Betwixt and Between8/31/2021 Tuesday of the 22nd Week in OT
St Paul is his letter to the Thessalonians makes a clear distinction between being in darkness and light. But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. I’d prefer to say that we live somewhere “betwixt and between” darkness and light. We are a study in contrasts like this morning’s sky. It’s the interplay between darkness and light that creates shades of meaning for us. (After a very poor night’s sleep, the light is glaring and I yearn for the night to come.) There are days when our faith and trust in God is as strong as a beacon of light and there are others when it’s so much more muted, perhaps like the light of a candle that glows in the darkness. It is the dark that allows us to see the light. It’s the light that illuminates the dark. We live “both/and” “betwixt and between.” And sometimes the sky lights up in an array of color and we remember that our lives and our God is so much more than either/or.
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Up in the Air8/30/2021 Monday of the 22nd Week in OT
“Up in the air” means unresolved, undetermined, unknown. When things are “up in the air,” do you feel anxious and worried or hopeful and expectant? I’m sure it depends on what’s happening in your life at the moment that will affect your outlook. In the reading from Paul to the Thessalonians that we hear today, everything is “up in the air.” Paul assures the community that they shouldn’t worry about those who have died since the Lord will come down from heaven, awaken them from sleep and they along with the living will meet the Lord “up in the air.” And yet, no one knows when this will happen so the timing of the Lord’s return is “up in the air.” It will come like a “thief in the night.” As you know, this letter is the earliest extant letter of Paul. Written in the 50s, the expectation was that the Lord’s return to the earth was imminent. Any day now! Be ready! It turns out that Paul was wrong on both accounts. The day of his coming is still “up in the air” and meeting Christ “up in the air” makes no sense given our understanding of the Universe. When people who are mourning the loss of a loved one choose the reading from Thessalonians for a funeral, I wonder why. The idea of a reunion with loved ones “up in the air” makes no sense in the context of a modern cosmology. And yet, people find comfort and consolation in Paul’s words. It’s clearly not the 1st century notion of heaven “up” there but the assurance of God’s ultimate care for each person, living and dead. Paul encourages the community to trust in God’s power to restore, renew and revive those who have died. At the same time, he promises that God will reunite all through the power of Christ’s resurrection. It’s this faith and hope that “grounds” the community even when everything is “up in the air.” When things are “up in the air” for you, is it possible to feel grounded in God’s love, care and compassion? And when something is resolved, even in an unfavorable light, can you still be grounded in God in a way that does not surrender to hopelessness? The reality is that we live most of our lives with the anxiety and worry of one thing or another being unresolved. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the next day and yet the challenge is to live with confidence that God is “for” us. Although I wrote the reflection above two years ago, it certainly resonates with our experience these days! There is so much “up in the air.” There is so much anxiety about the future. How do we stay grounded? As I read today’s Gospel, in which Luke’s Jesus quotes the powerful passage from the prophet Isaiah, I feel that trust in Jesus is the one who grounds me. He is the trustworthy one. He brings me down to earth when I am “up in the air.” The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. Ed Asner, the actor who voiced the character, Carl, in the animated film, “UP” died yesterday at the age of 91. “UP” is a wonderful story that paradoxically can bring you down to earth! If I had the time I’d view “UP” today! Kin-Ken8/29/2021 22nd Sunday in OT With all that is happening in our world today, with one human tragedy and natural disaster after another, the controversy over ritual purity in today’s Gospel seems so inconsequential. Since I have to preach about these readings, I have chosen to use an economy of words that might get to the “heart of the matter” or what’s the matter with us, who are kin to Jesus and each other? Why all of our quibbles, quarrels and squabbles when the world is so much in need of infinite compassion and mutual understanding. The photo above of the imminent sunrise and the brief video of the sunrising is a reminder that our creation is also an "earthen vessel" that holds us all together as one. Why do we squabble over care for creation when there is so much at stake? Earthen Vessels Why these cares for cleaning cups, jugs and kettles While world’s away a tidal wave of woe whelms? Why nit-pick and quibble over earthen ware While vessels of the humankind are shattered by despair? Why nit- pick and quarrel over matters of inconsequence While terror takes its toll and deaths tallied, ban any sense Of shared humanity? Why these squabbles over what or who defiles, While human cruelty defies divine logic? Why this concern for cleaning cups, jugs and kettles While world’s awash with covid’s scourge? Why nit-pick and quibble over earthen ware While vessels of earthen kin are cracked beyond repair? Why nit- pick and quarrel over matters of inconsequence While covid takes its toll and deaths tallied, ban a common Sense of humanity? Why these squabbles over who is right and who is wrong While all are tuckered out by constant bickering? Is it because vessels of earthen kin are not keen for cleansing? Do we not ken our kinship with him who turned us outside in and inside out? What cost for Word made flesh- This earthen vessel, hand-crafted At the potter’s wheel, love-crafted From the Father’s weal of fortune! And we his kin, Can we learn to treasure whom we hold in earthen vessels? Two Gather as One8/27/2021 Two Gather as One
