Ascension, May 24, 2020

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

Theme: the commissioning of the Disciples (and our commissioning)

The Commmissioning of the Disciples—Matthew 28:16–20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/28:16

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Music Meditations

• Ahavat Olam (Song of Thanksgiving) (sung by by Ben, Jonah and Henry Platt) [YouTube]
• Christ in Me Arise [YouTube]
• Our God is Here [YouTube]
• Christ Has No Body Now but Yours (sung by Josh Garrels) [YouTube]
• Christ Has No Body Now but Yours (praise and worship version, sung by Rexaband) [YouTube]
• Come Thou Font of Every Blessing [YouTube]

Companions for the Journey

Excerpted from The Story Revealed, by Rev. William Bausch

The disciples of Jesus were surely disappointed at his pending departure. They love this man. There was nothing they would not do for him. He was their friend, their teacher, their Lord. Now he would be missing from their company. It was a moment of great sadness. But they did realize that Christ was too big for Galilee, to big for Jerusalem, to big even for earth. The physical world could not contain him. He needed to be set free from the confinements of this earthly body so that his spirit might soar and be accessible to all.

They were right, and so that Spirit was bequeathed to them. The Ascension is that turning point, that transitional point. Ascension celebrated the passing on of that Spirit to that assembly of disciples who would collectively be known as the mystical body of Christ, the Church. The Spirit was given to ordinary people to witness to Jesus, to do the works of Jesus in this world, to celebrate his memory and invoke his presence in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.

The Ascension is, then, if you will, our swearing-in time. You are now Church. You are the priesthood of the faithful. You are Christ in the world. Get busy. You have been empowered to witness to the wonderful works of God. Move!

Again, from another of Bill Bausch’s books:

As an old Quaker story puts it, by accident a lady happened in on a small Quaker congregation. They were all sitting in silence, as Quakers are wont to do. “When does the service begin?”, she whispered to a man sitting near her. His answer: “when the meeting is over.”

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session…

And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Have I ever felt deserted by someone in a moment when I needed him/her the most?
  Have I ever felt deserted by God?
  What did I do?
• What have been some important transitions in my life?
  Did I celebrate them?
  Did I mourn them?
• How can Jesus be in Heaven and here with us?
• Do I believe Jesus is with me always?
• Do I believe God wants me to bring hope and healing into the life of another?
• Do I have to be perfect to be a witness to Jesus Christ?
• How am I called to preach with my life?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Read today’s first reading—Acts of the Apostles 1:1–11
commentary from Rev Jude Siciliano, O.P.:
Thomas Troeger, the Presbyterian preacher and homiletician, in a sermon preached on Ascension Day, recalls the frustration of the disciples and the early church in their waiting and longing for the fulfillment of the reign of God. He says we too know that frustration. After having given our lives over to Jesus Christ, we experience not triumph, but a mixture of triumph and defeat. Has anything really changed? What difference does our faith make? “When will things come together in some whole and enduring pattern?” he wonders. We are wearied by our waiting. With Yeats we voice our longing, “Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand.” It’s a lament, a prayer of need and dependence. We need help that we cannot provide for ourselves. Troeger invites us to hear again what the early church heard in its anguish and yearning, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by [God’s] own authority.” How difficult it is for us to hear these words surrounded, as we are, by the kind of events we see and hear on the evening news–pictures and sounds of refugees from war and civil strife, and the scenes of poverty that persist in our prosperous nation. What we have, Troeger reminds us, is the belief that Christ reigns and will send the Holy Spirit to help us live as we must. We cannot force the hand of this Spirit, it is a gift constantly coming upon us. And one that still requires waiting.
questions by Nancy Greenfield:
What am I waiting for? How hard is it to wait?
“Wait for the promise of the Lord.” What does that mean for me?
If I have not “waited” in the past, but acted too soon, what was the outcome? If I waited too long, what was the outcome? How hard is it to know when the time is right to act?

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read the account of Mathew again. Imagine that you are one of the disciples trying to make sense of all that has happened to Jesus. Think of his death, his appearances after death and all that has happened in the last month or so. Then imagine yourself there on that mountain in Galilee. What Do you see and hear? What is your reaction to seeing Jesus again on the mountain top? (Why would Matthew say that the disciples “worshiped and doubted”. Do we do the same? Why?) What is your reaction to the words of Jesus telling you: “And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age”? Have there been times in your life when you have been comforted by the presence of Jesus during difficult times? Close your eyes and thank God for the gift of Jesus’ love and presence in your life.

