Category: Gospel

Neighbor

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality2 Comments

Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
June 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060624.cfm

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:28-31

In this Gospel passage, Jesus really puts the spiritual life in a nutshell: Love God and love neighbor.

It’s pretty self-evident that to achieve holiness one must love God. But loving the neighbor is a far different story. Depending on our views in life, we might have a hard time with the annoying, Democrat/Republican, irresponsible, refugee, gay, unemployed, or subsidiary-dependent neighbor. Who is our neighbor, really? Or more to the point, who isn’t?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s work to understand and embrace all persons, indeed all Creation, as neighbor. Doing so, what is required of us in response?

Thought: from Fred Rogers

“All we’re ever asked to do in this life is to treat our neighbor
—especially our neighbor who is in need—
exactly as we would hope to be treated ourselves. 
That’s our ultimate responsibility.”

Prayer: from Walter Brueggemann

On our own, we conclude:
there is not enough to go around

we are going to run short
of money
of love
of grades
of publications
of sex
of beer
of members
of years
of life

we should seize the day
seize our goods
seize our neighbours goods
because there is not enough to go around

and in the midst of our perceived deficit
you come
you come giving bread in the wilderness
you come giving children at the 11th hour
you come giving homes to exiles
you come giving futures to the shut down
you come giving easter joy to the dead
you come – fleshed in Jesus.

and we watch while
the blind receive their sight
the lame walk
the lepers are cleansed
the deaf hear
the dead are raised
the poor dance and sing

we watch
and we take food we did not grow and
life we did not invent and
future that is gift and gift and gift and
families and neighbours who sustain us
when we did not deserve it.

It dawns on us – late rather than soon-
that you “give food in due season
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

By your giving, break our cycles of imagined scarcity
override our presumed deficits
quiet our anxieties of lack
transform our perceptual field to see
the abundance………mercy upon mercy
blessing upon blessing.

Sink your generosity deep into our lives
that your muchness may expose our false lack
that endlessly receiving we may endlessly give
so that the world may be made Easter new,
without greedy lack, but only wonder,
without coercive need but only love,
without destructive greed but only praise
without aggression and invasiveness….
all things Easter new…..
all around us, toward us and
by us

all things Easter new.

Finish your creation, in wonder, love and praise. Amen.”

Music: Good Neighbor – Evan Craft

We may not look the same
Ya might talk different too
Got a long long list of differences
Between me and you
Different colors different stories
Even different politics
But He’s calling us now
To lay it all down
Get back to the heart of it
And be a good, good, good
Good, good neighbor
Learn to love each other with
The love of the Savior
Make room at the table
And share the hope that we got
And be a good, good
Good neighbor
And show the world we got a good God
I’ve read the good book
Every word in black and red
But is my faith alive if I live my life
And I don’t do what it says
Love your God with all your heart and soul
Love your neighbor as yourself
And be Jesus to a broken world
That’s crying out for help
And be a good, good, good
Good, good neighbor
Learn to love each other with
The love of the Savior
Make room at the table
And share the hope that we got
And be a good, good
Good neighbor
And show the world we got a good God
Yeah, we got a good God, oh
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God
Make room at the table share
The hope that we got
‘Cause there’s room for everybody in
The family of God
The family of God
And be a good, good, good
Good, good neighbor
Learn to love each other with
The love of the Savior
Make room at the table
And share the hope that we got
And be a good, good
Good neighbor
And show the world we got a good God
And show the world we got a good God
And show the world we got a good God
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God
There’s room for everybody
In the family of God

Stir

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality4 Comments

Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
June 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060524.cfm

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord,
nor of me, a prisoner for his sake;
but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.
2 Timothy 1: 6-8

Paul has a deep affection and hope for Timothy. He sees the light of faith burning brightly in him. He encourages Timothy to not take his faith for granted but to ignite it fully by his unwavering commitment to live and preach the Gospel.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We thank God for the gift of our faith, for those who have encouraged its growth, and we ask for courage to stir up that gift by the witness of our lives.

Poetry: As Kingfishers Catch Fire – Gerard Manley Hopkins

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came.

I say móre: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is —
Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.Poetry:

Music: Fan into Flame – John Michael Talbot

I remind you now to fan into flame
The gift that God has bestowed
When my hands were laid upon you,
The gift of the Spirit of God.

