#i want to learn how to pray like Merton

[xxdumbblondexx]

---Additional Learning Support---

3 - GET BACK TO WORK

Master list --- Next --- Previous

“For the most part of this it is going to be a self study session. I can get you all the materials you want such as past papers or books, as well as help you with areas you're stuck on. But for today, [Name], Scaramouche and Heizou get in a group together, Aether and Kazuha, and I’ll go with Xiao.” 

You looked to the two in your group, instantly deciding that you wanted to be with neither of them. In your mind, you already hated them. That plus the fact that you despised being kept after school for any longer made the whole experience unbearable. 

“Why?” You 're the one to ask. 

“Because. You three can create a collective network of personal knowledge on Sociology. So will Kazuha and Aether on English Language. And so will me and Xiao on maths. For the next few sessions we’ll try that out and change the groups.” 

You only nodded your head at his answer, mumbling under breath, 

“Collective network of personal knowledge. What the fuck does that mean?” 

You thought you were being quiet until Heizou chirped in with, 

“He probably means we lay out what we know about the subject and try to fill in any gaps the other people have.” 

“Correct.” Albedo said as he turned his book towards Xiao. 

“Sounds exhilarating.” Sarcasm was your only friend in this situation. 

“Right, you're all currently covering crime, right?” Heizou spoke although you prayed he wouldn’t. His voice was already getting on your agitated nerves and you really just wanted him to shut up. 

You nodded and so must have Scaramouche since the loudmouth started to speak again. 

“Great. Let’s start on the functions of crime. [name] do you know what functionalists say about it?” 

You wanted to strangle him. This was supposed to be a sharing of knowledge, not a quiz. Why was he asking you? 

“Durkheim says that it performs boundary maintenance and a reaffirming of norms and values. That it is detrimental to society.”

All the time you spoke, Heizou’s eyes never left your face. It burned like a rash, and you were desperately trying not to scratch it. 

“Wow. Good knowledge.” 

“Don’t Fucking patronise me, you ass.” Your tongue wiped out before you could stop it. 

“Can you two stop flirting? It makes me wanna vom.” Scaramouche’s cold voice said and you suddenly gained the odd inspiration to beat his ass.

 

“Oh sorry, you must have felt left out.” Heizou’s sly answer gave you the exact same feeling. “Scara, how well do you know Merton’s strain theory? I can never remember the names to the responses of strain.” and so began the long study session. 

“Can your stomach shut the fuck up?” Scaramouche sneered as your stomach growled. 

Normally, by now you would have gone home and had a snack or something before dinner. 

You rarely ate lunch at school. The canteen food was shit and your mum had begun refusing to make you lunches. 

That’s what made macies trips so glorious. And it was also what made you starve at that current moment.

 

“Can your mouth shut the fuck up.” Your snarled back, wrapping an arm protectively over your noisy stomach. 

“Mmm mm mmm.” 

“Fuck off.” 

“Ok! Right realism and left realism! Let’s go.” Heizou desperately tried to turn the topic back to the work but just as he did, your stomach growled loudly again. 

“Eat something.”

“Oh yeah ill just drag a five fucking course out of my bag!” 

You were trying your best not to tear his head off, getting hangry especially since he kept bringing up the fact that you were hungry.

“This might be an idea that you like. Scara, be right realism and [name}, be left realism. Have a debate which provides better solutions to solving crime.” 

There was the second person you wanted to murder. He always spoke when you begged for silence. And his voice was constantly in your ears. 

You just wanted him to shut up.

 

“Fine. Right realistis are capitalistic pigs that believe people commit crimes because they are biologically determined to.” 

You barked out the first argument, the knowledge strangely coming to you now you were angry. It also probably had the bonus effect of being able to beat Scaramouche in a debate.

“And left realists are lost in a world of theories where they believe just because someone has something better than them, they must steal it.” 

“You can just say relative deprivation. Or is it too much to admit that they are still deprived!”

 

“Yeah but with that idea, so can the middle class, capitalist pigs since capitalism is a hierarchy and there is always someone at the top.” 

“And your kind believe that over policing and surveillance solves that?” The mockery in your voice only added to his annoyance. Obvious frown lines threatened to tear his head apart, as his eyes rawr with fire. 

“It is a short term fix. Unlike your educational solutions that take years to see the benefits. In that time, a person could kidnap and kill multiple people. Do you want those deaths on your hands?!”

“Like surveillance won't prevent that? There is always somewhere that those cameras, those spies wont reach. And hey, most people don't like to be watched. What will you do when you have a revolt on your hands? Just send every individual to jail with your no-tolerance policy? Have fun watching your economy crumble.”

 

In the midst of your debated/argument, your stomach growled once more, sending scaramouche more into a rage. 

“Will you shut your fucking stomach up!” He yelled, loud enough to get everyone else's attention. 

“Oh? No more points left for the debate? Have you just conceded defeat?”

“Will you shut the fuck up! I cant fucking stand you and your---” 

A knock at the library door provided a sudden smack of silence. All eyes flooded to it, to find a small girl peak her head through. 

“Mr Albedo? I brought what you asked for.” She said, lifting a white plastic bag through the gap shed made in the door.

And then it hit you. The delicious, most amazing smell of chinese food. You could feel yourself salivate at only the scent. Either, this was the best thing to happen today or a horrible tease.

“Ah, thank you Sucrose.” Abedo stood from his seat and stalked towards the girl who seemed far too scared to step a foot inside. HE took the bag from her, thanking her once more before approaching the table once again. 

“I thought this might happen. None of you have any extra dietary needs, correct?” When everyone shook their heads, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. I brought some Chinese food to help you all keep working.” 

Albedo placed the bag on the table and you pounced, taking the first box you found. Singapore chow mein. EDIBLE FOOD!

“Oh my god, you're a saint among men.” Was all that you said before scoffing the food down before the others even got theirs. 

Hiyaaaa,

Third one and I'm calling it a night! The others should be out soon~

This one was also a lot about sociology so it might be a bit of a bore for anyone who hasn't taken it, sorry. I enjoyed taking it even though I was pretty bad at it. I found it really interesting but struggled writing in the exams for it which is kinda ironic considering i just belted out the functionalist view of crime and left and right realism. oh well, good revision ig,

For questions about the tag list, I'm kind of new at this so I'm not really sure how to do one but I will try my best :)

Remember to have your say [HERE]

Thanks for reading x

#genshin impact smau #genshin smau #genshin x reader #genshin impact #albedo x reader #heizou x reader #kazuha x reader #scaramouche x reader #aether x reader

[rayroa]

Judy Collins Q&A for Creative Loafing Tampa Bay

Judy Collins returns to Tampa Bay on Jan. 28, 2024, and Creative Loafing Tampa Bay has a feature story advancing the gig, but here's our Q&A for anyone interested.

—

Merry Christmas. What's that like in your house?

It's beautiful. It has a beautiful tree, and all my favorite possessions, and my husband. It's full of beautiful plants, and beautiful lamps and lights—so it's perfect.

And this is in New York, right?

Yep.

You talked about all your possessions and things like that. We obviously catch you at a very prolific time in your career. Still heavily gigging on the road, feeling great. What does Judy Collins ask for for Christmas? And what does she get for Christmas at this point?

Oh, I got a fireman Santa Claus ornament. An ornament of a microphone. I got a beautiful scarf from my sister and one from my husband—they're beautiful, gorgeous. And I love those things. They cozy me up on the road and they help me get through things. And books, and of course wonderful little tchotchkes from my sister and my granddaughter. I got a candle in a beautiful cup that has butterflies all over it. I love butterflies.

That's awesome. Gifts are really nice when you can figure out how to attach them to warm memories of the people that give them to you.

Exactly.

I want to ask you about Leonard Cohen a little bit. Obviously the story is well told and has been told a lot. He asked you why you weren't writing your own songs. You told him he's got to sing his own songs. And then you wrote "Since You've Asked" right after that. But I haven't seen you kind of talk about what you think Leonard would say about this latest album of all originals.

I know he'd love it. He'd love the one about Thomas Merton, certainly and he'd love the one about Spellbound. He was always generous with his praise. I would send him songs since I wrote them, and he would send me notes and tell me how wonderful they were. So I was always grateful.

Was he a good songwriting collaborator in terms of...

Oh, no I never collaborated with him on anything. He was a friend, and he was a fellow artist, and he was a great inspiration to me. And I think that's really where his  friendship helps me out. Because he inspired me with that first question. He got me going. And then after that, it was up to me, of course, but I did send him everything to get his response.

Did he ever give you constructive criticism?

He always said "That was wonderful." And that's the way that's the way he rolls.

For 32 years you learned that bel canto style under Max Margulis. He's the reason you can still work like a dog and I know you picked up a lot of good practices from him..I know that today is as good as it gets, you and I are both alive—and I know you have songs on the album that talk about some bad times, thinking of Arizona and tuberculosis in 1962—what about your own New Year's resolutions what are you working on this year?

Work harder. Keep on the edge. Forgive, forgive, forgive. Delight in the present. You know, keep your weight steady. Do your exercises and your bone strengthening. And take care to think of all your relatives and friends every day. Try to pray for them in this difficult time. It's always a difficult time on this planet. I don't know how we get by, or what we're supposed to do, but hang in here and try to exist and survive. Art's the thing that helps us which is why I treasure what I do. I think about the past year—I've had, in my experience, some of the best performances of my life in the past year. When I come off the stage, and I have that feeling that I have been present in something unique and transformative, it's transformative to me as well as the audience. I am so blessed because this is what keeps me going. This ability to get out there and do what I do, and sing and sing and sing, and talk, and tell my stories. It's just such a great privilege.

