his shuffling footfalls, 
Haunting dark rooms deep in the night. 
You lie awake in blackness, listening, 
Cursing the charity or pride 
That opened up the door for him 
And wonder how to explain yourself.

He smells like durian and smoke 
But it’s mostly his presence, irksome, fogging 
The mind up like breath on a mirror … 
You practice cruelty in a mirror, 
Then practice sympathetic faces. 
You ghoul. 
Your cunning can’t deceive you. 
You are afraid to call your friends 
For help, knowing what they would say. 
It’s just you two. 
You throw a fit when 
He sneaks water into the whisky bottle, 
Then make amends. 
You have no choice 
Except to learn humility, 
To love this stranger as yourself, 
Who won’t love you, or ever leave.

Music: The Good Samaritan – Dallas Holm

Beaten, weary, left along the way
Dry from thirst ’til word I could not say
Then you came walking by and looked into my eyes
And saw my need and stopped to rescue me

Others came and others went on by
Refused to help or just too tired to try
Alone at last I sat, my head fell slowly back
And words from deep within me reached the sky

‘I’m hungry, please feed me
I’m naked, please clothe me
I’m so alone, won’t someone come to me?’
The sound of my words died
Oh, well, at least I tried
And trying seemed the only thing to do

But no sooner had I stopped and you were there
And then I knew that God had heard my prayer
I should have realized, and not have been surprised
His eye is on the sparrow, so why not me

Beaten, weary, left along the way
Dry from thirst ’til word I could not say
Then you came walking by, and looked into my eyes
And saw my need and stopped to rescue me
Then you came walking by, and looked into my eyes
And saw my need and stopped to rescue me

Innocence

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Service, spiritualityLeave a comment

Memorial of Saint Jerome, Priest and Doctor of the Church
September 30, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/093024.cfm

An argument arose among the disciples
about which of them was the greatest. 
Jesus realized the intention of their hearts and took a child
and placed it by his side and said to them,
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
For the one who is least among all of you
is the one who is the greatest.”
Luke 9:46-48

In the Gospel both today and yesterday, the disciples are struggling with their pride and expectations. Jesus calls them to live with a mature and humble innocence.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Our commitment to a Gospel life suffers when we become concerned with our status or importance. We ask for the humble courage to embrace a sacred innocence sustained by the Gifts of the Holy Spirit – Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord

Thought:

“Humility is the foundation
of all the other virtues hence,
in the soul in which
this virtue does not exist
there cannot be any other virtue
except in mere appearance.”

Augustine of Hippo

Music: from “Scripture to Song”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0g1cA1IocM

For/Against

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

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 29, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092924.cfm

At that time, John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ, 
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
Mark 9:38-41

The earliest disciples were learners just like we are. As they have listened and watched the power of Jesus, they have placed complete trust in him. They begin to realize that Jesus is sharing that power with them. Jesus instructs them that this realization must be handled humbly. It must not allow alienation from other believers who also carry the power of faith in Christ. If one is for Christ, they cannot be against him.

Beware the religion that turns you against another one.
It’s unlikely that it’s really religion at all.

Joan Chittister, OSB

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We seek that openness that Jesus inspires in his disciples – to recognize, encourage, hear, and consecrate all the gifts which the body of believers brings to the Church. Institutionalization can breed classism and elitism anywhere, even in our beloved Church.

Poetry: Sermons We See – Edgar Guest

I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day; 
I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. 
The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear, 
Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear; 
And the best of all the preachers are the men who live their creeds, 
For to see good put in action is what everybody needs.

I soon can learn to do it if you’ll let me see it done; 
I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run. 
And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true, 
But I’d rather get my lessons by observing what you do; 
For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, 
But there’s no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

When I see a deed of kindness, I am eager to be kind. 
When a weaker brother stumbles and a strong one stays behind 
Just to see if they can help him, then the wish grows strong in me 
To become as big and thoughtful as I know that friend to be. 
And all travelers can witness that the best of guides today 
Is not the one who tells them, but the one who shows the way.

