Category: Gospel

Truth on Friday 13th

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Faith, Gospel, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Truth2 Comments

Friday, July 13, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071318.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we pray with the word “Truth”. The word appears 137 times in the Bible. God clearly has something to tell us about it!

Jn16_13

A truth theme runs through today’s readings like a magnetic thread, drawing us to deeper self-understanding. Friday the 13th is a good day for that, don’t you think – a day fraught with superstitions and falsehoods?

When I was a teenager, my parents decided to wallpaper our living room. Dad, a master craftsman at just about any DIY project, had been physically incapacitated by several heart attacks. So, while he was the architect, I was the contractor for this home project.

Dad was an exact yet patient teacher. I learned how to cut, paste and match seams. I absorbed the craftsperson’s essential mantra: measure twice, cut once. Even the mysteries and miracles of Dad’s old, treasured toolbox were opened to me.

One morning, Dad said we had to “true up” a wall and that we were going to “drop a plumb line”. It was Greek to me. But he explained that no building is perfectly level. If we didn’t begin our papering from a leveled line, we would end up feeling like our living room was a tilted funhouse. 

Don’t you sometimes feel like our world is that funhouse? But it isn’t really very much fun, is it? We live in a time when information and communication are at our fingertips. Yet, we are confused by half-truths and distorted facts. We are assailed with propaganda and cyber-manipulation. We are fed a diet of constant cabled lies AND we consume them to satisfy our biases. Even in our personal lives, we may be undercut by false friends and masquerading enemies. Like Pontius Pilate, we are left with the question, “Truth! What is “Truth”?

Today’s readings drop a plumb line into that skewed world. 

  • Hosea tells us, “Straight are the paths of the Lord; in them the just walk.” 
  • Our Psalm implores God to create in us a true heart. 
  • Our Gospel tells us that, even in the midst of deceit, that true heart will be guided by the Holy Spirit.

On this Friday the 13th, we can start by truing up our own spirits. Let’s pray for the grace today to be true friends – not fair weather; true patriots – not nationalists; true believers – not Pharisees. 

Behold, you are pleased with sincerity of heart,
and in my inmost being you teach me wisdom.
Cleanse me of sin with hyssop, that I may be purified;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
(from today’s Psalm)

Music: Change My Heart, O God! – Maranatha Music

Heaven on Earth

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel3 Comments

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/071218.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we read about Jesus’ first mission to the Twelve. 

In the first six chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, these disciples have witnessed and entrusted their faith in the divinity of Christ. They have been transformed by what they have received. Jesus tells them now to go give that amazing insight to others through their faith and witness.

In this passage, for the first and only time, Matthew calls these disciples “Apostles”, a word which means “sent forth”. They are commissioned now to “go out” and to “preach”.

Mt10_8 generosity

This is to be their preaching: “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” In other words, we are not simply preparing for some celestial afterlife. God is with us NOW, and NOW is the time to open ourselves to the fullness of God’s life. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we already are living heaven on earth.

We believers are given the same commission. If we have been given the immeasurable gift of faith, we must live a life that witnesses and shares this gift. Jesus tells us to do this filled with confidence and hope, and above all with the same generosity God has shown us.

Will we stand on soapboxes blasting the Gospel through bullhorns? Hopefully not! This apostolic witness is not about what we say or shout. It is about how we live – in honesty, peace, inclusivity, forgiveness, kindness, mercy – in all the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. 

A life like this “goes out” beyond its comfortable boundaries to embrace those Jesus has named as first in the Kingdom: the poor, wounded, humble and marginalized. A life like this draws people to God, and shows us all what heaven on earth looks like.

It looks like a kitchen table where friends share a cup of coffee and talk gratefully about the blessings of their lives. It looks like their emerging idea to volunteer at a homeless shelter or a hospital. It looks like their decision to invite a new neighbor for lunch or to visit an elderly one. It looks like the encouragement one gives the other to navigate a sorrow, or to make a hard, life-salvaging decision. It looks like selfless love in everyday clothes.

Something today will call forth the witness of our faith. The practice of “heaven on earth” is waiting for every one of us. Let’s go out and give it as generously as we have received it.