Yeah to be helpful for people's lives, too.

Absolutely. And the people who follow me and who come to my shows, they know what I'm going through because I'm always honest with them, I always tell them. This whole past month-and-a-half when I've had this cold which wouldn't go away, I was still able to sing and perform and I didn't have to cancel anything, thank God. So, you know, they know you're human, and they accept what you can do. Max has taught me what to do. So that makes my life much easier. Because I know how to get around these barriers to the voice.

You've kind of alluded to the cyclical nature of things in the human condition, and how the human condition kind of asks us to have art. Art gets us through things. And obviously, throughout your career, multiple people told you things like you know, "You got me through Vietnam," and I know that for poets hope is everywhere, but as you alluded to, there's this circle—and we love to kill each other for some reason—what is some of the art that gets you through these days?

Well, it's just the fact that being able to embody something that is of the nature of the other. Of the emotional, the spiritual, of the perception. You're dealing in something that's not on a foursquare basis. It's on the basis of spirituality, understanding, hearing, learning, listening, creating, dreaming, and that's what our life on the planet really is all about. I mean, the rest is a lot of work. And as far as writing and creating, my friend who's a mystery writer says, it's like laying pipe. You have to get up and do it, and practice it and write it and paint it. And that's the work that goes into it. But the result is just this connection between the spiritual and the practical. And that's what gets us through life, I think. I don't know what we would do without art. From the beginning, the caveman was drawing pictures on the walls of the caves because it had to express their experience of nature and of the powers of nature—and they did. And that's what we do. We basically were expressing what's happening around us—the nature, the growing things, the birds, the air, the clouds, the sun, the light, the morning, the night, the stars, the moon. So we see ourselves reflected in the universe, and we try to make something out of it that can inspire us, inspire one another.

And obviously reflection and song is its own special art form. Expression in songs is its own art form. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's hard. It was interesting to hear you say that you'd like to forgive more in the new year. You're so expressive in your music. You're always also a very vivid storyteller in your music. Oftentimes, your songs can take somebody back to a year, or a moment in history, but what are some of the things that you find hard to express? Is forgiveness one of those, or what's hard for you as far as expression goes?

The hardest thing to express is my being vehemently against war, and sometimes that has to come out with a song by Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie. I have shied away from singing "Masters of War" lately. I usually sing it in my shows, but since this disaster in the Middle East, I'm not singing it. I just can't even bear it. It's too painful. I don't want to take people to that place in the moment. I mean, "Amazing Grace" will do it. John Lennon's "Imagine" will help—a song that transcends the moment instead of leaving us to have to live in that feeling of despair and horror and hunger and human suffering. We don't have to live through that through a concert. We have to be given something to lift us over that and through that. And also, I think that helps the planet. I don't think it's important to poke people's eyes out with the information that everybody has. I can't even watch the news.

Yeah, I totally understand that. And you know, listening to you talk about not wanting to sing "Masters of War" was interesting. Because I have a four year old and they did a Christmas program a week ago, and I didn't know what they were singing. And they did "War Is Over." 

Good.

And it was so crazy to see a bunch of four year olds, you know, singing like, "War is over if you want it." And I'm in Florida, like, this is where woke goes to die, you know?

(laughs)

So I was like, really happy to see these kids like singing this song. I couldn't believe it. And you know, and it makes a lot of sense now that you wouldn't play "Masters of War." You talked about Leonard a little bit, and I was gonna ask you, you know, because he was an Orthodox Jew and I think you've played you know, in front of Jewish audiences, but I think you kind of answered the question in the previous answer. I was going to ask you how you thought your conversations about the current war would go with Leonard, but I feel like you answered that. Do you feel that way, too? Or do you feel like you have more you want to say about that?

Well, you know, he was so explicit. Also there was a point in I think '73 when one of the wars—the Six-Day Way, I think, happened—he went to Israel and sang and wrote a song…(hums it out, trying  to remember the song title)... I forget, anyway, he was always expressive. On You Want It Darker, some of his last material is so powerful and so painful, because we wanted to darker—and we're getting it darker. This free formed mental illness that's what it is, it's freeform or mental illness.

My brother in law's in town and we've been talking a lot about Martin Luther King and his quotes about how violence could change somebody but also change a country, you know. You're one of the most famous activists in American history.

I don't know about that.

I don't know, I think your career is really interesting, because you have sung activist songs and you've, I mean, you're a woman also making music and art through all those really hard years for women. And you talked about the cyclical nature of things and thinking about the song "Mama, Mama" and that brave story that you told about traveling to Nebraska when you were 23. And I think the last time I talked to you was early 2022. And since then, in the last year, we saw the right to abortion fall, and I was wondering, why are men still so obsessed with telling women what to do? You'd think we could exercise that out of our humanity.

I don't know. I mean, the fight might be there to keep our seal up and to make us aware that it's not right, and that we have to take action. Maybe that's what it's all about. I don't know. It has to be so hard. Why does it have to be so hard?

The animal kingdom is very hard and very simple. The rules are very simple. The aggression is based on hunger and predatory, land grab, and survival. And maybe that's all that it is. It's survival. It's predatory, land grabbing, and knocking off the neighbor who's annoying you. That's sort of historically what it's all about. War and fighting and anger and ferocity is part of our planet, life. Everything has a time. And then it goes, and species die out. Ours may. I mean, we're sort of forcing that on the planet to get rid of us because we're damaging it so badly. We may get retribution from the planet. And maybe war is part of that retribution? I don't know. I don't know the answer to any of these questions, except that I do know that it's one day at a time. That is getting through your own battles and your own struggles with this degree of kindness, gentleness, and understanding.

If you can't see that on the planet, you have to do it in your life. To show gentleness, to show respect, to show forgiveness, to be an even handed neighbor and friend. The kindness to one another is essential. The fact that we can learn to hold our tongue unlike some of the forces around us, people who cannot hold their tongue and have to say everything on their mind. That takes us back to mental illness.

I wanted to ask you something about your dad. I think he woke up every day, I think I remember you telling the story of him maybe singing like Dorothy Dandridge.

Yeah.

And being smiling and kind of ready to work all the time and learn something new every day. And obviously, your dad was also an alcoholic who got the job done. But then you've also described him as you know, a blinded man in a sighted world which  could be a beautiful metaphor, but also quite literal, in his life, but that joy that you talked about, that your dad brought to every day—smiling, ready to work and learn something new—what are some of those things that he taught you either directly or indirectly by example that you kind of bring to your work every day and maybe want to amplify even more this year?

Yeah, show up on time. Your work to the best of your ability. Always be present. Always be cooperative, always be enthusiastic. Always be happy. I mean, he was happy most of the time except if he was dead drunk. But, you know, that's the challenge. He overcame it. He knew how to do what he had to do. And I learned that from him. I had the benefit of discipline. In terms of my studies, I had to practice several hours a day. I had to show up. I had to do my homework. I was helpful. I was industrious, and that's part of why I do what I do. I love to be happy. I can tell you that some people in my family think I'm a cockeyed optimist. Why am I cockeyed? I have to be an optimist. You have to think there is something beyond what's going on, which is going to come out well. And I think even in chaos and the death and the destruction that's happening. The other side of that—it's like the fire burning in the forest and the next spring, all the wildflowers come bursting out dancing around in their colors and their shapes and their shifts—we have to look beyond the depths into what can be the brightness of the outcome. That's what we have to think of.

Right, I know we're getting short on time. I wanted to squeeze in a couple more questions. I think you kind of alluded to this. You've said people lose sight of everything—and you were just talking about that big picture—but you also said they watch too much television. They're on social media too much, which is not surprising but then you also said, "I'm also guilty of that sometimes but I tried to stay away from it." I don't imagine you like doomscrolling on Twitter or Instagram much. Do you?

No, I tell you, I do my due diligence. I check my email. I check my Facebook page. My Facebook is really a wonderful place because I get things that I love. Lots of paintings. A lot of scenes of herding dogs, sheep dogs—they excite me a lot—and horses. I get a lot of rivers and wind and trees and things like that. So I dip in there but I don't stay very long. And last night we watched “Christmas Carol” with Alastair Sim. That's a yearly event—we always watch that—it's the best film.

Real quick, do you still do the Canadian Air Force exercises?

Well, I do everything I can to stay healthy. I run. I walk. I have a FitBit that tells me my steps; I quite often get 2,000 a day. I try to do my stretches. I try to work out. Now I have a trainer for my weight bearing exercises so that I can increase my bone mass. The Air Force Exercises, I don't know if I could do them now, but I'm pretty fit.

And last question. I want to revisit “Arizona” again. The stories it conjures up for you, whether it's being brought to the lung doctor after the ash alley gig, the custody battle with Peter, but what about the writing of a song like that? Does it sting emotionally to have to revisit all of that over and over until you land on lyrics and an arrangement you love?

Well, it was a long-term song. I started it years ago. I worked on it on and off. I put things in it that I liked, and eventually when I was writing songs with Ari Hest, that's where the whole concept of Spellbound came because when I was writing with him, I realized that I just had to get down to start writing a poem every day, and also finish some of the things that I've been working on. He was very helpful. It’s a very mysterious process. And I'm very grateful to have it in my life.

I'm very grateful that you made a little bit of room for me in your life this morning.

It’s been wonderful talking to you. You're very inspiring.

Thank you. You're also very inspiring and I'm proud to talk to you and I'm proud to tell my parents that I get to talk to you and your music has meant a lot to my family over the years. 

Have a beautiful holiday Happy New Year to you.

Enjoy those scarves. Happy New Year.

