Today, in Mercy, we celebrate the Birthday of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
It is a special day for me and many of my Sisters, as September 8th was one of the traditional entrance dates for young women joining the community.Fifty-five years ago, the sun rose bright as gold at my bedroom window. Its rays fell along the hem of my long, black postulant’s dress hanging in expectation on the door.
On that day, I would step into an unwritten future, every possibility already joyfully given to God. Like Mary, I and my companions were being born into a God-destined life. It was a thrilling moment for me.
Taken about nine months after Entrance Day. ( Notice the guy still crying in the back!)
What I really didn’t think about that day was my mother. Yes, there was joy, but there was some pain watching me be born into a second life beyond her.
On this Feastday, I think about St. Anne and wonder what blessings and hopes she whispered over young Mary. I think about how Anne felt as she watched Mary choose her own path to God; how she felt as Mary’s awesome life unfolded. And I pray in thanksgiving for my own mother.
This morning, I stand in amazed and humble gratitude to see time’s long cast over the years. Decades seem folded into moments, a thousand stories bound in a single, grateful prayer. God, indeed, has dealt bountifully with me. But somehow I believe that God was encouraged to do so by my mother. 🤗🙏
The music today may seem an unusual choice, but I think it captures a hope every loving mother has for her child. Anne may have hummed the hope over Mary in Aramaic tones; my mother over me in a 1940’s ballad. May we sing a melody of grace over all our children, freeing and blessing them to dance with God.
Blessings and love to my “Band of Sisters”, shown here as we marked our Golden Jubilee five years ago. (Missing our dear Arizona contingent who was unable to join us that day.)
May you continue to be bountifully blessed, beloved companions in Mercy!
Today, in Mercy, Jesus offers the Pharisees “new wine”, the freedom of his law of love over their accustomed law of requirements.
Have you ever found yourself in circumstances where you’re saying or hearing things like this:
It’s the law
That’s the way we’ve always done it
Sorry. They’re the rules.
Doesn’t matter. No exceptions.
In such situations, we are experiencing a code of limitations where we are defined either by what we must do or must not do.
The Pharisaical law had become such a code, its spirit and freedom worn away by ages of control, authoritarianism, and brittle institutionalization.
Jesus preaches the new law of love, which can sound a little squishy and self-indulgent at first, because our navel-gazing culture has so eviscerated the meaning of love.
But real Christian love is the hardest “code” we will ever practice. Patterned on Jesus’ life, it is a discipline of mercy, self-sacrifice, radical inclusivity, non-violence, and forgiveness. Such a love will die for the sake of the beloved’s life in God.
Drinking this “new wine” brings us a profound freedom in God Who loves us like this — but infinitely.
Today, in Mercy, our readings lead us to consider our call.
The call to discipleship comes to us within the other calls of our life: the call to be a good parent, spouse, sibling, child. It comes in the call to be a moral, values-driven employer; an honest, hard-working employee; a supportive, engaged co-worker. Christ asks us to mirror him as neighbor, friend, colleague, and citizen.
In whatever skill or profession we practice, Christ asks us to exercise it as he would – to choose, judge and behave as he would.
In our Gospel, the first disciples are astonished at the miracle of the fishes. Like a lightening bolt, that astonishment transforms their world view. They now see Christ as the Center of their lives. They drop their nets on the seashore. They leave everything to follow him.
What is it that we must leave to make Christ the center of our lives? What nets are we caught in that keep us from freeing the call within us?
We are challenged by a world filled with the entanglements of greed, destructive power, aggression, bigotry, lies, and political & social pretense. How much have these infected the purity of our desire to follow Jesus?
Music: Lord, You Have Come to the Seashore- Caesareo Gabarain
Lord, You have come to the seashore
Neither searching for…the rich nor the wise,…
desiring only…that I should follow Refrain:
O Lord, with your eyes set upon me,
gently smiling, you have spoken my name;
all I longed for I have found by the water.
At your side, I will seek other shores.
Lord, see my goods, my possessions;
in my boat you find…no power, no wealth…
Will you accept then…my nets and labor?
Lord,…take my hands and direct them
Help me spend myself in seeking the lost,…
returning love for…the love you gave me.
Lord,…as I drift on the waters…
be the resting place…of my restless heart,…
my life’s companion,…my friend and refuge.
Today, in Mercy, both Paul and Luke talk about ministry – our loving and merciful service to one another through prayer, word, and action.
Paul says this ministry must be humble and mutual. This is because all the good that any of us does comes from God, not from us.
Jesus shows us that our ministry must be immediate and practical, responding to the present needs of our sisters and brothers. You wouldn’t think Jesus had time to pay attention to Peter’s mother-in-law, but he did. Her need drew his ministry out of him.
