Bridges

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Faith, Gospel, ordinary time, spiritualityLeave a comment

Wednesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
January 10, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011024.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we read about God’s call of Samuel, Hannah’s son.

New things are about to happen in Israel. The People have lived under the questionable leadership of a series of Judges. But now, threats from inside and outside loom. So God chooses to move in a new way among the community.

1Sam speak Lord

Samuel is going to be God’s bridge to that new way. In today’s reading and subsequent verses, he hears God’s call, listens, receives a vision, and prophesies to Eli.

In our reading from Mark, Jesus is the Divine Bridge to a new reality. Early now in his ministry, his call is blossoming in his heart, as he realizes that he must go all over Israel preaching and healing.

When Simon told Jesus the local villagers were looking for him, Jesus told them,

“Let us go on to the nearby villages
that I may preach there also.
For this purpose have I come.”
So he went into their synagogues,
preaching and driving out demons
throughout the whole of Galilee.”

Mark 1:38-39

Jesus continues his healing and enlightening mission through all who call themselves Christian. He calls each of us in different ways to be a “Bridge” with him to the Reign of God.

How are we hearing and listening to our particular call every day? Maybe, like Samuel, by the time God calls us three times, we may understand!😉

Music: Two songs today and no poem.

Since I mentioned “bridge”, I can’t help including one of my favorite songs, Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel. It’s not really a religious song, but their popular song actually was inspired by a great Gospel song,  Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep and its one freely interpreted verse very near the end: “I’ll be your bridge over deep water/If you trust in my name.’ 

Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep (Lyrics below. They are VERY liberally interpreted by these wonderful Gospel singers.)

Lord, I’m singing . . . (solo)
Oh, Mary, don’t you weep. (group)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (group)
Listen, Mary, (solo)
Oh, Mary, don’t you weep. (group)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (group)
Pharaoh’s army, (solo)
Oh, Mary, don’t you weep. (group)
They got drownded in the sea, (solo)
Drowned in the Red Sea. (group)
Jesus said, Mary, (solo)
Oh, Mary, don’t you weep. (group)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (group)
Can’t you hear me singing, Mary? (solo)
Oh, Mary don’t you weep. (group)
I want you to know, Martha don’t have to mourn. (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (group)
Oh, listen, Mary, (solo)
Oh, Mary don’t you weep. (group)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (group)
Pharaoh’s army, (solo)
Oh, Mary, don’t you weep, (group)
They got drownded in the sea, (solo)
Drowned in the Red Sea. (group)
Jesus said, Mary, (solo)
Oh, Mary don’t you weep, (group)
Tell Martha not to mourn, (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn, (group)
Lord, and if I could tonight, (solo)
If I could, (group)
I want to tell you I surely would right now. (solo)
Surely would, (group)
I would stand on the rock. (solo)
Stand on the rock, (group)
Right on the rock where Moses stood. (solo)
Moses stood, (group)
Pharaoh’s army, (solo)
Oh, Mary don’t you weep (group)
They got drownded in the sea, (solo)
Drowned in the Red Sea. (group)
Jesus say, Mary, (solo)
Oh, Mary don’t you weep. group)
He said Mary . . . (solo)
Oh, Mary don’t you weep .(group)
Oh, Mary . . . (solo)
Oh, Mary, don’t you weep. group)
Tell Martha not to mourn. (solo)
Tell Martha not to mourn. group)

Petitioning God

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Books, Conversion, Faith, Scripture, spirituality2 Comments

Tuesday of the First Week in Ordinary Time
January 9, 2023

Today’s Reading:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010924.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we resume our journey through “Ordinary Time”. Advent and Christmastide of 2023 seem to have passed very swiftly! Just a week or so beyond the New Year, life resumes the “everyday-ness” that can be either comforting or humdrum.

The Church calls this “everyday-ness” Ordinary Time. It is a time during which we are invited to recognize the extraordinary gift of each day by praying with the ordinary lives of ancient Israel and early Christianity. Key to their lives, and to ours, is this: God abides with us. Praying with the Scriptures helps us to recognize and deepen within that Presence.

