Category: Prayer

Divine Poetry

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Holy Spirit, Prayer, spirituality, Truth, VirtueLeave a comment

May 24, 2026
Solemnity of Pentecost

Today, we celebrate Pentecost, the great Solemnity of the Holy Spirit.

As I prepare this reflection, I recall a small incident from more than a half-century ago.
My Sunday morning charge was to teach the weekly Confirmation class to eight and nine-year-olds. Their charge was to have studied their preparatory catechism throughout the intervening week. Neither of us was good at these charges, yet we both persevered.

Confident that every youngster would have equal knowledge to Thomas Aquinas, I called little Mary Beth to my side one Sunday and asked her, “Who is the Holy Spirit?”
In beautiful innocence, she responded, “I’m not sure, but I think it’s some kind of a bird.”

The Holy Spirit’s Descent at Jesus’ Baptism

Having been heavily influenced by religious illustrations, no one in the class chuckled – including me, because I was then, and am still now, unable to define the Holy Spirit. And I hope I stay that way.

The “spirit” of anything is impossible to define fully. “Spirit” has to be felt and lived in order to be made manifest. Trust me. Just try to define the “spirit” of your family, neighborhood, workplace, or team in 4000 words or fewer, as Aquinas attempted to define the Holy Spirit! (See Summa Theologiae, First Part, Section 36: https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1036.htm

When I think of the Holy Spirit, I think of Her as Divine Poetry, that inexpressible Presence that invisibly generates all life and truth – a Presence released in one’s life only by a full entrustment to faith, hope, and love – the gift of the sacrament of Confirmation.

Like poetry, relationship with the Holy Spirit changes one’s perception of reality. We see that, as with an iceberg, much of truth is hidden beneath life’s surface. The Holy Spirit allows us see with God’s eyes and God’s hope for the world. The “ordinary” becomes “gracefully extraordinary”. The new vision impels us to act as God would act in the world.

Percy Bysshe Shelley said this about poetry, and I think it holds for the Spirit as well:

“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world,
and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”

For me, a good way to pray with the Holy Spirit is to relish, line by line, the beautiful Pentecost Sequence. Find a phrase within the Sequence that most touches your heart and soul at this particular time in your life. Let go of definitions and invite that phrase to bless you with the Holy Spirit’s Love.

Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
From Your bright and blissful Home
Rays of healing light impart

Come, Defender of the poor
Source of gifts that will endure
Light of ev’ry human heart

You of all consolers best
Of the soul most kindly Guest
Quick’ning courage do bestow

In hard labor You are rest
In the heat You do refresh
And solace give in our woe

O most blessed Light divine
Let Your radiance in us shine
And our inmost being fill

Nothing good by man is thought
Nothing right by him is wrought
When he spurns Your gracious Will

Cleanse our souls from sinful stain
Lave our dryness with Your rain
Heal our wounds and mend our way

Bend the stubborn heart and will
Melt the frozen, warm the chill
Guide the steps that go astray

On the faithful who in Thee
Trust with childlike piety
Deign Your sevenfold gift to send

Give them virtue’s rich increase
Saving grace to die in peace
Give them joys that never end
Amen. Alleluia

Music: The Pentecost Sequence, sung by the Church of the Holy Family in Katong, Singapore

Suggested Scripture: Acts 2:1-4

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Love Afire

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Creation, Discipleship, Faith, holiness, Love, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

Feast of St. Catherine of Siena
April 29, 2026

Today, we celebrate the feast of the great St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church. Her title means that, by her life and writings, her spiritual wisdom has substantially influenced Catholic theology and doctrine.

Billions of people have been baptized as Catholics, but only thirty-eight of them have been given this title. Of those thirty-eight, only four are women. Catherine’s sisters with this status are Teresa of Ávila, Thérèse of Lisieux, and Hildegard of Bingen. Many of us know their stories and have read some of their writing. Of them, the one least familiar to me is Catherine. So, I set out to learn more about her.

