Category: spirituality

Believe and Persevere

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality4 Comments

Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

October 16, 2022

(Sorry for my late and truncated post today. Just returned from vacation and got a little off track.)

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings encourage us never to weary in our faith and prayer.

Ps121 lift hands

Look at Moses in our first reading! He keeps his hands raised in supplication throughout the entire battle, albeit with a little help from his friends.

This is a good reminder for us of the gift and importance of a praying community. There are times in every life when we need someone to hold us up in prayer.

In our second reading, Paul counsels Timothy never to grow weary in the pursuit of his ministry. 

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,
… proclaim the word;
be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient…

And in our Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the importune widow, who kept after the judge until she got the answer she wanted. Luke includes this information:

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always 
without becoming weary. 

-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
wentyIf a dishonest judge can be moved by persistence to grant justice, how much more will God do so for those God loves?

The point? Not that if we bug God, we’ll get what we want. Rather it is to remind us to stay in steadfast relationship with God who is always revealing the path of grace and wholeness to us.

So let’s take a clue from Moses. Let’s keep our hands up in faithful praise to God through all the blessings and challenges of our lives. By doing so, we will receive peace far beyond our persistent questions and concerns.

Total Praise – Richard Smallwood, sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills
Knowing my health is coming from You
Your peace You give me in times of the storm

You are the source of my strength, Hallelujah
And You are the strength of my life, yes You are
I lift my hands in total praise to You

Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills
Knowing my health is coming from You
Your peace, You give me in times of the storm

You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You

You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to

Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen

You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life

Pray for One Another

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Community, Faith, holiness, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Saturday, October 15, 2022

St. Teresa of Avila – François Gérard

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101522.cfm

Ephesians 1_18 Blessed be

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we read the magnificent Ephesians prayer, spoken by Paul over his beloved community — and over us.  The phrases are like sacred honey, each one to be individually savored and consumed.

  • I never cease giving thanks for you
  • May God give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation
  • May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened
  • May you know what is the hope that belongs to God’s call
  • … what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones
  • … and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe

Wow! What if we prayed for one another like that? What if we prayed for ourselves like that?

Sometimes we, and our companions on life’s journey, do require prayers for a specific need: recovery from illness, strength in a time of trial, courage in darkness.  

But we should pray for one another every day – a prayer that transcends specific needs – a prayer for wisdom, faith, understanding, and wild confidence in God’s loving  power in our lives.

Such a prayer, like Paul’s, helps create a web of spiritual resilience for our beloveds, around them and within them. This is the power of the Communion of Saints.

Let us pray like this for each other.

Poetry: some thoughts from today’s holy Wonder Woman, Teresa of Avila:

Each of us has a soul,
but we forget to value it.
We don’t remember
that we are creatures
made in the image of God.
We don’t understand
the great secrets
hidden inside of us.

Music: Ephesians Hymn I, Suzanne Toolan, RSM

Lift Your Heart in Praise!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, friendship, holiness, spirituality2 Comments

Friday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 14, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101422.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Paul tells us that we were created “for the praise of God’s glory”. Paul emphasizes the phrase by using it twice in the first reading.

so that we might exist for the praise of his glory,
we who first hoped in Christ.

the first installment of our inheritance
toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory.

praise

Thinking about the prayer of praise may remind us of the four types of prayer we learned by nemonic as a child: ACTS.

  • Adoration
  • Contrition 
  • Thanksgiving 
  • Supplication 

The last three types are prayers centered in the self. They express my regrets, my gratitude, and my needs.  But the first type, Adoration, is centered on God – a prayer of awe and absorption into God’s Presence.

That kind of prayer is so important to deepening our relationship with God. We can understand why just by considering our human relationships.  

In order to love someone deeply and intimately, we have to forget ourselves and allow ourselves to embrace their reality. It’s very hard to do this. We are naturally self-centered and self-concerned. But through generosity, intentionality and self-sacrifice, we can learn to love unselfishly.

We can learn to love God like this too. Our prayer of adoration may be a shared silence with God. It may be simple phrases we offer in the awareness of God’s Being, as we breathe the breath of God’s life: 

  • You are Beauty….
  • You are Life….
  • You are Mercy….
  • You are Love…
  • You are…

We let go of time and purpose. We give ourselves to the One who sustains us.