Now and for several weeks, we will read from the Books of Samuel. These Books present a point of profound change in the character of ancient Israel. Before 1 Samuel, Israel is a disorganized group of tribes with an amorphous societal infrastructure. After II Samuel, Israel is characterized by a power and theology centralized around a king and kingly political power.

We could read these books simply as history, or as a fictionalized narrative, but that would be unfortunate. Praying with the Books of Samuel, and all scripture, allows us to witness God’s intervention in the human heart. We can learn from and compare our challenges to those of these ancient believers. Samuel – and his mother Hannah – is an engaging place to begin.

As 1 Samuel opens in our reading today, Israel is a mess. Externally, they are mortally threatened by the Philistines. Internally, they have devolved into a brutal, amoral, rudderless gaggle. They ache for the Leader who will restore their safety and prosperity.

The Prayer of Hannah – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld

Samuel’s mother, Hannah, is the first inkling of that restoration. Frustrated with her barrenness, she turns in desperation to God. She makes the ultimate promise of returning the child God might give her. Her desolation is met with mercy. With the conception of Samuel, Hannah sets in motion the dynamic line that will lead through David to Jesus, the Messiah.

Hannah rose after a meal at Shiloh,
and presented herself before the LORD;
at the time, Eli the priest was sitting on a chair
near the doorpost of the LORD’s temple.
In her bitterness she prayed to the LORD, weeping copiously,
and she made a vow, promising: “O LORD of hosts,
if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid,
if you remember me and do not forget me,
if you give your handmaid a male child,
I will give him to the LORD for as long as he lives;

This passage is a pre-figuring of Mary and the Son she will give back to God. It offers us so many ways to pray as we live to gratefully return our lives to the Creator.

  • As we consider Hannah as an expression of Israel’s journey, where do we stand on our journey into God’s grace?
  • How do we respond to frustration in our lives, especially when our prayers seem unanswered?
  • How do we place our frustrations before God? How do we wait for an answer?
  • How do we live out and fulfill our promises, vows, and covenants with God and neighbor?
  • Are we aware, and reverent of, the influence of our salvation journey on the journeys of those around us?

It matters how we live our ordinary time. We are not just place markers in history. Like Hannah, how we live, pray, and love affects the whole flow of Creation. Like Hannah, by our faithful relationship with God, we influence a future we do not yet see.

Poetry and Music: MARBLE FLOOR – (A song in Hannah’s voice) by Alicia Jo Rabins

The composer writes that this is a song about Hannah – and what it means to ask for what you need. The story of Hannah appears in I Samuel 1-2. Hannah (Chana in Hebrew) prayed so hard her lips moved, but no sound came out; the priest threw her out of the temple, thinking she was drunk. But not only was Hannah’s prayer answered, she also became the model for the Amidah, one of the most important moments in the Jewish prayer service.
The chorus is inspired by the Chassidic story of the holiest prayer being that of the illiterate man who only knew the alphabet but recited it with perfect intention.

I opened my mouth but no words came
I lay down to sleep but I did not dream
I looked up at the stars but the sky was dark
like a mirror held up to my heart
A B C, D E F

Take away this alphabet
it’s heavy on my tongue

You can want a thing so bad it seems
That you lose yourself and everybody else
So I got down on my knees on the marble floor
And I cried until my throat was sore
A B C D, E F G

Tell me what you want from me
I’ll do it all I swear
I was not drunk, I was awake
I could not open so I had to break
to let the light come in
A B C D, E F G
Take away this alphabet from me
it’s heavy on my tongue

Washed in Grace

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, spirituality3 Comments

The Baptism of the Lord
January 8, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010824.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus makes a remarkable debut! 

Picture the scene. It is a beautiful morning in the Judean Valley where the Jordan River runs fresh and sparkling. Most scholars place the Baptism of Jesus sometime in January, which means the weather would have been relatively cool. But perhaps, like our own weather, an unusually warm day may have snuck in.

Rustic, fiery preacher John is baptizing in the Jordan River. Crowds have come to hear what he has to say. Some are convinced and dive into the cool water under his hand. Others rim the hillside, not so sure John isn’t one of the many who have glorious visions but few facts.