You will meet your own “Peter’s mother-in-law” today – someone whose apparent need touches your goodness. They may need a smile, an encouragement, an invitation or a gentle correction from you. They may come to you from a distance, in a request for service or funding. They may come in news story crying out for your prayers or civic action.
People can be poor in many ways.Even the apparently free can be held captive by hidden burdens. Sometimes these burdens hide under a false bravado, impudence, indifference, or pride that make it difficult to pity their bearers.
We will meet these people in our families, workplaces, schools and neighborhoods.
Our response should reflect the humble and spontaneous Mercy and Love of Jesus who was always honest, respectful and kind. This is the ministry of every Christian because…
Music: Christ Has No Body Now But Yours ~ David Ogden
Today, in Mercy, we have an awesome first reading from Corinthians in which Paul assures us:
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
What joy to realize that God’s own Spirit dwells within us making us one with God, breath within Breath. We have that intimate comfort of knowing God as our dearest Friend, Confidant, and Lover.
Nothing in our lives falls outside God’s embrace and compassion. God’s kindness, graciousness and lavish mercy sustain and inspire us always to believe, to hope, and to love.
In thanksgiving, we pray today’s most fitting Psalm 145.
Music: The Lord Is Kind and Merciful – Jeanne Cotter; David Haas
Today, in Mercy, on this feast of Gregory the Great, our readings offer us this insight: in all things, it is the Spirit that matters –not appearances.
Paul reminds the Corinthians that he came among them frightened and weak, with unpersuasive and trembling words. But he preached beyond those appearances in “Spirit and power” so that their faith ultimately rested on God, not Paul.
In his hometown synagogue, Jesus tells his community that he is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy. They can’t accept it because they can’t get beyond the appearances of Jesus as humble, unexceptional neighbor. They are unable to recognize the Spirit and anointing in Jesus because they will not believe without miracles.
These readings call us to that deep, interior trust in God which is built on relationship not miracles. We must not be like those who love only because of what they are given. We must love because of what we know and cherish – a deep, interior binding to God’s heart and will Who loved us first, and will love us always.
The song below was written by a 24-year old mother, feeling a little lost and tested in her faith. She asked God for the words to pray. This simple mantra came to her. You might like it for your mantra today.
Music: I Love You, Lord ~ written by Laurie Klein, sung here by Maranatha Singers
Today, in Mercy,In our first reading, James writes elegantly to his community. He reminds them and us that all gifts originate in our changeless, loving God Who breathed us to life from his infinite and Lavish Mercy.
Then James just so simply enjoins is:
So hear God’s Word of Love in your hearts
Be good by doing good for the afflicted
James says that doing this is “religion pure and undefined”.
In our Gospel, Jesus reinforces this truth. The Pharisees want to condemn Jesus and the disciples for breaking a ritual hand-washing rule. Jesus says those human rules are lip-worship. What God wants is a loving and sincere heart proven by loving and sincere deeds.
On this first Sunday in September, let us rejoice in the gifts God has given us- life, faith, the ability to love and hope. Let us reach out by prayer and service to those who might be blessed by our sharing.
That reach can be so simple: a smile, a phone call, a small courtesy, a solitary prayer. Or it can be huge: a long-delayed forgiveness, a turning from unhealthy or unholy behaviors, a commitment to faith and service. We ask the Father of Lights to inspire us.
This paragraph was left out of this morning’s reflection due to my being half-asleep yesterday.
If you insert it before the third paragraph, all might make more sense.🤗
I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for following my blog! ❤️
On the surface, the parable seems to be about wealth – in any form, and how we use it for God’s glory. But on a deeper level, it is about what keeps us from using our talents effectively: fear of failure, laziness, selfishness and just plain blindness to the gifts we have been given.
Today, in Mercy, Paul encourages us to consider our calling to discipleship. He makes it clear that we are humble recipients of God’s generosity. We owe everything that we are, and every gift that we have, to God.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that we must use these gifts for the building up of God’s Presence in all Creation. The parable condemns the one who buries his talent rather than shares and increases it.
True humility can free us of these obstacles. Recognizing that it is “due to God’s grace that we are in Christ Jesus”, we shift our focus from self-concern to concern for God’s Creation. We invest our talents in the works of Mercy so that the God’s riches flourish in us and in those whom we love and serve. This is the community of faith to which we are called to be vigorous contributors of our talents, no matter how humble they may seem to us.
Enjoy this lovely instrumental selection as you consider the many gifts God has given you.
Music: Due Tramonti (Two Sunsets) ~ Ludovico Einaudi
Lavish Mercy 