Like her three companions, Catherine was a woman of extremes – extreme intelligence, behaviors, choices, and declarations. She had twenty-five siblings, which should have made her mother a saint, in my opinion! When she was just twelve years old, Catherine dedicated her virginity to God, and at sixteen, became a Dominican lay sister. She spent three teenage years in seclusion in her own home, followed stringent dietary customs, and experienced spiritual ecstasy.

These extremes, and historical distance, might make her seem quite different from us, maybe even a little eccentric. But to learn from her, we must meet her on her own terms and in her own time, not within the frame of our modern perspectives.

Like any young person, as Catherine grew into the faith, she absorbed the customs of her culture. The Church was the dominant force in medieval daily life, serving as the spiritual, political, and communal master. Early in Catherine’s development, she was influenced by 14th century Church practices such as protracted solitude, strict fasting, and intense meditation.

Catherine of Siena
by Francesco Vanni – 1566

But as Catherine matured, she emerged from these extremes with a profound relationship with God and God’s Creation. She had developed an exquisite sensitivity to the needs of her society’s poor and outcast, in whom she saw Christ. Her confident relationship with God and deep love of the Church allowed her to speak truth to power, shaping both the theological enlightenment of her times and the historical evolution of the papacy.

Catherine of Siena, negotiating with Pope Gregory XI on behalf of the Florentines
by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale

So, I ask myself what Catherine can say to me from the distance of six hundred years and some outdated spiritual practices! Here’s what I came up with:
• To grow close to God, we must give sincere attention to our spiritual life, using the best guides available to us, and prioritizing it beyond all other considerations.
• Deep spiritual growth aligns us with Truth, and calls us to action on behalf of God’s People, especially the poor and marginalized.
• Prayer is a divine gift and should be the constant conversation of our lives. For that to happen, we must deepen our understanding of prayer and commit ourselves to its practice.

After my reflections, I feel I know Catherine a little bit better. I hope I have encouraged you to get to know her too.

Music: Set the World on Fire – Britt Nicole

This song gives a modern interpretation of Catherine of Siena’s famous quote: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire“. 

Suggested Scripture: Romans 12:1-2

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For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Courage, Faith, Prayer, spirituality, Thanksgiving3 Comments

November 26, 2025

What is “grace”? I think it can be many things:

Saquon Barkley weaving through the opposing defense like an electric needle
Alysa Liu, her silver skates writing poetry
in the icy air.
Andrea Bocelli, embracing a world he cannot see
with the vision of song

Yard by yard, spin by spin, note by note, these graceful artists work their lovely craft.

This Thanksgiving Day, many families will begin their sumptuous meal with Grace, that humble awareness that all we are and have belongs to God. At some tables, the youngest will be appointed to say the blessing, encouraging them to recognize God’s gifts. Whoever offers the prayer, let the moment be a reminder for us of what true grace is.

Grace is an attitude of the heart that lives life gratefully. It is that constant, though sometimes silent, acknowledgement that I did not create myself, nor any of the gifts that bless my life. With kindness and respect, we see all life as gift, a reflection of Divine Generosity.

In a harsh world, where Life and Earth are often dismissed with irreverence and violence, Thanksgiving offers us the grace to reach deepened awareness and compassionate action.

Meister Eckhart, 14th-century mystic and theologian, said, “If the only prayer we say in our entire lives is ‘Thank You’ it is enough.” And it is enough. When we realize that gratitude is the only appropriate response to the awesome gift of life, that realization is enough to make us holy, happy, and wise. It is enough to let us live with true joy.

Thanksgiving Day, our all-American feast, is a time to gather family, friends, memories, and hopes, celebrating the community that embraces us. Even if the past year has brought a measure of loss or struggle, still we have been blessed with one another’s courage and support.

In a way, we become like the luminaries mentioned earlier. Through grace, we find the opening in the defensive walls around us. Through grace, we keep our footing in icy circumstances. Through grace, our lives create their own melody.

Don’t let the cascade of football games or preparations for Black Friday shopping obscure our appreciation for this holy time. Grace is the light of God’s life within us, and no darkness can ever extinguish it. Revere it on this beautiful holiday.