Poetic Reflection:

The frightening poem “The Second Coming” was written by William Butler Yeats shortly after the First World War, when the world seemed to him to be in chaos and despair. In our present chaos, dystopian culture, and fear, does the agony of this poem resonate? How is the grim prediction of this poem offset by the poem “Ascension” (by Colleen Hitchcock) which follows?

excerpt from “The Second Coming”

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

“Ascension”

And if I go,
while you’re still here…
Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
—behind a thin veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can soar together again,
—both aware of each other.
Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
Just whisper my name in your heart,
…I will be there.

6th Sunday of Easter, May 17, 2020

Gospel: John 14:15-21

Theme: Jesus implores us to keep his commandments and promises to be with us always

The Advocate—John 14:15–21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/14:1

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Music Meditations

• If Ye Love Me, composed by John Rutter (sung by Cambridge singers)
• Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Love Has Come, by Matt Maher
• A Prayer of St Patrick, composed by John Rutter (sung by Cambridge singers)

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions,” a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Jesus is about to pass to God and he is concerned for the disciples’ well- being; how will they get along without him? In addition, they are in need of consolation in the light of what he is telling them about his departure. They won’t have him with them in the same way; he won’t be there when they need encouragement, prodding, advice or comfort during difficult times. Today’s gospel is part of his farewell speech and reflects his awareness of what is about to happen to him and his concern for those he is leaving behind. This is his last will and testament and he wants to leave them something of great value; but not an inheritance that will rust, wear out, get stolen, cause a squabble, or be irrelevant for future generations of believers. He wants, in a manner of speaking, to leave his descendants the family jewel, the pearl of great price, the unfailing treasure. He is like the parent providing for the children’s future well-being; he is giving them something that will remind them of him, help them to grow together, but also get them through difficult times.

First, he instructs them: “keep my commandments.” That will be the memorial they will raise in his honor after he is gone—not a tombstone, granite monument, wall mural or triumphant arch. Not even a grand cathedral can be as eloquent a testimony of our love for him. Very simply, before they set about forming a building committee, he wants them to show reverence for him by keeping his commandments. Which commandments? Let’s do a little background and then approach this question.

Some have a rather harsh image of God. They envision a distant God, ruling over everything and everyone from an on-high vantage. This God is a ruler and tester, expecting us to live up to a set of regulations and requiring us to pass the “final exam” which weighs our accomplishments against our transgressions. In this perception, Jesus’ role was crucial: to go before God and assuage God’s anger over our sins. God was deeply offended by our sin and Jesus was our Advocate before a fearsome God. We needed him to get us on the straight and narrow and die to appease an angry God. God and the Son are kind of like a “good cop, bad cop” duo. Jesus is our “good cop” persuading us in a nice tone of voice to change our lives. If we don’t, we get the “bad cop” who will shout, pound the desk, threaten us with punishment and scare us to reform. In this perspective of our situation before God, the Advocate is seen as our ongoing intercessor before the throne of God. In other words, the Advocate becomes our next lawyer after Jesus leaves, our defense attorney before the throne of the Judge. Scratch the surface and we will find that in the way some speak about God and how they pray—a lot of people in our congregations still hold these notions of God. Another perspective is necessary, one that fulfills the hope Jesus has for us in the gospel, especially in this last discourse section in John’s gospel (chapters 14-17). There he promises to take us to a place of intimate union with God.

Maybe we need the Advocate, not to argue our case to God, but to argue God’s case to us. The Advocate Jesus will send his followers, will intercede on God’s behalf and remind us of God’s love for us and help us live Jesus’ way of love for others. The Advocate will persuade us and enable us to do what Jesus tells his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jesus’ commandments are about love; we are asked to love as he loved. At the table he had just demonstrated this love by his washing the disciples’ feet; he will further demonstrate his self-giving love the next day by giving his life on their behalf. Such love will require an enormous bigness of spirit and persevering commitment.

These days, battered and struggling, we pray for the healing of all those harmed by the sickness and crimes of our past and present. We pray too in this breaking-open-time that we have the courage to face the truth and make whatever changes we must make in our society and in our church. We are encouraged this day in Jesus’ promise that we are not left as orphans. We need a loving and strong parental hand to guide us on our path to become the community that faithfully reflects Christ’s loving and caring presence in the world.