Bye bye.

#judy collins

[ivanthedissident]

Waiting for my wife

A poem I wrote while waiting for my wife to arrive from the airport today! Enjoy! I’ll let you know when my nerves settle and I can re-read it to see if it’s any good! In the meantime…I process life through art! You’re my only audience outside the cloud and angels today! Me backstage, I wouldn’t want to be with me there. I’m all nerves! And ecstatic expectation! Oh well, that’s just how I am.

Waiting for my wife today

The nerves should be gone After 20 years-perhaps it is the energy of thankfulness To see a friend like her One you know inside and out (I do, after all, really like her) Pulsing in my blood I get up, sit down, get up Think of us in Paris and Prague, Berlin, now again, San Fran… We like cities. Art, gazing together Co-beholding things into their essences. I pray she gets the right driver (That they would be a true Lyft!) Every detail matters, every person a poem And this one my favorite. She is fine with anyone She barely talks unless She has something to say So, unlike me- Always striking up a conversation Just for the sake of it. Both ways are fine And good at the right time. Was her flight on time? Did she rest on the way…. Will she want coffee or wine. I will try to talk less when she comes and just listen well. Yes, that will be my gift. Silence. But I need to tell her everything I’ve learned in the past week, from everyone. That can wait. Today, my wife arrives. 
I will make sure the coffee is ready And the flowers have the right vases!!!! Don’t tell her too many new jokes you made up! Don’t over-stage it! Alas, I was made to set the scene and tell jokes forever. But she doesn’t like scenes, and doesn’t need to laugh now- keep it simple. Help her with her bags. Be the gentleman You are by heart, and try not to talk so much. 
Be more like Thomas Merton than Henri Nouwen today. Just be, don’t tell everything you know from being. Show don’t tell. Ok, Lord of Sabbath help me rest, and bless her landing, And all the best, and May she receive the gaze of flowers, and You be her Welcome.

[sophiechoir]

Thoughts from Mass 5/17/20 (6th Sunday of Easter)

@ St. Teresa of Avila’s <3

Today’s theme: Courage

Canticle of the Son (opening song)

One body in faith - plagued

Fr. Chris is taking the approach of making direct, intense eye contact with the camera for the entire duration of Mass. *blush*

“with one accord, the crowds paid attention” miracle indeed

a joyous city - paradox? nah, that’s just the cynicism talking

acceptance and baptism not enough to receive the Holy Spirit (so confirmation is in fact something more than either of those sacraments, and necessarily so)

sanctify Christ (hm - sanctify Him according to ourselves, maybe) -> in your hearts

*** “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence...” ***

>an explanation, not an attack or defense - your hope, not your persecution or aggressive proselytizing - they should want to learn from you, and you should teach instead of wound - many keyboard warriors could stand to take these words to heart

err on the side of martyrdom

“If you *love* me, you will keep my commandments”

The Spirit of Truth, apparently male (vs Wisdom - female?)

“The world will no longer see me, but you will see me”

love love love <3

“Whoever loves me will be loved by the Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” ***sequence

>begin with love for Christ specifically. Christ the gate

>but can’t one approach God without necessarily knowing or fully knowing Christ? even here it says that after one is loved by the Father, one them comes to fully see Christ - Christ reveals himself. either way, love and trust before knowledge

churches reopening!! oh thank God - well, in Indiana, at least

>hm, smaller churches might have more difficult time getting supplies necessary to reopen? I wonder how that will shift the church’s demographics

the confidence of a priest secure in his vocation - that must be the best feeling. that must be like being in love

I’m sick of homilies reflecting on COVID-related anxieties. The most comforting homily right now would be something very academic/theological/more separated from this bog of reality

>(but then again, I’m a coward lol)

The Son loves us as the Father loves Him

Roll back the stone from the tomb! Open the churches!

“Jesus promised the disciples he would not leave them orphans.”

Upper room at Passover vs at Pentecost - look up details (?)

The Lord doesn’t take away the danger or fear or trials, but instead gives us what we need for the next step

Spirit in life, in truth (life = truth)

*** “Courage is using what you’ve been given in the moment that it’s needed the most.” *** (not quite the usual cliche - lovely)

We can’t exercise any of the virtues if we don’t have courage (CS Lewis)

*** Trust over fear. Trust over fear. Trust over fear. ***

“Hope does not disappoint.” A bold statement, Fr. Chris. I want to believe it - can I believe it?

I wonder if anyone’s studied the “Masses” held by children who grew up to be priests. What sort of spiritual value or power do they have? What an amazing phenomenon

You are My All in All (song)

Spiritual Challenge: Look up Thomas Merton’s “Prayer of Abandonment and Trust”:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road although I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death, I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

#thoughts from mass #thoughts #prose #courage #i want to learn how to pray like Merton #his prayer made me cry #i never know how to address God like that #simply and fully #without adornment #yet with such emotion #such confidence (in both senses of the word) #anyways sorry for the incoming flood of thoughts from mass #trying to finally type up this backlog

[eelhound]

"What is the use of postmarking our mail with exhortations to 'pray for peace' and then spending billions of dollars on atomic submarines, thermonuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles? This, I would think, would certainly be what the New Testament calls 'mocking God' — and mocking Him far more effectively than the atheists do. The culminating horror of the joke is that we are piling up these weapons to protect ourselves against atheists [i.e. Russian communists during the Cold War] who, quite frankly, believe there is no God and are convinced that one has to rely on bombs and missiles since nothing else offers any real security. Is it then because we have so much trust in the power of God that we are intent upon utterly destroying these people before they can destroy us? Even at the risk of destroying ourselves at the same time?...

When I pray for peace I pray God to pacify not only the Russians and the Chinese but above all my own nation and myself. When I pray for peace I pray to be protected not only from the Reds but also from the folly and blindness of my own country. When I pray for peace, I pray not only that the enemies of my country may cease to want war, but above all that my own country will cease to do the things that make war inevitable. In other words, when I pray for peace I am not just praying that the Russians will give up without a struggle and let us have our own way. I am praying that both we and the Russians may somehow be restored to sanity and learn how to work out our problems, as best we can, together, instead of preparing for global suicide.

I am fully aware that this sounds utterly sentimental, archaic and out of tune with an age of science. But I would like to submit that pseudo-scientific thinking in politics and sociology have so far had much less than this to offer. One thing I would like to add in all fairness is that the atomic scientists themselves are quite often the ones most concerned about the ethics of the situation, and that they are among the few who dare to open their mouths from time to time and say something about it.

But who on earth listens?"

- Thomas Merton, from New Seeds of Contemplation (1961)

#thomas merton #quote #quotations #militarism #military industrial complex #cold war #christian theology #christian mysticism #pacifism #nuclear weapons #nationalism #peace

[romancatholicreflections]

26th October >> Daily Reflection on Today’s Mass Readings for Roman Catholics on Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Ephesians 4:1-6, Psalms 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 & Luke 12:54-59).

Lectionary: 477

Praying Ordinary Time

Weekly Guide for Daily Prayer

On my less graceful days, I want the measure of “success” (whatever that is) of my performance at work to match that of a meteorologist’s five day forecast or professional baseball player’s batting average. What would it be like to know that succeeding 30-40% of the time is actually doing quite well?! I say this in jest, but Jesus certainly wasn’t mincing words in today’s Gospel when he chided those crowding in to hear him speak by saying that while they were quite proficient at predicting the weather by watching the shifting elements of the earth (a la that of a meteorologist “reading” cloud cover and wind direction), they were clueless when it came to reading the signs of the times and judging what is “right” (as in the “right” of “right relationship” we know of from the biblical definition of justice). To do this well, we need to listen well to the call that God has put in our hearts -- ultimately, a call to love our world into wholeness.

Penning a letter to the nascent Christian communities from prison, the author of the epistle to the Ephesians emphasized the message of unity. In today’s first reading, the community is urged “to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace; one Body and one spirit.” How does that land on our contemporary ears during these times? We have so much division in our nation (as Americans), especially in light of the most recent appointment of a new supreme court justice, ongoing race relation breakdowns and our upcoming midterm elections in November. Our news feeds, online advertising and even our streaming music have become heavily curated by some algorithm of predictability -- dare I say, “partisan” preferences. In the face of this, our faith calls us to something deeper. We are called to seek that which unifies us, both in spite of and through our differences.

Not unlike this imprisoned biblical author, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. writes in his “Letter from Birmingham City Jail:”

In a real sense all life is inter-related. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be...This is the inter-related structure of reality.

This calls to mind the greeting I learned from my dear friend Senyo who is from Ghana, West Africa. When I would see him on our college campus and impulsively ask, “Senyo, how are you?” he would reply, “I am well, if you are well.” It is an almost identical echo of the South African concept of ubuntu -- “I am because you are.” Put simply, our existence is intertwined and “caught up” together.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus implies that if we cannot settle our differences, this unresolved split will imprison us, even if not literally, but emotionally, figuratively or symbolically. I cannot help but think, then, of the framework for true dialogue as outlined by Fr. Thomas Merton, OCSO. He says that if you share your perspective and I truly listen with open ears and heart, and if I share my perspective and you truly listen with open ears and heart, then we will end up not with one of us being “forced” to one side or the other, but that we will both be pulled, by the Holy Spirit, to a third place. This, of course, requires that we leave space for the Spirit to enter between us and that we remain open. Perhaps that is the call, the invitation and the challenge we need at this point in our history.

