Remembering

On September 11, 2024 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Faith, peace, Prayer, Service2 Comments

September 11, 2024

Every one of us remembers where we were on September 11, 2001. Like the elders among us who remember Pearl Harbor and the assassinations of MLK, JFK, and RFK, the current generation will always be marked by that infamous day.

Evil became visible that day. We saw its face in the terrorists. We saw its deadly scars on 2,819 innocent people and their loved ones. We have watched its echoes across two decades that have become more vigilant and less trusting.

Besides the victims in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, so much else died on September 11th. Innocence died; universal trust died; unconditional acceptance died. And with their loss, our national soul was put in jeopardy.

Healing
But within a few hours of the attacks, we saw the human spirit raise its head. Acts of tremendous courage, love, support, and generosity became the new face of September 11th. A dormant patriotism was unfurled in millions of flags across America. Who will ever forget how KIND we became to one another when faced with the reality of one another’s vulnerability.

Learning
And so, all indications to the contrary, we learn even from the darkest evil. Throughout history, good people have learned from bad things such as:
The Holocaust:
“In spite of everything, I still believe
that people are truly good at heart….
that this cruelty too will end…”
(Anne Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp)

War:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched,
every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense,
a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,
those who are cold and not clothed.”
(President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Five-star General
and Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, World War II.)

Institutionalized Slavery:
“I had reasoned this out in my mind,
there was one of two things I had a right to,
liberty or death;
if I could not have one,
I would have the other.”
(Harriet Tubman, formerly enslaved woman who led many others to freedom
by the Underground Railroad)

Choosing
What have we learned from September 11th and who will we choose to be due to our learning? All of us want a better world for ourselves and our children. We want less fear and more trust. We want less struggle and more peace. We want less tension and more freedom. What we want will never come to us unless we choose to live it into being.
A quote attributed to Mahatma Gandhi puts it this way:
“You must choose to be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Leading such change requires great bravery. Gandhi also said this,
“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”

Acting
So, on this 23rd Commemoration of September 11th, let us be brave enough to change the world. Courage and kindness stand side by side because they both require self-sacrifice.
To commemorate the lives lost that day, we may choose to make one act of anonymous, unrewarded kindness. Do it to make the world kinder, to contribute to a legacy for the future, to send a message that evil never triumphs, and to remember the lives that were lost on September 11, 2001.

Some ideas that won’t cost you much (from helpothers.org)
• Tape the exact change for a soda to a vending machine
• Treat someone to a cup of their favorite coffee
• Pay the toll for the person behind you
• Leave a treat in the kitchen at work
• Write a note of appreciation to someone
• Smile from your heart at strangers.
• Greet others when you pass them.
• Offer to babysit for free for new parents so they can sleep or spend time with each other.
• Spend time with an elderly person.
• Buy flowers for someone in your office who’s having a rough time.
• Leave a good book at a bus stop.
• Instead of following normal tipping etiquette, leave a little extra.
• Be kind to someone who isn’t always kind to you.
• Cook a meal for someone who is sick, elderly, or just had a baby.
• Pay someone’s expired parking meter.
• Visit someone in hospice care.
• Let someone go in front of you in line while you’re doing your grocery shopping.
• If you experience great service, compliment the worker and tell their manager.
• Give sincere compliments whenever you can.
• If you see an elderly person having trouble pumping their gas at a gas station, offer to do it for them.
• Leave the coupons you didn’t use at the register for someone else.
• Spend time with people in nursing homes. More often than not, they are lonely.

As we begin Holy Week…

On March 23, 2024 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Church, Cross, Eastertide, Faith, Jesus, Seasons, spirituality, suffering1 Comment

Holy Week and Eastertide

Holy Week and Eastertide are times of sacred journey for Christians. We walk with Christ into the true and deepest dimensions of our lives.

All life is about journey and passage. At some time in each of our lives, we are passing:

from emptiness to abundance
from loneliness to love
from exhaustion to renewal
from anxiety to peace
from burden to freedom
from confusion to understanding
from bitterness to forgiveness
from pain to healing
from mourning to remembrance

The great Feasts of Holy Week and Easter, and the reflective weeks that follow, assure us that God accompanies us in all our journeys from darkness to light. The sacredness of these days invites us to quietly name whatever darkness surrounds us and our global family, and to reach through it to the hand of God. Like a parent leading a child in from the storm, the God of Easter longs to bring our hearts home to fullness and joy.

During these coming weeks, I will continue offering reflections centered on a single word, since many of you have expressed to me an appreciation for this approach. In the archives listed on the right of the blog, you can access more extensive reflections for each day of the liturgical cycle, accumulated over the past six years.