We don’t ask for anything, say thanks or sorry for anything. We simply absorb God’s Presence and return it in praise. 

If we feel the need for words to begin this prayer, we might use the first phrases of an old, beloved mantra – the Divine Praises. Here’s my translation:

Blessed are You, precious God.
Blessed is your Holy Name.
Blessed are dear Jesus, truly God, truly human.
Blessed is your holy Name.
Blessed is your Sacred Heart.
Blessed is your Precious Blood.

…. and then go on with your personal praises to bless God:
blessed is your Presence in my Life
… your call to my heart
… your peace in my turmoils…..

Poetry: from Rumi

To praise
is to praise how
one surrenders
to the emptiness.

Music: We Praise You, O Lord ~ The Dameans

Every Spiritual Blessing

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

Thursday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 13, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101322.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, as we pray with Paul’s beautiful Ephesians hymn, I would like to take a little different tack with my daily reflection. Although you are reading this around October 12th or 13th, I am writing it on October 2nd. I am in Sea Isle City finishing up an eight-day retreat with Clare D’Auria, a Sister of St. Francis who is filled with the Holy Spirit. Hurricane Ian is wagging its tail outside my window with downpours of rain and 30-40 MPH winds. But my spirit is quiet, still, blessed and grateful.

Then, as I read, I am given the amazing further gift of this passage:

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.

In Christ we have redemption by his Blood,
the forgiveness of transgressions,
in accord with the riches of his grace that he lavished upon us.
In all wisdom and insight, he has made known to us
the mystery of his will in accord with his favor
that he set forth in him as a plan for the fullness of times,
to sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth.

Ephesians 1:1-10

My dear readers, in heaven’s name, what more could be said!!!!!

I simply read these verses today, taking them phrase by phrase, letting their grace sink into my spirit, lifting my whole being in reverence and gratitude. I encourage you to do the same.

Spicing Up Your Spirit

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

Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 12, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101222.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings continue the theme of sincere faith versus hypocritical practices.

Paul really lets the Galatian community have it. Apparently, their behavior had slipped pretty low!  Paul’s list of things to be avoided contains some shocking stuff, like orgies, bursts of fury, and drinking bouts. Sounds bad! A lot worse, I hope, than any list he might make about us if he were writing now. I wonder?

Lk 11_42 spices

In our Gospel, Jesus lets loose on some of the Pharisees too. He points out that they practice the tiniest, visible observances so that people see them as holy. But they ignore the more important requirements of love, justice and mercy. In other words, they look good but don’t do good.

As we pray with these readings, we could try to address the small hypocrisies in our own lives – a kind of “weed the garden” approach. Surely it would help our spiritual life to get rid of anything like orgies, fury and drunkenness. But I think most of us, dear readers, are pretty much beyond that. 

I prefer to take my cues from Paul’s accompanying list of virtues to be pursued: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. How obvious are these things in my life? When I rest my head on the pillow at night, are these the things I remember about my day? Have I given these gifts to others? Have I received them with gratitude?

As we read about the tithes of mint, rue and other garden herbs, the cooks among us might like to imagine life as a great bouillabaisse, perfectly seasoned for God with all the spices on Paul’s menu. What little herb do you need to add right now?

Poetry: from “Lines Scribbled on an Envelope While Riding the 104 Broadway Bus” by Madeleine L’Engle

There is too much pain
I cannot understand
I cannot pray
Here I am
and the ugly man with beery breath beside me reminds me that
it is not my prayers that waken your concern, my Lord;
my prayers, my intercessions are not to ask for your love
for all your lost and lonely ones,
your sick and sinning souls,
but mine, my love, my acceptance of your love.
Your love for the woman sticking her umbrella and her expensive
parcels into my ribs and snarling, “Why don’t you watch where
you’re going?”
Your love for me, too, too tired to look with love,
too tired to look at Love, at you, in every person on the bus.
Expand my love, Lord, so I can help to bear the pain…

Music: The Fruits of the Spirit ~ Selah

Hypocrisy! Oh, no!

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

Tuesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 11, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101122.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings challenge religious and moral hypocrisy.

Lk.11_39 dirty cup

Paul, in his continuing letter to the Galatians, counsels them about the practice of circumcision. But his counseling is really about freedom in Christ. 