The first reading today says, “I urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received.” What is that call? Without being too prescriptive, I think it is safe to say that the life of Jesus suggests it is a call to love. Are we living in a way that daily honors that call?

by Kyle Lierk

Creighton University's Campus Ministry

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

hey, just a prayer request. i graduated high school this year, and bc of circumstances, i'm stuck in this house indefinitely until i can drive/get a job/work on going to school (i live rural, & my parents aren't able to help me pay for college, so. it is what it is.) just getting to that point could take years, for various reasons, and i'm very isolated here until i can move out. it's a hard situation and my emotional/physical health is suffering as a result. i. don't know how to get through it.

Hey there, dear. I’m so sorry you’re stuck in this situation.

I don’t know if you want advice, and honestly, I don’t have a lot I can say to fix your situation. But a few things that might help:

Find ways to make life at home as comfortable and livable as possible. Take up some new hobbies that you can focus on. Find friends and community and entertainment online. Exercise or meditate or do yoga or write. Read the Bible, or about Saints like Thomas Merton, who spent many years of his life sequestered in a monastery and often writes about desiring to get back out in the world, but learning to make the most of his time there. 

Start making lists of goals. Learning to drive should definitely be up there, if possible. Keeping up your studies is smart too, if you can. 

I wish I had more to say, but know I’ll be praying hard for you. Followers, any thoughts for anon? 

Loving God,This person needs your comfort and hope. They feel isolated and stuck. Help them to find freedom in their situation, and speed along the future where they’ll have more options. Protect them from their own worries; keep their health as good as possible as they work to achieve goals that will help them go far.Send people their way, online or offline, who can support this person. Help them reach out when they need that support. In their frustration, their impatience, their worry, walk with them, o God. Amen.

#prayer request tag #in the valley of the shadow #anon #queerly christian asks

[pradeep002-blog]

valentine’s day quotes 2020

Short Valentine’s Day quotes 2020

“You, just like heaven.” —Unknown

“Your lips are like wine, and I want to get drunk.” —William Shakespeare

“Love me and the world is mine.” —David Reed

“Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.” —Lord Byron

“What a lover’s heart knows let no man’s brain dispute.” —Aberjhani

“We loved with a love that was more than love.” —Edgar Allan Poe

“Love is the poetry of the senses.” —Honoré de Balzac

“Love talks, even with closed lips.” —Unknown

“Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” —Emily Bronte

“I love you every day as if it is Valentine’s day.” —Debasish Mridha

“Where there is great love, there are always wishes.” —Willa Cather

“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“My heart is perfect because you are inside.” —Unknown

“Home is wherever I’m with you.” —Unknown

“The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.” —Audrey Hepburn

“True love stories never have endings.” —Richard Bach

“A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out the years.” —Rupert Brooke

“There is only one happiness in life: to love and be loved.” —George Sand

“A man is not where he lives, but where he loves.” —Unknown

“Love is a beautiful red rose given for no apparent reason.” —Unknown

“No wind is too cold for lovers.” —Unknown

“Like music on the waters is they sweet voice to me.” —Lord Byron

“Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever.” —Audre Lorde

“I feel the happiest when I think about you.” —Unknown

“True love never grows old.” —Unknown

“I loved you yesterday, I love you still, I always have.” —Unknown

“Love me tender; love me sweet.” —Never let me go.Elvis

“The power of love is that it sees all people.” —DaShanne Stokes

“Love is the magician that pulls man out of his own hat.” —Ben Hecht

“You are blessed double if you are in love.” —Honeya

“Many are the starrs I see, but in my eye no Starr like thee.” —Unknown

“Love is not as simple as candle and roses.” —Unknown

“Come live in my heart and pay no rent.” —Samuel Lover

“When love is not madness, it is not love.” —Pedro Calderon

“The heart that loves is always young.” —Unknown

“I’ve fallen in love many times, always with you.” —Unknown

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” —Aristotle

“Take away love, and our earth is a tomb.” —Robert Browning

“A hundred hearts would be too few. To carry all my love for you.” —Unknown

“Without love, the rich and poor live in the same house.” —Unknown

“He whom love touches not walks in darkness.” —Plato

“Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.” —Robert Browning

“We are most alive when we’re in love.” —John Updike

“Love is a hard rock between two people and can’t be torn apart.” —Unknown

“Love puts the fun in together, the sad in apart, and the joy in a heart.” —Unknown

“I love my eyes when you look into them.” —Unknown

“Love is like dew that falls on both nettles and lilies.” —Unknown

“If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.” —Maya Angelou

“Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes

“We loved with a love that was more than love.” —Edgar Allan Poe

“My commitment lasts my lifetime, a love that will never end.” —Catherine Pulsifer

‘You are a pure fresh flower in the garden of my heart.” —Debasish Mridha

“The most beautiful view is the one I share with you.” —Unknown

“I love you more than yesterday, but less than tomorrow.” —Unknown

“Your smile sets my heart on fire.” —Unknown

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” —Zora Neale Hurston

“Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips.” —Percy Bysshe Shelley

Valentine’s Day quotes 2020 Sayings

“When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.” —Elizabeth Bowen

“True love is like little roses, sweet, fragrant in small doses.” —Ana Claudia Antunes

“As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.” —William Shakespeare

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” —Lao Tzu

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” —Dr. Seuss

“You are everything there is to me, and you always will be my friend, my sweetheart. Happy Valentine’s Day.” —Unknown

“If she’s not your first and last thought of the day, let her go. She deserves better.” —Dinesh Kumar Biran

“I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.” —Alice Walker

“In melody divine, My heart it beats to rapturous love, I long to call you mine.” —Unknown

“Every moment I am not without you, my tears fill the ocean blue…By mine, my love, forever.” —Unknown

“Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart.” —Unknown

“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.” —Elizabeth Barrett Browning

All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.” —Charles M. Schulz

“Within you I lose myself. Without you I find myself wanting to become lost again.” —Unknown

“For all the special things you could ever be, I know that you will always be the only one for me.” —Unknown

“I love my life because it gave me you, because you are my life.” —Unknown

“The sweetest of all sounds is that of the voice of the woman we love.” —Jean de la Bruyere

“There are not enough days in forever to allow me to fully express the depth of my love for you.” —Steve Maraboli

“On Valentine’s day we think of those who make our life worthwhile, Those gracious, friendly people who we think of with a smile.” —Unknown

“Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.” —Thomas Merton

“No matter how much time and space may come between us, I still feel you.” —Ken Poirot

“Every time I see you, I could feel a little flame in my heart lighting up. And that’s because I truly love you.” —Unknown

“Thank you for the special joy I’ve found in loving you. We have had many sweet yesterdays and I know we have bright tomorrows too!” —Unknown

“Valentine’s Day is an extraordinary moment for recalling the lasting power of a true love.” —M.F. Moonzajer

“Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.” —Anais Nin

“Love is a symbol of eternity. It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an end.” —Unknown

“They invented hugs to let people know you love them without saying anything.” —Bil Keane

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” —Maya Angelou

“Anyone can catch my eye but it took someone very special to catch my heart.” —Unknown

Top Ten Valentine’s Day Sayings

“I love my eyes when you look into them.” —Unknown

“Your lips are like wine, and I want to get drunk.” —William Shakespeare

“The heart that loves is always young.” —Unknown

“I love my life because it gave me you. I love you because you are my life.” —Unknown

“ happiest when I think about you.” —Unknown

“When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.” —Elizabeth Bowen

“Love does not dominate; it cultivates.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” —Aristotle

“Within you I lose myself. Without you I find myself wanting to become lost again.” —Unknown

Romantic Valentine’s Day 2020 Messages

Unique Love Messages that will make her or him love you more.

1. Every day is a valentine to me. Valentine’s Day is a day to think how far we have come and how special you mean to me. Happy Valentine’s Day.

2. You are my world, when I see you, my heart skips a beat, when I kiss you, I feel a thrill all over my body. Happy Valentine’s Day my love

3. I’m madly in love with you; I can’t explain this feeling inside me and it always longs for you. I love you.

4. Thank you for making my life an adventure; you are such an amazing person. Happy Valentine’s Day my love.

5. A day without you in my life will be empty; I pray that day never comes. You are the love of my life.

6. Every day is Valentine’s Day for us. This day is more special than any other day. I love you sweetheart.

7. Sending you a load of kisses, and all the love in this world on Valentine’s Day. I love you

8. On this day, I long for your romantic kisses, warm embrace and the thrilling that bind us together. Happy Valentine’s Day

9. Every time I see you, my heart fill up with joy, the warmth is magical; I love you and Happy Valentine!

I am lucky to have a beautiful girlfriend, who is fun, romantic, and charming. Happy Valentine’s Day my Love.

Falling in love with you is so magical. Every single day I fall in love with you. Happy Valentine’s Day my Dear!

The day we met is the day I will treasure until the end of time. You are the love of my life. Happy Valentine’s Day

I wish I was a TV anchor; I would let the world know how much you mean to me. You are my world honey. I heart you.

Even after the next life, I would still want to be your love. Happy Valentine’s Day sweetheart!

If this was the last day of my life, I would use my last breath on earth to tell you how much I need you.

If I didn’t have you in my life, I wound be incomplete. You are the one who makes me whole. I dearly love you.

It is a blessing to your valentine, but not as blessed when I know you are part of my heart.

If I have more days on earth, I want to spend them with you for you are my true love. The dream of my life.

Darling, I promise to make you happy every single day of my life. I can’t deny the love we have been through. I love you, happy Valentine’s Day my love.

No one makes me feel this way; no one loves me like you do. I will love and cherish you forever.

