Category: Mercy

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

Thanks

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Hope, Mercy, Poetry, Psalms, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 11, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101124.cfm

I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.

Psalm 111:1-2

Today’s Responsorial Psalm is a humble, beautiful prayer which places our heart in God’s awesome Presence. The passing events of this life, whether happy of sad, shrink in the realization of God’s generous Mercy.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We bring into God’s Presence our present circumstances, with their hopes, worries, regrets, and joys. We place them there, silence our hearts, and let the Mercy of God speak to us.

Poetry: The Garments of God – Jessica Powers

God sits on a chair of darkness in my soul.
He is God alone, supreme in His majesty.
I sit at His feet, a child in the dark beside Him;
my joy is aware of His glance and my sorrow is tempted
to nest on the thought that His face is turned from me.
He is clothed in the robes of His mercy, voluminous garments—
not velvet or silk and affable to the touch,
but fabric strong for a frantic hand to clutch,
and I hold to it fast with the fingers of my will.
Here is my cry of faith, my deep avowal
to the Divinity that I am dust.
Here is the loud profession of my trust.
I need not go abroad
to the hills of speech or the hinterlands of music
for a crier to walk in my soul where all is still.
I have this potent prayer through good or ill:
here in the dark I clutch the garments of God.

Music: Bach Cantata 156 – performed by Baroque oboist Leo Duarte

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

Prevent

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

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100624.cfm

And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
“Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these. 
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
Mark 10:13-16

Jesus once again makes it clear that the Reign of God flows unreservedly to the humble, poor, and childlike among us.
The roaring cataract of that Lavish Mercy cannot be prevented by any human interference, control, or ignorance.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
May we learn to trust God’s love as a child trusts that of a loving parent. Childlike faith is not immature. It has been deepened and seasoned through a life of prayerful service and reverent relationship with God and all Creation.

Poetry: Nada Te Turbe – St. Teresa of Avila

Nada te turbe

nada te espante

Todo se pasa

Dios nose muda.

La paciencia todo alcanza.

Quien a Dios tiene

nada le falta

Solo Dios basta.

Let nothing disturb you,

nothing frighten you,

All things are passing.

God never changes.

Patience obtains all things.

Whoever has God lacks nothing.

God is enough.

Music: Nada Te Turbe – A Virtual Choir of Carmelites

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)

Longing

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Hope, Mercy, spirituality1 Comment

Thursday of the Twenty-sixth Week in Ordinary Time
October 3, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100324.cfm

But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives,
and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see:
my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him,
And from my flesh I shall see God;
my inmost being is consumed with longing.
Job 19:26-27

In the midst of disorienting trial, Job retains his focus on God’s immutable power and mercy. Job’s confident faith has inspired believers to be patient in suffering and trust God’s accompaniment.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ask for the grace to receive suffering in our lives with a Job-like confidence in God.

Poetry: Just Like Job – Maya Angelou

My Lord, My Lord,
Long have I cried out to Thee
In the heat of the sun,
The cool of the moon
My screams searched the heavens for Thee.
My God,
When my blanket was nothing but dew.
Rags and bones
Were all I owned.
I chanted Your name
Just like Job.
Father, Father,
My life give I gladly to Thee
Deep rivers ahead
High mountains above
My soul wants only Your love
But fears gather round like wolves in the dark
Have You forgotten my name?
Oh, Lord, come to Your child.
Oh, Lord, forget me not.
You said to lean on Your arm
And I’m leaning
You said to trust in Your love
And I’m trusting
You said to call on Your name
And I’m calling
I’m stepping out on Your word.
You said You’d be my protection,
My only and glorious savior
My beautiful Rose of Sharon,
And I’m stepping out on Your word.
Joy, joy
Your word.
Joy, joy
The wonderful word of the Son of God.
You said that You would take me to glory
To sit down at the welcome table
Rejoice with my mother in heaven
And I’m stepping out on Your word.
Into the alleys
Into the byways
Into the streets
And the roads
And the highways
Past rumor mongers
And midnight ramblers
Past the liars and the cheaters and the gamblers
On Your word
On your word.
On the wonderful word of the Son of God.
I’m stepping out on Your word.