Music: I Will Stand As A Witness of Christ

Called to Be Prophets

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Gospel, holiness, Hope, justice, spirituality3 Comments

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070818.cfm

Today, in Mercy, our readings bring us the great prophets Ezekiel, Paul, and the Ultimate prophet, Jesus.

How did they become prophets? When they were little guys, how did they answer the perennial question, “What do you want to be when you grow up”? Unlikely that they responded, “A prophet, of course!” Probably it was something like a camel rider, a carpenter, or a farmer. So what changed them?

All three, by heritage and practice, were steeped in the traditions of the Hebrew Scriptures. As they grew up into the oppressive, idolatrous worlds of their particular time, the scriptural promises gave each of them hope. They developed, as the theologian Walter Brueggemann describes it, “the capacity to imagine the world seen through the eyes of … God.”

HOPE

This kind of vision is not unknown to our times. A few years ago, it was very popular to ask, “WWJD? – What would Jesus do?” Some people even wore bracelets and medallions of the letters to remind them to look at life through Jesus’ eyes.

Although a bit simplistic, it’s still a good visual reminder. What is less evident is the implied thought that we must KNOW Jesus well enough to UNDERSTAND what He would do. A casual acquaintance won’t do the trick here. Prophets are intimate with God through prayer and the works of mercy. Over years of faithful practice, they have come truly to see the world as God sees it. They beat with God’s heart.

A prophet is profoundly realistic about the world’s ills, heartbroken for those who suffer, but nonetheless convinced that God will make something amazingly beautiful for God’s People. This conviction impels them to live, speak and act  for this Godly vision.

We too are called to live with this kind of prophetic hope. It is not easy in our fractured world. But it is possible. Let today’s three Great Ones inspire and teach us.

Music: A Hymn to Hope from “The Secret Garden”

 

God Bless America

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Gospel, inclusivity, justice5 Comments

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070418.cfm

bike wheel

The Fourth of July in 1955 looked like this to me:

• red, white and blue crêpe paper strung through my bicycle wheels
• an open fire hydrant at the height of the hot afternoon
• about six firecrackers, fizzling off a neighbor’s doorstep
• hot dogs, Kool-Aid and catching fireflies after sunset

We gathered our families, hoisted the flag, prayed for loved ones lost in a war too fresh to reflect on. We listened to music by John Philip Souza. We felt safe, strong, comfortable and grateful to be Americans. But my 10-year old America was very small.

It was an America before Civil Rights, Medicare and Medicaid; before the Kennedy and King assassinations, Vietnam, Watergate. It pre-dated Roe v. Wade, drug wars, mass shootings, 9/11, global warming, and marriage equality. It was a world without internet, cable news and Twitter.

It was a simple, circumscribed world that we will never see again. So we should stop trying, because it was not a perfect world.  Its wounds and warts were about to fester. We have spent the intervening half-century doctoring ourselves for its recurring symptoms, never able to acknowledge the systemic cause of our pain.

For what it’s worth, here’s my diagnosis: Americans are afraid of God, and it’s making us sick.

But why are we so afraid?

Contrary to the long-held opinions of some, modern evidence suggests that God is not male, not white, not a warrior, not rich, and not even American! And this scares some of us to death! We need that kind of God to justify our greed, domination and global arrogance.

Zora

So we keep creating the God we need. He carries an AK-47 and has a nuclear button under his fingertip. He builds walls to control people who are poor, hungry, and shades of brown. He stratifies people based on wealth, whiteness and worth to the system. He believes America should be first, and the rest of the world last. He reshapes religion into a vehicle for his own heartless caricature.

If we could just gain our independence from this idolatrous God, we might have better reason to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Today’s reading from the Book of Amos tells us what this liberating God wants:

Seek good and not evil, that you may live;
Then truly will the LORD, the God of hosts, be with you as you claim!
Hate evil and love good, and let mercy prevail at the border;
Then it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will have pity on you.

I hate, I spurn your feasts, says the LORD; I take no pleasure in your solemnities;
Your false prayers I will not accept. Away with your noisy songs!
But if you would truly honor Me, then let justice surge like water,
and mercy like an unfailing stream.

Music: God Bless America

Heads or Tails?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Gospel, Jesus, Uncategorized4 Comments

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/070318.cfm

Jn20_27doubt

Has doubt ever dogged you, or at least nipped at the edges of your soul?  All kinds of doubt, I’m talking about! Doubt yourself. Doubt your loved ones. Doubt the Church, the government, the media. You get the idea.