#https://valentinedaygreeting.com/

[ourmrmel]

Mel Feller Lists his Quick Quotes – Pick Me Ups

Mel Feller Lists his Quick Quotes – Pick Me Ups

By Mel Feller, MPA, MHR

Mel Feller Seminars, Coaching For Success 360 Inc. /Mel Feller Coaching    

  When things get tough, many people turn to a motivational quote for a bit of inspiration. Some of these pithy sayings have become celebrated parts of society’s lexicon.  Mel Feller also says, there is a little bit of implicit coaching that is happening when you are reading it. It is building that self-efficacy in that kind of dialogue that you are having with yourself.

 Quick Quote Pick-Me-Ups

 "If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Charlie Parker, American jazz musician

 "The victim who is able to articulate the situation of the victim has ceased to be a victim; he or she has become a threat." James Baldwin.

 "Growth is demanding and may seem dangerous, for there is loss as well as gain in growth. But why go on living if one has ceased to grow." May Sarton

 "When you get into a tight place and it seems you can't go on, hold on, for that's just the place and the time that the tide will turn." Harriet Beecher Stowe

 "The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen." Elizabeth Kubler Ross

 "It is more blissful that man be taken from pain than pain be taken from man for if pain be taken from us, it may come again..." Julian of Norwich

 "Tragedies serve as an express elevator to spirit." Dan Millman

 "Healing is a matter of time, but it is at times also a matter of opportunity." Hippocrates

 "People wish to be settled: only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear-not absence of fear." Mark Twain

 "If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive. If you want to see the heroic, look at those who can love in return for hatred." Bhagavad-Gita

 "Hate is not conquered by hate. Hatred is conquered by love. This is a law eternal." Dammapada, Buddhist scripture

 "What would it be like if you lived each day, each breath, as a work of art in progress? Imagine that you are a Masterpiece unfolding every second of every day, a work of art taking form with every breath." Thomas Crum

 "When old words die out on the tongue, new melodies break forth from the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders." Rabindranath Tagore

 "Most people have to delve into the dark areas and go through them before they reach a state of freedom, light and serenity." Cristina Grof and Stanislav Grof, M.D.

 "So, whenever a doctor tells you that you have an incurable or fatal disease, look him squarely in the eye and tell him--- ---! (Whatever is your favorite expletive). Then go out and find yourself another doctor-one who believes in the body and not in the disease." Lawrence Badgley, M.D.

 "Throughout history the human mind and the human spirit have overcome and endured problems and situations that seemed insurmountable." Les Brown

 "A turning point is life's way of giving you a chance to move ahead spiritually, though you must reach for the gift yourself." Harold Klemp

 In Chinese, the character for crisis means both "peril" and "opportunity."

 "Our task is to say a holy yes to the real things of our life as they exist." Natalie Goldberg

 "Everything in life that we really accept undergoes a change." Katherine Mansfield

 "The only antidote to the irreversibility of history is the faculty of forgiveness." Hannah Arendt

 "It is impossible for anything to be lost, for in the divine economy, nothing can pass away. The little flower which bloomed once, blooms forever." Neville

 "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." Albert Einstein

 "We all have angels guiding us....They look after us. They heal us, touch us, comfort us with invisible warm hands....What will bring their help? Asking. Giving thanks." Sophy Burnham

 "We are most deeply asleep at the switch when we fancy we control any switches at all." Annie Dillard

 "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." Joseph Campbell

 "In my life's chain of events nothing was accidental. Everything happened according to an inner need." Hannah Senesh

 "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." Melodie Beattie

 "Bless a thing and it will bless you. Curse it and it will curse you...If you bless a situation, it has no power to hurt you, and even it if is troublesome for a time, it will gradually fade out, if you sincerely bless it." Emmet Fox

 "Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears." Kahlil Gibran, the Prophet

 "When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us." Helen Keller, Optimism

 "You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair." Chinese proverb

 "There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body; the soul is on its knees." Victor Hugo

 "We shall draw from the heart of suffering, itself the means of inspiration and survival." Winston S. Churchill

 "I guess that the giants in life are those who just keep growing on the manure of every crisis and setback." Lynda Bloomberg

 "Real success comes when you learn to act as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on God." Oprah Winfrey

 "We know finite disappointment, but infinite hope." Martin Luther King, Jr.

 "The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It's either nonviolence or nonexistence." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 "My life is my message." Mahatma Gandhi

 "It's not the strongest species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change." Charles Darwin

 "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find, in each person's life, sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostilities." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 "Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy." Abraham Joshua Heschel

 "Interviewer: If your house were on fire, which object would you take with you?" Jean Cocteau: The fire!

 "Always forgive your enemies-nothing annoys them so much." Oscar Wilde

 "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance." Oscar Wilde

 "He who has a why to live can bear almost any now." Nietzsche

 "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." Alan Watts

 "True love and prayer are learned in the hour when love becomes impossible and the heart has turned to stone." Thomas Merton

 "I have come to appreciate how most of spiritual practice is learning to be kinder to one another." Aldous Huxley

 “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for, and deserted by everybody." Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 "No matter how lonely you are, the world offers you imagination." Mary Oliver

 "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference." The Serenity Prayer attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr

 "Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flames by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light." Albert Schweitzer

 "Why is it that people always need love and understanding the most at a time when they probably deserve it the least? Lou Holtz

 "Don't throw anyone out of your heart." Neem Karoli Baba

 "Inside yourself or outside, you never have to change what you see, only the way you see it." Thaddeus Golas

 "Be here now." Ram Dass

 "The sun be warm and kind to you. In the darkest night some star shine through." Langston Hughes

 "Deep peace of the running river to you. Deep peace of the flowing air to you. Deep peace of the shining stars to you. Deep peace of the quiet earth to you." Gaelic blessing

 "No ray of sunshine is ever lost, but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted for the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith." Albert Schweitzer

 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: Indeed it's the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

 "We have a long, long way to go. So let us hasten along the road, the road of human tenderness and generosity. Groping, we may find one another's hands in the dark." Emily Greene Balch, Nobel Peace Laureate

 Mel Feller, MPA, MHR, is a well-known real estate business consultant and speaker, specializing in performance, productivity, and profits. Mel is the president of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching For Success, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching, a real estate and business specific coaching company. His three books for real estate professionals are systems on how to become an exceptional sales performer.  His four books in Business and Government Grants are ways to leverage and increase your business Success in both time and money!

#success #Coaching For Success 360 #mel feller coaching #goals #goal setting #setting goals #personal goals #business goals #personal development #personal planning #personal #personal development better yourself #performance #making money #money in business #cash money #money #more money #small business #small steps #marketing for small business #small business goals #managing a small business #online business #starting a business #cutting business costs #business #perspective #perfection #mel feller

[oriesaaa]

When the Heart Waits

excerpts from Sue Monk Kidd’s book. I probably should’ve just copied and pasted the entire book as an entry. 

The collective “we”: “We may like to think that we’re individuals living out our own unique truth, but more often we’re scripts written collectively by society, family, church, job, friends, and traditions.  Change begins with this recognition. So if all those roles were suddenly stripped away, what would be left?  Who would you be then? … I am, I thought.  That’s all.  I was shocked by wonder at this unbidden and penetrating ‘knowing’ of who I was … That’s how such splinterings of God often pierce us.  In an unsuspecting moment the scales fall off our eyes, the optical illusions vanish, and we’re standing before what Rudolph Otto called ‘the mysterium tremendum’ ­– the bare mystery of simply being.

As he was swallowed into the belly of a great fish, Jonah entered the cocoon – the dark womb in the sea where his metamorphosis took place.  Here we allow ourselves to be ‘digested’ – to be changed in substance.  (No wonder we’ve made this story into a Bible tale for children.  It’s much too scary for us adults.) … In my six-year-old VBS class, the children fell into a discussion about how they would manage to escape … start a fire in his stomach! … stomp on his tongue! … ‘I’d call my daddy and wait till he got me out.’  All these years later her simple wisdom still resonated in me: call on God and wait.

The word crisis derives from the Greek words krisis and krino, which mean ‘a separating.’  What is it we’re being asked to separate from?  What needs to be left behind? … It’s equally a time of opportunity.  The Chinese word for crisis is composed of two characters.  On top is the sign for danger; beneath it is the sign for an opportunity.  That character graphically illustrates the saying, ‘Crisis is really another name for redirection.’ (Perhaps) most Christians don’t know how to have a crisis – at least not creatively.  We either say it’s God’s will and force ourselves into an outwardly sweet acceptance, remaining unaffected at the deeper level of the spirit … Or we reject the crisis, fighting, and railing against it until we become cynical and defeated or suffer a loss of faith.Yet there’s a third way to have a crisis: the way of waiting … People who choose this way aren’t so much after peace of mind or justice, as wholeness and transformation.  They’re after soul-making.  If you choose this way, you find the threshold, the creative moment or epiphany, within the crisis. Part of living a crisis creatively is identifying and understanding the feelings that come with it. Otherwise, we don’t have a crisis; it has us

Shifting from a self-centered focus to a more God-centered focus is terribly hard.  I think we’ve gone wrong by assuming that such a radical movement can be achieved by simply setting our jaw and saying one or two prayers of relinquishment … It’s a winding, spiraling process that happens on deep levels.  And we must begin at the beginning: by confronting our ambivalence. Thomas Kelly spoke of four steps in the process of self-abandonment.  First, pry open your eyes to the ‘flaming vision of the wonder of such a life.’ Second, begin where you are, and begin now.  Third, if you stumble, don’t waste a lot of time with regret.  Just begin again.  These three steps involve self-initiatives, things we’re more or less able to control and do ourselves. The fourth step, however, moves in a completely different direction. ‘Don’t grit your teeth and clench your fists and say, I will!  I will!  Relax.  Take hands off. Submit yourselves to God … let life be willed through you.

