Category: holiness

Worthy

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, Jesus, Mary, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 25, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102524.cfm

I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace;  
one Body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.
Ephesians 4:1-6

Paul encourages the Ephesian community to live a life worthy of their call. The same encouragement comes down through the ages to us. The unique blessing of our Baptism deserves a worthy response from us, one characterized by humility, gentleness, patience, love, unity, peace, and hope.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We examine our lives for the evidence of these virtues. They should not only be present in our desires but, more importantly, in our actions and choices.

Poetry: Annunciation – Denise Levertov
Mary is the perfect and complete model of the worthy life Paul calls us to.

We know the scene: the room, variously furnished,

almost always a lectern, a book; always
the tall lily.
Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,
the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,
whom she acknowledges, a guest.

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions
courage.
The engendering Spirit
did not enter her without consent.
God waited.

She was free
to accept or to refuse, choice
integral to humanness.

____________________________

Aren’t there annunciations
of one sort or another
in most lives?
Some unwillingly
undertake great destinies,
enact them in sullen pride,
uncomprehending.
More often
those moments
when roads of light and storm
open from darkness in a man or woman,
are turned away from
in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair
and with relief.
Ordinary lives continue.
God does not smite them.
But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.

______________________________

She had been a child who played, ate, slept
like any other child – but unlike others,
wept only for pity, laughed
in joy not triumph.
Compassion and intelligence
fused in her, indivisible.

Called to a destiny more momentous
than any in all of Time,
she did not quail,
only asked
a simple, ‘How can this be?’
and gravely, courteously,
took to heart the angel’s reply,
perceiving instantly
the astounding ministry she was offered:

to bear in her womb
Infinite weight and lightness; to carry
in hidden, finite inwardness,
nine months of Eternity; to contain
in slender vase of being,
the sum of power –
in narrow flesh,
the sum of light.
Then bring to birth,
push out into air, a Man-child
needing, like any other,
milk and love –

but who was God.

This was the moment no one speaks of,
when she could still refuse.

A breath unbreathed,
                                Spirit,
                                          suspended,
                                                            waiting.

______________________________

She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’
Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’
She did not submit with gritted teeth,
                                                       raging, coerced.
Bravest of all humans,
                                  consent illumined her.
The room filled with its light,
the lily glowed in it,
                               and the iridescent wings.
Consent,
              courage unparalleled,
opened her utterly.

Music: Benedicta et Venerabilis

Benedicta et venerabilis es, Virgo Maria: quae sine tactu pudoris inventa es
Mater salvatoris.
Virgo Dei Genitrix, quem totus non capit orbis,
in tua se clausit viscera factus homo.

Blessed and venerable art thou, O Virgin Mary, who, without spot, wast found
the Mother of the Saviour.
Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world containeth not,
being made man, shut Himself in thy womb.

Surpasses

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 24, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102424.cfm

I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory
to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones
what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,
so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19

Paul blesses his beloved Ephesian community with these stirring words:

..May you know the love of Christ
that surpasses all knowledge…

Ephesians 3:19

We, and the Ephesians who receive this blessing, are reminded that we cannot comprehend or analyze God’s infinite love for us. Neither can we rationalize what that Love calls us to.

Today in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace of holy abandonment, letting ourselves rest in God’s Love without reserve, question, or calculation. May that same generous trust inspire our gift of Love to others in God’s name.

Thought: from Bishop Silvio José Báez, O.C.D.

We can abandon ourselves to God
and totally trust God
even without fully comprehending God’s ways;
it’s a source of inexhaustible joy.

Read Bishop Báez’s inspiring bio here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_José_Báez

Music: Attende Domine – Juliano Ravanello

Praise

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

Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
October 17, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101724.cfm

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens,
as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world,
to be holy and without blemish before him.
In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ,
in accord with the favor of his will,
for the praise of the glory of his grace
that he granted us in the beloved.
Ephesians 1:3-6

(The readings I used for today’s reflection are for the Mass for St. Ignatius of Antioch who lived in the century after Jesus. He is not the same person as Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, who lived in the 15th century.)

