Christmas 2008

A poem from Howard Thurman, an African-American mystic.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among others,
To make music in the heart.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

This week's gospel tells of Mary's Annunciation.

In her reflections on Mary, Barbara Taylor writes,

“Mary wins her place in history
not for her cleverness, nor for her beauty,
nor even for her goodness.
She becomes the most important woman in the world
simply because she is willing to say yes to an angel’s strange proposal
without a clue where it will lead her.
Doing so, she becomes the prototype for all of us
who are into invited to bear God into the world.”

(Kirkridge Readings and Intentions, Dec. 23, 1990)

Third Sunday of Advent

In this week’s Gospel (John 1:6-8, 19-28) we again hear about John the Baptist

A man named John was sent from God.
He came for testimony, to testify to the light,
so that all might believe through him.
He was not the light,
but came to testify to the light.

Even though John was out there in the desert preparing the way, it was Mary who testified to the light at a much earlier time period. This improbable young girl was called upon to bring the light to the world. Her “fiat” would be incomprehensible to anyone who took a moment to contemplate what was being asked. The late Madeline L’Engle glimpses this moment in her book, A Cry Like a Bell.

“This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.”

And so we too this week are given the request to testify to the light for our time, and for times to come. Testifying to the light involves great risk. It involves walking the talk. It involves a surrender to self. It involves a “fiat” to do the will of God. We are all in this together and, in these times more than any other in recent history, we need to testify to the light and be light for one another.

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

This week as I light the rose colored candle on the Advent wreath I am grateful for all the "rekindlers" of the light along my way through the wilderness.

Second Sunday Of Advent

A voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord!

In every life there is a vast wilderness. Lately, I feel like I am trudging through mine not really sure where the next step takes me. I used to think that a sense of alienation was what one felt in adolescence. Odd to experience that sensation in your fifties. With Thanksgiving right behind me I realize that my life is so blessed and I am grateful for all that has been given to me without condition. Yet, yesterday while I was at lunch with a friend I was bemoaning how much our society has changed in that it seems many people have no time for what I call "familial sentimentality" - the treasuring of family traditions and culture. I grew up in a home that treasured the small ordinary moments of day to day. I grew up knowing without question that I was loved and treasured - that holidays, birthdays were made special by our homemade celebrations. There was never much money but there was always plenty of time and love - for making cookies, for night time car rides to view the Christmas lights around the town, for caroling in the car - usually off key, for reverently unpacking treasured holiday decorations for the tree. How I wish I could give all of this as a gift to my family this year! As I decorate my home and bring out some of the same Christmas mementos, I find myself longing for those times of closeness with family. Nowadays enjoying the togetherness of the holidays becomes difficult because of great distances between families - both geographical and emotional. And so I travel through my melancholic wilderness listening to the voice that cries out to me,"Prepare ye the way of the Lord". On this second Sunday let me experience Maranatha!

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

“Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.”

William Wordsworth

Advent begins this Sunday, November 30th. In looking over the readings I see we are not so different from the society about which Isaiah spoke when he prayed to the Lord.

Why do you let us wander, O LORD, from your ways,
and harden our hearts so that we fear you not?

Anyone who paid attention through the recent American election process can clearly see we have become a nation with hardened hearts. We need to always be right. We need to always vilify those who disagree with us. And it was often those who most identified themselves as “good” Catholics whose language of politics became most vile and hate-filled – not anything like our Lord who spoke a message of love, peace, forgiveness, and compassion. But Advent is a season of hope. I lament along with Isaiah as I read his words

Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways!

Our world is a troubled one. We breed divisiveness through our words and actions. We want everything we’ve broken to be fixed right away and without undue stress or sacrifice on our part. Yet in the midst of all of this Advent comes upon us with the same message it has for the last two thousand some years. HAVE HOPE IN YOUR FAITH IN GOD.

As Isaiah reminds us this Sunday in the first reading,

Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.

