Golden Gate4/30/2023 4th Sunday of Easter
You’ll have to look very closely at the photo above to see the outlines of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. (This is the view from the garden at the Jesuit Community at USF.) As I was reflecting on today’s Gospel in which Jesus identifies himself as the “Gate,” I realized that I was here in a city with one of the most famous “gates.” Studying the photo above, I began to think about how the Gospel gives us an outline of what it means for Jesus to be the “gate.” We ordinarily think of him as the Good Shepherd, but here John gives us another way of seeing Jesus. Here he is the one who offers us safe passage wherever we go. (I'll give you a hit. Look to the far left of the photo.) I have to admit that I struggle with the mixed metaphors in this passage. I can identify with Jesus as the shepherd because a shepherd is human. The “gate” however, is an inanimate object. How is Jesus the “gate” for us? Have you ever heard this? “During Jesus' time, shepherds protected their flocks with their own bodies. A sheep pen was merely a wall of loosely connected rocks with a single entrance. At night the shepherd slept across the entrance so that his body became a protection for the sheep from their own straying or from marauders. The body of the shepherd kept the sheep from wandering out and getting hurt as well as kept animals and bandits from entering the pen and attacking the sheep.” There is some dispute whether the above is accurate, but it certainly is a beautiful image. Who wouldn’t want to think of Jesus in this way, literally laying his body down so that you would be safe and protected? Yes, of course, this is what he did for us on the Cross, but it may be helpful to have this image as well. As I’m writing this reflection, I’m watching the fog roll in again as it so often does in San Francisco. I can no longer see the bay, the bridge or the buildings that a few moments ago were right before my eyes. Isn’t our relationship with God similar? There are times when we see more clearly, when we feel the Good Shepherd’s presence and care so close by. And there are other times when life’s “fog” conceals what we know is there but cannot see. Some questions for prayer today: Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd” invites us into a relationship of intimacy with God and with the “Good Shepherd.” At this time in your life do you feel that care, protection, compassion. Do you feel that there is something lacking in your relationship with God, or do you feel that there is nothing else you need or want because God is shepherding you? Try to imagine the body of Jesus as the gate. Take some time to see his body stretched out on the Cross. What does he say to you about who you are for him? Can you think of him as your “golden gate bridge” to the Trinity’s love? Here is a video slide shows that I created three years ago, inspired by the first verse of the psalm. Hopefully, “Restful Waters” will help you to feel some peace and serenity. Restful Waters
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The Peter Principle/ Catherine, too!4/29/2023 Saturday of the 3rd Week of Easter/ St Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church
Since Peter is the principal actor in the reading from Acts today as he heals the faithful woman, Dorcas aka Tabitha, as well as playing a principal role in the Gospel when Jesus asks him if he too will leave him, I began to think about “the Peter Principle.” (Principle and Principal are words that sound alike but have different meanings; I.e. “The principal principle that we are called to live as faithful followers of Jesus is the commandment to love each other as He has loved us.” The Peter Principle has to do with employees who are promoted to higher positions in the organization without the proper training. They are way out of their league. I think it’s fair to say that Peter in the Gospels was “way out of his league” when he is promoted by Jesus to be the “rock” on which the Church is built. He appears as a bit of a bumbler, saying the wrong thing and ultimately denying Jesus. And yet, in today’s Gospel, he speaks the truth simply and powerfully. “Lord, to whom shall we go. You have the words of eternal life.” The Peter we encounter in the Acts of the Apostles is a very different person. Because of the Resurrection and his encounter with the Risen Jesus, he is self-assured, knowing that his power to preach and heal does not come from himself but from the Holy Spirit working through him. This is a different kind of “Peter Principle.” He knows his limitations and does not need to prove himself capable of the work of the mission. He knows that Christ is working through him. What can we learn from the transformation that happens in Peter through his encounter with the Risen Jesus? Yesterday on my flight from Boston to San Francisco, I watched the movie, A Man Called Otto. I had read about it and remembered that Tom Hanks had received high praise for his performance of a cranky, crotchety, cantankerous old man who had given up on life after the death of his wife six months earlier. He makes a number of unsuccessful attempts to take his own life. The principal reason for his transformation is a delightfully crazy, very pregnant Latina who moves into the neighborhood with her husband and two daughters. As resistant as Otto is to her spirit and love of life, he eventually discovers the same in himself. (Also, thanks to a stray cat that he is forced to take in.) So, what’s the connection between a man called Peter and a man called Otto? It’s still the Easter season. Easter is about transformation and the newness of life that the Risen Jesus offers through the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Peter Principle is about rising to the top without the proper qualifications, in contrast, the Catherine Principle should be the opposite. Catherine of Siena rose to the top as a Doctor of the Church, because she used the gifts and talents she had to proclaim the Gospel, like Teresa of Avila and so many others. Would that the Church recognize the “Catherine Principle” and enable more gifted, enspirited women their rightful place of leadership in the Church. As is my custom on Catherine's feast day, I share a photo of the copy of the fresco, “Good Government” which is in the City Hall of Siena. The image of the women dancing inspired my choreography for a Medieval Christmas. Here’s a link to the 1988 performance of this dance https://vimeo.com/495314665#t=2806s . Up up and away4/28/2023 I’m sitting in Boston’s Logan airport lounge at 4:30am getting ready to board for a flight to the west coast. I’ll be posting tomorrow.