Tomorrow, as we give thanks for God’s gifts, let your gratitude be evident. It may take the form of a long-overdue reconciliation, or a private “thank you” for overlooked work. It may be a little extra help in the kitchen, or an offer to head the clean-up crew. It may even be volunteering to say the Grace with humility and hope. It may be a walk after dinner with someone who needs your light. Whatever form your thanks takes, may it fill your heart – and the hearts of your family and friends – with renewed strength and love.

And thank you all sincerely for your kindness and encouragement in supporting me and this Lavish Mercy. Know that you are in my Thanksgiving prayers. ❤️ Renee

Music: The Thanksgiving Song – Ben Rector

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-23

Click for Scripture

Extraordinary Days

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, Hope, joy, Love, Mercy, Prayer, spirituality1 Comment

November 20, 2025

As we draw close to the Holy Season that will close our year, let’s welcome each final day as an extraordinary gift, grateful for the faith, hope, and love that sustain our lives.

Music: “Your Love” from “Once Upon A Time in the West” ” – by Ennio Morricone – performed by Hauser

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Reading: Lamentations 3:22-23

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Hold Hands

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Faith, Love, Poetry, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

September 14, 2025,

Think about this short poem:

Hold hands with your life.
Look it in the eyes.
There, in the stillness,
God is revealing the miracle
of knowing who you are.

But life can be hectic, can’t it? You might not have time to just “hold hands”, right?

Don’t you sometimes feel like Indiana Jones, running ahead of that huge boulder, trying to keep all your responsibilities from overwhelming you?  Or maybe you feel as if your life has run so far ahead of you that you’re racing to catch up to it, watching it turn into a dot on the far horizon.

Life wasn’t intended to be like either of these images.  Our lives are meant to be savored and lived in a deep awareness of our “present”. NOW is the only time we have.  The people we are with, the challenges and joys we experience in this moment – this is our life.  So many of us, running from the boulder or chasing the dot, let the beauty of our lives evade us.

When I see people holding hands, I am reminded to be still and to appreciate my life in the present.  It’s beautiful to see a couple walking hand in hand, breaking a new pattern in the fresh snow. They might be young, just beginning an unimaginable journey.   Or they might be elderly, having walked beside each other through miles of love and sacrifice, joy and sorrow.

I love to see a parent holding hands with their child.  The child may be small, reaching up for security, protection and comfort.  Or the parent may be old, reaching over for the same things.  What a blessing to be beside someone whose touch can sustain your life!

Prayer is a kind of holding hands – God reaching for us, and we for God. I tried to capture the experience in a poem I wrote many years ago:

Poem:  A Long Faith – Renee Yann, RSM

This is the way of love, perhaps
near the late summer,
when the fruit is full
and the air is still and warm,
when the passion of lovers
no longer rests against
the easy trigger
of adolescent spring,
but lumbers in the drowsy silence
where the bees hum—
where it is enough
to reach across the grass
and touch each other’s hand.

So hold hands with someone you love today, human or divine.  Slow each other down to a deep appreciation of the gift of life in this present moment. 

Music: Holding Hands – Creative Commons Instrumental Music

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Psalm 139:1-10

Click for Scripture

Monkey Bars

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

June 22, 2025

Verde – Guido and Maurizio De Angelis

When I was a little girl, I hated the monkey bars. I knew it was cool to be able to do them — but I wasn’t any good at it! I can remember jumping up to hang on to the first bar, and thinking, “O.K. — this is as far as I can go”! For me, it was really a challenge to loosen the grip on one of those secure, sweaty hands and reach out in both hope and anxiety for the next stabilizing bar.

I remember one particularly challenging day at the playground. It had rained heavily the night before, and the ground under the bars was a muddy mess. Big Jimmy, the neighborhood bully, had challenged me to a monkey bar duel. Within a flash of the challenge, he had powerfully swung his way from one end to the other. He stood egging me on from his place of success.

I tentatively climbed up and hung on the first bar. Painstakingly, I lurched my way to the second. My hands were slippery, nervous pools. As I stretched for the third bar, I felt my grip slipping. I tried to re-grab — but I couldn’t. I hung by the fingernails of one hand over a two-inch muddy pool. There seemed to be no hope!