The passage from Ephesians, so beautifully expressed, encapsulates the character of a true disciple: called by God to holiness, expressing gratitude through a life of praise and mercy.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to receive God’s blessing and call with grateful hearts, and to live a life reflecting God’s Mercy.

Quote: from Ignatius of Antioch

We recognize a tree by its fruit, and we ought to be able to recognize a Christian by his action. The fruit of faith should be evident in our lives, for being a Christian is more than making sound professions of faith. It should reveal itself in practical and visible ways. Indeed it is better to keep quiet about our beliefs, and live them out, than to talk eloquently about what we believe, but fail to live by it.

Music: Ephesians Hymn – Suzanne Toolan, RSM

Spirit

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, holiness, Holy Spirit, Poetry, Prayer, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
October 15, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101524.cfm

The Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
And the one who searches hearts
knows what is the intention of the Spirit,
Who intercedes for the holy ones
according to God’s will.
Romans 8:26-27

Our readings for the Feast of St. Teresa reflect the power which inspired her holy life. She lived deeply in the Spirit of God, sharing that infinite blessing with the world in her inspiring writings.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask St. Teresa to intercede for us in our desire to grow in holiness.

Poetry: If, Lord, Thy Love Is Strong – St. Teresa of Avila

If, Lord, Thy love for me is strong
As this which binds me unto thee,
What holds me from thee Lord so long,
What holds thee Lord so long from me?

O soul, what then desirest thou?
Lord I would see thee, who thus choose thee.
What fears can yet assail thee now?
All that I fear is but lose thee.

Love’s whole possession I entreat,
Lor make my soul thine own abode,
And I will build a nest so sweet
It may not be too poor for God.

A sould in God hidden from sin,
What more desires for thee remain,
Save but to love again,
And all on flame with love within,
Love on, and turn to love again.

Music: Adoro Te Devote – Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart

Hallowed

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Jesus, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 9, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100924.cfm

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”
Luke 11:1-4

Today’s Gospel shows us the centrality of prayer in the life of Jesus and his disciples. The prayer Jesus leaves us in this passage is a prayer of presence, an intimate conversation with the God who supplies our needs.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Like the disciples, we ask Jesus to teach us how to pray – to move from recitation to presence; to move from timed practice to timeless oneness.

Thoughts – from Thomas Merton

First of all, prayer is a spiritual activity. This activity engages the highest faculties of our soul, our mind and our will. To be valid, prayer must be intelligent and it must be an act of sincere love. Already we can see that prayer is one of the most perfect actions a man can perform. When we pray properly we are exercising our intelligence and we are working with our will. This cannot be done without interior discipline. The more we practice prayer the stronger do these higher faculties become, and so they regain their lost control over the passions which are the root of all prejudice and of all error. Thus, in the natural order alone, the true practice of prayer would be sufficient to elevate and purify the soul to some extent. But this presupposes that prayer is really prayer and not pious automatism, or mere exterior formalism, or, worse still, an act of blind superstition. These dangers mustall be obviated by the constant striving for intelligent attention and for a sincere, earnest and fervent intention of the will.

Music: Lord, Teach Us to Pray – Joe Wise

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

Creation

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, holiness, Mercy, spirituality, suffering1 Comment

Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi
October 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100424.cfm

The LORD addressed Job out of the storm and said:

Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning
and shown the dawn its place
For taking hold of the ends of the earth,
till the wicked are shaken from its surface?
The earth is changed as is clay by the seal,
and dyed as though it were a garment;
But from the wicked the light is withheld,
and the arm of pride is shattered.
Job 38:1, 12-15

The character of this passage from Job fits so perfectly the spirituality of Francis of Assisi whom we honor today. Francis had a deep veneration for all Creation where he saw God’s beauty and vitality. Francis’s heart anguished for those unable to share in that beauty because of the burden of poverty.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
May we be inspired by Francis’s example, and Job’s honesty to develop a generous and reverent sharing of Creation’s gifts.

Poetry: Saint Francis and the Sow – Galway Kinnel

The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don’t flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.