In almost every verse of today’s gospel passage Jesus assures us that we will not be left on our own—“another Advocate to be with you always”...”You are in me and I in you”... “reveal myself to him/her.” Jesus is just like a mother giving last orders to her children before she leaves the house (“no fighting, go to bed on time, wash your dishes, not too much television, do your homework, etc.”). A person’s last words before parting usually sum up the essentials. These are Jesus’ last words and he repeats himself because he wants to make a point, “No matter how bad it gets or how severely you mess up remember, I will not abandon you.”

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session…

Whoever loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• What is your motivation for living as you should—fear of God, or love of God? What is the difference?
  Do you read a difference between the phrase “Keep the Commandments”, and the Phrase “Keep my commandments”? If so, how would you list the commandments in each category?
  Which of Jesus’ commandments is the hardest for you? Which is the easiest?
• What would qualify a person as a “real Christian?”  What daily practices would they have to observe?
  What basic knowledge must they have?
  Does keeping Jesus’ commandments mean the absence of bad behavior or something more?
• Father Paul O’Reilly, S.J., once wrote: “Love is not in words; it is in actions”. Do you agree?
  How does that impact your understanding of the commandments we are to keep?
• The reverend William Sloane Coffin once said: “If we fail in love, we fail in all things.” Do you agree or disagree?
  In what ways did you love today? In what ways did you not love today? What can you do about the “not loving” part?
• For John, faith is to be in a loving relationship with Jesus. What is your understanding of faith?
• What is the role of prayer in your personal life?
  What is the role of guilt in your personal life?
  What is the role of “doing” Jesus’ commandments in your personal life?
• Describe a time in your life when you felt “orphaned”—left out or abandoned by friends or loved ones, or maybe even a colleague or professor.
• What, in our society, writ large, creates a sense of abandonment? Is there anything in myour current life right now that makes you feel abandoned and alone? Is this a time to pray?
• What in our present world, cannot accept the “Spirit of Truth”? What has to happen for this to change?
  What in yourself do you have to change?
• Jesus said: “Because I live, you also will live.” Do you believe this? Jesus, in his last discourse to his beloved disciples, promised to send his Spirit—also known as the Paraclete, which could be translated as comforter, advocate, counselor, helper. (Paraclete is never translated as a bird; I’m just sayin’). Which of those translations of the term Paraclete speaks to you the most?
• Paul never met Jesus, yet he felt the strong presence of the Spirit of Jesus within him, which made his extraordinary missionary work possible. How do I access the Spirit of God within me?
• What signs around you help you to be aware of God’s presence in your life?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

adapted from First Impressions, a service of the Southern Dominican Province

Jesus isn’t speaking about how we feel towards others.  How could he command us to “feel” love for another?  How could we maintain such a feeling for those we barely know; people not in our family?  It’s a lifetime effort to act lovingly towards those we do feel love for, so how could we possibly have and convey those feelings toward others who are strangers?  Even enemies? Jesus’ teaching is not merely about liking a person. Rather, he wants us to make an act of our will and do what is for another’s good.  It’s not about liking everyone because, I don’t know about you, I don’t! How can we mere humans, who have a mental list of those we love, those we like, and those we dislike, ever live up to Jesus’ commandment of love?  We already know the answer to that: on our own, we can’t. But Jesus makes some promises to us today that make what he asks of us possible. Jesus is soon to depart, but the Spirit he sends back will never leave us on our own, “I will not leave you orphans.” How often do I, in my personal prayer life, address myself to the Spirit, who is with me always?

Towards whom, in my life, do I find it difficult to act lovingly? How do I continue to love this person as Jesus would? Have I ever called out to Jesus for help and in my heart felt the presence of his Spirit standing with me, to help me be the kind of loving person I am called to be? I pray in thanksgiving for those moments of comfort and strength.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

I read Luke 8: 22-25 (Jesus calms the storm). In this story, Jesus has been standing in a boat to teach the crowds because there are so many people along the shore of the lake who have come to see and hear him. I imagine how tired Jesus must be after trying to come up with parables to explain his message and then projecting his voice for several hours to so many people. Then I imagine that I am one of the disciples to whom he gives orders to go to the other side of the lake. As I start rowing, what does Jesus do? I try to picture the size of the boat, the look of the sky above as the storm blows in. I imagine the sound and feel of the wind, the waves, the water coming inside the boat. Is the water cold? Am I wet? Afraid? What is Jesus doing now? Why do I wake him? Am I afraid we will drown if the boat goes down? Do I want him awake to share my fear? Do I think he can do anything to help? What does Jesus do when he is awakened? Am I surprised? How do I feel when he turns to me and asks why I am frightened? What kind of faith did he expect me to have? I reflect on the times I have been in a panic and turned to God—did I think God would ignore my well-being unless I begged for help? Did I ever stop to consider that God is watching out for me always, whether I know it or not?

