Faith and Humility

"I do believe, help my unbelief!"

In today's Gospel (Mark 9: 14-29), we have Jesus coming down from the mountain with Peter, James and John; they find a crowd around the other disciples and the scribes are there arguing with them. It seems that the disciples were not able to cast out a mute spirit. Jesus asks that the boy be brought to him. Then he questions the father who says to Jesus, "If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said, "'If you can!' Everything is possible to one who has faith."
Then the father cried out. "I do believe, help my unbelief!"
Then Jesus ordered the unclean spirit to leave the boy and he took him by the hand and raised him and he stood up. Later he told his disciples when they asked why they could not drive out the spirit, "This kind can only come out through prayer."
I think the faith and humility of the father was the reason- his cry was prayer and we need to make it our prayer!
"I do believe, help my unbelief!"
I am now calling these May Reflections 2008.

Feast of the Trinity

I love both the symbol of the Trinity and the icon of the Trinity so am using both. God is Trinity - three diverse persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is a mystery, a truth that we cannot fully understand.
The Preface for today's feast says: "We joyfully proclaim our faith in the mystery of your Godhead. You have revealed your glory as the glory of your Son and of the Holy Spirit: three persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendor, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored in your everlasting glory."

The readings today all speak to me so here is a quote from each:
"The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity." (Exodus 34) This description of God by God is repeated several times in Scripture.

The Second Reading has Paul telling the Corinthians: "Mind your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you." (2 Cor 13) That will be my quote of the week to try to practice, I think!

The Gospel of John for this Sunday begins: "God so love the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."

"Listen to him"

The Gospel is Mark's account of the Transfiguration. I love this mystery. Jesus took his three friends, Peter, James, and John, and "led them up a high mountain apart by themselves." He was transfigured before them. That is hard to describe, but we are told that his clothes became dazzling white. All the Gospels tell us about how Jesus conversed with Moses and Elijah who appeared with him on the mountain. Peter is terrified but says to Jesus, "It is good for us to be here!" Then a cloud comes and from the cloud a voice, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."
And then they "no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them."
We are to listen to Jesus, the "beloved Son"; it is good for us to contemplate this moment when his three friends are given a glimpse of his divinity.

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Blessed Trinity. This morning I prayed over 1 Cor 3:16 -
"Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?"

Being With God

Today I thought I would share some of my thoughts on prayer have been triggered by reading John Main: Essential Writings. If the essence of Christian prayer is union with God, prayer is not about talking to God or thinking about God but being with God. I think, for me, it also the being with means allowing God to love us.
John Main says that "the experience of prayer is the experience of coming into full union with the energy that created the universe." That energy is love! We are rooted in love. Remember that Jesus told us to "remain in my love."

With all the tragedies in our world today, we need to practice this being with God - to be with God who knows the cry of our hearts without words. Silence is God's first language.
At this moment I feel overwhelmed by the suffering of so many victims of war, the cyclone, the earthquake in China, etc. God gave us compassionate hearts and knows what we feel; he knows our prayer without our needing words. Let us sit in silence with God who loves us. Our God is all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful. Let us trust him, allow him to love us, and be content that God is. Just be!

A Pentecostal thought from Jessica Powers:
"To live with the Spirit of God is to be a listener.
It is to keep the vigil of mystery,
earthless and still.
One learns to catch the stirring of the Spirit,
strange as the wind's will."

St. Isidore

St. Isidore was a farmer and is the patron saint of farmers. He was born in the 12th century and was married to another saint and both were known for their piety and generosity. It is a good day to pray for all the farmers and day laborers. So many men and women are engaged in farming so that we may eat the fruit of their labors. How often do we remember to pray our gratitude for all who raise our food? And how often do we pray for those migrant workers toiling in the fields today and receiving less than a living wage?

Today's liturgy has a wonderful entrance antiphon: "The Lord has been my strength; he has led me into freedom. He saved me because he loves me."

This antiphon is true, compact, and full of theological wisdom. It contains the reasons for unending gratitude. The Lord is my strength! He does lead me and leads me into freedom. He saves me because he loves me!

In the gospel, Jesus asks his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?"
He asks me this today. What do I reply?

Feast of St. Matthias

Matthias was the apostle chosen to replace Judas. Since Peter tells us that there must be a new apostle who had been with them from the time of the baptism of Jesus until the resurrection, we know that Matthias had been present and therefore could bear witness to these events. The actual choice was made, after prayer, by casting lots as it was between Matthias and another disciple. The Acts of the Apostles tells us that Matthias was the one chosen, but then we hear nothing about his life and work. However, the Church celebrates this silent apostle today.

John's Gospel (15:9-17) contains many thoughts worth reflecting on today.
"As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love." How marvelous it is to be told by Jesus that he loves us as the Father loves him and that we are to remain in his love!
Jesus also says that "if you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love." Jesus tells us this so that his joy may be in us.

Later, Jesus tells us that we are his friends. "I have called you friends because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." When Jesus went to pray, he listened and heard his Father. What happens when I go to pray?

Finally, the passage I love and chose for my golden jubilee card: "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain..."
We are loved. We are chosen. We are called to remain in his love.
Let us thank Jesus today for not only calling us friends, but for befriending us!