Suddenly I felt two strong hands around my little waist. They lifted me so that I could regain my grasp and they supported me while I hand-over-handed my way to the end. My Uncle Joe, who had been passing by the playground, saw me struggling and had come to my assistance. Without words, he told Big Jimmy, who was three years my senior, that someday I would catch up to him. But until then, I needed a little help to negotiate some of my challenges.

We’re not little kids anymore, but we can still get unnerved by the demands of life and of the world at large. The once-lithe body that reached for the monkey bars may now struggle to get out of a chair. The “Uncle Joe” saviors may no longer magically appear to support us when we are uncertain. The “Big Jimmy” bullies may seem to have poisoned our political culture with violence and fear. Yes, sometimes growing up and growing old can be worrisome.

No matter how challenging or scary life’s passages, God accompanies and supports us. There is no circumstance so muddy that God will not carry us through. No matter how slippery our grip feels, God’s hands are at the center of our lives, holding us in unassailable grace. We can trust God infinitely more than even our “Uncle Joe”s.

Yes, life can sometimes feel like we are swinging from slippery monkey bars, but by trust and faith, we can invite God’s loving support to surprise and uplift us.

Music: You Raise Me Up – Josh Groban

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Psalm 28

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National Day of Prayer

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Creation, Faith, peace, Prayer, spirituality, Thanksgiving4 Comments

May 1, 2025

God Bless America

I know that readers of this blog are people of deep prayer.  Your faith, love, and generosity have built my spirit and lifted my heart many times.

On this National Day of Prayer, I encourage us all to focus on our deepest beliefs about what sustains us in life.  Ask that Source of Love, Peace, and Wisdom – by whatever Name you give – to heal our broken world and to make us people of truth, generosity, and goodness.

As we pray, remember those who struggle with life, with faith, with hope.  Wrap your prayer around their need this day.  If you are one who struggles today with these things, let your spirit hand that struggle over to the prayers of those who lift you up and to the Source of Life Who longs to embrace you.

The Creator and Source of Life wants to heal and encourage us all.  Today, in a more conscious way, let us seek that healing and encouragement together. In particular, let us pray for our nation and for our world, that we may find healing from the terrible divisions generated among us by political aggression and despotic greed.

Prose: from C.S. Lewis

For many years after my conversion, I never used any ready-made forms except the Lord’s Prayer. In fact, I tried to pray without words at all – not to verbalize the mental acts. Even in praying for others, I believe I tended to avoid their names and substituted mental images of them. I still think that the prayer without words is the best – if one can really achieve it.

Music: The Prayer – Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Click for Scripture

Abundance

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, joy, Love, Praise, Prayer, spirituality, Thanksgiving3 Comments

April 13, 2025

Pange Lingua

We are in the midst of the great Jewish and Christian holy days of Passover and Holy Week. 

During the Passover Seder meal, a beautiful prayer of gratitude is offered. It is called the “Dayenu” which means “It would have been enough”. The prayer recounts fifteen different gifts that God has given the Jewish people. After naming each gift, this phrase is repeated, “It would have been enough…”  To read the full Jewish prayer, click here: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/dayenu-it-would-have-been-enough/

The prayer is a celebration of the abundance of God toward us and toward all creation. For each of us, our personal translation might be something like this: 

  • Not just the sun and moon, which would have been enough, – but also stars, planets, comets, quasars … 
  • Not just a robin, which would have been enough, – but also a blue jay, hummingbird, parrot, stork, flamingo … 
  • Not just my breath, which would have been enough, – but also my ability to move, to think, to love, to choose, to bless … 
  • Not just my parents, which would have been enough, — but also my siblings, my spouse, my children, my grandchildren, my friends,,,
  • Not just my humanity, which would have been enough, – but also the rich humanity of every race, ethnicity, color, culture and personality …. 

As Jews and Christians, we will spend time this week remembering our lifelong passage through grace to freedom. But whatever our faith context, all of us can recognize God’s power in sustaining our lives through challenge and fear to bring us to light and life. 

Try today to count the gifts of the Creator’s abundance in your life. It will be impossible because they are infinite. Still, after each precious memory and name, we can breathe the blessing of the Dayenu: “It would have been enough.”