Music: St. Francis Preaching to the Birds – Franz Liszt (performed by Brandon Hawksley)

Run

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, repentance, spirituality1 Comment

Memorial of Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
September 13, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091324.cfm

Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race,
but only one wins the prize?
Run so as to win.
Every athlete exercises discipline in every way.
They do it to win a perishable crown,
but we an imperishable one.
Thus I do not run aimlessly;
I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing.
No, I drive my body and train it,
for fear that, after having preached to others,
I myself should be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Both our readings touch the topic of spiritual self-awareness. Paul does not want to preach to others and end up “disqualified” himself because of any infidelity.

Jesus says, to achieve holiness, be as aware of your own splintered eyes as you are of your neighbor’s!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Examining one’s conscience is an ancient religious practice. Its purpose is not to create a checklist of behaviors that need improvement. It is a way of acutely recognizing God’s Presence in our lives and listening to God’s hopes for us. Sometimes we fail to respond to those hopes, and we need to run harder, as Paul did.

Poetry: When I Am Among the Trees – Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness.
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It's simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

Music: Running to the Light – Brandon Lake

You can have my yes with no exception
I’m laying down my rights to second guessing
You can have my yes
I’m giving you my fear of never knowing
Whatever’s coming next, I know You’ve got me
You can have my yes
You’re the lamp, You’re the light
You’re the cloud that guides me
You’re the way, You’re the truth
You’re the life inside me
You conquered my fears
So I leave it all behind
I’m running to the light
Running to thе light
I’m giving you my dreams and my ambitions
Your presencе is my prize and my provision
I’ll answer when You ask
Oh, who could come against if You are for me?
‘Cause even in the fire, I know You’ve got me
I’m giving You my yes again
You’re the lamp, You’re the light
You’re the cloud that guides me
You’re the way, You’re the truth
You’re the life inside me
You conquered my fears
So I leave it all behind
I’m running to the light
Running to the light
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
I’ll follow You
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
Oh, wherever You are
Wherever You wanna go
I’ll follow You
I’ll follow You
You’re the lamp, You’re the light
You’re the cloud that guides me
You’re the way, You’re the truth
You’re the life inside me
You conquered my fears
So I leave it all behind
I’m running to the light
Oh, I’m, oh
I’m running to the light, light
Running to the light

Mountain

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, healing, holiness, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

Tuesday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 10, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091024.cfm

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles.
Luke 6:12-13

Jesus wants to have a real heart-to-heart with the Creator. He goes to the mountain – where he can lift his spirit above and away from distractions.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Our minds can become so cluttered and distracted, can’t they? They can throw tons of static into our conversation with God.

How and where can our hearts be lifted into the sacred ambience of silence? Where can we go, both spiritually and physically, to hear the Infinity beyond yet within us?

Poetry: Morning Mountain Prayer – Norbert Krapf

Morning mountain air
calls me to sit outside
and let it caress
my knees and calves.

Just after I settle
in a chair the sun rises
above a small divide
in the mountain

and warm light slants
onto this yellow paper
across which the black
ink of a German pen
walks leaving word tracks

that knew all along
that in the end
near the bottom
of this page

they would become
the thanksgiving prayer
I send to the universe.

Music: Gymnopédie No.1 – Erik Satie

Stretch

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Courage, Creation, Faith, Gospel, holiness, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

Memorial of Saint Peter Claver, Priest
September 9, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090924.cfm

But Jesus realized the Pharisee’s intentions
and said to the man with the withered hand,
“Come up and stand before us.”
And he rose and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them,
“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
“Stretch out your hand.”
He did so and his hand was restored.
Luke 6:8-10

In this reading, Jesus invites the crippled man to stretch out his hand – to reach beyond himself for the healing grace God offers. Jesus is inviting the Pharisees, who suffer from a crippled faith, to reach out as well. Is Jesus inviting you to stretch?

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
I have included a picture of my beloved statue of giraffes. When I pray with this carving, no words are necessary. The youngster is stretching up to receive grace, nourishment, and love. For me, it is an image of our stretching up to God and God’s tender leaning toward us.

Poetry: Movement by Denise Levertov

Towards not being 
anyone else’s center 
of gravity

A wanting 
to love: not 
an other, and fall, 
but feel within one 
a flexible steel 
upright, parallel
to the spine but 
longer, from which to stretch; 
one’s own 
grave springboard; the outlying spirit’s 
vertical trampoline.

Meditative Music: