I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
They cried one to the other, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” Isaiah 6:1-3
There are times in life when we are graced to see through appearances to find the Holy – maybe the gaze of a newborn, the kindness of a stranger, the moment someone dies, the deep aloneness of nature.
Isaiah experiences such a moment in this reading – and it was supercharged! The trappings of earth fell away as Isaiah stood praying in the Temple. He saw the Seraphim singing praise to the Holiest of Beings. In that astounding light, Isaiah found a new self, one drenched in the Divine Presence and Will. It was in this moment that Isaiah truly became a prophet!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask that our hearts be opened to the very real Presence of God in our ordinary lives. Let us trust that angels accompany us even though we do not see them. Let us listen to their song in those rare moments when we can almost touch the Holy under the surface of our lives.
Poem: I Saw the Seraphim – Robert Wagner
I saw the Seraphim one summer’s night Reaping it seemed a field of endless wheat. I heard their voices through the fading light Wild, strange and yet intolerably sweet. The hour such beauty first was born on earth A dawn of sifting had that day begun For some would not endure love’s second birth Preferring their own darkness to that sun. And still love’s sun must rise upon our night For nothing can be hidden from its heat And in that summer evening’s fading light I saw his angels gather in the wheat. Like beaten gold their beauty smote the air And tongues of flame were streaming in their hair.
Music: I Saw the Seraphim – the poem set to music by JAC Reford
Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy…
… So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” John 16:20
Jesus understands that life can be hard, and the Christian life even harder. His followers will face the grief of losing his physical presence, the scorn of their persecutors, and the sorrows inextricably woven into every human life. Their equanimity may break like a fragile eggshell under the press of these burdens.
But Jesus leaves them with a glorious promise. In him, their grief will be transformed to joy. They “will see him again”, not just in some distant parousia, They will see him in life itself as they learn to live it in the Father as Jesus has lived it.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace to believe Jesus’s promise, and to see God in our lives as they have been given to us. We pray for the courage to use that blessed assurance in a ministry of love and mercy to the world.
Poetry: Joy and Peace in Believing – John Newton (1725 – 1807), author of Amazing Grace
Sometimes a light surprises The Christian while he sings; It is the Lord who rises With healing in his wings: When comforts are declining, He grants the soul again A season of clear shining, To cheer it after rain.
In holy contemplation, We sweetly then pursue The theme of God's salvation, And find it ever new: Set free from present sorrow, We cheerfully can say, E'en let th' unknown to-morrow Bring with it what it may.
It can bring with it nothing But he will bear us through; Who gives the lilies clothing, Will clothe his people too: Beneath the spreading heavens, No creature but is fed; And he who feeds the ravens, Will give his children bread.
Though vine nor fig-tree neither Their wonted fruit shall bear, Though all the field should wither, Nor flocks nor herds be there: Yet God the same abiding, His praise shall tune my voice; For while in him confiding, I cannot but rejoice.
Music: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – Johann Sebastian Bach
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” John 15: 9-11
What a joy to hear someone say, “I love you.”! What a gift to be invited to “remain” in another’s heart!
Jesus wants his disciples, and he wants us, to have that joy. He wants it so much that his own joy depends on it!
God wants our love. God wants us to remain in God’s heart!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let yourself just sink into that amazing revelation, Beloved of God! Jesus’s declaration and invitation are specifically made to YOU!
Poetry: The Madness of Love – Hadewijch Of Antwerp
The madness of love Is a blessed fate; And if we understood this We would seek no other: It brings into unity What was divided, And this is the truth: Bitterness it makes sweet, It makes the stranger a neighbor, And what was lowly it raises on high.
Music: Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony
1 Joyful, joyful, we adore You, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow’rs before You, Op’ning to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day!
2 All Your works with joy surround You, Earth and heav’n reflect Your rays, Stars and angels sing around You, Center of unbroken praise; Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea, Chanting bird and flowing fountain Praising You eternally!
3 Always giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Well-spring of the joy of living, Ocean-depth of happy rest! Loving Father, Christ our Brother, Let Your light upon us shine; Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine.
4 Mortals, join the mighty chorus, Which the morning stars began; God’s own love is reigning o’er us, Joining people hand in hand. Ever singing, march we onward, Victors in the midst of strife; Joyful music leads us sunward In the triumph song of life.
When beechen buds begin to swell, And woods the blue-bird’s warble know, The yellow violet’s modest bell Peeps from the last year’s leaves below.
Ere russet fields their green resume, Sweet flower, I love, in forest bare, To meet thee, when thy faint perfume Alone is in the virgin air.
Of all her train, the hands of Spring First plant thee in the watery mould, And I have seen thee blossoming Beside the snow-bank’s edges cold.
Thy parent sun, who bade thee view Pale skies, and chilling moisture sip, Has bathed thee in his own bright hue, And streaked with jet thy glowing lip.
Yet slight thy form, and low thy seat, And earthward bent thy gentle eye, Unapt the passing view to meet When loftier flowers are flaunting nigh.
