Love's Luster10/31/2021 31st Sunday of Ordinary Time
I share with you this morning the question I’ll be asking the participants in our day of prayer to ponder. The Scriptures today all speak of Love as being the greatest commandment. We are called to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. Reflect on your own “love story.” How have you lived your life up to now as a response to the greatest commandments? Who, how, when, why, where, may help you to remember. How has God anointed you with his/her love in your life? I’ve been thinking of the love story told in the life of our iconic pine tree, especially her relationship with Brace Rock. I hope to share a poem I’m in the process of writing. This is how it begins: If a Tree Falls A question for philosopher and physicists: If a tree falls and no one’s around what sense is there to speak of sound when there are no human ears to hear, when there are no eardrums vibrating, no hammers and anvils to stir up sound, does crack, crash, splinter, and fail fail to make a difference at all? A conundrum for a conifer? A tree fell. And who could hear her cry and crash when cacophony of whistling winds muted all other sounds around? A pine whose bearing once straight and tall Of late leaning, her axis atilt, Waited on pines and needles for The axe to fall and fell her. A century’s storms have taken their toll! I also share with you an excellent homily given by Fr. JA Loftus at Holy Trinity Church. 31st_sunday_in_ordinary_time.docx And Happy Eve of All Hallows!
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A Drop in the Sea/ Drop... See?10/29/2021 Friday of the 30th Week in OT I know that the expression is “a drop in the ocean,” but given that the word, “dropsy” is used in the Gospel, I changed “ocean” to “sea.” I wonder how many of you reading this reflection know what “dropsy” is and where the word comes from? A better question for translators may be why they use a word whose meaning is not commonly known. Curious to know what “dropsy” was, I found out that it’s an archaic word for “edema” or “swelling” caused by the retention of water. Somewhere along the line, “hydro” meaning water was shortened to “dro.” So if you didn’t know before, know you know the meaning of “dropsy.” (If you know someone who suffers from dropsy, you know how uncomfortable it is.) Given the labyrinthine ways in which my mind works in prayer, “dropsy” led me to the expression, “a drop in the sea/ocean.” As you know, that is a way of expressing how insignificant something is. The problem is so vast that a single “drop” is not going to make a difference. And yet, sometimes a “drop” of something can make a significant difference. An eye drop, an ear drop, a nose drop, a tear drop…. Yesterday I received the booster shot of the Covid vaccine, and I was thinking that just a drop of the vaccine is life-saving. Each shot contains 0.3ml of the vaccine. Something so small can make such a great difference! This led me to think of the Gospel today where observers use religious law as a reason for Jesus not to heal on the sabbath. Could there be any similarity between the “scholars of the law and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel and those who refuse the vaccine for religious reasons? Just a thought….. Sometimes I will use the image of a grain of sand or a drop of seawater as a symbol of our personal sinfulness so that one can experience the “wideness of God’s mercy” which is more immense than the oceans and the seas. The photo I chose was taken the day before the storm. The young boy staring out at the widness of the sea is Jonah. Hmm, Wonder what he's thinking? Below is a photo of his parents, Christine Cha and Dustin Saldarriaga. All this from a single word! Drop… See? With Gust- Oh!10/28/2021 Feast of Sts Simon and Jude
We have had gusts up to 50 miles per hour the past days. I’ve watched the gulls and can’t believe how they are able to fly in gusts of winds that are so powerful that I had to steel myself so as not to be blown away! (Yes, that’s an exaggeration but it’s what it felt like.) You saw yesterday the damage that those gusts of wind did to our iconic pine tree, and yet the gulls seem to accept the challenge with “gusto.” As I viewed some of the videos I took of the storm yesterday, there was one in particular that caught my attention. There were two gulls managing the gusts with gusto. I named them Simon and Jude, and I thought about the challenges and adverse winds that they must have faced as close companions of Jesus in his ministry. On all the feasts of Apostles, the psalm refrain is the same. “Their message goes out through all the earth.” There is “gusto” in the “good news” that they proclaim. To be honest, I'm not feeling much "gusto" today as I "pine" for our precious tree, but I'm looking to the gulls to inspire me, and even give me some "gusto." R.I.P.10/27/2021 Wednesday of the 30th Week in OT