The Ripple Effect4/27/2023 Thursday of the 3rd Week of Easter I wrote “the ripple effect” two years ago on this day. Since I was at Eastern Point noticing the ripples in the ocean, I decided to post it again. There’s another reason which I’ll mention at the close of this reflection It was the ripples in the ocean that caught my eye this morning. It’s a windy day and that’s causing the ripple effect in the water. There’s a “ripple effect” in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles today. Philip is charged with running after the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot and in this encounter in which Philip interprets the scriptures in the light of the death and rising of Jesus, he brings about belief and conversion. When they plunge into the water for baptism, it causes a ripple effect, both physically and symbolically. When they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but continued on his way rejoicing. Philip came to Azotus and went about proclaiming the good news to all the towns until he reached Caesarea. There is a ripple effect in the joy that the man experiences that he will share with others as well as the effect that Philip has on others who hear him preaching the good news. Each of us has within us the makings of a kind of ripple effect on others. Our positive, hopeful, faith-filled perspective can affect someone else who may be able to pass it on. (Pay it forward) In the same way, one’s negativity and gloominess can have a ripple effect on others with whom we come into contact. I imagine there have been days when you’ve been quite “chipper” and someone comes and chips away at your positive perspective. It’s good to think about the “ripple effect” that our words and actions have on others…. I’m wondering if there is that same “ripple effect” with the experience of grief. This morning I received the heart-breaking news that a dear friend had died. His wife shared with me the news in a text message and said simply that “words cannot describe the pain.” There is something about this kind of grief that is so personal and unique. Yes, there may be a ripple effect when you know the person who has died and/or see the suffering of the beloved. But there is another kind of “ripple effect” in grief. It’s internal. It comes through the memory you have of someone with whom you have shared so much of life. And one memory “ripples” into another. Sometimes the “ripple effect” in grief is gentle like the waves lapping at the shore and other times these waves of grief crash over you like those in turbulent seas. Close to the Vast....4/26/2023 Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Easter
The “bread of life” discourse continues today. It is not only a “discourse” but a “dispute.” As I prayed with today’s Gospel, I thought about all the arguments and disputes throughout the centuries about the Eucharist and Jesus’s claims to be the “bread of life.” I found myself praying with these words from Mary Oliver since this morning I happen to be close to the vast ocean at Eastern Point. (As you can tell from the photo above which includes our iconic pine tree, it's not one that I took today which is very cloudy and lackluster. I took it 4 years ago on retreat here. It so happened that the readings were the same as this week.) The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist Something has happened to the bread and the wine. They have been blessed. What now? The body leans forward to receive the gift from the priest’s hand, then the chalice. They are something else now from what they were before this began. I want to see Jesus, maybe in the clouds or on the shore, just walking, beautiful man and clearly someone else besides. On the hard days I ask myself if I ever will. Also there are times my body whispers to me that I have. –Mary Oliver +++ Commenting on her poem Oliver wrote words of wisdom for theologians. “Centuries ago, theologians claimed they had parsed with precision how God acted on the bread and wine during the celebration of the Eucharist. This wasn’t helpful. Their lust for certitude bruised a mystery which was best left alone. It eventually birthed theological wars about the nature of a meal that was ironically intended to mend, not tear apart. I don’t need to know what happens to the bread and wine to experience the oceanic love of God that I feel when I receive it, anymore than a newborn needs to know the mother’s name and address to see and feel the adoration in her gaze.” The Look of Love4/25/2023 Feast of St Mark, Evangelist
Do you remember the old Burt Bachrach song, “The Look of Love”? I was thinking about it this morning when I gave the same title to his reflection on St. Mark. The look of love is in your eyes A look your smile can't disguise The look of love It's saying so much more than just words could ever say Like the two love songs that I used in my reflection on the Emmaus Gospel; It Had to Be You and Here, There and Everywhere, the Look of Love, is another one about romantic love. And yet, at least the first verse does capture something of Jesus’ “look of love” in Mark’s Gospel. Today the Church celebrates St Mark, the first evangelist. For a variety of reasons, his is my preferred Gospel when it comes to understanding the humanity of Jesus. I also had the opportunity to immerse myself in Mark’s Gospel when Dr. Michael (Mickey) Corso, when he was an undergraduate at Boston College, asked me to direct him in a theatrical presentation of the Gospel. He memorized the complete King James Version of the text, which was quite a task. A decade later, Mickey was working as a religious educator and decided on a revival of the performance. The second time was an inter-active performance in which the audience were drawn into the action as characters in the Gospel. Working with Mickey over the years gave me the opportunity to come to know the text inside and out. That is probably the reason that I was surprised and disappointed to see that the editors of the lectionary chose a Gospel for today that is not authentically Markan. A later editor decided that Mark’s ending with the women running from the tomb, terrified and amazed, was not sufficient and added additional verses. Had it been up to me, I would have chosen a passage from Mark’s Gospel that is uniquely Mark. I might choose the one where the man who had great wealth comes to Jesus. (Mark 10:17-21) 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” It’s the “look of love” that is uniquely Marcan. Matthew edits this line in his version. Can you imagine Jesus looking at you and loving you? How does that make you feel? Is there an invitation to prayer today to think about Jesus’ “look of love?” Although we hear about the “look of love” in this passage of they young man, can’t you imagine other times in Mark’s gospel where he looked at someone with love? Jairus’ daughter, for example? The woman who anoints him before the passion? Bartimaeus? The list can go on and on and include each of us. Here's another image I found. "The eyes have it!" Breaking News....4/24/2023 Monday of the 3rd Week of Easter
Do you remember the last verse of yesterday’s Gospel? Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Today the scene is set for the Johannine discourse on the “bread of life.” We’ll have a whole week to contemplate Jesus’ invitation to “take and eat.” Remember that John’s Gospel has no institution narrative at the Last Supper. This discourse, in a sense, fills out the meaning of Jesus’ words. “Take and eat. This is my body.” But before we get into the body of the discourse, we may want to spend some more time on the expression, “in the breaking of bread.” What is the significance of the action of “breaking” that is so powerful that it engenders recognition on the part of the disciples? Could it be that the “breaking of bread” is essentially a gesture of sharing? Eucharist is meant to be a communal experience, not a private one. (I remember my first communion when we were taught that, after receiving the host on the tongue and swallowing without letting our teeth touch it, we were to go back to the pew, kneel down, close our eyes and shut out the world. At that moment it was only Jesus and me.) I know it’s a stretch, but I can’t help thinking about the connection between “bread that is broken” and “bodies that are broken.” Living in a community as I do where the “body of Christ” is for the most part aged and infirm Jesuits whose bodies and minds are so fragile and “broken” in some sense. How important it is to recognize the presence of the Risen Jesus in our human brokenness as well as in the bread that is broken. I’d invite us today to spend some time praying with the words, “in the breaking of bread” and see what “rises up” in us. Let those words be “yeast” for you. I chose the photo that I used the other day for the multiplication of the loaves which sets the context for the discourse on the bread of life. IT "HAD" TO BE YOU!4/23/2023 3rd Sunday of Easter
I'm using Lynn Runnels' icon again. The colors are so brilliant! The reflection today is a homily I'll be giving at our 10 am "Breaking of Bread." I was tempted to begin today’s homily singing the opening lines of two familiar old songs. The first is “It Had to Be You” and the second, “Here, There and Everywhere.” I decided against it since they are really love songs of the romantic kind. But wait, what’s not to love about the Emmaus story. It may be one of the most beloved stories of all of scriptures. And because of that familiarity, is there anything you haven’t heard before in exegesis or preaching about this passage? So I ask your indulgence for a few minutes as I share why those songs came to mind. There is a three letter Greek word at the heart of the Emmaus story. It’s “dei” Or in English “it was necessary” or it “had” to be.” As the stranger speaks to the two on the road, he says, “Was it not necessary that the Christ had to suffer these things and enter into his glory.” It “had” to be this way. Theologians, of course, will raise the theoretical question, “Was it really necessary that it be this way. Did it ‘have” to be the way of the Cross. Couldn’t Jesus have lived and died some other way to show God’s love for the world.? Yes, and no. Of course, it could have been some other way but God chose to reveal his love in Jesus Christ in a way that embraced all of the suffering and pain of the world. God in Jesus chose to identify with the outcast, the reviled, the rejected, the one unjustly condemned. If God “really” wanted to love the world, it “had” to be the way of the Cross. Here, There and Everywhere. The risen Jesus was pretty busy on “that very day, the first day of the week.” That’s how today’s Gospel begins. But Jesus also appears to the disciples in the upper room that very day in the evening. And, of course, to Magdalene and the women in the morning. You could say he was “Here, there and everywhere.” As you know, the categories of “space and time” don’t