A good person teaches many, who believe what they behold; 
One deed of kindness noticed is worth forty that are told. 
Who stands with those of honor learns to hold their honor dear, 
For right living speaks a language which to everyone is clear. 
Though an able speaker charms me with their eloquence, I say, 
I’d rather see a sermon than to hear one, any day.

Music: Chrysalis – 2002 Band

Death

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Cross, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Saturday of the Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
September 28, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092824.cfm

Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Savior Christ Jesus destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.

Today’s readings may strike us as grim. The Book of Ecclesiastes acknowledges our discomfort with the darkness inherent in faith. We believe because we do not know. If we knew, there would be no need for faith. But at times our believing is challenged by our life circumstances. Thus is the story of Ecclesiastes – all in life that confronts our faith.

In our Gospel, Jesus introduces the hard reality of his impending death. He challenges the faith and commitment of the disciples as the time of testing approaches.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Acknowledging the truth of today’s readings, we choose to pray with them in the light of the Resurrection as it is so beautifully and simply stated in our Responsorial Psalm.

Poetry: from John Donne’s Holy Sonnets – Death Be Not Proud

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

Music: Cantata, BWV 31 – “The Heavens Laugh” – J.S. Bach

The heavens laugh! The earth shouts with joy
and what she bears in her bosom.
The creator lives! God most high triumphs
and is free from the bonds of death.
He who has chosen the grave for rest,
the Holiest, cannot decay.

Pity

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

Tuesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
September 17, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091724.cfm

Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain,
and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him.
As he drew near to the gate of the city,
a man who had died was being carried out,
the only son of his widowed mother.
A large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her,
he was moved with pity for her and said to her,
“Do not weep.”
He stepped forward and touched the coffin;
at this the bearers halted,
and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
The dead man sat up and began to speak,
and Jesus gave him to his mother.
Luke 7:11-15

In today’s Gospel, we read the deeply moving phrase, “… the only son of his widowed mother“. Reading it, we can feel that same pity Jesus felt as the small group of mourners passed him in the road.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We assess our own hearts to measure our Christ-like tenderness for those who are suffering – often, right before our distracted eyes. As Irene Zimmermann suggests in the poem below, in attending to these suffering people we also attend Christ.

Poetry: First Born Sons and the Widow of Nain – Irene Zimmerman, OSF

Jesus halted on the road outside Nain
where a woman’s wailing drenched the air.
Out of the gates poured a somber procession
of dark-shawled women, hushed children,
young men bearing a litter that held
a body swathed in burial clothes,
and the woman, walking alone.

A widow then—another bundle
of begging rags at the city gates.
A bruised reed!

Her loud grief labored and churned in him till
“Halt!” he shouted.

The crowd, the woman, the dead man stopped.
Dust, raised by sandaled feet,
settled down again on the sandy road.
Insects waited in shocked silence.

He walked to the litter, grasped a dead hand.
“Young man,” he called
in a voice that shook the walls of Sheol,
“I command you, rise!”

The linens stirred.
Two firstborn sons from Nazareth and Nain
met, eye to eye.

He placed the pulsing hand into hers.
“Woman, behold your son,” he smiled.

Music: Tender-Hearted – Jeanne Cotter

Be tender-hearted as you love one another
as I have loved you
And forgive one another with endless compassion
as I forgave you.

Clothe yourself with kindness,
patience, and humility.
Let the peace of Christ live in your hearts
and above all else, put on love.
And be tender hearted.

Be tender hearted as you live a life
worthy of your calling.
You are God’s work of art, holy temple.
The Spirit is at home in you.

Walk always as children of Light
Keep the flame of faith alive.
God’s love has been poured into your heart.
You are reborn by that love.