Oft, in the sunless April day, Thy early smile has stayed my walk; But midst the gorgeous blooms of May, I passed thee on thy humble stalk.
So they, who climb to wealth, forget The friends in darker fortunes tried. I copied them—but I regret That I should ape the ways of pride.
And when again the genial hour Awakes the painted tribes of light, I’ll not o’erlook the modest flower That made the woods of April bright.
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce the news to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Matthew 28: 8-10
Oh, the young, heartbroken yet hopeful, fearful yet joyful Marys! Their whole beings leapt at the realization of Easter.
And so they RAN to share the incredible news. They didn’t just walk. They didn’t just return. They didn’t just hurry. They RAN!
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy: Now it’s been a while since this nearly octogenarian body has run. But I ask myself on this post-Easter morning, can my spirit still run … RUN … with the Resurrection News to every heart that longs to hear it?
Poetry: Messenger – Mary Oliver
My work is loving the world. Here the sunflowers, there the hummingbird— equal seekers of sweetness. Here the quickening yeast; there the blue plums. Here the clam deep in the speckled sand.
Are my boots old? Is my coat torn? Am I no longer young, and still half-perfect? Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work,
which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished. The phoebe, the delphinium. The sheep in the pasture, and the pasture. Which is mostly rejoicing, since all the ingredients are here,
which is gratitude, to be given a mind and a heart and these body-clothes, a mouth with which to give shouts of joy to the moth and the wren, to the sleepy dug-up clam, telling them all, over and over, how it is that we live forever.
Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him a beautiful long cloak. When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons, they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.
Genesis 37: 3-4
Joseph, beloved of his father Jacob, wore a multi-colored expression of his father’s love. Because others were jealous of this love, Joseph, the innocent one, was persecuted. Nevertheless, he endured and eventually forgave his brothers, giving them the means for a new life.
Joseph is a prototype of Jesus, the Beloved Son who displayed his Father’s love by his life of mercy. Jesus, Supreme Innocence, was persecuted too, endured death, forgave his persecutors, and gave us new life.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
In my prayer, I ask myself what patterns of Joseph and Jesus do I see in my world? Where do I see Innocence suffering? Where do I see mercy offered rather than persecution? Where do I see the need for acknowledgement and forgiveness?
Where do I see these things in my wider world and in myself? My awareness and response is the way I walk with Christ this Lent.
Poetry: Joseph’s Coat – George Herbert (1593-1633), English poet, orator, priest, and venerated Saint of the Church of England.
Herbert’s poem suggests that through the “joyes” and “griefs” of life, one finds sanctification only through God’s love and mercy. His imagery references Joseph’s downfall at the hands of his brothers and restoration through God’s design
Wounded I sing, tormented I indite, Thrown down I fall into a bed, and rest: Sorrow hath chang’d its note: such is his will, Who changeth all things, as him pleaseth best. For well he knows, if but one grief and smart Among my many had his full career, Sure it would carrie with it ev’n my heart, And both would runne untill they found a biere To fetch the bodie; both being due to grief. But he hath spoil’d the race; and giv’n to anguish One of Joyes coats, ticing it with relief To linger in me, and together languish. I live to shew his power, who once did bring My joyes to weep, and now my griefs to sing.
Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks strength in flesh, whose heart turns away from the LORD. Such a person is like a barren bush in the desert that enjoys no change of season, But stands in a lava waste, a salt and empty earth.
Jeremiah 17: 5-6
Have you encountered a person who is spiritually languishing, or even dead? The light of their spirit has gone out. There is no joy, hope, delight, or generosity in them. Sometimes their barrenness is buried under false hilarity or bravado, but after leaving them we find ourselves confused, saddened, empty, tired, or even a little angry.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
Let’s pray for any barren spirit we have encountered. They badly need our prayers. And let’s ask God for the merciful freshening of our own spirit, seeking it by prayer, loving silence, and honest reflection on our choices and actions.
Poetry: What the Fig Tree Said – Denise Levertov
Literal minds! Embarrassed humans! His friends were blurting for Him in secret: wouldn’t admit they were shocked. They thought Him petulant to curse me!—yet how could the Lord be unfair?—so they looked away, then and now. But I, I knew that helplessly barren though I was, my day had come. I served Christ the Poet, who spoke in images: I was at hand, a metaphor for their failure to bring forth what is within them (as figs were not within me). They who had walked in His sunlight presence, they could have ripened, could have perceived His thirst and hunger, His innocent appetite; they could have offered human fruits—compassion, comprehension— without being asked, without being told of need. My absent fruit stood for their barren hearts. He cursed not me, not them, but (ears that hear not, eyes that see not) their dullness, that withholds gifts unimagined.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, what glorious readings we have, capturing our exuberant hope. In our Responsorial Psalm, Mary proclaims the profound re-ordering of the world in justice and mercy.
Walter Brueggemann says “the song of Mary (the Magnificat; Luke 1:46–55) is about the unthinkable turn in human destinies when all seemed impossible: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (v. 37).