The gift that God has given to us,
Is no cowardly spirit at all.
But one that is strong and loving and wise –
The gift of the Spirit of God.

So you, my son, you must be strong,
In the grace which is yours in Christ.
The teaching you have heard through me,
Hand onto the trustworthy ones.

The Spirit, God has given to us
Is no cowardly spirit at all.

But one that is strong and loving and wise –
The gift of the Spirit of God,
The gift of the Spirit of God.

Unprincipled

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Prayer, spirituality, Truth2 Comments

Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time
June 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/060424.cfm

Therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned,
be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled
and to fall from your own stability.
But grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
2 Peter 17-18

Peter tells his listeners that ” …we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.” But in the meantime, we must be alert for all that would distract us from Gospel truth and practice.

Peter’s world opposed the message of the Gospel. So does our world, filled now with unprincipled politics, economics, communication, and even “religious” propaganda. These forces fall against the believer like so many dominoes deconstructing the pattern of our faith.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Once again we ask for strength and insight to see the Gospel clearly and to stay aligned to its beauty and truth. This can be accomplished only by prayer, and developing a reverent familiarity with the Gospel. Further, reading reputable spiritual guides is important to enrich our understanding of the sacred word.

Poetry: Am I True to Myself? – Edgar A. Guest

I have to live with myself and so
I want to be fit for myself to know.
I want to be able as days go by,
always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don’t want to stand with the setting sun
and hate myself for the things I have done.
I don’t want to keep on a closet shelf
a lot of secrets about myself

and fool myself as I come and go
into thinking no one else will ever know
the kind of person I really am,
I don’t want to dress up myself in sham.

I want to go out with my head erect
I want to deserve all men’s respect;
but here in the struggle for fame and wealth
I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know that
I am bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;

I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself and so,
whatever happens I want to be
self respecting and conscience free.

Music: Keep Me Faithful – written by James Montgomery (1771-1854); adapted by Cornerstone Collective

Pray

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, Prayer, spirituality5 Comments

Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
May 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052524.cfm

Beloved:
Is anyone among you suffering?
He should pray.
Is anyone in good spirits?
He should sing a song of praise…

…The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.
Elijah was a man like us;
yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain,
and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land.
Then Elijah prayed again, and the sky gave rain
and the earth produced its fruit.
James 5:13; 16-18

James tells us that prayer must be woven seamlessly into our lives. His remarks may remind us of Paul’s well-known exhortation to “Pray always!”

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that a childlike innocence is essential to full union with God. In prayer, we are with God the way a child is with a loved and trusting parent. Jesus taught us this when he chose to begin his prayer, “Our Father …”

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask for the grace of spiritual innocence, allowing us to trust God’s Presence in every aspect of our lives. Doing this, we keep an inner recognition and dialogue with God – we “pray always”

Poetry: Praying – Mary Oliver

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few 
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try 
to make them elaborate, this isn’t 
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence in which 
another voice may speak.

Music: The Lord’s Prayer – Perry Como

Puff…

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Prayer, spirituality, suffering, Truth2 Comments

Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
May 22. 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052224.cfm

You have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
Instead you should say,
“If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”
James 4:13-15

From the passages of these few days, it appears that James was a “no-nonsense”, fire and brimstone preacher. Instructing against pride and boastfulness, he forcefully reminds his listeners that they have no control over their lives. The only thing they can control is their commitment to God, and their openness to God’s Will.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray in faith and trust to our God who loves us beyond our comprehension. Indeed, we do not know what tomorrow – or even this afternoon – will bring. But we ask for the strength and joy to receive our lives with hope and fidelity.

Poetry: by Joy Harjo

To pray you open your whole self

To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon

To one whole voice that is you

And know there is more

That you can't see, can't hear

Can't know except in moments

Steadily growing, and in languages

That aren't always sound but other

Circles of motion.

Music: Be Thou My Vision –
The text is based on a Middle Irish poem most attributed to Dallán Forgaill, an early Christian Irish poet born in 530 AD. Since the early 20th century, the text has been sung to an Irish folk tune, known in church hymnals as ‘Slane’.