In Paul’s time, circumcision had religious significance as a sign of inclusion in the Jewish nation. Some Jewish Christians mistakenly taught that a Gentile must first become a Jew, through the law of circumcision, in order to become a Christian.

Paul condemns this error, reminding the Galatians that the grace given to us in Christ is beyond the Law.

For in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything,
but only faith working through love.

In the Gospel, Jesus condemns any religious practice that is empty and just for show.  He compares such rituals to cups, whose clean exterior hides a corrupt interior. Jesus says that the remedy to this hidden nastiness is to give alms, to be merciful.

We are all aware of pharisaical behavior within our religious institutions. We have seen disgusting evidence of it in sexual predation among clergy. We see it when exaggerated religious rituals are substituted for sincere, communal worship. We see it when the small, visible mistakes of others are used to hide the gaping faithlessness of the condemner. Sometimes, we are even caught in the judgmental nets these pretenses spin.

When we are confused by such situations, look to the words of Jesus and Paul today:

Look for faith working through love.
Look for a generous heart that sees and comforts the poor.

If our “religious” observance results in any form of exclusion, prejudice, condemnation or unforgiveness, we can be sure it is not of God.

Poetry: by Omar Khayyam

If you will listen to me, 
I will give you some advice:
[Here it is] 
For the love of God 
put not on the mantle
of hypocrisy. 
Eternity is for all time, 
and this world
is but an instant. 
Then sell not for an instant 
the empire
of eternity.

Music: Purify My Heart ~ Brian Doerksen

The Divine Song of Light and Dark

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Creation, Faith, spirituality8 Comments

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time
October 10, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/101022.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 113, a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, focusing our praise on the Name of the Lord.

Praise, you servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD.
Blessed be the name of the LORD
both now and forever.Psalm 113:1-2

A particularly beautiful dynamic emerges in the following verse:

From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the Name of the LORD to be praised.
High above all nations is the LORD;
above the heavens is his glory.Psalm 113:3-4

Praying this verse, we might picture the sun slowly lighting and darkening the contrapuntal curves of the earth.

Within that inverse yet complementary rhythm, the morning and evening prayers of believers encircle the globe. The whole Church, the Communion of Saints, each takes up its part in the prayerful caress of our world.

As I go to sleep at night, I know someone is waking on the other side of the world with the Holy Name on her lips. When I rise in the morning, I lift that song from the semi-darkness to offer my part to the Great Embrace.

Each morning and evening, I pray for my blog followers, thinking of their moment in this universal prayer. I imagine that prayer dawning near St. Barbara Catholic School in Guam, then drifting westward to Australia, Uzbekistan, Rome, and the little village of Hampstead Norreys, England.

I see it reach the shores of the Americas, deepening as it resounds in various languages through Rio de Janeiro, Haiti, Guyana, and Chulucanas, Peru.

I feel the warm healing of God’s Name prayed over my own country from Silver Spring, MD to McAllen, TX; from Dubuque, IA to Sacramento, then on again over the Pacific.

As each of us joins this global song of praise, let us be aware of the Infinite Power Who holds us all within the Divine Song – beyond time, beyond borders, beyond space, beyond any comprehension but Love.

Praise the Lord,
the Unnamable, the All-Perfect, the Inconceivable, 
who, higher than the highest heavens, 
stoops to the lowest of the low, 
who raises the poor from the dunghill 
and lifts the wretched from the dust, 
who grants them an infinite abundance 
and showers them with all good things.

from A Book of Psalm Selections Adapted from the Hebrew by Stephen Mitchell

Music:  Praise the Lord, Psalm 113 – Blanca Vega and Roby Duke

You Overwhelm Me

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 9, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100922.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, two significant themes in our readings are gift-giving and gratitude.

In our first reading Naaman, a pretty hot-shot Syrian commander, is a leper. He takes the advice of a captured Israel slave girl who encourages Naaman to seek a cure from Elisa the prophet.

As Naaman approaches, Elisha sends word  to rinse in the Jordan. Naaman, who is obviously accustomed to personalized subservience, is not happy with Elisha’s absentee advice. Angry, Naaman sets out for home. But his servants encourage him to cool down and to act on Elisha’s instructions. 

Naaman receives the cure and he promises, half-heartedly, to from henceforth worship Yahweh. He then asks what he can pay for the gift of the cure. Elisha responds that there is no payment .