Then, out from the pines on the far side of the river, comes Jesus, flanked by some of the Twelve. While his companions chat away to Jesus, his eyes are focused on John. In an instant, Jesus realizes that this is the moment for his revelation. In that same instant, all Creation realizes the same thing.

As Jesus walks slowly toward John, the birds and little animals speak to him, “My Lord and my God…”.  Wind whistling through the trees becomes an Oratorio praising him. All the surrounding colors deepen, breaking forth in unimaginable light.

John is stunned by the cosmic change he senses but cannot describe. Heart trembling, he looks into Jesus’s eyes and catches a glimpse of heaven. “I need to be baptized by you”, John says,”and yet you are coming to me?”

Jesus smiles at his cousin, replying, 

“Let it be so now; 
it is proper for us to do this 
to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then John consented.

Perhaps those in the crowd, schooled in the ancient scriptures, heard Isaiah’s voice in the charged atmosphere:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
upon whom I have put my spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
a bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Matthew tells us:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.

the-baptism-of-jesus-jeff-haynie
The Baptism Of Jesus is a painting by Jeff Haynie For purchase, see:https://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-baptism-of-jesus-jeff-haynie.html

Can you see him light-heartedly splashing John as he shakes his dark curls free of the chilly water? Can you see his transfigured face as he hears his Father speak Love over him?

At that moment heaven was opened, 
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
And a voice from heaven said, 
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

What a beautiful moment in time! Don’t we wish we might have been there in the blessed and awe-struck crowd? We can. Let your prayer of imagination take you there.

Video: The Baptism of Jesus

Find Your Star

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, spirituality4 Comments

The Epiphany of the Lord
January 7, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010724.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, and on this glorious feast, we pray with Psalm 72.

The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall offer gifts;
the kings of Arabia and Seba shall bring tribute.
All kings shall pay him homage,
all nations shall serve him.

For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out,
and the afflicted when he has no one to help him.
He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor;
the lives of the poor he shall save.

Psalm 72: 10-13

It is a gorgeous psalm that fills our senses with lights, and scents, and the tactile experience of an ancient and sacred world:

  • we inhale the flower of justice
  • wrap ourselves in its profound peace
  • gaze on a distant, moonless universe
  • stretch our prayer from sea to sea,
  • and our praise to the ends of the earth

We see the ancient nations gather in homage,
carrying the gems, spices and bounty of their homelands.

We, too, kneel in astounded wonder that this vulnerable child, 
hidden in the far reaches of both geography and imagination, 
carries to us the Promise of the Ages.

We, too, trust the star, rising in our own hearts.

Psalm 72 echoes our beautiful first reading from Isaiah, another masterpiece that, in itself, is enough simply to read and savor:

Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem!  
Your light has come,
the glory of the Lord shines upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth,
and thick clouds cover the peoples;
but upon you the LORD shines,
and over you appears his glory.

Isaiah 60: 1-2

In Isaiah, these magnificent verses follow two chapters of gloom and darkness. They break forth in true epiphany to say, “Your Light has come!” – now your life must begin to shine as well.

Epiphany is not simply about kings and camels. It is not simply about a  crèche and a star. 

It is about Divine Revelation hovering over our dailyness. It is about us, opening our eyes in faith and responsiveness to our ever-present God.

The feast of Epiphany reminds us:

Look at your life today. 
The star did not pass you by. 
Open your eyes and find it. 
Once you have seen it, 
live in its Light.

Poetry: The Journey of the Magi – T.S. Eliot

Eliot wrote the poem after his conversion to Anglicanism ( He had been a Unitarian.) The poem conveys his struggle to grow in the light of his new faith. The “journey” is life-long and demanding in a world that often  contradicts that faith.

“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.
All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Music: The People that Walk in Darkness – Bob Dufford, SJ

The people that walk in darkness 
 have seen, have seen a great light.
 And on those who dwell in endless gloom, 
 a light has shone.
 
Refrain: 
For a Child is born this day: 
Rejoice, rejoice.
Daughter of Zion, awake. 
The glory of God is born.
 
And they shall name Him counselor, 
shall call Him mighty God.
And He shall rule from age to age: 
Prince of Peace.
 