Poetic Reflection:

Janet Lewis, in The Dear Past, looked to The Last of the Mohicans as inspiration for a prayer of trust when we are spiritually, physically or emotionally lost. See if it somehow reflects the thoughts of today’s readings:

“Four Hymns”

Let us lift up our grateful Hearts to Thee
Who are the light of all who strangely roam.
Thy rod, thy staff, shall ever comfort be,
Thy love shall never fail to guide us home.

In our own hearts we find a wilderness,
lurking despair and hidden cruelty;
From mindless fear, from blind revengefulness
Shield us so that we may come unharmed to thee.

Lord God, who art the sum
of mercy and of love,
Though we are far from home,
And lost the way thereof,
Let us not blindly roam
But to thy kingdom come.

All loving God, in my most deep despair,
As I am Thine, receive my trembling soul.
For in Thy will, in Thy will only rest
Hope and salvation and acceptance blest.

5th Sunday of Easter, May 10, 2020

Gospel: John 14:1–12

Theme: Jesus loves us and wants to be with us

From the Last Supper Discourses—John 14:1–12

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where [I] am going you know the way.”

Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/14:1

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Music Meditations

• Let Your Restless Heart Be Still--Cathedral Singers
• On Eagle’s Wings—John Michael Talbot
• Lord I Need You—Matt Maher

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions,” a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

Jesus is addressing his disciples; it is his Last Discourse. His tone and words convey a calm before the storm. Jesus is reflective, concerned and gentle as he instructs his disciples for the last time. He must give both them and the future community (us) courage for what is immediately going to happen to them. He is like a parent who soothes the anxiety of his/her children by telling them, “There, there, everything is going to be alright.” What is going to happen to him will be painful, but in the long run, it will be for their benefit, for he goes to prepare a place for them. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” I have often read this passage at the bed of a dying person or a funeral. It is very comforting to hear Jesus’ promise of a dwelling place for his disciples. A place with God is awaiting us and the knowledge of that place of security with God is both comforting and encouraging. But in the theology of John’s gospel, what is promised and waiting for us has already begun. If Jesus has prepared a dwelling place for us, it is available to us now. His disciples do not live detached from the world, but are touched by it and face its challenges daily. We try to be a sign of Christ in a world that is tumultuous and often feels like a foreign land. Each of us has a special calling to live our unique lives in our family, job, school, and service to those in need. No two of us live in exactly the same way and so no two “dwelling places” are the same, for each of us has a special share in God’s life. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” Though we face confusion, ambiguity, struggle and challenge to our faith, we still dwell and share life with the divine. Jesus has not left us orphans on our own. By his death, resurrection and breathing of the Holy Spirit on us, Jesus has, in a manner of speaking, moved over and made room for us in God.

Jesus’ promise speaks to the itinerants among us—and we are all itinerants who have stopping-off places at various moments on life’s journey. We first live our lives with our parents, then we set out on our own. Many “stopping-off places” follow: we start a career or go to college, marry, have children, work out relationships, face the challenges of sickness and old age. Each stage of our lives we carry much with us that life has given; both in blessing and injury. But each new moment also offers us another “dwelling place” where we experience the life of God for us and in which we receive help as we strive to live the “way” Jesus taught us. (“I am the way and the truth and the life.”) There are no guarantees in life—except that as we move through the changing landscape, we do so in Jesus’ assurance that we dwell with God. Jesus has gone ahead so that he can come back and take us to God—now.

Like the disciples, we too can feel left behind trying to figure out the mess we are in and the seeming absence of God. These words of Jesus today assure us that God is not just up ahead waiting for us. We already dwell with God. That much is secure in our unstable world. In addition, anything we undertake to right the wrongs of our world, we do with the faith that God is up close to us—dwelling with us.