apply to the Risen One. Yes, we live in time and space but the Risen Jesus transcends those categories. To quote a homily my friend JA Loftus gave on this Sunday in 2014: The gospels give witness to the new privileged locus of Jesus’ post-resurrection body. It is now in the believing community itself and in the breaking of bread and sharing of the cup that we see in so many, if not all, the post-resurrection gospel texts. Believe the community gathered who remember and break bread together. Jesus’ body is there. It is as true for us today as it was then. The Risen Jesus is “here” with this community gathered to break bread. He is “there” down the road at St Julia’s and, of course, he is everywhere a community of believers come together to remember him in the breaking of the bread. I did refrain from singing or using the lyrics from It Had to be You and Here, There and Everywhere because they were love songs. But wait, Isn’t the Emmaus Story its own love song. Isn’t that what happened to the disciples on the road? “Were not our hearts burning within us?” Isn’t that what happens when you love and know that you are loved? So perhaps those disciples could have sung their own version of “It Had to be You” and Here, there and everywhere.” Multiplication of the Leaves4/21/2023 Friday of the 2nd Week of Easter If you read these reflections from time to time, you know that I almost always use the scriptures of the day as the springboard for the reflection which comes from prayer. (sometimes more engaging and consoling than others.) As much as I love today's Gospel which is John’s version of the feeding of the five thousand with the detail of the young boy who alone among the crowd has loaves and fishes, it was not this story that captured my imagination in prayer. It actually was a different kind of “multiplication.” I’d call it the “multiplication of the leaves.” When I returned home yesterday, I was captivated by the “greening” of the earth in and around Campion. When I left for Toronto, the trees were beginning to bud, but a few warm days really boosted their budding! It is these deciduous trees with their new leaves and new life that drew me to prayer today. I also imagine it has to do with tomorrow’s being Earth Day. As I was thinking about “prayer” and how simple it can be if we notice what is attracting our attention, I was trying to remember a Mary Oliver poem that speaks of this experience of noticing nature’s gifts. I didn’t find the one I was looking for but the one below brought me to another prayerful moment, especially on this “early Earth Day.” Loneliness I too have known loneliness. I too have known what it is to feel misunderstood, rejected, and suddenly not at all beautiful. Oh, mother earth, your comfort is great, your arms never withhold. It has saved my life to know this. Your rivers flowing, your roses opening in the morning. Oh, motions of tenderness! (And today I would add: Your trees greening, your leaves budding in the morning.) And what was, is, will be your prayer today? As a "nod" to the Gospel, the photo below is the mosaic on the floor of the Tabgha Church of the Multiplication on the Sea of Galilee. Reason-able4/20/2023 Thursday of the 2nd Week of Easter
Since I have a morning flight from Toronto to Boston today, I’m using my reflection from last year. There’s always something “new” for me in revisiting where I was in prayer and how God was or was not “rationing the Spirit.” What’s the Prayer for Generosity doing in a forsythia bush? It could be the explosion of forsythia flowers at this time of year that may be a symbol of the generosity of God’s creation. There are so many of these tiny yellow buds bursting forth as a prelude to the fullness of Spring. They won’t last for long but while they are here, they can be a reminder of how generous God is with the gifts of creation. The verse from today’s Gospel that ALWAYS captivates me is “God does not ration the Spirit.” God doesn’t hold back or restrain the impulse to be generous. To be generous is God’s nature and we see this generosity reflected in nature. Do we let ourselves be awed by the countless gifts of creation? To “ration” means to “count” a specific portion or number. A “ration” is a determined amount. Your “ration” is all you’re getting. From a certain perspective it’s not “rational” to be generous the way that God is generous and yet, that’s St Ignatius’ prayer. “To give and not to count the cost.” Yesterday we heard the familiar verse “God so loved the world (the cosmos) that God gave his only-begotten son…..” God does not ration, restrain, or hold back. Is today an invitation to ask ourselves how generous we are with our time, our service, our love? Is there a forsythia within us that will bloom if we let it? 2023 As I have spent almost a week “revisiting” special people and places with which I shared many memories with my dear friend, JA, I’m aware of the truth of today’s Gospel. “God does not ration the Spirit.” It doesn’t mean that things will always go the way you’d like, but there is always the energy of love that you can tap into, if you “give in” and “let it be.” AuthorAs an ordained Catholic priest for 45 years and a member of the Jesuits for 57 years, I've had a great deal of "spiritual" experience! This is a place where I can continue to share my thoughts about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and what it means to live the "mystery of God." Categories |
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