Refrain
 
Darkness covers the earth; 
thick clouds govern its pe0ple.
But the Lord will bring them light; 
the Lord will bring them light.
 
Refrain
 
The people that walk in darkness 
have seen, have seen a great light.
And on those who dwell in endless gloom, 
a light has shone.
 

Refrain

Family Trees

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Christmastide, Eternal Life, Faith, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Christmas Weekday
January 6, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010624.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our readings are laced together with a genealogy theme.

In our first reading, John describes our most fundamental and powerful lineage: we are children of God with the gift of eternal life.

And this is the testimony:
God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son.
Whoever possesses the Son has life;
whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life.
I write these things to you so that you may know
that you have eternal life,
you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

1 John 5: 11-13

The Church offers alternative Gospels for reading today. One describes the Baptism of Jesus and one delineates his patriarchal lifeline.

Mark’s Gospel, which will most likely be read at Mass today, presents Jesus as the Son of God:

It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open
and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
And a voice came from the heavens,
“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Mark 1: 9-11

Today’s alternative Gospel of Luke presents Jesus as the descendant of a long patriarchal line including Adam, David, and “as was thought” Joseph. It emphasizes Jesus’s place in the human family (In contrast to Matthew’s genealogy which emphasizes Jesus’s place in the Hebrew history.)

When Jesus began his ministry he was about thirty years of age.
He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,
the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi,
the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias,……

Luke 3:23-38

What are we supposed to learn today from this impressive array of scriptures? This is where my prayer took me:

Jesus Christ, human and divine, took flesh to share eternal life with me through Baptism. Through him, I gain the sacred pedigree that reaches through time to God’s eternal womb.

Poetry: Jesus’s Baptism – Malcolm Guite

Beginning here we glimpse the Three-in-one;
The river runs, the clouds are torn apart,
The Father speaks, the Sprit and the Son
Reveal to us the single loving heart
That beats behind the being of all things
And calls and keeps and kindles us to light.
The dove descends, the spirit soars and sings
‘You are belovèd, you are my delight!’
In that quick light and life, as water spills
And streams around the Man like quickening rain,
The voice that made the universe reveals
The God in Man who makes it new again.
He calls us too, to step into that river
To die and rise and live and love forever.

Music: Epiphany on the Jordan – Steve Bell and Malcolm Guite

Steve Bell worked with Malcolm Guite converting the poem above into this inspiring song. As we approach the Season of Light, revealed in Epiphany and Baptism, this meditative song is a great companion to our prayer.

The heavens split and the water spilled
And streamed around the man like a quickening rain
A quickening rain
The Word behind all worlds revealed
That God in man makes everything new again
New again
This word of God to his beloved
Has settled on me like a dove…
He calls us too, to step into that river
To die and rise to life and love forever
And so graciously extends to me, a sinner
To tread the sacred waters of
The mystery of love
What can be said about a mystery
Except to say that the last word can never be said
Never said
Best leave that to poetry
Kindling words for quickening the dead
The living dead
Pure, single heart behind all things
Each to the other, by the spirit sing
He calls us too, to step into that river…

Back to the Fig Tree

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Jesus, spirituality10 Comments

Memorial of Saint John Neumann, Bishop
January 5, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010524.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John gives us this powerful verse:

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God.

In our Gospel, we meet Nathaniel who has been sitting under a fig tree, perhaps examining his heart in the manner that John describes. I have frequently sat under the fig tree with Nathaniel because his was the name I was given over sixty years ago when I began my religious life.

I had never heard of him before that, nor at least had I paid attention to him. When Mother Bernard solemnly pronounced his name over me, it fell with a thud into my consciousness. Who was this guy anyway??? And what happened to “Regina”, “James Marita”, and “Eleanor Mary” – the names I had humbly requested! I imagine my eyebrows knit into a skeptical question mark!

I remember Mother Anthony peeking over Mother Bernard’s shoulder, encouraging me to smile as the superior’s hands rested on my head in blessing. Later she told me that she wasn’t so sure I would like the name, but that Mother Bernard really did. So I decided that I would learn to really like it too. That’s when I first met Nathaniel under the multi-trunked tree where he sat pondering his life.