Music: Dayenu – Pagoda Online Learning

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 22:14-23

Click for Scripture

Loving a Whole God

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Creation, Faith, Love, Prayer, spiritualityLeave a comment

February 14, 2025

As we may think about love this Valentine’s Day, I offer one of my poems on a different aspect of love.

Rusalka, Op. 114: “Song to the Moon” · Antonín Dvořák
One bitter day in February
I sat inside a sunlit room,
made warm love to You in prayer,
and she passed outside my window,
the unhoused woman, dressed 
uncarefully against the wind,
steadied on a cane, 
though she was young.

She seemed searching for
a comfort, unavailable and undefined.
The wound of that impossibility
fell over her the way it falls
on every tender thing that cries
but is not gathered to a caring breast.
Suddenly she was a single
anguished seed of You,
fallen into all created things.

Re-entering prayer,
I wear the thought of her
like old earth wears fresh rain.
I’ve misconstrued You,
Holy One, to whom
I open my heart
like a yearning field,
Holy One, already ripe within
her barest, leanest yearning.

Music: Teach Me to Love- Steve Green (Good song, but sorry for the non-inclusive language)

For Your Reflection

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Luke 8:43-48

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Party Line

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Prayer, spirituality12 Comments

December 1, 2024
First Sunday of Advent

by Richard Clayderman

Click the white arrowhead to the left above for some relaxing music while you read. 
You may repeat click if you wish. Click double bars to stop.

In today’s cell phone-saturated culture, it seems hard to believe that, in the years just after WWII, not every household had a phone.  A nice little living could be made as a “runner”, a kid who answered the phone at the corner drugstore and then ran to a neighborhood house to tell someone they had a call.  By the time that neighbor got back to take the call, a good ten minutes might have passed.  It was definitely not an “instant society”.

Our house was lucky enough to have a phone, but we shared a “party line”.  There was a family at the end of the block who used the same phone line as we did.  I was taught as a little girl to very gently lift the receiver when I made a call, just in case Mr. Lambing was already on the phone.  He often was, which meant that our family could not receive or make calls.  Someone else had the line.

Sometimes that’s a good description of our relationship with God and our spirituality. Even though a direct line is available to us, we opt to share that line with a thousand other distractions.  In this season, many of us find ourselves remembering to reflect or pray only after we have shopped, cooked, cleaned, mounted the snow tires, and put in the storm windows.  When we think about lifting the receiver to talk with our souls, somebody else is already on the line – maybe somebody named  “Mercedes Benz”, “J.C. Penney” or “Jim Beam”.

In the Christian tradition, we begin the season of Advent today.  It is a time of waiting, preparation, and hope for the coming of God’s grace in our lives.  Every religious tradition has such times:  Ramadan, Lent, the Jewish holy days of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur.  Like these, Advent is a time to remember our deep relationship to our Creator and to freshen that intimacy through prayer and acts of generosity.  

We need to remember that we are “blue-toothed” into God’s heart.  We are like the people who wear those earbuds (who we thought were talking to us in the airport or supermarket.)  We are so connected to God that all we have to do is let our hearts speak and God hears us. The challenge is that many of us have forgotten how to understand the answering language of God – the language of trust, patience, receptivity, clarity, wisdom, and silence.  Sometimes, it’s really, really hard to find God’s message in the garble of our lives.  It may seem like all we hear is the static of strained relationships, economic challenges, or unrealized dreams.  But deep inside even all of that, God’s Word is seeking us with a message of unconditional love.

In this Holy Season, whatever our religious tradition, let’s take the time to clear our “party lines” through prayer and quiet reflection, so that all God has to do is speak – maybe through the beauty of a starlit winter night, or the gift of an honest, loving conversation, or the blessed recognition that most of us really already have everything we need – so that all God has to do is speak and we will hear.

For Your Reflection:

  • What feelings or reactions do I have after reading this reflection?
  • Do my feelings or reactions remind me of any passage or event in scripture, especially in the life of Christ? 
  • What actions might I take today because of my response to these readings?

Suggested Scripture: Psalm 25 from Today’s Liturgy

Click here for Psalm 25