Our God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty;. has come to the help of our people and remembered the promise of mercy…
Luke 1:63-64
With Isaiah, the whole earth sings out: “GAUDETE’ – REJOICE”, because the Divine Light breaks on the horizon. Isaiah imagines the self-proclamation of this glorious Messiah Who rises out of history’s darkness:
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God.
I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.
Isaiah 61: 1-2A;10-12
Finally, in our Gospel, John the Baptist instructs his questioning followers about finding “the One Who is to come”. His words give us a precious insight into how we will find this emergent Savior in our own lives:
John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.” This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
John 1:20-28
The jubilant grace of Gaudete Sunday may be this:
the spiritual energy to find God, as John did, in the shrouded complexities of our lives and times
to believe, as Mary did, that God will enact an incredible restoration of Creation
to rejoice heartily with Isaiah in the One who is the “joy of my soul”
Prose: Willa Cather in Death Comes for the Archbishop
The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Isaiah gives us the best news anyone could ever want to hear:
Here is your God… Who comes to save you!
The news inspires great joy in the waiting heart. Our first reading is full of exultant words pulling us from the shadows of waiting into the hope-filled Light.
What Isaiah proclaims for all generations is that we never need remain in darkness and confusion; that the Lord of Light wills a sunrise for us; that something wondrous and holy is not only possible but inevitable if we but have faith.
This is a powerful revelation and call. If we receive and accept it with open hearts, we are bound to live in joy.
In our second reading, James tells us the secret to living with this kind of joy – PATIENCE.
Be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You too must be patient. Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.
James 5: 7-8
We too must welcome into our lives both “the early and the late rain”. We must not only believe; we must ponder our faith within the circumstances of our life and the world around us. This pondering deepens us and allows the power of God to visit the world through our lives.
In our Gospel, Jesus explains what the world looks like when we let the Mercy of God shine through us:
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. And blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”
Matthew 11: 4-6
On this beautiful Gaudete Sunday, as we come closer to the Gift of Christmas, let us choose to be agents of God’s joy, love and mercy in our world.
Poetry: Gaudete – Brad Reynolds, SJ
Because Christmas is almost here Because dancing fits so well with music Because inside baby clothes are miracles. Gaudete Because some people love you Because of chocolate Because pain does not last forever Because Santa Claus is coming. Gaudete Because of laughter Because there really are angels Because your fingers fit your hands Because forgiveness is yours for the asking Because of children Because of parents. Gaudete Because the blind see. And the lame walk. Gaudete Because lepers are clean And the deaf hear. Gaudete Because the dead will live again And there is good news for the poor. Gaudete Because of Christmas Because of Jesus You rejoice.
Music: The Medieval Carol “Gaudete” sung by the Choir of Clare College with the London Cello Orchestra (lyrics and translation below)
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
It is time to thank you for what we have hoped for. Tempus ad est gratiae hoc quod optabamus,
We devoutly sing songs of joy. Carmina laetitiae devote redamus.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
God became man, being nature, Deus homo factus est naturam erante,
The world has been renewed by the reigning Christ. Mundus renovatus est a Christo regnante.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Ezekiel’s gate was closed by the passerby Ezecheelis porta clausa per transitor
Whence the light arose, the finder of pebbles. Unde lux est orta sallus invenitor.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Therefore, our congregation sings already in the twilight, Ergo nostra contio psallat jam in lustro,
Bless the lord of the saddles for our king. Benedicat domino sallas regi nostro.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Rejoice, rejoice Christ is born Gaudete, gaudete Christos est natus
From the virgin Mary, rejoice. Ex Maria virginae, gaudete.
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 149 which calls the community to sing and dance because God has delivered them.
This happy, celebratory summons is set, contrastingly, between two readings that mention weeping.
Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it.
Revelation 5: 2-4
As Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace– but now it is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19: 41-42
The readings leave us with a sense that there is a secret to eternal life – a secret to which only grace can open our eyes and hearts.
John writes that “the Lion of Judah” has the key:
One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”
Revelation 5: 5-6
Jesus, Uncreated Grace, is the Lion of Judah. He has incarnated the sacred key in his Life, Death, and Resurrection. For those who receive him and share his life, the door is opened, the scroll unrolled.
So what is the path to such union with Jesus?
Our psalm contains a brief line tucked at its center which foreshadows the entire message of the Gospel.
Let them praise God’s name in the festive dance, let them sing praise with timbrel and harp. For the LORD loves us, and adorns the lowly with victory.
We will find a dancing, singing joy when we give ourselves to these truths:
God loves us irrevocably
We can fully receive this great love to the degree that we become like Christ whose image we find among the poor, lowly, and suffering.
Poetry: Dance from Rumi
Come to me, and I shall dance with you In the temples, on the beaches, through the crowded streets Be you man or woman, plant or animal, slave or free I shall show you the brilliant crystal fires, shining within I shall show you the beauty deep within your soul I shall show the path beyond Heaven. Only dance, and your illusions will blow in the wind Dance, and make joyous the love around you Dance, and your veils which hide the Light Shall swirl in a heap at your feet.
Lavish Mercy 