I know that R.I.P. if from the Latin, Requiescat in Pace or Rest in Peace. Today, I think of it as a “rip” when something or someone is torn from you. Our dear friend, Petronella, the pine tree, symbol of retreatant’s persistence and pain was ripped from the ground by the Nor’easter. My own heart is broken and the tears have been flowing down my face all morning. I knew that she didn’t have much time left but she has been so brave and through so many storms that I didn’t expect that this storm would fell her. Just the other day I was hugging her because I wanted to show my friends, Dustin, Christine and their son Jonah, how she feels people’s pain. It was on this day two years ago that I wrote the poem, Autumn’s endings. I share it with you here: Autumn’s End How ought I pray at autumn’s end? Is autumn’s prayer seasoned differently? Spirit sighs and says, “Autumn’s all about endings, isn’t it? Winter’s waiting Spring’s awakening Summer’s ripening Autumn leaves something to be desired. What do you desire when all you see in autumn is endings?” I sigh and say, Leaves falling, branches baring Empty spaces in open air. Where there was greening, grinning grass Now browning, frowning, No longer mown but moan No longer grown but groan My spirit is like the grass that fades, The forgotten fruit that withers on the vine, The falling leaves lying on beds of death and decay My prayer futile, not fertile Is this how I ought to pray at autumn’s end? Spirit sighs and says, Open your eyes! Autumn is seasoned with hope. Without the dying and decay There would be no way For winter’s waiting, For spring’s awakening, For summer’s ripening How ought you pray at autumn’s end? Hopefully! And here is the story I wrote for Palm Sunday, a conversation between Brace Rock and Petronella the Pine Tree. brace_and_petronella.pdf High Seas!10/26/2021 Tuesday of the 30th Week in OT
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now; It certainly seems like creation is groaning today with the howling winds that are a prelude to a Nor’easter, here on the coast of Gloucester. The best/worst is yet to come this evening but I’m sharing a brief video of the “high seas.” It’s two years ago on this day that I wrote the following: Aye, Aye! Romans 8:18-25 I eye the sea. Hi! Sea, I say. High seas, I see. Storm churns, Turns, topsy-turvy. See for yourself, Sea says. I’m all eyes and ears, I say Aye, Aye! Sea says High C’s, I hear Sea sings, Scales, from Sea to C Hear for yourself, Sea says. Are you groaning? I ask. Your high seas sound Pain-filled like high C’s Off-key, more screech than reached. Labor pains, Sea says All creation contracting, expanding, labor pangs. Don’t you see, Sea says? Your pain is mine My pangs are yours. Aye, Aye, I say, Yes, Sea, I see. Not you or me but We as one, Reaching high, see? I also could not help but think about how creation is groaning because of the damage that has been done to the Earth because of human greed and "progress." The evidence of the damage that has been done is clear from the climate crisis we are facing now. Oh, that we could hear creation groaning and have a change of heart! Uptight or Upright?10/25/2021 Monday of the 30th Week in OT
The leader of the synagogue in today’s Gospel must think of himself as “upright” and obedient to the letter of the law. He appears to be more “uptight” than “upright” in his failure to recognize the hypocrisy that Jesus points out. The irony, of course, is that Jesus enables the woman, crippled for 18 years to stand “upright” and glorify God. How are you today? Are you uptight because of some situation that you may be facing? Are you bent over, incapable of standing erect emotionally, spiritually? Can you ask for the grace to stand “upright” and see the face of Jesus smiling at you, rejoicing with you? More tomorrow….. Autumn Weaves10/24/2021 30th Sunday in OT This is the homily I'll give today at both of our liturgies. I chose the photo above to suggest Bartimaeus' receiving sight. Can you discern the face of Jesus? If I were a weaver I’d be an eager one An eager weaver, Busy at my loom, Criss crossing colors Fiery reds Burnt oranges Glowing ambers. Beaver-like I’d weave With yarns of yearning. Not sticks and branches My warp and weft, But hopes and dreams Fiery red Burnt orange Glowing amber And not give a damn About what looms ahead. I wrote the poem Autumn Weaves two years ago today, October 24th, for the memorial of St Anthony Claret. And though you may think that with a name like “Claret” he would be the patron saint of vintners, he’s actually the patron saint of weavers. He was cut from the same cloth as his father, Juan, who was a weaver and learned that trade before he became a man of the “cloth” in another sense. From a weaver of cloth, he became a weaver of words in his preaching and published texts. In addition to the time he spent as Archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, confessor to Queen Isabella of Spain, founder of the Claretian missionary order, he wrote or published 200 books or pamphlets, not only on religious topics but others such as “Reflections on Agriculture and Country Delights. You could say he was as busy as a beaver during his life. If I were a weaver I’d be an eager one An eager weaver, Like Jesus was, Criss-crossing Cana and Capernaum,’ Judea and Jerusalem Weaving words of God’s reign, His warp and weft Justice and compassion Fiery words, ablaze and aglow. He did not give a damn About the Christ/cross that loomed