Tag: Promise

Bearing Fruit

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

Memorial of Saint Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr
Wednesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
June 28, 2023

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, both our readings speak to the call to bear holy fruit for God.

In the passage from Genesis, we are witnesses to a delightful conversation between Abraham and the Lord. The homey tone and mutuality of their exchange reveals Abraham’s great comfort in God’s Presence – to the point of his feeling free to give God some advice:

The Lord said, “Fear not, Abram!
I am your shield;
I will make your reward very great.”

But Abram said,
“O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be,
if I keep on being childless
and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?”
Abram continued,
“See, you have given me no offspring,
and so one of my servants will be my heir.”

Genesis 15:1-3

Like many of us, what Abraham doesn’t realize is that God already has him covered. God has a desire and plan for Abraham’s fruitfulness – a dream far beyond any that Abraham can himself conceive.

God took him outside and said:
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

Genesis 15:5-6

The “act of righteousness” described here in Genesis is an offering God asks of each of us in our lives: confident faith expressed in loving action.

Think about it. Abraham and Sarah have waited and waited (for five chapters now) for God’s promise of fruitfulness to transform their barren lives. It hasn’t happened yet! Abraham asks God, “What’s going on????”

Brueggemann says:

The large question (posed in this chapter) is that the promise does delay, even to the point of doubt. It is part of the destiny of our common faith that those who believe the promise and hope against barrenness nevertheless must live with the barrenness.

… the promise does delay,
even to the point of doubt

Oh, my dears, have we not all been there? Have we not all, at some time or another, anguished over the questions of our own fruitfulness, destiny, meaning, survival, relevance in this life? Have we not sometimes wondered if God is even there?

But God is, and will arise out of any barreness or darkness if we can be faithful. God says to us, as to Abraham, “Take it easy, Abe. I gotcha’. Trust me and believe. The “fire pot” and the “flaming torch” are coming. Keep your heart ready!”

When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates.”

Genesis 15:17-18

Poetry: The Night Abraham Called to the Stars – Robert Bly

Do you remember the night Abraham first saw
The stars? He cried to Saturn: "You are my Lord!" 
How happy he was! When he saw the Dawn Star,

He cried, "You are my Lord!' 
How destroyed he was 
When he watched them set. 

Friends, he is like us:
We take as our Lord the stars that go down.
We are faithful companions to the unfaithful stars.

We are diggers, like badgers; we love to feel 
The dirt flying out from behind our back claws.
And no one can convince us that mud is not 

Beautiful. It is our badger soul that thinks so.
We are ready to spend the rest of our life
Walking with muddy shoes in the wet fields.

We resemble exiles in the kingdom of the serpent.
We stand in the onion fields looking up at the night.
My heart is a calm potato by day, and a weeping

Abandoned woman by night. 
Friend, tell me what to do,
Since I am a man in love with the setting stars.

Music: Promise Keeper – David Joost

The Promise and Hope

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

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbott
January 17, 2023

Today’s Readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011723.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our passage from Hebrews is a strong encouragement to stay faithful to the hope that has been given us through our call.

eph1_17 call

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

When we have been promised something by someone we trust, we are given the gift of freedom to move forward in confidence. I’ll give you a very simple and human example. When I had my first knee replacement, my very appropriately-named surgeon Dr. Good came and sat at my bedside immediately before surgery. He told me that he was going to perform the surgery himself and that he would support me until I was completely recovered. I can’t describe the freedom and confidence his promise gave me!

Now take that kind of promise up a notch — an infinite number of notches — to a promise made by God.

So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise
an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose,
he intervened with an oath,
so that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie,
we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged
to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.
This we have as an anchor of the soul,
sure and firm, which reaches into the interior behind the veil,
where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner…

Hebrews 6:17-18

Paul’s language might seem a little dense to us but basically he is saying that God has promised to be with us forever and to bring us to the fullness of eternal life. Thinking about that, the image of Dr. Good pops up in my memory.