Oddly enough at that first meeting, Nathaniel was young like I was then. He was trying to figure out, and plot out, his whole life in that one afternoon, much like I used to do when I was very young. I wanted to make the right decisions to set my life on a perfect course. So did Nathaniel I think.

Well. over the years since, both Nathaniel and I have met Jesus who has intervened in our self-interested ponderings. Jesus has called us beyond our mirror-bound reflections to the “greater things” of God’s vision for us and for Creation.

Nathaniel said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
Nathaniel answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this.”

John 1:47-50

When I meet Nathaniel these days under the aging fig, we too have aged and mellowed. Asking God’s sustaining intervention for just the day or the hour has become sufficient. Now as the plump fruit falls occasionally from the limb, we listen more than we think or speak. Jesus has joined us there under the leaves’ broad shadows. We share the fruit that has been given to us. And yes, Jesus still knows us in ways that amaze, challenge, and comfort.

Poetry: Seeing for a Moment – Denise Levertov

I thought I was growing wings—
it was a cocoon.

I thought, now is the time to step
into the fire—
it was deep water.

Eschatology is a word I learned
as a child: the study of Last Things;

facing my mirror—no longer young,
the news—always of death,
the dogs—rising from sleep and clamoring and howling, howling,

nevertheless
I see for a moment
that’s not it: it is
the First Things.

Word after word
floats through the glass.
Toward me.

Music: Under the Fig Tree – Lake Isabel

Let No One Deceive You

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, justice, spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
January 4, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010424.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John is gentle but scathingly direct in his teaching:

Children, let no one deceive you.
The person who acts in righteousness is righteous,
just as God is righteous.
Whoever sins belongs to the Devil,
because the Devil has sinned from the beginning.

1 John 3: 7-8

John tells us that good is good, and bad is bad. Don’t let anyone fool you. And don’t make excuses when you fool yourself!

John gives us a clear measuring stick to test alignment with his teaching:

In this way,
the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain;
no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God,
nor anyone who fails to love their sisters and brothers.

1 John 3:10

It’s so simple but so hard to be the kind of person John calls us to be!

In our deep hearts, we know what righteousness looks like. It looks like peace, forgiveness, reverence, truth-telling, kindness, service, faithfulness, hope.

And we know what unrighteousness looks like. It looks like war, vengeance, brutality, bigotry, manipulation, indifference, greed, selfishness, megalomania, dishonesty, fear-mongering.

How has our society gotten so mixed up that we allow unrighteousness to parade in the costume of justice! How have we gotten so lazy, greedy, or indifferent that we refuse to look for and remedy the root causes of our societal grievances? For example, when I dig deeper in my prayerful thinking, I might realize that:

  • Thousands of immigrants are not crossing their borders just to bother me or take my job! They are in fear for their lives and well-being because of a lopsided global economy and a classist devaluation of life.
  • The armament and weapons industries are not founded on a mission to protect me and my loved ones. Like all businesses, they operate to make money. The more guns they sell, and the more expensive and destructive they are, all the better. We are their marketplace not their protectorate.

The Scriptures are God’s living Word. They are not to be read and set aside as a completed devotional practice meaningless for today’s world.

They teach us about the past but they speak to us of the present. As we pray with them, we are called to be changed by them into persons who more clearly reflect Jesus and the Gospel. That is the hard work of righteousness – work that is the everyday stuff of our lives.

Deeply internalizing John’s teaching today is a good place to start our transforming prayer.

Poetry: And 2morrow – Tupac Shakur, (1971 – 1996), was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time. Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur’s music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities. His life was filled with violence and eventually, he was murdered, but his creative work revealed a deep though conflicted longing for justice and peace.