By Jude Siciliano, O.P.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session…

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God, have faith also in me.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• How does this gospel speak to these stressful times?
• Is it a demonstration of lack of faith if we are “deeply troubled” about things?
  Was Jesus ever “deeply troubled”?
• Do you believe that Jesus understands your confusion and anxiety about the future?
• Do you look on this gospel text as more about life after death or more about life here and now?
  What do you think of when you read the phrase “my father’s house”? Is it heaven? Is it anywhere God is present?
• Some have suggested that this gospel, which says “I will come back again and take you to myself” not only applies to the second coming of Jesus (Parousia), but also the coming of Jesus for us personally when we die. What do you think?
• This passage is calling us to a radical trust in the goodness and love of God. How hard is this?
  Has anyone ever betrayed your trust in him or her? How does that affect your trust in God?
• Do you see Jesus as the face of God, or do you see God as something quite different—a judge, maybe?
• Jesus says that if we believe in him, we will do the works that he does. What are those works?
  How can we complete those works, since we do not possess His power or His goodness?
  How does the Spirit fit into this consideration?
• Do you ever feel like Thomas: “We do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?”
  Does Jesus’ answer to Thomas comfort or challenge you?
• One commentator suggested that Philip’s problem was not that he did not know the Father, but that he had not realized that he knew the Father because he knew Jesus. What do you think? What then does Jesus show you about the Father?
• Has there ever been a time when someone trusted you to help him or her and you came through?
• Describe a situation in which you trusted in the Lord. What did you expect to happen? How did it turn out?
• Was there ever a time when you prayed for a certain outcome and it did not happen that way?
  How did you feel?
  What was the final outcome?
  What did you learn?
• From Father John Harrington, S.J.:
  How do you try to keep Jesus’ memory alive?
  How might the church today be more effective in keeping Jesus alive?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

adapted from First Impressions, a service of the Southern Dominican Province

Thomas wants to know the traveling directions to where Jesus is going, “how can we know the way?” But Jesus is using “way” to mean his way of living. Jesus has, as he promised, returned to God, and has been “glorified.” He chose the way to God through suffering and death. The way others have rejected, Jesus chose as his and he invites his disciples to follow. His is the way of giving and sacrifice and because of what he did and who he is, we too can live his “way” to the Father. Believing in him and his way assures us that, in some real sense, we have already arrived into God’s presence. And Jesus has told us that where he is going, we already know the way. How would I define the “way” of Jesus in this present life we are living? What concrete actions can I take this coming week to try to follow the “way” of Jesus?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

So here we are in the middle of a horrific pandemic. What “troubles” your heart these days? One could easily wonder—as the disciples must have, a couple days after their dinner with Jesus when the authorities were looking for them—“So where is Jesus when we need him? Is he who he says he is? Why doesn’t he show himself and help us end the sufferings in the world?” What aspects of Jesus’ person, teaching and activity are most important for you? Reread this gospel today and try to see that Jesus is with us, even if we cannot see him, and they He has gone before us to prepare a welcome for us. Share with Him your hopes for a life with God.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

adapted from First Impressions, a service of the Southern Dominican Province

Do I trust that God is my father, and the father of all of us? Do I believe that heaven exists because God is there? Is God’s name holy to me? Do I really trust that God will give me whatever of this world’s goods I need, or do I worry a lot about money, possessions, security? Do I believe that God forgives me? Do I forgive those who have hurt me, or do I still carry old resentments and pain into my relationships? Do I believe that God would never ‘tempt’ me to sin and thus lose eternal life, or do I believe that God sets traps for me so that I must constantly prove my love? Do I believe that my God, my Father, will deliver me from evil; that God, my Father, is my strength and my salvation?

And finally, I recite the Lord’s Prayer, praying each phrase as an affirmation of my trust in the Lord, rather than as a series of petitions.

Poetic Reflection:

Read the poem “Morning Mist” (from Evening Train) by Denise Levertov, a former professor at Stanford. Try to remember a really foggy day in the Bay Area and see if you can recapture the trust the poem expresses.

4th Sunday of Easter, May 3, 2020

Gospel: John 10:1–10

Themes: In Jesus we trust; He gives us life in abundance

John 10:1–10

Jesus said to the Pharisees: “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

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Music Meditations

• The Lord is my Shepherd (John Rutter) [YouTube]
• Shepherd Me O God [YouTube]
• No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus (Steffany Gretzinger) [YouTube]
• Jesus I Need You (Hillsong Worship) [YouTube]

Companions for the Journey

A distillation of ideas from various sources, including “America”, “First Impressions” and others:

We now jump from post resurrection narratives to a speech Jesus made to the Pharisees earlier in his ministry right after he cured the man born blind; this is common in the lectionary where readings are not necessarily sequential, but are often organized thematically. But why inset this speech here? John Harrington, S.J, said: through his resurrection the slain Lamb has become for straying sheep “the shepherd and guardian of your souls.” This startling transformation is a neat summary of what Christians believe about the paschal mystery. I also think it is to remind us that Jesus’s whole life had a mission, a purpose. There were many hints in John of what this purpose was, and who Jesus was, but there is a hope here that after realizing the importance of the resurrection as an event, we must also realize that it is part of the entire mission of Jesus, and therefore, the mission of all his disciples down through the ages: to care for one another and a shepherd does the sheep, and to bring life in abundance wherever and whenever we can to those around us.

