Category: spirituality

Come, Holy Spirit!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Holy Spirit, Love, spiritualityLeave a comment

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/052018-mass-during-day.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit comes to us to remain with us forever. May we open our hearts and souls to this infinite power of God within us!

Pentecost

The Pentecost Sequence is so beautiful.  You might like to find the phrase within the Sequence that most touches your heart and soul at this particular time in your life. Let that phrase bless you with the Holy Spirit’s Love.

May this be our prayer for today and the days to come:
Come, O Holy Spirit, come!
From Your bright and blissful Home
Rays of healing light impart. 

Come, Father 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 refresh best,
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 You,
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 in beautiful Gregorian Chant

What About the Other Guy?

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, Jesus, spirituality2 Comments

Saturday, May 19, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/051918.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we walk with the Risen Jesus and his dearest disciples along the seashore.  Jesus has just cooked breakfast for the fellas.  He then tells Peter that he is to take Jesus’ place as “shepherd of the lambs and sheep”. Jesus tells Peter that he is to follow in the way of Jesus.  That’s a pretty profound command! Peter knows full well what happened to Jesus.

And dear, earthy, impulsive Peter, turns aside distractedly and notices John.  Peter says, “What about him?” You can almost see Jesus take hold of Peter’s face, turn his eyes directly into Jesus’ own eyes and say, ”Pay attention.  I’m talking to YOU – not him.”

We can love Peter because we’ve all been like him numerous times in our lives.  God is calling, or giving us a message and we distract ourselves from its power by worrying about things that are unimportant or none of our business. We start asking a million questions when there is only one answer: respond with trust.

Jesus’ final words to Peter are ones we might ponder: ”You follow me.”  The implication is that, if we do, then God will take care of the other guy – and everything else.

John 21_21

Music: Follow Me  by Casting Crowns

In this song, you will hear echoes of Jesus’ call to many people throughout the Gospel: the first disciples, the woman taken in adultery, the good thief and, perhaps, even to us.

To Love Like God

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Jesus, Love, spirituality, Uncategorized3 Comments

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/050618.cfm

Today, in Mercy, in our readings from John’s letter and from his Gospel, we again see the reiteration of Jesus’ most important message: Love one another.  It sounds so easy and sweet, but it is so difficult to love as Jesus loves – without judgment or the expectation of recompense; without reserve and without preference. It is so hard to continue to love when love is met with indifference, arrogance or even hate. Still Jesus asks us to love as He does – to will the eternal good of every person and to foster it by our actions. May we have the grace to keep on trying.

as I have loved you

God’s Indwelling Love

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, Love, spirituality2 Comments

Monday, April 30, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/043018.cfm

Today, in Mercy, we are with Jesus as he continues to prepare his disciples for his departure. Jesus assures them that, if they keep his commandments, they will never be alone. Their faithfulness will allow the Presence of God to infuse their lives. We know when we have encountered someone whose life is filled with God. They don’t have to preach it – it pours out from them in kindness, peace and strength. May we welcome that Presence into our hearts by loving God and our neighbor.

How’s Your Vine-Connection?

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

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042918.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Jesus enjoins us to remain in Him. It is a word choice that indicates that we already are in Christ, and have only to “hang in there”, so to speak. We can picture Jesus sitting in the Judean countryside, talking with his followers, as He fingers a wild green vine growing on the hillside. Such a vine can endure the severities of temperature, weather and time. But we might also picture Jesus breaking off a tendril of the vine and casting it into the dry dirt. His listeners see the lesson. No words necessary. Apart from God, our spirit cannot thrive. Let’s check our “vine-connection” today to nurture it where necessary.

Blushing a Little

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Jesus, spirituality, Thanksgiving1 Comment

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/042818.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Philip kind of puts his foot in his mouth. He tells Jesus, “Show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Oh, really? Is that all, Philip? It seems like that might be enough for just about anybody, don’t you think?

And Jesus sticks it to Philip a little, “Have I been so long with you and yet you do not know Me? The Father and I are one.”

We might hear Jesus’ question echo in our hearts. Has God been with us throughout our lives and we are still slow to recognize His Presence? Do we need to wake up like Philip in order to see the face of God in nature, in our loved ones, in the joys and sorrows of our life, in all Creation? Has God already shown us more than enough to help us love and believe in Him? Maybe, blushing a little like Philip, we just need to say, “Thank You!”

The “Scriptures of Our Lives”

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, joy, spirituality, Thanksgiving2 Comments

Thursday, April 26, 2018

Readings: Acts 13:13-25; Psalm 89; John 13:16-20

Today, in Mercy, our readings continue to extol the blessings of salvation history as it culminates in the Resurrection. In Acts, Paul recounts God’s presence throughout the Jewish Scriptures . In John’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about the fulfillment of these scriptures in Himself. Psalm 89 allows us to offer thanks for God’s presence throughout the “scriptures of our lives.” Are there times in your life when you remember God’s presence most gratefully? Are there times God has carried you through to salvation? Mary sang her thanks so beautifully that I thought our prayer would be blessed by a song about her.

The Gift Already Given

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Eternal Life, Love, spirituality2 Comments

Wednesday, April 18, 2018:

Readings: Acts 8:1-8; Ps. 66:1-6; John 6:25-40

Today, in Mercy, Jesus talks about hunger. But He doesn’t mean the longing for steak, or bread, or chocolate. Jesus is talking about that profound hunger to really live, to deeply love and be loved, to make a difference with our lives. These hungers can be satisfied only in that invisible, mysterious place where the soul is inextricably tied to God. This is the place of eternal life where, from the moment God breathed life into us, we were marked forever as God’s own. We can get so mixed up about our emptiness! We try to fill it with money, fame, material goods, sex and power. While the only Gift that can ever fill it has already been given! (For your quiet reflection, Boccherini”s Cello Concerto in D major, G. 479 – II. Adagio, by famed late cellist Mstoslav Rostropovich)

Let the Leaves Fall

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn dying, Faith, Hope, Mercy, spirituality3 Comments

Tuesday, April 17, 2018: Today, in Mercy, we again pray with Stephen, who echoes the forgiving voice of Jesus as he gives up his life. How could Stephen, how could Jesus, forgive their murderers? In their dying, how could they turn their spirits toward God in love and hope? Jesus and Steven had already given their lives completely to God – throughout all their joyful and sorrowful seasons. When the time came for the leaves to finally fall, their spirits were convinced that God’s life in them would abide.

We face many small deaths in our lives before our final hour. As we learn to let the leaves fall into God’s renewing love and Mercy, we grow more like Jesus. We are filled with the power of God’s freedom and Light. ( The song is not my favorite genre, but it is very powerful, I think.)

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