Appointed

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Community, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Feast of Saint Matthias, Apostle
May 14, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051424.cfm

You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”
John 15: 14-17

What about Matthias and the story of his emerging role in the spread of the Gospel? He must have been holy and good even to be considered for the office of Apostle. Were there just too many holy people initially to fit him into the biblically magic number of 12? And what about Justus who didn’t make the numerical cut? Was his giftedness lost to the early Church because of a short straw or a muffed coin flip?

In our Gospel, Jesus tells us that we are each “appointed” to bear fruit that will remain. No matter our title or function, we are equally “chosen” to nurture and sustain the life of the community.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s pray with Matthias that, whether recognized or unrecognized, we will be faithful to the Gospel in word and action.

Poetry: Fear of Being Chosen – Sister Natalia, member of Christ the Bridegroom Byzantine Catholic Monastery 

O Matthias, what did you think,
what did you feel,
when you were beckoned forward?
Did your heart race at the idea
of joining ranks with those eleven?
Eleven different types of broken,
all seeking to be whole.

Did you fear the possibility
of secret brokenness revealed?
And did you also feel
the thrill of sure adventure,
after having seen the ups and downs
of the men whose eyes were now on you?

You’d seen their pain, their dying,
and in your heart felt a pull.
One thing you must have known,
known without a doubt
being witness to the resurrection
would mean a life of miracles.

And when you heard your name called out,
and reality sunk in,
did you feel that joyful pain of knowing
that all now know that you are His?

Did your thoughts bounce back and forth
between death and resurrection?
And did you steal one more glance
at Joseph Barsabbas
and wonder, “Why not him?”

Music: Mathias Sanctus – Hildegard von Bingen (chanted by Bella Voce Chicago)

Mathias, sanctus per electionem,
vir preliator per victoriam,
ante sanguinem Agni electionem non habuit,
sed tardus in scientia fuit
quasi homo qui perfecte non vigilat.


Donum Dei illum excitavit,
unde ipse pre gaudio sicut gygas
in viribus suis surrexit,
quia Deus illum previdit
sicut hominem
quem de limo formavit
cum primus angelus cecidit,
qui Deum negavit.

Homo qui electionem vidit –
ve, ve, cecidit!

Boves et arietes habuit,
sed faciem suam ab eis
retrorsum duxit
et illos dimisit.

Unde foveam carbonum invasit,
et desideria sua osculatus
in studio suo,
illa sicut Olimpum erexit.

Tunc Mathias per electionem divinitatis
sicut gygas surrexit,
quia Deus illum posuit
in locum quem perditus homo noluit.

O mirabile miraculum
quod sic in illo resplenduit!

Deus enim ipsum previdit
in miraculis suis
cum nondum haberet meritum operationis,
sed misterium Dei
in illo gaudium habuit,
quod idem per institutionem suam
non habebat.

O gaudium gaudiorum
quod Deus sic operatur,
cum nescienti homini gratiam suam impendit,
ita quod parvulus nescit
ubi magnus volat,
cuius alas Deus parvulo tribuit.

Deus enim gustum in illo habet
qui seipsum nescit,
quia vox eius
ad Deum clamat
sicut Mathias fecit,
qui dixit:
O Deus, Deus meus,
qui me creasti,
omnia opera mea tua sunt.

Nunc ergo gaudeat omnis ecclesia
in Mathia,
quem Deus in foramine columbe
sic elegit.
Amen.

Mathias, a saint through being chosen,
a champion in his victory,
did not know himself chosen before the Lamb’s blood was shed:
he was tardy in knowledge,
like a man who is not perfectly awake.

God’s gift aroused him,
so that for joy he rose like a giant
in his strength:
God foresaw him
as he had foreseen the man
whom he formed of clay
when the first angel,
who denied God, fell.

The man who saw his choice,
alas, alas, he fell!

He had oxen and rams at his bidding,
yet he looked away from them,
turned his back
and abandoned them.

Thus he plunged in the pit of coal
and, kissing his own desires,
in his ardor
he raised them high, like an Olympus.

Then Mathias, divinely chosen,
rose like a giant,
because God set him
in the place that Judas, the lost, rejected:

O wondrous miracle
that shone through him thus!

For God foresaw him
in his miracles,
though he had not yet the merit of accomplishment,
but the mystery of God
had joy in him,
joy that in its original plan
it did not have.