Let us have hope that through our current trials, we will let God mold us and shape us into a more perfected creation. Let us as Catholics pray for reformative transformation of our Church leadership that they will espouse the true message of the Lord, Jesus Christ – who came to unite not divide; to include all at His table.

Catholic For Obama

Why am I voting for Obama? Because I believe he will further the greater common good through his political platform which supports the social justice issues of our times. My question is this. Has the last pro-life candidate changed anything during the last eight years? Are we better off now than we were when he took office? Can Republicans ever be more than a "tell 'em what they want to hear" party? Thanks, but no thanks.

ABC's of Voting

So far the ABC's of this election (Abortion, Bishops and Catholics) seem to cloud over the real issues at stake. Pollsters seem to suggest that candidates need to vie for the Catholic vote. Many Catholics are urged by some clergy and fellow Catholics to vote Republican based on a single issue. The Church does not endorse political candidates. Rather, Catholics must decide as citizens which candidate best represents change for the greater common good. As a Catholic voter I have reviewed the Bishops' document on Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. Every Catholic voter who feels compelled to vote Republican needs to review the Bishops' document as well as read an article in Commonweal dated June 20, 2008 called, Yes You Can, Why Catholics Do Not Have to Vote Republican. Each Catholic voter is called to examine his/her conscience and answer the question, Which candidate better represents the overall teachings of Jesus and the Church?

American Presidential Election

Let me express my own personal opinions on the "state of the union" as a Roman Catholic who is female, white, and over the age of 50. It is unnecessary for politicians to explain to me when life begins. My Catholic faith guides me quite well on the sanctity of life from conception until death. I also do not judge women who seek out abortion. I do not stand in their shoes. I do not know what brings them to make such a decision. I pray that our country makes an effort to reach out in appropriate ways to reduce the number of abortions. We also as a country need to make an examination of conscience as to why women seek abortion as a solution. What is going on in the lives of these women. Do we even try to understand it from their perspectives? Before Roe vs Wade, desperate women sought illegal abortions from butchers in back alleys. Many died; many were scarred for life. Rich girls were able to go to their family doctors for a D&C - no questions asked. Please don't think for an instant that a repeal of Roe vs Wade will affect the wealthy class. Wealth always has its privileges. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".

My upbringing within the Catholic faith also guides me on issues of social justice. It is ingrained within me that I will be judged on the guideline,"whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, so you do unto me". Our health care system and our educational system is definitely parceled out according to a caste system. If you don't believe this to be true then you need to get out of your gated communities and to see what life is like for those Americans in cities like East St. Louis and the Bronx. It is so easy to stand in judgment and say pull yourself up by your bootstraps. "Give us this day our daily bread".

I also firmly believe in the separation of Church and State. Jesus was quite clear on this when he told those who would try to trip him up, "Give to Rome, the things that are Rome's, and to God the things that are God's". I was also raised to be respectful of everyone regardless of race, gender, or creed. Freedom of religion is one of our basic rights. We do not have a "state" religion. That means it is okay to be Catholic, Baptist, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and, yes, it is okay to be atheist without fear of persecution. As a parochial school student I learned how much harm has been done to humanity by so called people of God. I was also taught to be wary of false prophets - those who think that they are doing the will of God because of divine inspiration. In other words, my Catholic upbringing taught me to use my free will and intellect to discern between life-giving authority and life-threatening authority. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name".