As we begin these sacred days, let’s pray for one another. And let us pray particularly for those whose current lives are closely patterned on the sufferings of Christ that, with Him, they may be strengthened with Easter hope and courage.

Extra Pre-Lent #1

On February 11, 2024 By Renee Yann, RSMIn spirituality2 Comments

Sunday before Lent
February 11, 2024

Today we stand at the threshold of a sacred time. In a few days, we will begin our Lenten journey for the Year of our Lord, 2024. I reflected this morning on the purpose of Lent and on how I want to prepare in these three days leading up to Ash Wednesday.

Often Lent is interpreted only in the light of sacrifice and renunciation. We think about what we will give up, or what difficult practice we will assume. We might even introduce mixed purposes to our renunciations – thinking that fasting is a good way to lose weight, or that purging our excessive possessions is a path to feng shui in our environment. I know I have been guilty of these hidden agendas. Realizing this, I want to make the effort to live a more sincere Lent. I want to focus my spiritual awareness on Lent’s true purpose which is to align my life with the life of Christ.

To help me more truly engage this Lenten time, I have considered some proven elements from our long Christian tradition. I know that many of my readers already live a spiritual life deeply enriched by their own chosen practices. Still, I thought some of you might like to think about these few simple elements as well. These three elements are:
• Practice
• Time
• Reflection

Today, let’s think about “Lenten Practice”. Tomorrow, “ Lenten Time”. On Tuesday, “Lenten Reflection”

Lenten Practice
What practice might I introduce or deepen in my life that would turn my attention to God?
The choice of a Lenten practice can be very simple:
• to take a daily morning or evening walk in a spirit of prayer
• to read a spiritual rather than secular book throughout Lent
• to write a note or make a phone call to someone who would be blessed by your voice
• to not choose a new practice, but to choose a new attitude about some circumstance in my life, an attitude of hope or generosity

What is essential is to focus our attention on God as we engage this simple practice, to make our actions a prayer.
More tomorrow.

Holding Hands with God

On June 2, 2022June 1, 2022 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Faith, friendship, Prayer, spirituality5 Comments

Picture two people, who love each other deeply, walking along a quiet beach. They may be a child and parent, committed spouses or devoted friends. They are walking, fully in each other’s presence. But at times, one or the other may wander off to study a shell or watch a sandpiper while the other continues slowly walking. Still, they are completely with each other and will often reconnect to share snatches of thought and imagination. In many ways, this image captures the meaning of the epistolary admonition, “Pray always.” On the beach of our lives, we are walking with God always.

But there are times in that walk when, for some reason, we will reach for the other’s hand. We will intensify and focus our attention to each other. The reason may be an awareness of something beautiful, poignant, frightening, joyful or overwhelming. We will remember these moments as specific experiences such as:

• “It was the time we saw the magnificent sunrise.”
• “It was the time we were frightened by the unexpected storm.”

In our lifelong walk with God, this reaching for and holding each other’s hands is a good image for the act of prayer. It may be initiated by God or by us, or perhaps by both at once. It may be vocal or silent. It is an experience which has a beginning and an end. Like the shared moments on the beach, these acts of prayer are definite moments, for example:

• “It was the time I was overwhelmed with gratitude for God’s gift of my family and prayed that gratitude as I watched them around our family table.”
• “It was the time I became aware of the call to greater generosity and service and prayed aloud for God’s guidance and support.”

These acts of prayer change us. They open us to greater depth in our journey with God. They deepen the sense of God’s presence within our total experience. They thin the veil which separates us from the Divine.

To become pray-ers like this, we must first become constant listeners. God is whispering to us in every moment and experience of our lives. As we learn to hear God in our own lives, we become better at hearing God in other’s hearts. Our prayers become a response to that Voice which first and constantly speaks to us.

Some music for you all:

Tony O’Connor – Whispering Sea

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter

On June 1, 2022May 31, 2022 By Renee Yann, RSMIn spiritualityLeave a comment

June 2, 2022

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, as we continue to read Jesus’s loving dialogue with his Father, we become the silent listener to an intimate conversation.

As I prayed with this passage, the memory of my own conversations with my mother came back to me. Many of these exchanges took place in person, but what I remembered today was our daily evening phone calls late in her life.

The calls were brief, but unflinchingly regular – 7PM every night. The exchanges were very simple and almost formulaic: were we both OK, slept well, had a good day, had what for dinner, endured whatever weather….did we need anything?

But the real conversation was deep under any formula. It was the silent language of love, comfort, hope, trust, fidelity, and presence. It was the unspoken assurance that we were, and would always be, FOR each other.

In John 17, we find the same kind of conversation between Jesus and his Father.