The waves rolled in and out full of whispers.  Die and become. Die and become. …‘What kind of music plays in your heart when you learn that part of loving is knowing when to allow another to walk away?’ asks Alan Jones.  I’ll tell you what kind: the sweet and painful little aria, ‘let it be.’ That spring the words ‘die and become’ blended with the words ‘let it be.’ … In such ways God draws us, inch by inch, prayer by prayer, wave by wave washing over us, until we finally open our hands once and for all.

Did Jesus ask his disciples to pray in Gethsemane?  To plead his case?  No. Sit down and rest, he said.  I’ll pray. Sit here while I pray … Jesus wanted me, too, to sit while he prayed.  What could this mean?  Could it be that the prayer of waiting is being still and believing that Christ prays within us?  I was thunderstruck by the idea. It’s rest that characterizes this posture of waiting.  To sit while Jesus prays is to take on a holy repose, relax the soul, find our rest in God.  Rest in me, Christ seems to be saying.  Rest in my prayer. Rest is just as holy as work. The Greek word for rest is hesychia, a term that also came to mean praying … to sit while Jesus prays brings us to this kind of nesting in the heart, a replenishing rest in which we can be still and listen to the prayers and words that the Spirit whispers inside us.

I might as well tell you, I fell into the story of Godot (from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot) almost as much as the story of Bartimaeus (and his trust and faith).  Without warning, I would feel stuck, unable to believe that I could find my way through.  My waiting would grow bleak … But we need to allow this disorientation.  It’s okay to doubt and to feel the remoteness of God sometimes.  If we do nothing else in our waiting, we should be honest with ourselves. The prayer of waiting and stillness will eventually reorient us and ignite the warmth of hope … in a spiritual white-out, I sat still and tried to become Bartimaeus, to muster my faith … I was having a hard time.  A voice within me said, like Bartimaeus, be a beggar.  I hadn’t considered that element of the story … Beggars know how to open their hands, trusting that crumbs of grace will fall … reduced by necessity to … trust, living off hope, living not with clenched fists but with palms open, ready to receive.

I began to try to find the beggar part of me.  I sat in my stillness, in my blindness, in my beggar clothes … Sometimes in my stillness, I heard myself repeating, God comes.  Light is stronger than darkness; God comes.  Bread rains from heaven; God comes.

Slowly my hands opened to catch the crumbs.

The bird taught me anew that we’re all in this together, that we need to sit in one another’s stillness and take up corporate postures of prayer.  How wonderful it is when we can be honest and free enough to say to one another, ‘I need you to wait with me,’ or ‘Would you like me to wait with you?’

There’s an art to living your questions.  You peel them.  You listen to them.  You let them spawn new questions.  You hold the unknowing inside.  You linger with it instead of running into half-baked answers. 

Thomas Merton observed, ‘The imagination should be allowed a certain amount of time to browse around.’ Creativity flourishes not in certainty but in questions.

Anthony de Mello: “Wisdom is not a station you arrive at, but a manner of traveling … To know exactly where you’re headed may be the best way to go astray.  Not all who loiter are lost.

From Annie Dillard: “Yes, it’s tough, it’s tough, that goes without saying.  But isn’t waiting itself a wonder … ?” 

#suemonkkidd

[romancatholicreflections]

8th January >> Sunday Homilies & Reflections on the Feast of The Baptism of Our Lord for Roman Catholics.