This election year Americans need to prove that they have the gift of discernment between what is life-giving and life-threatening authority. I am so afraid that we have become a society of the "easy persuasion" - so stupefied by endless media blah, blah, blah that we no longer think for ourselves. When did we give up on our own intellects to make decisions based on facts rather than on political spins so far from truth and reality? Have we become this dumb? The speech writers for both political parties think we have. But, I for one really have had ENOUGH. I am not going to vote for someone based upon "American Idol" spin and hype. I am going to vote for someone who will restore the principles that once made the United States a beacon of hope, not only to its own citizens, but also to the people of the world. That means moving away from those who will lull us into a very false and dangerous sense of patriotism. What has occurred over the past eight years is an abomination of all three branches of our government. And the fault of what has occurred lies with not just both political parties, but also with the American people for going along with things liked the duped zombies we have become. There is a system of checks and balances built into our government that seems to remain inoperable at this time. We need more than just change, we need radical reform! We need to stop acting like the religious zealots that we are supposedly fighting in our war on terrorism. If you think about how we have conducted ourselves as a nation since 9/11, we look as scary to the rest of the world as any terrorist would look. If you think this is a horrible thing to say then you are not reading the facts about what our government has been doing for the past 8 years in the name of patriotism. Did you ever wonder how and why the people of Germany were moved to do what they did? Was it in the name of patriotism? Were they not paying attention to the facts? Pay attention now. Do not let history repeat itself. To disagree, to debate, to even be embarrassed by what the United States government has recently done, does not mean you don't love your country. A true patriot sees the country for what it is and corrects what needs to be corrected to move it toward a more perfect Union. To do anything less is being a traitor. "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven".

Summer Marriage

What I love best about July is the abundance of fireflies lighting up summer evenings. It is always a thrill to see the first firefly of the season - it signifies that summer is truly, happily, joyfully upon us. We were married in July and tomorrow will celebrate our 27th anniversary. A while ago I snipped this little tidbit from a Reader's Digest - a staple bathroom reader at my parents' home. It spoke to my heart and I hope it does the same for you.

"Romantic love is to married love as fireworks are to fireflies. Both light up the night and gladden the heart, but otherwise they're as different as grasshoppers and ants, motorcycles and minivans, champagne and beer.

Romance is like the Fourth of July: explosions, oohs and aahs, and bright colors. The finale leaves you thrilled, exhausted, your ears ringing. The fireflies of married love, on the other hand, punctuate the dark with silent lights. Their split-second beacons are always a golden surprise. You whisper in their presence and smile. And they'll be there tomorrow night and next year, too, if only you remember to go looking for them." - Anita Diamant in Parenting

God Counts Me

O.K. I confess that I am a monumental pack rat who saves everything from old letters, cards, photos to NYC subway tokens and clippings from anywhere and everywhere. So I offer here an awesome clipping of a prayer by Gerald Kelly. Read slowly and take in its beauty and power.

This God,
Who watches worlds,
Sees my heart.
This careful calculator
Counting countless millions.
Counts me in.

This Artist,
Whose canvas outstretches
Eternity at both ends;
Whose palette out-colours planets
Paints my portrait.

This lover,
Who dreams in universes
Dreams of me.

This Creator,
Whose breadth of vision spans time
And spawns a cosmos;
Whose woven tapestry of purpose,
More compound than chaos,
Eclipsing complexity,
Rolls out like a highway through history;
Whose heartbeat deafens supernovas:
This Father
Kisses me.

This Playwright,
Playing
With the deaths and entrances of stars;
Scripting
The end from the beginning;
Knowing
The purpose of the play:
Watches
my feeble audition,
And writes
Me
In.

Resurrection: Where do we go from here?

"Believe in the Resurrection" by Carlo Carretto

When the world seems a defeat for God and you are sick with the disorder,

the violence, the terror, the war on the streets; when the earth seems to

be chaos, say to yourself, “Jesus died and rose again on purpose to save,

and his salvation is already with us.” . .

Every newly-opened leper hospital is an act of faith in resurrection.

Every peace treaty is an act of faith in the resurrection.

Every agreed commitment is an act of faith in resurrection.

When you forgive your enemy

When you feed the hungry

When you defend the weak

You believe in resurrection.

When you have the courage to marry

When you welcome the newly-born child

When you build your home

You believe in resurrection.

When you wake at peace in the morning

When you sing to the rising sun

When you go to work with joy

You believe in the resurrection.

Let’s stop looking up for His presence and remember to look around in the here and now – that is where HE is present. Easter Joy!