In your own prayer, you might recall a circumstance that gave you the same kind of promised confidence and peace… perhaps a parent who consoled your young doubts, or a friend who promised support in a difficulty. Imagine that feeling multiplied infinitely by the loving promise of God to sustain us with Eternal Life.

Poetry: Anchored to the Infinite – Edwin Markham was popular American literary figure during the first half of the 20th century whose works espoused progressive social and spiritual beliefs.

The builder who first bridged Niagara’s gorge,
Before he swung his cable, shore to shore,
Sent out across the gulf his venturing kite
Bearing a slender cord for unseen hands
To grasp upon the further cliff and draw
A greater cord, and then a greater yet;
Till at the last across the chasm swung
The cable then the mighty bridge in air!
So we may send our little timid thought
Across the void, out to God’s reaching hands—
Send out our love and faith to thread the deep—
Thought after thought until the little cord
Has greatened to a chain no chance can break,
And we are anchored to the Infinite!

Music: Blessed Assurance – written by Fanny Crosby (1820 – 1915) an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs, with more than 100 million copies printed. She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she was a household name. Crosby was known as the “Queen of Gospel Song Writers” and as the “Mother of modern congregational singing in America”, with most American hymnals containing her work.

Alleluia: The Amazing Promise

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Discipleship, Faith, Hope, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Friday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time
July 8, 2022

Today’s Readings

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070822.cfm

Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, our Alleluia Verse makes an amazing promise.

Alleluia, alleluia.
When the Spirit of truth comes,
you will be guided to all truth
and reminded of all I told you.

John 16:13-14

We will be guided and re-minded by the Spirit of God! We will have a refreshed mind and sense of sacred purpose!

Perhaps like Hosea’s community, we have been exhausted, “collapsed” from a lack of grace and spiritual vitality. The lack may be within or around us, from our own negligence or from a world too heavy with evil. But Hosea proclaims that, if we turn to God with our “words” – our prayer – God will respond:

I will be like the dew for my beloved:
who shall blossom like the lily;
who shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth abundant shoots.
My dear one’s splendor shall be like the olive tree
with a fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.

Hosea 14: 6-7

Jesus continues and fulfills that promise in his own time and in ours. We live in a world still plagued by the sinfulness Jesus describes for his disciples in today’s Gospel. It is an overwhelming darkness at times and we can become heavy with it. We may feel we have no strength to stand against it, nor words to speak for change.

Jesus assures us that the refreshing “dew” of Hosea is abundantly available to us through our life in the Holy Spirit.

Do not worry about how you are to speak
or what you are to say.
You will be given at that moment what you are to say.
For it will not be you who speak
but the Spirit of your God speaking through you.

Matthew 10:19-20

Let’s not take that amazing gift and promise for granted. Let’s not fail to believe that the Spirit of Truth is with us to guide and remind us of our immense power for good.

Poetry: The World Is Too Much With Us – William Wordsworth

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

Music: Like the Dewfall – Mike Stanley

Even in Darkness, TRUST!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Advent, Courage, Discipleship, dying, Faith, Gospel, Jesus3 Comments

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

December 11, 2019

Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, folks in Isaiah’s reading are exhausted! He’s written a plethora of words to convey that God’s People are just about done in! He uses the words “faint”, “weary”, and “burden” at least a dozen times! We get it! The image would be something like this:

burden

But Isaiah encourages the people to look up from the weight of their burdens:

Do you not know
or have you not heard?
The LORD is the eternal God,
Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint nor grow weary,
and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.
He gives strength to the fainting;
for the weak he makes vigor abound.
Though young men faint and grow weary,
and youths stagger and fall but …

wings

Some of you, dear readers, carry heavy burdens just now, in yourselves and in your dear ones: illness, aging, sorrow, disappointment, the confusions of life, the passing of beloveds, unfulfilled dreams, an unmerciful world. 

Know this:
God is with us in any darkness,
and God’s light will prevail.

This is the whole meaning of our faith-filled journey through Advent. Trust the Promise of our Incarnate God to be with us, given in today’s tender Gospel:

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Music: On Eagles’ Wings – Michael Joncas

Promise

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Courage, Creation, Eternal Life, Faith, Hope2 Comments

 

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 21, 2019

Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, our readings are all about making and keeping promises.