So be tender hearted
for you’ve put on a new self
hidden with Christ in God.
You are no longer stranger.
You’re one of the chosen
holy and beloved

Say

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Mercy, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
September 16, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091624.cfm

And Jesus went with them,
but when he was only a short distance from the house,
the centurion sent friends to tell him,
“Lord, do not trouble yourself,
for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.
Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you;
but say the word and let my servant be healed.
Luke 7:6-7

Jesus is amazed at the faith of this centurion who has such confidence in Christ’s power and mercy that he needs nothing but a word to confirm his trust.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We listen with open hearts to God’s Word in our own experiences. We ask for ever-deepening trust that God is willingly working miracles of mercy through our faithful lives.

Poetry: The Say-but-the-Word Centurion Attempts a Summary – Les Murray

How might the faith-filled centurion have felt at the death of Jesus?

That numinous healer who preached Saturnalia and paradox
has died a slave’s death. We were maneuvered into it by priests
and by the man himself. To complete his poem.

He was certainly dead. The pilum guaranteed it. His message,
unwritten except on his body, like anyone’s, was wrapped
like a scroll and dispatched to our liberated selves, the gods.

If he has now risen, as our infiltrators gibber,
he has outdone Orpheus, who went alive to the Shades.
Solitude may be stronger than embraces. Inventor of the mustard tree,

he mourned one death, perhaps all, before he reversed it.
He forgave the sick to health, disregarded the sex of the Furies
when expelling them from minds. And he never speculated.

If he is risen, all are children of a most high real God
or something even stranger called by that name
who knew to come and be punished for the world.

To have knowledge of right, after that, is to be in the wrong.
Death came through the sight of law. His people’s oldest wisdom.
If death is now the birth-gate into things unsayable

in language of death’s era, there will be wars about religion
as there never were about the death-ignoring Olympians.
Love, too, his new universal, so far ahead of you it has died

for you before you meet it, may seem colder than the favors of gods
who are our poems, good and bad. But there never was a bad baby.
Half of his worship will be grinding his face in the dirt

then lilting it up to beg, in private. The low will rule, and curse by him.
Divine bastard, soul-usurer, eros-frightener, he is out to monopolize hatred.
Whole philosophies will be devised for their brief snubbings of him.

But regained excels kept, he taught. Thus he has done the impossible
to show us it is there. To ask it of us. It seems we are to be the poem
and live the impossible. As each time we have, with mixed cries.

Music: Amazing Grace – John Newton (sung by Rosemary Siemens)

Even

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Courage, Faith, Gospel, inclusivity, Jesus, Love, Mercy, Service, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 12, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091224.cfm

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
Luke 6:31-36

“Even” can be a parsimonious word – as in “get even”, “even-steven”. In such phrases, “even” means we settle things without forgiveness or generosity. It means we get our due without considering the other’s need.

But Jesus says the Gospel heart is not about “evenness”. Rather it is weighted on the side of extravagant mercy, generosity, and forgiveness.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray for the courage to model our relationships with others on God’s incredible kindness to us.

Quote: Wendell Berry from his reflection, “Loving my enemies and living simply”.
The entire reflection is available here:
https://www.openhorizons.org/loving-my-enemies-and-living-simply-wendell-berry-on-jesus-and-the-gospels.html

But to take the Gospels seriously, to assume that they say what they mean and mean what they say, is the beginning of troubles. Those would-be literalists who yet argue that the Bible is unerring and unquestionable have not dealt with its contradictions, which of course it does contain, and the Gospels are not exempt. Some of Jesus’ instructions are burdensome not because they involve contradiction, but merely because they are so demanding.

The proposition that love, forgiveness and peaceableness are the only neighborly relationships that are acceptable to God is difficult for us weak and violent humans, but it is plain enough for any literalist. We must either accept it as an absolute or absolutely reject it. The same for the proposition that we are not permitted to choose our neighbors ahead of time or to limit neighborhood, as is plain from the parable of the Samaritan.

The same for the requirement that we must be perfect, like God, which seems as outrageous as the Buddhist vow to “save all sentient beings,” and perhaps is meant to measure and instruct us in the same way. It is, to say the least, unambiguous.

Music: Love Your Enemies – Kyle Sigmon