We begin today to consider two images that Jesus gives of himself: the first is that of a gate and the second that of a shepherd.

We have to imagine a sheepfold as an area surrounded by walls or wooden fencing but open to the sky, and with only one entrance.  The walls kept the sheep from wandering and protected them from wild animals at night.  Only a genuine shepherd enters the sheepfold through the single gate.  Thieves and brigands will try to enter by another way, such as by climbing over the walls or breaking through the fence. “All who came before me are thieves and robbers but the sheep do not listen to them.”  Jesus is referring to all the “false shepherds”, including some of the Pharisees and religious leaders of his time who are quite unlike the true prophets of the past. The real shepherd, however, enters by the gate and is recognized and admitted by the gatekeeper (the one mentioned above who sleeps across the entrance).  There are many sheep in the sheepfold belonging to different shepherds so the shepherd calls his own sheep out one by one.  He then walks ahead of them and they follow their shepherd because they know his voice.  They never follow strangers.  (This is quite different from the European or Australian custom where the sheep are driven from behind.)

We are told that his hearers failed to understand the meaning of what Jesus said.  They failed to realize that the parable applied particularly to the religious leaders. (Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees in this section—those who purported to be examples of proper religious observance). So he spoke more clearly: “I AM the gate of the sheepfold.”  On the contrary, Jesus, as the Gate, the Way, has come “that they may have life and have it to the full.”  This is a constant theme we have heard many times already and especially in chapter 6 about Jesus as the food and nourishment giving us life. But it is not mere existence that Jesus promises here, it is life in abundance. What do we think Jesus means by life in abundance?

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session…

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• How do you respond to the biblical imagery of sheep and shepherds? Is it helpful? Or does it put you off? Why?
• Have you even been a position to guide someone else? How did it work out? How did you feel?
• Have you ever been nurtured in your faith life by someone who had your best interests at heart?
• Have you been aware of the promptings of the spirit in your own life to date? Where did it lead you?
• What do you see is your role in this Catholic community of which you are a part?
• How someone speaks to us can be life-giving or harsh and destructive… What has generally been the quality of things spoken to you—harsh and unforgiving, or inviting and nurturing, calling you to growth and to life?
  What is the quality of your messages to others?
• What in our culture keeps us from hearing the voice of the good shepherd?
  How do you distinguish His voice from all of the other voices that clamor for our attention? (our prevailing culture, advertisers, messages from our childhood, for example)
• From “Sacred Space,” a service of the Irish Jesuits:
  What lifts your spirit, satisfies your soul, gives you lasting peace and fills you with life?
  What drains you, steals your energy, leaves you lifeless and empty?
  Native Americans have been known to tell their children that deeply imbedded in our hearts are two wolves each wanting to kill the other… the child is meant to ask: “And who wins?” The parent wisely answers: “The one you feed the most.”
  What wolf are you feeding?
• In what ways are you only half-alive (boredom, pain, loneliness, sadness)?
  When have you felt gloriously alive?
• What does it mean to you to “have life”?
  How about “life in abundance”? Does this mean that you should always expect to be rich, health, important, successful? Does it mean you should always love what you do, be excited about your life, be happy all the time? Insert your definition/expectation of the promise to have life in abundance…
• What does it mean to you to be alive in Christ?
  Walter Burghardt, S.J. said: “Eternal life does not begin at death, it begins when we believe.” Or as John 17 puts it: "Eternal life consists in this; that they know you, the only true God, and the one you sent, Jesus Christ.”
  Do you realize you are living in eternal life right now?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

One translation of Psalm 23 is : “The Lord is my Shepherd, he keeps me from wanting what I can’t have.”
“And what you thought you came for is only a shell, a husk of meaning from which the purpose breaks only when it is fulfilled, if at all. Either you had no purpose or the purpose is beyond the end you figured and is altered in fulfillment.” (T.S. Eliot: “Little Gidding”)
I make a list of all the things I want at this moment.
Then I think of something that I really wanted that I didn’t get; and something that I didn’t even want that somehow came my way. How have these things impacted my life for good or for ill? Have I been able to see the hand of God working things out for the best? I go back to the list of things I want and offer each one to the wisdom of the Shepherd's providence.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship:

Read Psalm 23, then transpose the words so that you are speaking directly to God. (i.e. “Lord, you are my good shepherd, I shall not want. Rich and green are the pastures where you give me repose,” etc.) Savor each phrase as you speak from your heart to the God who loves you and wants what is best for you, the Lord who wants you to be happy in your relationship with your God. Then Imagine God Speaking the words of this psalm to you directly: “I am your good shepherd, you shall want nothing.” At the end, take time simply to be silent and rest in the immensity of God’s loving embrace.