Today is filled with anger
fueled with hidden hate
scared of being outcast
afraid of common fate
Today is built on tragedies
which no one wants 2 face
nightmares 2 humanities
and morally disgraced
Tonight is filled with rage
violence in the air
children bred with ruthlessness
because no one at home cares
Tonight I lay my head down
but the pressure never stops
knawing at my sanity
content when I am dropped
But 2morrow I c change
a chance 2 build a new
Built on spirit intent of Heart
and ideals
based on truth
and tomorrow I wake with second wind
and strong because of pride
2 know I fought with all my heart 2 keep my
dream alive

Music: Beauty for Brokenness (God of the Poor) – Graham Kendrick

See!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, spirituality1 Comment

Christmas Weekday
January 3, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010324.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we again have John the evangelist and John the Baptist as the “bookends” of our prayer. Each one calls his listeners to see the world differently – more deeply, under the surface – with the eyes of God.

See what love God has lavished upon us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1 John 3:1

The spiritual vision the Evangelist describes comes through our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Through his life, death, and Resurrection, Jesus taught us how God loves and wants us to love. That is why a prayer life rooted in scripture, particularly the Gospel, is so critical to our spiritual integrity.

John the Baptist was steeped in this kind of integrity. Stripped of worldliness by ardent desert prayer, the Baptist was ready to not only hear the Word, but to see it when it came to him across the Jordan.

John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky
and remain upon him.
I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God.”

John 1:32-34

Our readings today tell us that we too, through our Baptism into Christ, have been born to a new vision. Every day, this side of heaven, we are challenged to live within that vision – to see the world as God sees it, to live in the world as Jesus would live. The courage to do that comes from our hope which, with faith and love, purifies and fires our heart.

Beloved, we are God’s children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.

1 John 3:2-3

Poetry: Into the Eye of God – Macrina Wiederkehr, OSB

For your prayer, your journey into God
May you be given a small storm,
A little hurricane named after you,
persistent enough to get your attention
violent enough to awaken you to new depths
strong enough to shake you to the roots
majestic enough to remind you of your origin:
Made of the earth yet steeped in eternity
Frail human dust yet soaked with infinity.
You begin your storm under the eye of God
A watchful caring eye gazes in your direction
as you wrestle with the life force within.
In the midst of these holy winds
In the midst of this divine wrestling
Your storm journey, like all hurricanes
Leads you in to the eye of God
Into the eye of God where all is calm and quiet
the stillness beyond imagining
Into the eye of God after the storm
Into the silent beautiful darkness
into the eye of God.

Music: Apple of My Eye – Sal Arico

Truth. It Matters.

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality2 Comments

Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church
January 2, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010224.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, John the evangelist and John the Baptist teach us. Their lessons are about truth and honesty.

Do you remember when truth and honesty were actually honored in our culture — you know, the whole George Washington and the cherry tree thing?

Now it seems that what’s honored is being able to lie and get away with it at the expense of anyone else but ourselves.

What is so hard about the truth? Why have we gotten so bad at living it?

Think of your own childhood. One of the very first things our parents and teachers taught us was to tell the truth. I can still remember sitting in the darkened church each Saturday afternoon preparing to go to weekly confession. The frequency of the sacrament made it difficult for my 10-year-old self to come up with enough sins. But I could usually deliver a few lies to the penitential conversation.

Was that childish exercise foolish? Some might think so, but I don’t. That weekly — really daily — practice set my thinking in a certain direction. The Commandments were real and they had a purpose. When I was a kid, I thought that purpose was to please God. But that was only part of it.

The real purpose was to guide me to find my true self, to grow in my ability to offer that truth to others, and to be an influencer of that respectful honesty in the larger world, in the community of faith.

This is the kind of honesty John demands of Christ’s followers in our first reading. These early Christians had a singular faith initially, but corruptive forces had seeped in. Perhaps they listened to the wrong people, were motivated by the wrong goals, cared about the wrong kind of rewards in life. Perhaps they just got faith mixed up with reason which is a dangerous confusion.

Beloved:
Who is the liar?
Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ.
Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist.
Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father,
but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.
Let what you heard from the beginning remain in you.
If what you heard from the beginning remains in you,
then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.
And this is the promise that he made us: eternal life.
I write you these things about those who would deceive you.
As for you,
the anointing that you received from him remains in you,
so that you do not need anyone to teach you.
But his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and not false;
just as it taught you, remain in him.

1 John 2: 24-27

Let’s just assume that John is talking to us today and not some emergent Christians 2000 years ago because ….well… he is!