Music: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth – Handel

… time …

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Creation, dying, Eternal Life, Faith, Hope, Mercy, ordinary time, Poetry, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
September 27, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092724.cfm

What advantage have workers from their toil?
I have considered the task that God has appointed
for us to be busied about.
The Infinite One has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without our ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.
Ecclesiastes 3:9-11

Three thousand years ago, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, a writer called Kohelet meditated on God’s Mercy experienced over a lifetime. Like the writer, we may have done the same thing at various significant times in our lives.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We place our lives against the timepiece pictured above. We may pray over a specific time of challenge and grace. Or we may consider the whole pattern of mercy passing slowly yet constantly through our lives, like the ticking of a steadfast clock.

Poetry: XC Domine, refugium – Malcolm Suite
In this poem, Guite refers to a poem by Philip Larkin which may be read here: https://allpoetry.com/Cut-Grass

XC Domine, refugium
Malcolm Guite

A cosy comforter, a lucky charm?
Not with this psalmist, for he praises God
From everlasting ages, in his psalm. 
A God of refuge –yes – and yet a God
Who knows the death that comes before each birth,
Who sees each generation die, a God

Before whom all the ages of the earth
Are like a passing day, like the cut grass
In Larkin’s limpid verse: ‘brief is the breath

Mown stalks exhale’. So we and all things pass,
And God endures beyond us. Yet he cares
For our brief lives, his loving tenderness

Extends to all his creatures, our swift years
Are precious in his sight. In Christ he shares
Our grief and he will wipe away our tears.

Music: There Is A Season – Tom Kendzia

Every

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Eternal Life, Faith, Mercy, Prayer, Psalms, spirituality1 Comment

Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time
September 26, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092624.cfm

Lord, you have been our refuge
from one generation to another.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or the land and the earth were born,
from age to age you are God.

You turn us back to the dust and say,
“Go back, O child of earth.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past
and like a watch in the night….

…. Satisfy us by your loving-kindness
in the morning;
so shall we rejoice and be glad
all the days of our life.
Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us
and the years in which we suffered adversity.
Show your servants your works *
and your splendor to their children.
May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us;
prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.
Psalm 90:1-4;14-17

Our beautiful Responsorial Psalm today allows us to reflect on our grateful past and our hopeful future. God’s mercy is with every person in every age of our lives.

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We ponder this infinite blessing so that we can open our hearts to its amazing grace.

Poetry: On Thy Wondrous Works I Will Meditate – Mary Oliver

Every morning I want to kneel down on the golden
cloth of the sand and say
some kind of musical thanks for
the world that is happening again—another day—
from the shawl of wind coming out of the
west to the firm green
flesh of the melon lately sliced open and
eaten, its chill and ample body
flavored with mercy. I want
to be worthy of—what? Glory? Yes, unimaginable glory.
O Lord of melons, of mercy, though I am
not ready, nor worthy, I am climbing toward you.

Music: Psalm 90 – Marty Goetz

Cultivate

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Jesus, Mercy, peace, spiritualityLeave a comment

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
September 22, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092224.cfm

Beloved:
Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist,
there is disorder and every foul practice. 
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity. 
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who cultivate peace.
James 3:16-18

It appears that the moral tumult of our world already existed in James’s world over 2000 years ago. And no doubt it has existed in every age in between. Jealousy and selfish ambition drive so much of our public life. It takes great insight, patience and wisdom to cultivate peace:

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy:
We pray to be agents of peace in our world despite the inverse image of our culture offered by politics and media. We want to lessen the influence of these negative factors in our lives and open ourselves to the promptings of faith and goodness.

Prose: Cultivating Peace from Pope Francis

War begins in here, in the heart, inside the person, and finishes out in the world. The news we see in the papers or on television… Today so many people die, and that seed of war, which breeds envy, jealousy, and greed in my heart, is the same – grown up, become a tree – as the bomb which falls on a hospital, on a school, and kills children. It is the same. The declaration of war begins in the heart, in each of us. For this reason, the following question arises: ‘How do I care for peace in my heart, in my interior, and in my family?’. The answer is: Care for peace; not only care for it, but make it with your hands every day. Just so, will we succeed in spreading it throughout the whole world.

Music: Peace Train – Cat Stevens