Memorials of St Monica and St Augustine This is the third year that I have written a reflection on Sts Monica and Augustine. Each year I gather the two into one. As mother and son, they belong together. I know of no other mother-son saints in the liturgical calendar. It’s appropriate that Monica precedes Augustine since she is credited with his “change of heart” and his baptism through her persistence in prayer. Here are some examples of each of them “speaking from the heart.” In his Confessions he describes a lovely conversation with his mother a few days before her death. “And so the two of us, all alone, were enjoying a very pleasant conversation, forgetting the past and pushing on to what is ahead. We were asking one another in the presence of the Truth, for you are the Truth---what it would be like to share the eternal life enjoyed by the saints, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, which has not even entered into the heart of man. We desired with all our hearts to drink from the streams of your heavenly fountain, the fountain of life.” Monica speaks from her heart of her impending death: “Son, I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here.” Augustine speaks from his heart of his discovery of the Divine. “Late have I loved you, beauty ever ancient, ever new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things, which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.” The photo I have chosen reflects Augustine’s experience of “Beauty ever ancient, ever new.” I also have added a photo from A Dancer's Christmas/1984. I'm holding Anna Teresa Faherty, the daughter of Carol and Brian Faherty who was born on this day, the feast of St Monica. In Thin Air8/26/2021 Thursday of the 21st Week in OT
I had expected to be writing this reflection in my favorite “thin place,” Eastern Point Retreat House. But since my car and house keys disappeared in “thin air” yesterday, I never made it back. I have scoured the house in search of the “lost set of keys” but they are nowhere to be found. I keep imagining my self as the woman in the parable sweeping her house in search of the lost coin. No such luck for me!. Fortunately, I found an extra set and will be travelling today. In the meantime, I do hope you will find whatever you are looking for and it doesn’t disappear in thin air….. Of Course!8/25/2021 Wednesday of the 21st Week in OT
Of course, I can’t identify with Paul’s words today in the letter to the Thessalonians. He speaks of his “toil and drudgery.” The past week has been anything but. I have had the opportunity to visit with friends, assist a best friend who is slowly recovering mobility, enjoy the beauty of Cape Cod, survive a hurricane and play some of the Cape’s most beautiful golf courses. Anything but toil and drudgery. But I can echo Paul’s words of gratitude, “giving thanks to God unceasingly.” I’m especially grateful for an annual outing to “Eastward Ho,” the course you see in the photos above and below. Thanks to a wonderful friend, I’ve had the chance to experience the beauty and the challenges of this course each year for the past seven years. (This year, I managed to find myself in sand traps on almost every hole! I can paraphrase Jesus’s “Woes” to the Pharisees in today’s Gospel.) “Woe to you who find yourself in Eastward Ho’s sand traps! They are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of golfers’ defeated dreams of scoring well! I return to Eastern Point today, although I’ll be going “off course” for a few hours to play another beautiful course with a dear friend. Hopefully, the sand traps will not be such a menace! Of course, I’ll try my best to stay out of them! Bartholomew's Cobble8/24/2021 Feast of St Bartholomew, Apostle
Most mornings I cobble together Bits and pieces of prayer Words, phrases, verses, not averse to images. This is how my poem “Cobble’s Tones” begins. I thought of it on this feast of St Bartholomew as I happen to come across an article on “Bartholomew’s Cobble.” Bartholomew’s Cobble is named for its two rocky knolls—or “cobbles”—rising above the Housatonic River. Hurlburt’s Hill, the property’s highest point, rises 1,000 feet to a 20-acre upland field on the Massachusetts-Connecticut border that offers panoramic views northward up the Housatonic River Valley. Boasting an enormous variety of woodland flowers and fern species, the Cobble’s amazingly diverse flora earned it a National Natural Landmark designation in 1971. Hmm, I thought when I read this. Could I cobble together a reflection on Bartholomew aka Nathanael? What we know about St Bartholomew from the scriptures is really bits and pieces, cobbled together from stories of his call. He is usually paired with Philip and in John’s Gospel, where he is named Nathanael, it is Philip who tells him about Jesus. Other than his being named as one of the Apostles, we do not know much about him. We can only surmise that he was a witness to the miracles, the teaching, the healings. He journeyed with Jesus, eating and drinking with him. He most likely fled the scene of Jesus’s arrest in the Garden. Who knows where he was at the Crucifixion? We assume he was in the upper room when Jesus appeared to them after his Resurrection. All we have to go on is “bits and pieces,” of scripture and tradition, cobbled together through our imagination in prayer. I wonder what Nathanael/Bartholomew was doing under that fig tree? Was he daydreaming? Was he just enjoying shelter in the shade? Was he luxuriating in a luscious fig? Was he praying? Was he reading the Torah? Whatever he was doing, Jesus was able to see into the depths of his being and know him for who he was. Although there are many traditions that speak of his mission and martyrdom, it is difficult to discern what is historical truth and what is myth. Tradition has it that he was “flayed” alive. That is why he is the patron saint of tanners and others who work with leather; i.e, cobblers/ shoemakers. Today’s reflection is a good example of “cobbling together” bits and pieces of scripture, tradition, prayer and the imagination. The photo I have chosen for today is the group of contemporary disciples who made the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius this past July. During those days, the Holy Spirit was “cobbling together” the “bits and pieces” of their lives and prayer to let them know that Jesus searching the depths of their being and know them and love them as they are. cobbles_tones.docx What a relief!8/23/2021 Monday of the 21st Week in OT