Notice: Naaman never says “Thank you”. Instead, he wants to pay, to owe nothing for the immense gift he has received. He doesn’t want to be beholden, even to God.

Elisha, in so many words, tells Naaman: What I was blessed to convey to you comes from God. The power is God’s. I am the instrument. You can’t buy or own it. I can’t sell it. It’s God’s – freely given.

2Tim2_9JPG

Paul repeats the theme to Timothy: the Word of God is not chained. God’s power, grace, and healing are given freely. We cannot earn them buy, them, control them, or ever thank God enough for them. But we should try.

In our Gospel, only one cured leper – a Samaritan – has the sense and humility to try to thank Jesus. Born of his faith, that gratitude saves him.

God is Infinite Gift. God’s love pours over us spontaneously and continually to bring us to wholeness. God can’t help loving us and hoping for our completeness in grace.

May we be delivered from any speck of entitlement, indifference, arrogance, or ingratitude in the face of such Goodness!

Poetry: song for our poem today – Sarah Kelly – You Overwhelm Me

Music:  Thank You, Lord – Don Moen

Clothed in Grace and Kindness

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spiritualityLeave a comment

Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
October 8, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100822.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Paul continues opening the minds and hearts of the Galatians to their new Christian identity. It is one inspired and impelled by faith rather than by mere observance of laws.

There are times when all religions, and some of their followers, still struggle with this truth. External observance is sometimes invoked as a measure of holiness or faithfulness. But law will never trump Love.

Just as in any human relationship, we cannot measure love and devotion by external signs. We can send a beloved bushels of flowers, but if our heart is distracted and lukewarm those flowers are a mockery.

Our Gospel tells us that the true measure of our devotion is how responsive we are to God’s Word – how “clothed” we are in Christ. The Psalm today invites us to “glory in God’s Holy Name”. We are to rest our souls in God, the way we might sink our sore body into a warm, healing bath. We are to “clothe” ourselves in the portion of God’s glory inherited through our Baptism.

I absolutely love the picture I’m sharing today. My grand-nephew stands in a stream of refreshing water, totally clothed in freedom, delighted and joyful. 

Ps 105_RG Glory

We stand in such a fountain of God’s infinite love and grace. May we glory in it, be healed by it, be enlivened by it, be a living blessing because of it.

Poetry: Kindness -Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Music: A precious song by John Nuttall – I Delight in You

Mary, Vessel of Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Mary, spiritualityLeave a comment

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
October 7, 2022

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100722.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we encounter readings that are probably not among anyone’s favorites. In the epistle, Paul is trying to demonstrate to the Galatians how blessed they are to have inherited the promise given to Abraham. 

In the Gospel, there is a lot of talk about evil spirits, divided kingdoms, and good old Beelzebub. It’s not really a day when you’ll say, “Gosh, those readings inspired me!”

Is it worth sticking with the daily readings in such a case?  I think so.

Ps111_grateful heart

There is always a string lying among these sacred words that we can tie to our own hearts. For me today, that string is wrapped around the Responsorial Psalm:

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart.

Just as the Galatians have inherited God’s promise, so have we. Just as the Kingdom of God has come upon Jesus’ followers, it has come upon us. God’s fidelity remains with us through all the “demons” that might annoy or threaten us. God’s graciousness has already redeemed us for an eternal life beyond their reach.

So let’s have intentionally grateful hearts today. Everything – yes, everything – in our lives is a gift, if we but have the grace to unwrap it with humility, openness and gratitude.

On this day when we pray in a special way to Our Lady of the Rosary, we can take the opportunity, while fingering our beads, to relive her life with her. We talk with her about the major mysteries of our own lives which have invited us to birth Christ into our own times and experiences.

Poetry: Theotokos – Malcolm Guite

You bore for me the One who came to bless
And bear for all and make the broken whole.
You heard His call and in your open ‘yes’
You spoke aloud for every living soul.
Oh gracious Lady, child of your own child,
Whose mother-love still calls the child in me,
Call me again, for I am lost, and  wild
Waves suround me now. On this dark sea
Shine as a star and call me to the shore.
Open the door that all my sins would close
And hold me in your garden. Let me share
The prayer that folds the petals of the Rose.
Enfold me too in Love’s last mystery
And bring me to the One you bore for me.

Music: Give Thanks ~Don Moen