ahead, All of the evangelists are ‘word weavers,” trying to get across, as best they can, the power and beauty of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Mark is my personal favorite of the four word-weavers. The story of Bartimaeus is a good example of Mark’s weaving together the very human aspects of Jesus’s person with the cries of the heart that come from whoever is in need of healing. We hear of Bartimaeus, begging by the roadside. Was this his daily ritual? Did he go to the same place each day to hope and pray that someone would give him alms? Was he, in some sense, in his comfort zone? But then he hears that Jesus is passing by. He comes out of his “comfort zone” shouting out to get Jesus’s attention. He doesn’t listen to those who are trying to quiet him down and shouts again. Finally, we hear: Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you." He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. At least that’s the way one word-weaver, the translator in the NRAB gets the story across. Here are some others: So, they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. NIV So they called the blind man. “You lucky fellow,”[a] they said, “come on, he’s calling you!” 50 Bartimaeus yanked off his old coat and flung it aside, jumped up and came to Jesus. (The Living Bible) They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus. (The Message) Good news! Jesus has heard you. Listen—He calls for you. Get up and go to Him. Bartimaeus cast aside his beggar’s robe and stepped forward, feeling his way toward Jesus. (The Voice) Each translator wants to get across the eagerness of Bartimaeus to encounter Jesus. There are obstacles in his way, the voices of others telling him to “shush,” or “shut up.” (That’s actually two of the alternative translations.) But his persistence pays off. Jesus calls him. He throws off his cloak, “dismantling” his former life and “feels his way toward Jesus.” And Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And isn’t that what you are doing these 8 days? Aren’t you trying to get Jesus’s attention with your silent shouts? Is that an oxymoron? Silent Shouts? Shouts for his ears only? Cries from the heart in the silence that only God can hear? And are there other voices that are telling you to shush or shut up? You’re not worth his time! Are there inner voices telling you not to bother because you’re nobody special? And are you listening to them, or listening to the voice of Jesus calling you? And haven’t you come here to “feel your way to Jesus?” Can you imagine yourself as Bartimaeus without physical sight? What would it be like for you to feel your way to Jesus? What’s it like when you are in the dark and you have to feel for what’s around you? And as your sight is restored, moving from darkness to light, the figure looming in front of you is the face of Jesus. If I were a weaver I’d be a busy one. A busy weaver Like Paul was Christ-crossing Sin, slavery, Salvation, sanctification. Weaving words in Christ, Death-defying His warp and weft Freedom and Forgiveness Fierce and fiery words A blaze of glory No damming God’s grace In Jesus Christ Since you arrived here, you’ve been hearing Paul’s letter to the Romans that weaves together the themes of sin, slavey, salvation, sanctification. It’s not always easy to understand the points that Paul is trying to get across, but this word-weaver, tries to sum it up with the words; “No damming God’s grace in Jesus Christ.” And that reality; God’s unconditional, undammable love in Jesus Christ, always overflowing the banks that we build for self-protection, that reality should evoke from us “shouts of joy.” You can bank on it! If you wonder if God’s a weaver Just behold the autumn leaves Fiery red, Burnt orange Glowing amber Criss-crossing colors Christ-crossing At warp speed! Lost in Translation....10/22/2021 Friday of the 29th Week in OT
I think that what I wrote two years ago for this day is worth repeating since the letter to the Romans is so complex and challenging to understand. It also gives me the opportunity to use the stunning photograph of Baryshnikov soaring into space. Today’s reflection is in “epistolary” form. Since we’re hearing Paul’s Letter to the Romans I decided to “sit right down and write St Paul a letter.” Salve Paulus! I’m writing to you almost 2000 years after you wrote your letter to the community in Rome. As we say in the 21st century, “Thanks for sharing.” We also say, “I feel your pain!” When you lived, you wouldn’t have known that your letters would be collected and quoted by chapter and verse. We’re reading the 7th chapter which has to do with the struggle in you between “sarx” (flesh) and “psyche” (your spirit/soul) You sound pretty conflicted and you admit your own misery. Miserable one that I am! Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Again, thanks for sharing your struggle. I think most of us can identify with the struggle to do good despite our human limitations. As you say, there is a war that’s going on inside. For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. I wonder if there isn’t another war going on in you as well. It’s the war between your Jewish heritage and being a Greek speaking Roman. As a Jew, you wouldn’t have thought of a split between your spirit and your body. The Jewish understanding of the person was holistic. From what I understand there were two words, “nefesh” and “basar” Both tried to capture the essence of the human person as physical and spiritual being, one associated with the “earthly” and the other with the “divine.” But you had to make these words in Hebrew palatable to a Greco-Roman audience and use the Greek language of sarx (Flesh) body (soma) soul (psyche). You must have been influenced by Greek philosophers who saw the body/flesh as base because of its corruptibility. Body, bad! Spirit, good! I guess what I’m trying to say is that for those of us who live in the 21st century who have to make sense of your letters, something is “lost in translation.” Our contemporary struggle is to see ourselves holistically and not as separate; our physical being at war with our spiritual. Acknowledging the struggle to “do good and avoid evil,” isn’t it more accurate to say that God’s embraces the whole self, not just our spiritual self? God seemed to care enough about the body, that in Jesus God is flesh and blood for us. It’s interesting that the Gospel of John, written decades after your letters, has Jesus using “sarx” flesh as the word for his body. So maybe it’s not so bad after all! I wish you could see the photo of the great Russian dancer, Mikhail Baryshnikov, soaring into space. What a beautiful image of his soaring into space. You see his body. You feel his spirit. In this moment they are one and the same. Hope you’re enjoying hanging out with Jesus! Sincerely Robert Vereecke S.J. Hard Shell/ Hard Sell10/21/2021 Thursday of the 29th Week in OT
Yesterday, I had a delightful time reconnecting with a friend and former parishioner who has moved to Rockport (town next to Gloucester.) On a walk from her house to the downtown, I stopped to take a photo of Motif #1, “the most often painted building in America.” It was only this morning as I was thinking about the scriptures of today that I looked at the photo and noticed the name of the boat in front of the fishing shack. “Hard Shell” As you can see, I chose this for the title of today’s reflection. First, the scriptures today are a “hard sell.” Paul’s frequent use of the word “slave,” is “heart hardening.” As I said yesterday, we can understand the historical and cultural context in which Paul is writing, but the history of slavery is so horrific and antithetical to what we believe is truly human, that it is hard to hear in any meaningful way. The Gospel is also a “hard sell” as Luke’s Jesus speaks of conflicts which tear apart families and pit one against the other. How does this make sense, given Jesus’s preaching about forgiveness, reconciliation and compassion? And who wants to hear Jesus speaking about “setting the earth on fire,” when parts of our country are ablaze with wildfires bringing destruction in their path? The more I prayed, reflected with these readings, I felt a “hard shell,” encasing my mind and heart. Of course, hard shells are important for protection and preservation of what’s inside, the meat or the fruit. And, of course, they need to be “cracked open” if the delicacy within is to be enjoyed. That may be fine for fruits and nuts, but when it comes to us human beings a “hard shell” is a “hard sell” if we are called to lives of love and compassion. Mastery or Mystery?10/20/2021 Wednesday of the 29th Week in OT
The Gospel today speaks of the relationship between master and servant. Paul’s letter to the Romans speaks of being “slaves of sin” and “slaves of righteousness.” Although we may find the concept of master-slave or even master-servant off-putting or even repulsive, it is so much a part of biblical experience that it is hard to ignore. Rather than an analysis or exegesis of today’s scriptures, my own prayer led me to remember a retreat I made some years ago using the poem, The Wreck of the Deutschland by Gerard Manley Hopkins. It was the first line that came into mind as my morning musing turned to “mastery.” I share with you the first and fifth verses of this extraordinary poem by a “master of the art of poetry.” Thou mastering me God! giver of breath and bread; World's strand, sway of the sea; Lord of living and dead; Thou hast bound bones & veins in me, fastened me flesh, And after it almost unmade, what with dread, Thy doing: and dost thou touch me afresh? Over again I feel thy finger and find thee. I kiss my hand To the stars, lovely-asunder Starlight, wafting him out of it; and Glow, glory in thunder; Kiss my hand to the dappled-with-damson west: Since, tho' he is under the world's splendour and wonder, His mystery must be instressed, stressed; For I greet him the days I meet him, and bless when I understand. (Today's photos are from last night's sunset over Niles Pond and this morning's predawn. For me, it's not the "dappled-with damson west" but the "dappled with damson east." I hope they evoke a sense of mystery. BTW, I had to look up "damson." Hopkins must have seen "damson plums" in the colors of sunset..... 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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