2nd Sunday of Easter, April 19, 2020

Theme: What is faith? Why focus on Jesus’ wounds?

John 20:19–31

It was evening on the day Jesus rose from the dead, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the authorities. Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas, who was called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

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Music Meditations

• Christ in Me Arise—Trevor Thomson
• Our God is Here—Chris Muglia (Praise and Worship)
• We Remember--Marty Haugen
• Come Thou Font of every Blessing—Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from “First Impressions” 2020, a preaching service of the Southern Dominican Province:

There are two stories woven together in the Gospel segment. The second is that of Thomas. And doesn’t he get a bad rap in our telling of this story! Remember his courageous statement to the disciples in the Lazarus account we read on the 5th Sunday of Lent? He invites them to go with Jesus and “die with Him” (11:16).  But his presence in today’s story encourages us in our own struggles to believe. Notice the different faiths present in this account.  Faith seeking, confessing, faltering, probing and questioning, praising and deepening. Remember what Thomas  had seen, the horror of Jesus’ capture and death. He had been part of the exciting years of Jesus’ ministry and had, with the rest, placed great hope in Jesus. He had believed in Jesus—not in a doctrine or abstract truths, but in the flesh and blood Jesus. Flesh and blood had perished on the cross, he could assume that Jesus’s death had put an end to it all. He didn’t need mere evidence, but a life-changing experience, a face-to-face encounter. We might note the difference between believing “in” something like—believing in the need to pray; the ethical guidelines; the structure of Christianity, etc. and “believing Jesus.” The New Testament describes it as “believing into” rather han ”believing in.” The personal experience is crucial for a life giving faith.

Another reflection from the Thomas account. We experience the risen Jesus when we touch the nail marks. There are people who are suffering and yet we meet in them a peace and  reconciliation that surpasses the merely human. In them we meet the Risen One. We meet the Risen One in the faith of a family who has just lost a beloved member; in a person who overcomes drugs, or alcohol and regains life and dignity. We meet and touch God too in the everyday of our lives, where we hear the eternal voice of God giving life through the ordinary.  Let us listen to our own  lives and note, too, the movements from doubting to believing that result from everyday experiences through which the Risen One appears to us and invites us to touch and believe.

Thomas is our guide when we are doubting and need the experience of the Risen Lord in our lives. Thomas shows us how and where to find him. We might miss Jesus on the first visit, but Thomas’ example says to us to stay posted, keep looking and expect to find him when he comes around again. There is a special way Thomas encounters the risen Lord in today’s Gospel: he stays with the community. The community was able to put up with his doubting; he was not expelled for his lack of faith and the expressions of doubt. Like all Christian communities, there was a variance in the faith expression of its members. This may have been disquieting to the members, but they seem confident enough in their own newly minted faith to be patient with Thomas, until he too could come to see what they had seen.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session:

“Do not be unbelieving anymore, but believe.”