Prose: Pope John Paul II in his 1998 encyclical Faith and Reason addresses this issue:

Yet the positive results achieved must not obscure the fact that reason, in its one-sided concern to investigate human subjectivity, seems to have forgotten that men and women are always called to direct their steps towards a truth which transcends them. Sundered from that truth, individuals are at the mercy of caprice, and their state as person ends up being judged by pragmatic criteria based essentially upon experimental data, in the mistaken belief that technology must dominate all. It has happened therefore that reason, rather than voicing the human orientation towards truth, has wilted under the weight of so much knowledge and little by little has lost the capacity to lift its gaze to the heights, not daring to rise to the truth of being. Abandoning the investigation of being, modern philosophical research has concentrated instead upon human knowing. Rather than make use of the human capacity to know the truth, modern philosophy has preferred to accentuate the ways in which this capacity is limited and conditioned.

Music: Everything but the Truth – Lucinda Williams

You got the power to make this mean ole world a better place.
You got the power to make this mean ole world a better place.
People say they hate you, try to kill you, while they're grinning in your face.
You got the power to make this mean ole world a better place.

Before you can have a friend, you gotta be one.
Before you can have a friend, you gotta be one.
You gotta do the right things, gotta jump on in and see that it gets done.
Before you can have a friend, you gotta be one.

Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
He's not playing games; he's taking names; he is bullet proof.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.

God put the firewood there, but you gotta light yourself.
God put the firewood there, but you gotta light yourself.
You gotta go it alone, you gotta gather it up and nobody gonna help.
God put the firewood there, but you gotta light yourself.

You gotta make the most of what equipment you've got
You gotta make the most of what equipment you've got
Don't sit around complaining, crying all the time, cause you don't have a lot.
You gotta make the most of what equipment you've got

Sooner or later before too long, you gotta make a payment.
Sooner or later before too long, you gotta make a payment.
You've gotta settle up with this sweet ole world and give back what you've taken.
Sooner or later before too long, you gotta make a payment.

Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
He's not playing games; he's taking names; he is bullet proof.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.

Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.
Everything's gonna change, everything but the truth.

The Year of Our Lord 2024

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality4 Comments

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God 
The Octave Day of Christmas
January 1, 2024

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010124.cfm

Happy New Year to all!!

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, in the Year of Our Lord 2024, our readings begin with abundant blessings:

The LORD bless you and keep you!
The LORD let his face shine upon
you, and be gracious to you!
The LORD look upon you kindly and
give you peace!
So shall they invoke my name upon the Israelites,
and I will bless them.

Numbers 6:24-27

Throughout our readings today, this blessing is woven with complementary themes assuring us, and inviting us, to live our identity as God’s child. In God and through Jesus Christ we are:

  • blessed
  • ransomed
  • adopted
  • amazed
  • named

BLESSED

May God bless us in mercy.

Psalm 67:2

Our Responsorial Psalm reminds us that our greatest blessing is to live in the Mercy of God made flesh in Jesus.

RANSOMED

When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,  
born of a woman, born under the law,  
to ransom those under the law,  
so that we might receive adoption as God’s own children.

Galatians 4:4-5

Paul reminds us that, as God’s child, I no longer live by Law but by Love.

ADOPTED

As proof that you are God’s children,  
God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,  
crying out, “Abba, Father!”

Galatians 4:6

Paul encourages us to listen to our hearts crying out to God, not as some distant Being but as our Father/Mother/Abba

AMAZED

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.

Luke 2:16-18

Luke reminds us that to be blessed with such grace is to live in holy amazement and thanksgiving!

NAMED

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,  
he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel  
before he was conceived in the womb.

Luke 2:21

Luke describes Christ’s naming in which we all share as “Christians” and which invites us to live in the pattern of Christ.

Empowered by these incredible blessings,
let’s start 2024 well
by gratefully opening our lives
to God’s Lavish Mercy.

Poetry: Mornings at Blackwater – Mary Oliver

For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.
And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.
What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be,
darling citizen.
So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,
and put your lips to the world.
And live
your life.

Music: Only Time – Enya