You and I are one
You have gifted me with your essence
You have empowered me in your Name
You have always loved me
I know your heart
and I am grateful

What a privilege to listen to God’s conversation! In our prayer today, we may just want to witness silently the infinite love between Jesus and the Father. As Jesus prays for us to be incorporated into that love, may our hearts overflow in gratitude.

Poetry: Presence – by Rumi

Your grief for what you’ve lost holds a mirror up
To where you’ve been bravely working.

Expecting the worst, you look and instead,
Here’s the joyful face you’ve been wanting to see.

Your hand opens and closes
And opens and closes.
If it were always a fist
Or always stretched open,
You would be paralyzed.

Your deepest presence is in every small
Contracting and expanding—
The two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
As bird wings.

Music: I Just Called fo Say I Love You – Stevie Wonder

Mom and I loved this song because it so clearly described our relationship. I still sing it to her sometimes… loooong distance for sure now! I think it’s a song we could easily share with God in our prayer.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bqfSXkVH9ac%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26wmode%3Dtransparent

Easter Thursday: Mystery Unfolds

On April 20, 2022April 20, 2022 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Eastertide, Faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

April 21, 2022

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, Jesus asks his disciples, “Why do questions arise in your heart?”

We might stand beside them with our own prayer:

Honestly, Lord? How could they not have questions arise? You have, after all, just RISEN FROM THE DEAD! We’re not used to that, and we’re not sure how to handle it!

And about that Last Supper, when you said the bread and wine were your Body and Blood? It’s a pretty amazing statement, and we’re still trying to comprehend it.

Besides all that, Lord, just now the whole world is languishing in the midst of violence, war, and disease and we’re not sure exactly where You are!

We’re just human beings, Lord. Our minds naturally work to solve problems. That’s why we have questions – we like answers.

Only now, as Resurrection People, are we beginning to learn that you are much more the “The Answer”.

You will always be “The Mystery” – the Infinity we are invited to – where there is no end, only deeper, always deeper.

Help us to learn that our faith and our doubts are the same thing – they are our attempts to embrace the Question. Help us transform our doubts to faith by our unequivocal trust in your unfolding Mystery.

For God does not want to be believed in,
to be debated and defended by us,
but simply to be realized through us.”
― Martin Buber

Mystery is not to be construed
as a lacuna in our knowledge,
as a void to be filled,
but rather as a certain plentitude.
— Gabriel Marcel

Music: The Mystery of God – Dan Schutte

https://youtube.com/watch?v=x3nLCSYi67E%3Fversion%3D3%26rel%3D1%26showsearch%3D0%26showinfo%3D1%26iv_load_policy%3D1%26fs%3D1%26hl%3Den%26autohide%3D2%26wmode%3Dtransparent

Three Holy Secrets

On February 12, 2022February 12, 2022 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Eternal Life, Faith, Hope, spiritualityLeave a comment

February 13, 2022
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s Readings

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, hidden in our readings, are three challenges:

Where do we place our FAITH?
How do we fire our HOPE?
How do we LOVE?

In our Jeremiah reading, an unfortunate person has placed faith in an untrustworthy “friend”, and the results – typical of Jeremiah – are dire. But the prophet goes on to say that the one who puts trust and faith in the Lord will flourish like a tree near running water.

In the reading from Corinthians, Paul has some strong words about hope:

If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
we are the most pitiable people of all.
1 Corinthians 15:19

That sentence is powerful! It can be a life-long meditation.

In other words, where is our hope focused? Do we hope for comfort, success, healing, peace only for this earthly life? If so, we are missing the point, Paul says. Our one true hope is to be united with God in eternal life and our choices should lead to that fulfillment.

In our Gospel, Jesus shows us how to love by placing before us the “least ones” whom he loves best. We too are to love and comfort those who are poor, hungry, bereaved and despised by the heartless.

Today’s readings invite us to look at our life. Is it blossoming with joy, grace and spiritual vitality? Or are we struggling with all the doubts, worries, dramas and depression that come from a self-absorbed life?

Maybe, like me, you sometimes look at a person carrying great difficulty in their lives and wonder at their joy. How can they maintain that trust and joy in the midst of their challenges? These readings offer an answer. They have put their faith and hope in the right place. They have learned to love like God loves.

Poetry: Bernard of Clairvaux, On the Song of Songs, vol. 4, 83.2.4.

I love because I love:
I love that I may love…
Love is the only one of the motions of the soul,
of its senses and affections,
in which the creature can respond to its Creator,
even if not as an equal,
and repay God’s favor in some similar way …

Music: Faith, Hope and Love ~ David Ogden ( Lyrics below)

Faith, hope, and love: let these remain among you.
Faith, hope, and love: the greatest of these is love.

The love of Christ has gathered us together; let us rejoice and be glad in him.
Let us fear and love the living God, and love each other from the depths of the heart.