Our Lady of Fatima

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. This title was given to Mary after she appeared to the three children in Fatima, Portugal between May 13 and October 13, 1917. Mary identified herself as Our Lady of the Rosary and stressed the need for conversion of heart so that the world might be a better place for all. We need to pray much for our world today. The rosary is a wonderful way to honor Mary.
I thought today to copy Thomas Merton's prayer that so many find helpful and I found myself praying over it this morning:
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 that 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 I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though 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.

Lord

LORD is one of my favorite ways to address Jesus. Peter used the title when he said, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you! Although we use Lord as a title for Jesus, for the Jews in the Hebrew Scriptures, Lord refers to the one God, "Yahweh". They substituted the word Lord in most of our translations.
Eventually the title was applied to Jesus and one of the earliest professions of faith was simply "Jesus is Lord." I also love John calling out "It is the Lord!" when Jesus was on the shore and the disciples did not recognize him until they caught so many fish that the net was breaking.
The Little White Book ended with Pentecost, but it is a page in it that is causing today's reflection. It reminded me that when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth she says to Mary, "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord (Jesus) should come to me?" Elizabeth also says, "Blessed are you who believed that what has been spoken to you by the Lord (God, Yahweh) would be fulfilled." Then Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
Perhaps the reason that I love the word is that it is used for Jesus and speaks of his divinity and it is also used for God the Father. I know that when I say "Lord" I am speaking to Jesus but also including the Trinity by using this title. I always begin my journal with "Dearest Lord". Maybe it is good to reflect on the titles we use for Jesus as we move with the Spirit into this time after Pentecost.

Pentecost

This is really a great feast and an important one. I love the Liturgy of the day. The alternate opening prayer is:
Father of light, from whom every good gift comes,
send your Spirit into our lives with the power of a mighty wind,
and by the flame of your wisdom open the horizons of our minds.
Loosen our tongues to sing your praise in words beyond the power of speech,
for without your Spirit man could never raise his voice in words of peace
or announce the truth that Jesus is Lord,
who lives and reigns with you, and the Holy Spirit, on God for ever and ever. Amen.

I also love the Sequence, but will not copy it here as it is long. Still, it begins:
Come, Holy Spirit, come! which should be our mantra today and during the week as the Holy Spirit is so needed in our lives; indeed, the Sequence says that where the Holy Spirit is not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint of ill.

May this year be one filled with the Spirit!

"It is all about something God does"

"It is all about something God does" jumped out at me as I was reading this morning. This sentence seems to sum up for me not only my prayer, but my life. My life is not my own, but is something God does! It is the action of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes I do not pay much attention to the Holy Spirit. I guess that when I try to take charge, the Spirit causes me to feel uneasy, confused, irritable and unhappy. When I am trying to heed the promptings of the Spirit, I feel peace, joy, and love and even clarity. When feeling confused, pray to the Holy Spirit for enlightenment and you will know what to do.
Pentecost is the time to thank the Lord for the gift of the Spirit in our lives. It is a time to remember that my life "is all about something God does."
The primary reality is always something God does. God continues to pour out gifts upon us; let us be filled with gratitude for his gifts and for the Holy Spirit whose presence in our lives is not only the Gift of God, but the Spirit is also the Giver of Gifts. Come Holy Spirit and enlighten us; come and enkindle the fire of gratitude in our hearts as gratitude lies at the very heart of our relationship with God!

Playfulness and Joy

"Playfulness, like wonder, is one of the childlike qualities we tend to lose as we grow up." This quote from Albert Nolan is true, but it is a sad truth.
Joy and playfulness are also signs of the Holy Spirit. Saints are joyful and joy attracts others. John Maine says that "we learn to be joyful only because we have learned not to possess, not to want to possess."
I think joy also implies trust. I have the image of a laughing two-year old; I watched him last Sunday climbing up on a cement platform and then jumping off into the arms of his father. This was repeated over and over with the same cries of glee! The toddler was full of joy and so was the father who kept catching him.
"Joy is the echo of God's life in us!" That quote from Dom Marmion means much to me as I find it is true in my own life. Real joy comes from the Holy Spirit. Mother Stuart said that "Joy is the song of the spirit under the pressure of happiness." May the coming of the Holy Spirit this Pentecost fill us with both joy and playfulness!

With a Grateful Heart

Dawn is so beautiful that I wonder why we do not get up to see the sunrise everyday!
We have four peacocks who seem to have adopted us and are either perched on our roof or striding around the backyard. We did not invite them and rather hope they will leave, but they are beautiful creatures and one understands the saying, "proud as a peacock", when one watches them!
Tonight we have our Reflection Group and will be sharing on Chapters 10-12 in Albert Nolan's Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom. Chapter 10 is called With a Grateful Heart. Here are a few thoughts I underlined in my book:
Jesus saw everything in terms of God's love...In practice this means that Jesus was conscious of everything in life as a gift from God, a blessing...He was deeply grateful for everything...Jesus had a grateful heart. His response to God's love was gratitude."
I ask the Lord to give me a heart full of gratitude so that I may recognize that everything is pure gift. Lord, may I respond with joy and gratitude! When I am grateful, I am also full of joy!
Today I am not only thanking God again for his gifts, but plan to write to thank others who have been a gift to me. It is a day for expressing gratitude, for letting the joy that real gratitude brings spring forth and for spreading this joy to others.