Our first reading refers to Genesis and God’s promise to Abraham of land and posterity. Through his hospitality to three disguised angels, Abraham secures God’s promise to bless Sara and him with a child.

Luke8_15 promise

In today’s second reading from Colossians, Paul assures us that God has brought that promise to its full completion in the gift of Jesus Christ living in us.

…the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past
has now been manifested to his holy ones,
to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory. 

In our Gospel, Jesus encourages Martha to give her attention to the presence of this promise revealed in her life. Mary sees the promise fulfilled in Jesus, the living presence of God. She gives her full heart to it. Martha, maybe like us sometimes, is preoccupied by other distractions.

Our readings invite us to rejoice in God’s promise to us
of “land” and “posterity”.
In Jesus, we are brought home to God.
In Jesus, the fruitfulness of our life is eternally secured.

We make promises to God too.

vowsAs I think about my vows today, I am so aware of the recent deaths of two of our Sisters. At all of our funerals, our vows rest near us for our wakes – a profound symbol of promises given and promises fulfilled. God bless you, Margaret and Mary Ellen! Thank you for your witness among us!
Today, as we pray about God’s faithful promises to us, we might want to reflect on and deepen the commitments of our Baptism, our religious profession, our marriage, our covenants to communities of faith and service.

Like Martha, we might hear Jesus encourage us to give our fullest heart to that which is most important.

Music: God’s Promise – Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir  (Lyrics below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNjPl94y5EU&feature=youtu.be

God’s Promise

Chorus:
Everything He said
In His word
He will do it for you.
Every prophecy He gave
Every promise he made

He will do it for you.
If you only trust Him
And let Him have his way
He’ll work things out for you.

If you only believe and
You will see
That He will do it
For you.

(Repeated several times)

He’ll do it
He will do it/
My God is a faithful God
He will do it

And He’s always there
To answer every payer
He will do it.
He’ll do it.

No matter what you’re going through.
He’ll do it.
Remember His word is true.
He’ll do it.

Cause He understands
He’ll do it.
You can always trust and lean on Him
My God will do it
For you….

With You, All the Way!

On By Renee Yann, RSMIn Conversion, Discipleship, Faith, friendship, Gospel, Hope, Jesus, spiritualityLeave a comment

Monday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

July 8, 2019

Click here for readings

Today, in Mercy, we come to the heart of the Jacob story. Through prayer, it may reveal the heart of our story too.

Think of this. Is there anything better than a true friend who, even in your worst isolation, says:

  • I’ve got your back.
  • I’m right here at your side.
  • I’m with you through it all.

This is who God promises to be for Jacob in today’s wonderful first reading.

Gen28_12Ladder

Trickster Jacob, banished and fleeing from His enraged brother, falls asleep on the vast plain, with only a rock for his pillow. He is on a journey between two lives – the old one of extreme conflict, and a new one, as yet unrevealed. When he falls asleep on this desolate night, he thinks he journeys alone.

Ever feel like that? In life, we make many small and big journeys from the old to the new, the comfortable to the challenging, the past to the future, the known to the unknown. Sometimes we make choices to leave a “life” behind. Sometimes, life makes the choice in spite of us. In many of these chosen or unchosen transitions, we may feel very alone, even abandoned.

The good news of today’s reading is that God thinks otherwise.

Know that I am with you;
I will protect you wherever you go,
and bring you back to (wholeness).
I will never leave you
until I have done what I promised you.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus realizes this same ancient promise in the lives of two people on painful journeys. 

He heals the hemorrhaging woman through just her trusting fingertip along his garment’s hem. Such is the awesome power of faith and promise!

He raises new life in a dying child by the reach of her father’s faith into the heart of God’s mercy.

God is with each one of us too – unequivocally. God’s Mercy is everywhere and always.

Jacob responds to God’s promise with faith and hope. So do the Gospel’s centurion and suffering woman. Each of them, in their particular journey, shows us how to welcome God’s promise, “I am with you.” All we need do is to be with God too.

Music: You Are Mine – David Haas