What a relief it was for me to see the hibiscus blooming after a long period of dormancy. I was beginning to wonder whether it would ever bloom again. As you can see it stands out in “relief” in the photo as well as bringing me relief. I have to say, What a relief it was to know that the hurricane did not affect Cape Cod, although it did damage to so many other places. Although we may be relieved, others are suffering. Life is so often like that! This is what I wrote two years ago: Oh what a relief it is to be finally finished with the stories of Moses and Moabites, Joshua and Judges, Battles and Baals! The first reading today is from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and it’s quite a relief from the drama and struggles of those early biblical narratives. Isn’t it a relief to hear these words of “salutation?” We give thanks to God always for all of you, remembering you in our prayers, unceasingly calling to mind your work of faith and labor of love and endurance in hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father, knowing, brothers and sisters loved by God, how you were chosen. For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction. These opening words of Paul’s letter “throw into relief” the essentials of our Christian life. Giving thanks Remembering Laboring in love Living in the Spirit. I’ve been abundantly blessed this past year to have a good deal of “relief” time that has afforded me the opportunity to give thanks and remember the people who have revealed to me God’s goodness. Today, yesterday and the day before yesterday I have spent time with friends and former parishioners whose lives are examples of extraordinary goodness and generosity. Their labors of love for their families, their community, their church are powerful models of “living and loving in the Spirit.” And so I can echo Paul’s words: “I give thanks to God always for all of you.” Be leaving?8/22/2021 21st Sunday in OT
After a sequence of Sundays listening to the “bread of life” discourse from the 6th Chapter of John’s Gospel, we will finally be leaving it and returning to Mark’s Gospel next Sunday. Don’t get your hopes up, however, it’s not an easy Gospel to pray with or preach on! Mark my words! Speaking of my words, I’ve opted to share with you a homily I wrote 9 years ago for this Sunday. I hope it speaks to you…. 21st_sunday_2012.docx The photo above is the morning sea and sky at Corporation Beach in Dennis, Ma. When I sent it to a friend in Austria who was concerned about the effects of Hurricane Henri, he called it “ominous,” I understood that to mean it was "threatening." I had actually seen it as a good omen, seeing the bits of blue behind the grey clouds, I was comforted. I suppose it’s all in the "eye of the beholder.” One could say the same thing about the “bread of life.” What you see, is what you get…. The photo below is the cover of the recent issue of The Tablet. With an article using a statistical analysis of belief in the "real presence" of Christ in the Eucharist on the part of British Catholics, it seemed appropriate for this Sunday's Gospel. I superimposed it on a Cross that has special meaning for me. God's Honest T/Ruth8/20/2021 Friday of the 20th Week in OT
The photo above is not from the plateau of Moab but the plateau of Truro on Cape Cod. It’s the lighthouse that may be an appropriate symbol for Ruth, the daughter in law of Naomi. Ruth is a beacon of hope for Naomi who has lost her husband and both sons. Ruth chooses to accompany Naomi and not abandon her although she is not obligated. Ruth is true to her word and leaves her own homeland to be with Naomi as she returns to Bethlehem and her people. (Notice that the lighthouse is in Tru-ro!) But Ruth said, "Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you! For wherever you go, I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God." You may have attended a wedding where you heard these words from scripture. I certainly have! For people who don’t know the context of these words, they think they are spoken to Ruth’s husband. And yet they are spoken to Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law. These are two generations of women and the younger is pledging her fidelity to the elder. There is a simple and beautiful “T-ruth” in these words. Human companionship, fidelity to a friend, or family member speaks God’s honest truth. We hear the same truth spoken by Jesus in today’s gospel. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” I share with you a link to a dance that I choreographed about Ruth, Orpah and Naomi. It’s one of my favorites! Here is the link: https://vimeo.com/340328148#t=630s It’s very dark but you should be able to see the movement of their journey, the separation from Orpah and the binding together of Ruth and Noami. Today you may want to reflect on the people in your life who have been true to you and been a beacon of light, as Ruth was for Naomi. I couldn't help using a photo of a page of stamps I just bought with all types of lighthouses. Makes me think of how there are so many people who are "beacons of light" in my own life. 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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