Some doubt is good. It’s more like “discernment”, and it saves us from misplaced trust. A skill that’s honed through a lifetime, it can eventually be exercised prudentially, without skepticism or aloofness.

But another type of doubt can be crippling. Call it the “not enough” type: I am not good enough, smart enough, good-looking enough, experienced enough, – so on and on – to take on a challenge or make a contribution. Ever felt that kind of doubt?

There is third type of doubt which I call “the flip side of faith”. It’s that fine line where we balance between wanting to believe and wanting to know. This type of doubt whispers things like this in our minds: “You don’t really know if there is a God, so how can you believe?” But isn’t that the whole point of faith? If we really knew, for certain, of God’s existence, we wouldn’t have to believe!

What’s the difference between these flip sides of the coin? 

With faith, we give our love and service unreservedly, even though we have not seen. With doubt, we skimp or reserve these until given proof.

So today, we meet “doubting Thomas”. He needed the touch of nail marks and lance wounds before he could believe. And it’s not hard to understand why.

The Resurrection of Jesus was mind-blowing. It changed history for all time to come. It conquered the one unconquerable – DEATH itself. Thomas had not yet seen proof of the Resurrection. The other disciples had. No wonder his coin was spinning between heads and tails!

What about us? Have we seen the Easter Power in our lives? Have we let God win the toss up between our faith and doubt? Today, on this feast of St. Thomas, we might ask his help to let us learn from the wounds of Christ exactly how that Power can assure us.

Music: Blessed Assurance ~ a well-known Christian hymn. The lyrics were written in 1873 by blind hymn writer Fanny Crosby to the music written in 1873 by Phoebe Knapp.

What Faith Can Accomplish

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Faith, Gospel, holiness, Jesus1 Comment

Friday, June 29, 2018

Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul 

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062918-day-mass.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the great Apostles Peter and Paul. The stories of these men embody all the hills and valleys of a Christian life: call, conversion of heart, ministry, miracles, sacrifice, suffering, failure and glory.

Every human being passes through these hills and valleys. Why do some emerge as saints for the ages and others not? 

Today’s readings would suggest this answer: they believed, and submitted their hearts to God’s unimaginable grace and power. Through that faith, they ultimately were led to the heights of holiness and carried the rest of us believers with them.

Paul says, 

“The Lord stood by me and gave me strength,
so that through me the proclamation of the Word
might be completed.”

When Jesus asks Peter what he believes, Peter says,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Ordinary men responding with a clear and extraordinary faith.

One June morning, about forty years ago, I sat in a sun-filled field in the Golan Heights of Israel at a spot named Caesarea Philippi. Thirty other pilgrims composed the group as we heard today’s Gospel being read. Listening, I watched the rising sun grow brilliant on the majestic rock face in the near distance. I thought how Peter might have watched his day’s sun  playing against the same powerful cliffs. 

 

Jesus said to him,

You are Peter (which mean “Rock”),
and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Cassarea Philippi

A few years later, I stood at the center of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Looking up, I saw these words emblazoned on the awesome rotunda dome:

Tu es Petrus,
et super hanc petram
aedificabo ecclesiam.

vatican dome

On that lazy afternoon, two thousand years ago, Peter could never have imagined what God already saw. Yet, Peter responded – with his whole life. This is what makes a Saint.

Music: Gregorian Chant – Tu Es Petrus

 

Abide With Me

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Gospel, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062718.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Jesus continues his closing instructions on living a good life. Our responsorial psalm captures the whole gist of these several admonitions.

Jn 15_4 Abide

What Jesus is saying is, “Stick with Me, and I will show you the way.” It is the Divine Mother’s invitation to her child. “Come, cradle in my arms. I will protect and guide you.”

As wonderful as Christ’s invitation is, it is hard to accept. Most of us think we can do everything ourselves. Many of us find it tiresome to plumb the Gospel to find its truth. We think we already know the way to happiness: money, prestige, and power.

It often takes a lifetime to teach us how wrong we are. But a test comes into most lives which casts us back into the arms of God. We may eventually learn that joy comes from living Gospel truths, loving as God loves, and abiding faithfully with Him.