When we are together, we should not be divided in mind;
Let there be an end to bitterness and quarrels, and in our midst be Christ our God.

In company with the blessed, may we see your face in glory,
pure and unbounded joy for ever and ever.

I give you a new commandment, love one another as I have loved you.
Faith, hope, and love, let these remain among you.
Faith, hope and love; the greatest of these is love.

A Warning Sign

On March 20, 2019March 20, 2019 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Charity, Community, Courage, Gospel, Jesus, justice, Lent, sufferingLeave a comment

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Click here for readings

generous impulse

Today, in Mercy, our Gospel gives us the disturbing parable of the rich man, sometimes called Dives, and Lazarus, a very poor man.

The story is disturbing because

Lazarus suffers so desperately
Dives is impervious to that suffering
God won’t give Dives a break after his death
We fear being in either of these guys’ situations

Probably, like most people, we’d rather be rich than poor. But would we rather be generous with that wealth or selfish? Do we ever find ourselves thinking thoughts like this, deciding we’re not responsible for the gap between rich and poor:

“I worked hard for what I have. Let everybody else do the same!”

That wealth gap cannot be mended simply by giving a dollar to a corner beggar nor by donating our wornout clothes to Goodwill. This kind of re-balancing requires a conversion of heart which touches our economic, political and moral understanding.

I was struck this morning by this headline from The Economist, a British weekly magazine.

economist

How can today’s Gospel inspire and encourage us in a global culture that infcreasingly marginalizes persons who are poor, resourceless, and politically oppressed?

May the story of Lazarus and Dives influence us to use the powers we have to make just and generous decisions.

We can vote for just, generous and moral leaders.
We can advocate for universally just policies.
We can donate to compassionate causes.
We can confront hateful speech and stereotyping.
We can speak and act for justice, peace, inclusivity and mercy.

We just have to be courageous before, like Dives, it is too late for us.

Music: Act Justly

To Life!

On January 21, 2019January 21, 2019 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Discipleship, Faith, Hope, inclusivity, spirituality, Thanksgiving1 Comment

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, our passage from Hebrews is a strong encouragement for its readers to stay faithful to the hope that has been given us through our call.

eph1_17 call — from today’s Responsorial Psalm

Paul traces the evolution of that call by reminding his readers of Abraham who trusted God’s promise and patiently waited for its fulfillment. Paul says that God not only promised Abraham, God swore an oath to bless and multiply Abraham’s life.

This promise and oath of God’s faithful covenant is the root of our Christian hope, and the “anchor” of our life.

Green Rope

On this day, when the Church prays for the protection of unborn children, let us be conscious that the “right to life” extends beyond the womb, from “cradle to grave”.

Let us pray to honor and reverence all life and all Creation – those who are troubled, poor, sick, different from us, homeless and seeking refuge. Let us pray for political and economic systems that protect both unborn and born children, resident and refugee, privileged and marginalized … nourishing their right to life, freedom and the happiness of well-being.

Beloveds, let us give thanks for the life and faith we have been given, and let us share it generously.

Music: You Are Life ~ Hillsong Worship

A Faith that Delights God

On September 16, 2018September 16, 2018 By Renee Yann, RSMIn Creation, Faith, holiness, spiritualityLeave a comment

Monday, September 17, 2018

Readings: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/091718.cfm

Today, in Mercy, Jesus, in amazement, praises the faith of the centurion. What was it about this man’s faith that could astound even God? How would my faith make Jesus feel?

faith

We are taught that faith is a gift. We can’t earn it or acquire it on our own. We can though – once we have been given it – exercise it, polish it, cherish it and share it in order to make it stronger.

What is faith exactly?

Well, first off, we get faith mixed up with a lot of things that it is not.

Faith is not the same as religion or religious denomination. Faith transcends Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism or Islam. These are the only frameworks in which we sometimes practice our faith.

Faith isn’t devotions, or prayers, or the formulas we pull out when we are in trouble. It is not the Prayer to St. Anthony when we can’t find our car keys. It is not the novena we say to receive a special favor. These are only practices which allow us to express our faith in human terms.

And most importantly, faith is not an ideology by which we exceptionalize and elevate ourselves, suggesting that others are less because of their choice of religious practice.

If we take a clue from today’s Gospel, we could describe faith like this:

It is the unshakable understanding that all Creation belongs to God, including every aspect of my life.
It is the trust that God wills our good in all things.
It is the sure confidence that God abides with us in all circumstances.
It is the giving of my heart to this abiding God in a relationship of mutual love.
It is a life that bespeaks these confidences.

The centurion must have had this kind of faith and it delighted Jesus. Let’s pray for a faith that can do that for God!

Music: Be Still – David Kauffman