Joy of joys
that God works in this way,
when he lavishes his grace on one who does not know,
so that the child does not know
where the grown man will fly,
whose wings God has given to the child!

For God savors the one
who does not know himself,
because his voice
is crying out to God,
as Mathias cried,
saying:
God, my God,
who created me,
all my works are yours!

So now let all Ecclesia take joy
in Mathias,
he whom God thus chose in the cleft where the dove nestles.
Amen.

… Then

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Cross, Discipleship, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter
May 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050424.cfm

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.
If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
and I have chosen you out of the world,
the world hates you.
Remember the word I spoke to you,
‘No slave is greater than his master.’
If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
And they will do all these things to you on account of my name,
because they do not know the one who sent me.”
John 15: 18-21

I have written about the word “if” several times in past reflections. There are a lot more “ifs” in today’s Gospel – and each of them has a very important “then”.

Thinking about the “if – then” syllogism, I remember one of my favorite professors. Florence Fay taught us Logic when we were young enough not to have practiced it much. She was a wonderful teacher, and building on this basic conditional argument, she led us through the labyrinths of logic.

Jesus seems to be doing the same thing for his disciples. He invites them to recognize that the “thens” of their lives are directly dependent on the “ifs”. He asks them to receive that interdependence without fear because in doing so, they imitate him.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

We ask for the courage to live a life balanced on faith so that the “if-then”s of our lives lead us to holiness, not away from it.

Poetry: I See His Blood – Joseph Plunkett

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice—and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.
All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

Music – Adora Te Devote – Juliano Ravanello

Gospel

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

Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles
May 3, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050324.cfm

I am reminding you, brothers and sisters,
of the Gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:1-2

In today’s passage, Paul describes the Gospel as a gift, given through his preaching, and received by his listeners.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Think of the most precious gift that has ever been placed in your hands – how carefully and tenderly you received it, handled it, cared for it. I think of the times the newborns of our family have been handed to me, and how I cherished them and vigilantly held them.

Paul, and our early leaders such as Philip and James, have handed on to us the precious Gospel as they received from Christ himself. It is the key to our eternal life. How we should treasure it, learn from it, stand in it, and hold fast to it, as Paul encourages us to do!

Prose: from John Calvin, Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life

“The Gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but of life. 
It cannot be grasped by reason and memory only, 
but it is fully understood when it possesses the whole soul 
and penetrates to the inner recesses of the heart.”

Music: Verbum Dei (Word of God) – by Voices Thules

Vocal ensemble Voces Thules was founded in 1992 and has established itself as a leading ensemble for performance and research on Icelandic medieval and traditional music in Iceland. Voces Thules perform both sacred and secular music either a-cappella or with Medieval period instruments.

Deed

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Eternal Life, Faith, Forgiveness, Gospel, holiness, spirituality2 Comments

Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm

Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God
and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

1 John 3:18-22

John makes it so clear and simple, doesn’t he? It’s what we do that matters, not what we say. Jesus said the same thing once when he pointed out a tree to his disciples and said, “By their fruits, you will know them..”

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:

Let’s take a good look at our lives, and the lives of those we allow to influence us. Are we like trees bearing good fruit – good deeds of charity, peace, forgiveness, mercy, honesty, respect, encouragement, hope, and fidelity?

If our deeds reflect the opposite of these virtues, John says they condemn us. He calls us to Gospel faithfulness in what we do as well as what we say.

Poetry:

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a weary world.

William Shakespeare

Music: Good Tree – Hillbilly Thomists (I thought these guys were fascinating! See more about them on their website: https://www.hillbillythomists.com/about)

You can’t gather grapes from a bramble bush
Or pick a fig from thorns
What I’d like to be
Oh, to be a good tree

Some fall in the rocks, on the beaten path
Some sink into great soil
From a tiny seed
Oh, to a good tree

Like a cedar high
And mustard wide
Where all the birds of the air can hide
Find rest inside

Oh, a good tree
The beetle bites
The black rot strikes
From the inside
Have your enemies

Oh, if you’re a good tree
High and dry
Some branches die
From time to time
A prune’s required
If you wanna be
Oh, a good tree

Even when I’m old
I still will be
Still full of sap, still green
That’s what I want to be
Oh, to be a good tree

By Your word
The dark is light
The tree of death becomes the tree of life
So let it be
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree
Oh, to be a good tree