It takes courage and spiritual insight to accept Christ’s invitation to abide in Him, especially when we feel invincible. May we grow in that courage, early and late in our lives – in good times and bad.

Music: Abide With Me

Pearls, Gates and Mercy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Gospel, holiness3 Comments

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062618.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Matthew begins to wrap up the long series of instructions related to the Sermon on the Mount. Three familiar, and very direct, closing points punctuate today’s reading:

  • Pearls before swine
  • Do unto others
  • Enter by the narrow gate

best gate1 copy

They sound a bit like what a wise parent might say to a child as he or she goes off to the wide worlds of college, business or marriage. But the core of their message works for us at any age:

Be wise.
Be merciful.
Be focused on God.

Music: Be Thou My Vision

Do Not Judge

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, Mercy5 Comments

Monday, June 25, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062518.cfm

Never judge copy

Today, in Mercy, Jesus tells us not to judge. Certainly, He does not mean never to exercise good judgement. We are all called to do that.

What we need to avoid is that critical, and hypocritical, manner of dealing with people in which we think ourselves better than they. Some of us are inclined to think the worst of others and their motives, while failing to examine our own motivations.  This is the kind of judgement Jesus counsels is to avoid.

Today, we hear so much categorization and stereotyping of people. We hear people condemned for their race, economic level, and lifestyle. We hear people called “criminals” simply because of their nationality. We see people denied normal human services, like cake baking and restaurant services, because of who they love or what their job is. We live in a world where these sinful judgements are used to immobilize, isolate, and control people.

We might pray today for wisdom to be delivered from making, or being the object of such judgements.

We might pray for the generosity to give others the benefit of the doubt, without giving up our wise and honest discernment based on Christian love and mercy.

(Sorry for the late publication. Got caught up in my life today!)

Music: Jesus, Friend of Sinners by Casting Crowns

John the Baptist – God’s Surpriser

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Faith, Gospel2 Comments

Sunday, June 24, 2018

Solemnity of St. John the Baptist

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062418-day-mass.cfm

sandal unworthy copy

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate John the Baptist of whom Jesus said, “no man greater has been born of women”.

Today’s Gospel talks about the surprise conception of John, and all the drama surrounding his birth. Several other Gospel passages tell us about John’s preaching, his challenges to Herod, and his eventual martyrdom at the request of Salome. These are worth a read today, if you have a little time, just to be reacquainted with this extraordinary man.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/3

http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11

http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/14

John the Baptist was the living bridge between the Old Law and the New. He was the doorway from a religion of requirements to a religion of love. That bridge and doorway were built on a baptism of repentance in order to clear one’s heart to receive the Good News.

The magnificent Greek word for repentance is “metanoia” which indicates a turning of one’s mind and heart after realizing a new truth. Metanoia is to have awareness dawn on us, and to feel sorrow for our former blindness or hardness of heart.

May our prayer today help us to receive the grace of metanoia wherever our spirits are hardened or closed – or just plain deadened by routine. May we hear the Baptist calling to us, “Prepare your hearts – EVERYDAY- for the Lord. There is always room for you to be surprised by God.”

Music: Ut Queant Laxis ( English translation below)

“Utqueant laxis” or “Hymnus in Ioannem” is a Latin hymn in honor of John the Baptist written in Horatian Sapphics and traditionally attributed to Paulus Diaconus, the eighth-century Lombard historian. It is famous for its part in the history of musical notation, in particular solmization (do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do). The hymn is sung to a Gregorian chant, and introduces the original do-re-mi music.

1. O for your spirit, holy John, to chasten
Lips sin-polluted, fettered tongues to loosen;
So by your children might your deeds of wonder
Meetly be chanted.

2. Lo! a swift herald, from the skies descending,
Bears to your father promise of your greatness;
How he shall name you, what your future story,
Duly revealing.

3. Scarcely believing message so transcendent,
Him for a season power of speech forsaketh,
Till, at your wondrous birth, again returneth,
Voice to the voiceless.

4. You, in your mother’s womb all darkly cradled,
Knew your great Monarch, biding in His chamber,
Whence the two parents, through their offspring’s merits,
Mysteries uttered.

5. Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten,
And to the Spirit, equal power possessing,
One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages,
Ever resounding. Amen.