The Baptism of the Lord -Year A The Baptism of the Lord Gospel Text: Matthew 3:13-17 vs.13 Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. vs.14 John tried to dissuade him. “It is I who need baptism from you” he said “and yet you come to me!” vs.15 But Jesus replied, “Leave it like this for the time being; it is fitting that we should, in this way, do all that righteousness demands.” At this, John gave in to him. THE Bapism of Jesusvs.16 As soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. Vs.17 And a voice spoke from heaven, “This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him. ************************************************ We have four sets of homily notes to choose from. Please scroll down the page to read them. Michel DeVerteuil : A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, director of the Centre of Biblical renewal . Thomas O’Loughlin: Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter. John Littleton: Director of the Priory Institute Distant Learning, Tallaght Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger ******************************************** Michel de Verteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels – Year A www.columba.ie ************************************************ Textual Comments The story of Jesus’s baptism is told in all four Gospels – an indication that the early Christians considered it an important event in the life of Jesus. There are two aspects to the event: – verses 13 to 15: something happened between Jesus and John the Baptist; – verses 16 and 17: something happened to Jesus. • Verses 13 – 15 Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist seems to have caused much soul searching among the early Christians – how could the sinless Jesus subject himself to John’s “baptism of repentance”? The soul searching can be inferred from the way the successive gospel accounts tell the story: Baptism of Jesus– Mark (the earliest) is straightforward: Jesus was baptised by John. – Matthew ( a little later) agrees with Mark that Jesus was baptised by John, but adds a dialogue showing that both men were aware that there was a problem. – Luke (still later) refers to the baptism but only as an introduction to the voice from heaven, and in any case makes ne reference to John. – John (the latest) makes no mention of the baptism. Parallel texts are not directly a concern in lectio divina, since the method requires that we focus on the text before us – St Matthew’s in this case. However, parallels with other texts can give us an insight into the text, and for this reason we may want to refer to them (although it is never necessary to do so). In today’s meditation we are free to focus either on Jesus or on John the Baptist. In either case, awareness of the soul-searching behind the text reminds us that from time to time we too have to make choices which can be misunderstood. As happened with Jesus’ baptism, our communities may need time to clarify misunderstandings; we can be confident that once we do “what righteousness demands,” later “evangelists” will explain our actions to those who come after us. a) Jesus: We can see a progression of thought from Mark to Matthew in explaining how Jesus came to “appear” on the banks of the Jordan. Whereas St Mark says that Jesus came from Galilee “and was baptised”, Matthew says he came from Galilee “to be baptised”. St Matthew stresses therefore that Jesus sought baptism by deliberate choice; he chose to leave his familiar surroundings and join the rest of the population in the national renewal movement. He explains his position to John by saying, “We should do all that righteousness demands.” This is biblical language which must be interpreted. “Righteousness” means more or less the same as “salvation”, so Jesus is saying in effect, “There is an important work of salvation taking place in our country at this moment, and here and now (“for the time being”) I cannot stand aloof but must be part of it.” He is accepting fully the consequences of the Incarnation, the Word has truly become flesh and he must dwell among his brothers and sisters. He was to continue making this choice right through his life – the model of leaders who lead not “from above” but by “being with.” b) John the Baptist: John the Baptist becomes aware that he is ministering to someone greater than himself but still goes ahead with his ministry – “he gave in to him.” This is an experience that we have from time to time as parents, teachers, spiritual guides, community leaders. We become aware of our unworthiness and that we are the ones who “need baptism”. The result is that we accept our responsibility but with greater humility – it is only “for the time being.” This was the response required of St Joseph when he was told, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife” (cf. 4th Sunday of Advent). Verses 16 – 17 : Jesus’ experience Jesus’ baptism was a turning point in his life. Up to then he was a carpenter at Nazareth, now he would begin his ministry as an itinerant preacher of the Kingdom. The baptism therefore fits into the biblical pattern by which a call to do God’s work is preceded by a deep religious experience, e.g. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Gideon in the Old Testament, Mary and Zechariah in the New. Many saints of the church had similar experiences before embarking on a new stage in their lives, e.g. St Augustine, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Teresa of Avila and St Margaret Mary. This shows us that God does not invite people to do his work without first assuring them of his undying love. We can recognise this truth from experience – ours and that of people who have touched our lives. God’s way of acting is a model for all who invite others to work with them – parents, spouses, community leaders. “My favour rests on you” says that God’s love is permanent. We are reminded of Jesus’s words at the Last Supper: “As the Father has loved me so I have loved you, remain in my love” (John 15:9). St Matthew says that the experience came “after he came up from the water.” It was the fruit of his humility, “he who humbles himself is exalted.” Jesus’s experience was first in symbols and then in words. a) Verse 16 – symbols. – “The heavens opened” – this is the “negative” aspect, the barrier between God and humanity is removed, they can now communicate freely. We remember similar experiences of reconciliation with God: we thought that the heavens were closed to us, then “suddenly” (i.e. unexpectedly) they were opened.holy spirit – The Spirit of God descends like a dove and comes down on him. This is the positive aspect, an experience of God’s presence, real but gentle, not possessive or dominating. b) Verse 17 – words (“a voice from heaven”). The words echo two Old Testament texts both in the context of a call to service: – “This is my son” echoes psalm 2:7, “You are my son, today I have become your father”. – “The Beloved, my favour rests on him” echoes Isaiah 42:1, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” Both are “feeling words” communicating intimacy and permanence. Scriptural Comments “I am a shepherd who with his people has begun to learn a beautiful and difficult truth – our Christian faith requires that we submerge ourselves in the world.” …Archbishop Romero in his acceptance speech when he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Louvain Lord, we pray that your church may always, like Jesus, choose to go from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptised by John. “Between the silence of God and the silence of my own soul stands the silence of the souls entrusted to me.” …Thomas Merton servingLord, in our different vocations, you call us to minister to others as parents, church ministers, friends, spiritual guides, but every once in a way we find ourselves in the position of John the Baptist with Jesus. People come to us to be ministered to when it is we who would need to be ministered to by them: – one of our children is more courageous than we are; – holy people confess their sins to us; – someone we admire greatly comes to us for advice; – we are asked to pray for someone from a different religion who is more spiritual than we are. Our first response is to try and dissuade them, but then we realise that we must leave it like this for the time being, since this is what your saving will demands, and so we give in to them. Lord, often in life moments of grace come after great trials. We remember a time when we felt overwhelmed with troubles, and it was as if we were drowning. Somehow we survived, and as we came up from the water the heavens opened and we felt your love descending on us gently like a dove. We knew that we were your beloved, and that your favour rested on us. “The church herself knows how richly she has profited by the history and developemnt of humanity.” …Vatican II, Document on the Church in the Modern World Lord, in our time you have given humanity some important new insights holy spiritinto the evils of racism, of sexism, of individualism. We sometimes think that as a church we do not need conversion. Teach us to be humble like Jesus, to leave our comfortable Galilee and make our way to the Jordan to be baptised like everybody else by John the Baptist. “God communicates himself to all persons, redeems them and stamps their being with an orientation towards sharing his life.” Karl Rahner Lord, the role of the church in society today is to proclaim that every human being is one for whom the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended. Lord, we remember with gratitude times when we had a deep experience: – at the end of a retreat; – at the Easter vigil liturgy in our parish; – in the sacrament of reconciliation celebrated after many years. As we came out, the heavens opened and we felt your Spirit descending upon us, and we knew that your favour rested on us. “Faith like a canoe at evening coming in, like a relative who is tired of America, like a woman coming back to your house.” Derek Walcott, Caribbean poet Lord, we thank you for the gift of faith, the kind we experience quite suddenly coming out of the sea one day when we know that the heavens have opened, that your Spirit has come down upon us and your favour rests on us. “Proud as I was, I dared to seek that which only the humble can find.” …St Augustine Lord, we thank you for the times when you gave us the grace to humble ourselves before you. As soon as we did this and were coming up from the water, suddenly the heavens opened and we saw your Spirit descending like a dove and coming down on us, and we heard a voice that spoke from heaven, telling us that we were your Beloved and that your favour rested on us. ******************************************************** 3. Thomas O’Loughlin, Liturgical Resources for Advent and Christmas www.columba.ie Introduction to the Celebration Jesus with H, SpiritToday we celebrate our faith in Jesus: he is the beloved of the Father, the anointed one, and the one on whom the Spirit rests. During the coming months we will be recalling each Sunday his works and preaching as the Chosen One of the Father, but Christians have always begun the retelling of the gospel of Jesus by reminding ourselves who Jesus is. The gospels tell us this by recalling that he was baptised by John the Baptist in the Jordan and at that moment the Father’s voice was heard and the Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. Let us pause and reflect that we are here because we believe that Jesus is ‘the Anointed One,’‘the Christ,’‘the Messiah,’‘the One who does the Father’s will’. Homily Notes 1. This is a good opportunity to give a simple catechetical homily whose aim is to impart some simple linguistic clarity in order to help people reflect on the gospel’s image more fruitfully. 2. We use the words ‘Jesus Christ’ over and over again. Indeed, we use these two words so often side-by-side that we forget that they have any meaning. Sometimes, we almost think that the word ‘Christ’ is just a surname tacked on as if one needed to distinguish several people called ‘Jesus’. Most Christians use the words interchangeably. I have seen history books with the index entry: ‘Christ, J.’ followed by page numbers. When I asked a student what was the significance that her essay kept varying between using ‘Jesus said’ and ‘Christ said’, her answer was that she changed the usage simply to make it sound less repetitive! So this is a phrase whose significance we cannot take for granted. 3. But our confession of faith is that ‘Jesus is the Christ: The word christos means the marked one, the one who has been smeared with oil. But why use this as a description of Jesus? The people of Israel looked forward to the new David, the new King who would institute the Day of the Lord and his victory. David had been marked out as the chosen one of the Lord: ‘Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward’ (l Sam 16:13). ‘To be marked out with oil’ is the same as ‘being the Anointed One’ or, if one uses Hebrew, ‘the Messiah’ or, if one uses Greek, ‘the Christ’ or to say ‘he is the Chosen One of the Father: Beloved son24. Jesus was not literally anointed with oil to mark him out as ‘the Anointed One: but in the gospels he is shown as being marked out by the Father’s voice and by the descent of the Spirit upon him. To say ‘Jesus is the Christ’ is to say he is the one who is uniquely the Son of the Father, and uniquely the bearer of the Spirit. 5. To say ‘Jesus is the Christ’ is to utter a basic creed which only makes sense when we imagine that statement within the scene we have just read in the gospel. To say ‘You, 0 Jesus are the Christ’ is to offer praise through the beloved Son to the Father in the Holy Spirit. *********************************** John Litteton Journeying through the Year of Matthew www.Columba.ie Gospel Reflection Liturgical time is cyclical and passes rather quickly. It must do so because, every year, it remembers and makes effective the entire story of God’s salvation of his people (‘the gradual unfolding of the drama of salvation history’, as scholars often depict it). We recently commemorated the birth of our Saviour on the first Christmas, as we do every Christmas. During those days we celebrated the reality of the Word becoming flesh, of God becoming human (the Incarnation), when we reflected on the newborn infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Now, however, within a few days we have moved rapidly to Jesus’ public life, by-passing his adolescent and early adult years, which could be described as the hidden years — although the gospel records that he lived under the authority of Mary and Joseph in Nazareth. Today we commemorate his baptism in the River Jordan when the Holy Spirit descended on him at the beginning of his public ministry. BaptismBaptism was given a new meaning by Jesus and all Christians share in that meaning. We have been baptised into the Christian faith by water and the Holy Spirit, and our Christian faith teaches us that sacramental baptism is the gateway to the other sacraments. There is powerful symbolism associated with water. It can sustain life and cleanse, by its thirst-quenching and purifying qualities. But it can also destroy that same life through drowning. Thus water has the potential to give life and to cause death. Too much water is as damaging as too little water. The religious symbolism of water in sacramental baptism reBaptism in the nameolves around our dying to alienation from God through the washing away of our sins, and around our new identity which is flourished and deepened by our sharing in God’s life and by being incorporated into the Body of Christ which is the Church. That is why we say that, in baptism, we die with Christ, gomg into the tomb with him, and we rise with him to a new and everlasting life. The significance of God’s invitation to share in this newness of life offered in baptism is well summarised in the words: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him’ (Mt 3:17). Baptism is powerfully effective in our lives. The sacrament does what it is a sign of — in other words, it is efficacious. Thus it washes away Original Sin and restores us to the life of grace, which is God’s life in the soul. This baptismal dignity will continue to lead us to God if, when we sin, we repent and avail of the sacrament of reconciliation. Living in Jesus Living in Jesus Throughout our lives, if we open our hearts to God’s loving presence and if we listen to the word of God, then our souls will be nourished and live in a healthy state of union with God’s will. As we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, we have a timely liturgical reminder that we have been baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection. We share in his risen life through baptism and we know that God has made an irreversible commitment to us. Let us renew again our commitment to the baptised life and its meaning which, from our perspective, focuses on living in faithfulness to the teaching of Christ and his Church regardless of the difficulties and challenges of that teaching. Let us recognise once more our need of God’s saving help in our everyday lives and let us rejoice that our souls will live because of the eternal life brought through the water of baptism at the outset of our Christian life. For meditation As soon as Jesus was baptised he came up from the water, and suddenly the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. (Mt 3:16) ****************************************************************** Donal Neary SJ Gospel Reflections for Sundays of Year A: Matthew www.messenger.ie You are beloved Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist had a different meaning from ours. It was more a baptism of sorrow for sin and of forgiveness; in this plunge into the river, Jesus identified with his people in his baptism. At the baptism he heard the best words he could hear; You are my beloved. God led Jesus to John to hear these words. One of us,one with us, he could now be one for us. Joy flooded his heart as he heard these words. Something happened for Jesus at that moment that only he could know – like bells ringing that only he could hear. Have you heard it in your life? At times we face the huge mysteries love, beauty, friendship, birth, death.And we know in the middle of it all , that we are beloved. Our call is to be fully involved in life and love. The Christian is called to be involved with others at the times of need, of depth and mystery. Jesus did that – plunging himself into our humanity and with all of us. The feast of the baptism is something new for all. The son of God is one of us. We have a new way of knowing God not just in the laws of old but in the new Spirit of Jesus. So let the bells of love ring for us in God; and wherever we find it; let’s ring bells of love for all the most needy of God’s people. cloud-love Let the word ‘beloved’ echo in your mind and heart. This is God’s word for you today. Lord, thanks for calling me beloved ********************************************************************

[romancatholicreflections]

19th February >> Sunday Homilies & Reflections for Roman Catholics on the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A.