A Joyous Lent!

This has been a great Lent! I just finished reading a book by Susan Saint Sing, Ph.D. entitled, Francis and the San Damiano Cross, Meditations on Spiritual Transformations. Growing up in a Franciscan parish I have always had an affinity toward anything related to St. Francis, so this book immediately caught my eye at my local Barnes and Noble. Get a copy of this book and take a Lenten retreat at home. In each chapter Dr. Sing takes the reader on a journey into the inner world of St. Francis mirrored through reflections on the San Damiano Cross. The reader comes to understand that each heart must answer as Francis did at the end of his life, "I have done what is mine to do; may Christ teach you what you are to do". Living in these times, it is good to meditate on the life of St. Francis and the beautiful meditations offered in this book. We live in a world adrift in violence, greed, and unholy politics. Dr. Sing so poignantly reminds us, " Portals open and close around us each day, each moment, and we must grasp them, seize them, for they are the message of our lives. Like a tabernacle, the gold lining is seen only when the door is open. If we remain closed or refuse to yield our will to God, the lining of ourselves remain lackluster. . . We do not know where our journeys will end . . . or how many times we will be pierced through; but we can find consolation and joy in knowing that God is near, God is with us, God goes before us. We are never alone, and like Francis, we are called to come". Let this Lent lead me to an awareness of my daily portals so that Christ may teach me what is mine to do and grant me the courage to answer the call of Christ to come.

All your deeds and words,

Each truth, each lie,

Die in unjudging love.

In Cynthia Bourgeault’s wonderful book, Mystical Hope, Trusting in the Mercy of God, she offers this verse from Dylan Thomas’ poem, “This Side of the Truth”. While I spent the better part of a morning meditating on just these lines, this only captures a small fragment of Ms. Bougeault’s enlightening message in this brief but very profound treatise on the “heart of the mercy of God”. Ms. Bourgeault reminds the reader that in this “Mercy all our history – our possible pasts and possible futures, our lost loved ones and children never born – is contained and fulfilled in a wholeness of love from which nothing can ever possibly be lost”. What a great meditation for the season of Lent. What a great read for someone in need of God’s loving mercy.

Lent 2008

Lent is an amazing time in the Church year. Supplementing the learned elements of fasting, praying and alms giving, Lent provides a wonderful opportunity to try again to get things right - to make changes. This year it arrived early and right on the tail end of all those New Year's resolutions that have gone by the wayside. Instead of gloom and doom, I approach Lent each year with a great joy, knowing that I can once again meet Jesus as part of the crowds that follow him, to hear the gospels with new ears, and, maybe, just maybe, this time I will experience a real metanoia. Life is a struggle. Life within the Church is a struggle - for all of us, for different reasons. Many times along my faith journey I would feel spiritually inadequate, especially when faced with charismatic individuals. I would wonder if I ever would feel faith with their intensity - maybe, I was just not good at religion. Then, one Lent, I read the Prayer Experience by Mark Link S.J., and my whole way of thinking was set on end. I just recently reread this book and I am amazed at how such a simple little book can be so profound. This books points out that God's presence is within us - all the time, whether we are aware or not. This is such an amazing "duh" moment for me every time I read this. I always was waiting for that BIG moment when I would FEEL and EXPERIENCE the presence of God in my life in very PAPARAZZI kinds of ways. I thought, "aha" when I feel God in this way I will know that I am a changed woman and that I have found the real spiritual enlightenment and my faith journey will be elevated to a new level. How wonderful for me, right? WRONG. I know now that each and every ordinary day is made extraordinary just by knowing God is within me - that his voice is there all the time speaking to me even though I am distracted, even though I am blindsided by struggles. Lent provides a time to let go of the distractions and remember who resides within. It's a time to let Him love me completely, to let him hold my hurts and joys with equal measure. It's a time to listen to his voice within. "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" Speak Lord, your servant is listening.