Seventh Sunday in ordinary time -Year A Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time Gospel reading: Matthew 5:38-48 vs.38 Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. vs.39 But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; vs.40 if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. vs.41 And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. vs.42 Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.That love thing vs.43 You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. vs.44 But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; vs.45 in this way you will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. vs.46 For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? vs.47 And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? vs.48 You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ ******************************************** We have four sets of homily notes to choose from. Please scroll down the page. Michel DeVerteuil : A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, Specialist in Lectio Divina Thomas O’Loughlin: Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales. Lampeter. John Littleton: Director of the Priory Institute Distant Learning, Tallaght Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger ******************************************************* Michel de Verteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels – Year A www.columba.ie General comments As always, it is important for us to stay with the words of the text we are given. In this passage Jesus tells his disciples that they must be guided entirely by him and by his message, not by what is said in the culture at large. Jesus was aware of the problems of his followers. Some of these were personal, others were more general; others again were general defects of the culture. We too, in our time, must be aware of this as we make choices and decisions day by day. Jesus starts with two sayings, or teachings – something that was “said to our ancestors”. Both are well known to us: “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth” and “You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy”. abolish-fulfillJesus never wished to teach against the Old Testament. It is a point he makes quite clearly earlier in this sermon. “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”, he said. “I have not come to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke shall disappear until its purpose is achieved”. What Jesus was against was the fact that some people were misusing the law. He was anxious to change this for something better. He did not want “to abolish” the law but merely to “complete it” and he showed how his own interpretations would in fact “complete” the law. Textual comments Let us look first at verses 38 to 42. Jesus wants us first of all to reject the false notion that we must relate to others only as they treat us. This would go against what he taught us by words and by example. He gives us some positive teachings on three situations: “Offer the wicked man no resistance. If one hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other. If someone takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone orders you to go one mile, go two. Give to anyone who asks and if anyone want to borrow do not turn away”. These are clearly difficult passages to interpret. We must however continue looking at them over and over again until they begin to make some sense to us. We must not stop our work until this comes to be true, to happen to us also. To understand what this section means, we must therefore try and find out what is in the mind of the person who hates us. There are two answers wecan think of. – The first is that the person does not like us. There are things in us that he prefers not to see. – It could also be that he likes us and there are things in us that he likes and admires but he cannot say why or how. There must be a reason for it and it is up to us to find it. The question is what does he want, what is deep in his heart, what is his general attitude? We then turn to the second half of the passage – verses 43 to 48. Jesus starts off by saying that we need to go against the old commandment that we know and love. “You have learnt how it was said”. The statement said, “you must love your neighbour and hate your enemy”. He gives three positive teachings to show how we can go against this. love enemyThe first is to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”. In this way “we will be sons and daughters of our Father in heaven”. The reason is obvious. He is kind to both people: “The sun rises on bad as well as good,” “His rain falls on all alike.” He then goes on to ask the question. “If you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even tax collectors do as much, do they not? What about greetings for your brothers and sisters? Even the pagans do as much, do they not?” Jesus’ own conclusion is there, clearly stated. “Be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect”. God does not link his gifts to how people feel about him. So too we must do the same to one another. Scripture prayer “Walk the dark ways of faith and you will attain the vision of faith.” …St Augustine. Lord, we thank you for the great teachings which Jesus left us in this passage. They are in many ways opposed to what we hear all round us and deep down we know they are true. “Not all are called to be hermits but all need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of our true self to be heard at least occasionally.” …Thomas Merton Lord, teach us therefore to offer the wicked people we meet no resistance. Remind us that when someone strikes us on one cheek we need to ask the why they did it, and we may find then we can offer them the other as well. If they take us to court and would have our tunic we wonder why and then, if it is necessary, we can let them have our cloak as well. If they order us to go one mile, we need to go through the matter ourselves and then we may find that we can go two miles with them. Help us Lord, that we may give to anyone who wants to borrow and not turn them away. “The essence of prayer is to be established in the remembrance of God and walk in his presence.” …Theophane the Recluse Lord, help us to strive for perfection, knowing that our heavenly Father is perfect. Remind us that this really is the same as loving our neighbour and praying for those who persecute us, so that we can be truly sons and daughters of our Father in heaven, he who causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest alike. Lord, if we love those who love us, what right have we to claim any credit, even the tax collectors do as much do they not. And if we save our greetings for our brothers are we doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? ************************************************** Thomas O’Loughlin Liturgical Resources for the Year of Matthew www.columba.ie Introduction to the Celebration Friends in Christ, we — as the community of the baptised — are called by God to provide the world with an example of a different way of living life. Around us we hear every day of people waging war or getting ready to wage war or waging war to make peace or waging war to prevent war. We often hear the same language in our businesses and in our workplaces. The motto seems to be: grab, grasp, exploit. But we are called to wage peace. We are called not just to be peaceful, but to actively work in a way that builds up peace, honesty, respect for other and the creation. To say we are Christians is to say that we have volunteered to wage peace in our homes, in our work, and in our world. Homily notes 1. This gospel provokes a curious range of reactions. 2. There are many who would be prepared to lose their lives as martyrs for some aspect of the doctrinal content of Christianity, or a particular version of it, but who consider this call to break with the world’s way of power to be simply rubbish. In short, Jesus may be the divine Son of God as the creed professes, but this stuff about ‘loving enemies’ just has to be ignored. Nelson Mandela3. Politicians have made a habit in recent years about’ going the extra mile for peace’ (how many people realise that the image is derived from this gospel?) and congratulate themselves that they are doing this; but they do so only in that they delay the threat of war! To go the extra mile for peace means fore­going the war option altogether, not simply giving an exten­sion to an ultimatum. Yet such politicians often wear their Christianity very publicly. 4. During the First World War chaplains with the British Army were ordered to provide extra services for troops as they were recognised as helping to build morale. However, they were forbidden to use New Testament passages such as this in the services lest it would undermine the will to fight and retaliate. But these were seen as Christian services nonetheless. It seems you can take Jesus, but skip this bit of the message. 5. Many people say that they cannot accept Christianity because they cannot ‘take the divinity of Christ’ or they cannot be­lieve the gospel because’ they cannot take the miracle stories’ or they cannot accept the church because of this or that doc­trine which they find ‘repugnant,’ and in each case these may be deeply felt and held difficulties. However, there are far fewer who find this vision of Christian behaviour to be their stumbling block – yet it is as much part of the gospel as any other teaching. 6. This gospel reminds us that some set of moral guidelines, but a wholly different view of the world. The call to conversion is to change our whole way of viewing life, not just to add or alter a few attitudes on this or that. 7. Peace, a world of peace, seems often to be a distant illusion ­an impossible dream. But peace is not some state that just happens: it has to be established. We know that wars have to be waged, vendettas have to be pursued, acts of retaliation have to be inflicted and prosecuted. These are all active verbs: waging war. And in every case there is a massive in­vestment of resources: human and material. But peace also needs investment of time, energy, emotions, money, skills. If you want peace, justice, development, reconciliation; then these campaigns have to be waged and actively prosecuted. Whatever world we build, a world of warfare and conflict or a world of development and reconciliation, it is going to cost us. It is one’s vision of the whole creation that decides which is the correct choice. 8. Here is a little slogan: Christians are called to wage peace with as much energy as others wage war. pope-dove ****************************************************** John Litteton Journeying through the Year of Matthew www.Columba.ie Gospel Reflection We all like our friends and we want to remember their birthdays and other special occasions. If they need our help, we are glad to be able to lend a hand, offer a listening ear, share our time or give some useful advice. In contrast, we are not quite so kind to the people we dislike. If we really dislike them, to the point of hatred, then we may be tempted to treat them unjustly or, at least, damage their character by slandering them and gossiping about them. For Christiam, this type of behaviour is unthinkable, precisely because Jesus explicitly forbade it. During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus reminded his audience about the Old Law before taking them forward to the perfection of the New Law: ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Mt 5:43-44). love all enemiesThis perfection was always to be found in the Law of God a]- though, until the coming of Christ, it was not properly understood by the Chosen People. But Jesus made it explicit. There could no longer be any mistaking the law of charity. If people wanted to follow Christ, they were required to love their enemies. Jesus gave some practical examples of the love of enemies in action: ‘If anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well’ (Mt 5:39). Crucially, Jesus taught why he wanted his disciples to love their enemies: ‘For if you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not?’ (Mt 5:46). According to Jesus, this is not sufficient. If we are kind to our friends and hate our enemies, or even if, not hating them, we refuse to be charitable towards them, we are doing no more than the pagans do. There is no merit in that. If we want to please God, then we are obliged to do more. We are challenged by the gospel to behave decently towards those to whom we are not naturally attracted. In short, we must love our enemies. This teaching, which is unique to Christianity, is a reflection of God’s perfection. We know this because Jesus concluded this part of his sermon by exhorting his listeners to ‘be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect’ (Mt 5:48). perfect Jesus When we next receive a request for help, or when our opinion is sought from a neighbour or work colleague to whom we are not naturally drawn, let us remember Jesus’ exhortation and respond with kindness and generosity. There is always someone, in every social context, who is not popular, or who is difficult and unattractive. It is to these people that we are asked to respond in true charity with a kind word, a small gift, perhaps, or an offer of friendship. That will reflect, somewhat, the perfection of God in a world full of selfishness and conflict. For Meditation Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Mt5:44) ************************************** Donal Neary SJ: Gospel Reflections for Sundays of Year A: Matthew www.messenger.ie Give to an enemy This is quite a tough gospel. We sometimes like to get our own back. We know the desire for vengeance in family and other groups, and in national groupings. The ‘eye for an eye’ brings no peace, just a quiet lull in violence. We know the opposite. People see the enemy walking the street and know that the only way forward is to make peace. This may not mean forgiveness immediately. Some can find a way for­ward only gradually. The forgiveness of the gospel is a slow journey. We have small hurts and have ways of dealing, with them. But the big ones are there too – maybe someone getting a job over someone dishonestly, being abused, family being mocked, bullying. Healing, freedom and forgiveness takes lime. We need to understand our own vengeance and at times for­give ourselves for it. The love of God is the love that helps us love the self in the normal hurts and grievances of life. The love of God is a grace, filling that space in us that is open to love – the grace of loving self and others. To be perfect is to become like God in compassion and in love. This is a wonderful vision for ourselves, our church and our world. It is the dream of God that all God’s children live in love, peace and justice. Prayer helps … can you bring someone to God – to the cross? Pray with someone at the cross; it makes a difference. Lord, help me to forgive and, when I cannot, to be patient with myself as you are with me.