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

• Jesus greeted the disciples in the gospel twice with the words “peace be with you”. What is “peace” for you? Has there ever been a lack f peace in my life? Is there a lack of peace now? How do I deal with his?
• This gospel is John’s version of the Pentecost. In this passage He invited the disciples to “receive the Holy Spirit.” Do I believe the Holy Spirit dwells in me?
• What if this passage is less about the clerical notion of the priest’s ability to forgive sins, but instead is about our own ability to work with the Holy Spirit in forgiving others.? Whose sins do I need to forgive?
  What sort of sins would you consider “unforgivable” and thus, retained? Do you think Jesus would refuse to free anyone of his or her sins?
• Do I have a role in the healing of division or anger in my little world? Are the disciples often called to more than they are capable of at the moment? Are we?
• Is coming to belief for me a sudden epiphany as it was for Paul or is it a more gradual experience as it seemed to be for the post-resurrection disciples? Have I even found faith hard?
• Is there a climate of unbelief in our society? What in our culture undermines trust/belief? What supports it?
• Thomas was called “the twin”. Could that refer to both his trusting and his skeptical self? Can we be both believing and disbelieving at the same time?
• Clearly, Thomas was disappointed in what had happened the previous week; maybe he was disappointed in himself… Does disappointment with parts of my life or with my own behavior isolate me from others or from God?
• When Thomas was separated from the community, found faith more difficult. In what ways as my communal experience strengthened my faith? What are the challenges to this in a time of pandemic?
• From “Faith Book” a preaching service of the Southern Dominican Province:
  Who are the people who have most influenced us in our faith? What current stumbling block limits a deeper faith is us?
• From “Sacred Space”, A service of the Irish Jesuits:
  Do I demand “proof” of Jesus’ presence in my life and in the world? Can I set those demands aside and surrender to what Jesus wants to impart to me?
  Are the doors of my heart locked? Am I afraid—afraid that my well-ordered ways of thinking and doing things might be turned upside down if I let Jesus in?
• Like Thomas, do I ever place conditions on my faith/belief? Am I open to where God’s spirit may be recognized?
  Is it enough to say “I believe”? or “My Lord and My God”?
• What in my personal life tests my faith? What strengthens is? What weakens it?
• The emphasis on the wounds of Jesus in this gospel reinforces our recognition of the humanity of Jesus. Is it hard for me to identify with Jesus true humanity?
• Do I really believe that Jesus is like us, with wounds of love, wounds of hate, and signs of suffering?
• What do I see as “wounds” the Church (the body of Christ) has received from the world, past and present? What do I see as the “wounds” the Church has inflicted on itself? What do I see as the “wounds” the Church has inflicted on others?
• “Blessed are those who have not seen, but believed”
  Does this imply somehow that we should have no doubts, or is this praise perhaps for John’s community who have never seen Jesus but believe in him, even through their doubts and fears?
  By extension, could it apply to us who have not seen, who may have doubts, yet choose to believe in the ultimate goodness that is Jesus?
  

Meditations

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

freely adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Imagine you are one of the disciples there in the room when Jesus first appears. How shocked are you? Are you fearful? Comforted? Why do you think Jesus shows you his hands and his side? Does everyone in the groups “see” that this is really the resurrected Jesus? Does it happen to each of you all at once, or is there a different pace of recognition for each of you?

In my role as disciple in the upper room, am I at all hesitant to believe what I am seeing? How do I feel when Jesus says: “Peace be with you”? What does it feel like when Jesus breathes on me and tells me to receive the Holy Spirit? Do I have any idea what he is talking about? When Thomas returns, do I rush to tell him what excitement he has missed? How do I feel when he rejects my testimony and demands some sort of proof? Do I feel this is this a rejection of Jesus or a rejection of my own personal experience of Jesus?

When Tomas actually does encounter Jesus himself, he seems to forget his former need for proof. Did Jesus look into his heart and see the need that was there?

In my own life, do I ever feel that my experience of Jesus is special to me, and feel superior to those whose belief is harder won or even non-existent? In my own faith experience, do hope that God looks beyond my first reaction, my hasty words, and sees the need in me for love, for reassurance, for comfort? I sit quietly in Jesus’ presence and listen for his voice, being open to whatever he offers me. I resolve to give Jesus not just my intellectual belief, but to give him my heart, because he has already given me his.

Poetic Reflection:

Malcolm Guite wrote a wonderful poem about how Thomas’s experience is also ours:

“St. Thomas the Apostle”

“We do not know… how can we know the way?”
Courageous master of the awkward question,
You spoke the words the others dared not say
And cut through their evasion and abstraction.
Oh doubting Thomas, father of my faith,
You put your finger on the nub of things
We cannot love some disembodied wraith,
But flesh and blood must be our king of kings.
Your teaching is to touch, embrace, anoint,
Feel after Him and find Him in the flesh.
Because He loved your awkward counter-point
The Word has heard and granted you your wish.
Oh place my hands with yours, help me divine
The wounded God whose wounds are healing mine.

Poetic Reflection:

This is a lovely meditation on a poem by Denise Levertov, late a professor of English at Stanford University, who converted to Catholicism while she was here in her sixties and who wrote a Mass for the Day of St. Thomas (also called Mass for the Sunday of St. Thomas). The poem is taken from a book called The Stream & the Sapphire, which chronicles Levertov's journey from unbelief to faith.
From the blog “Eleison”:

Especially on this Sunday I am reminded of the poem “St. Thomas Didymus” by Denise Levertov. In her poem she exquisitely expresses both Thomas’ doubt as well as the beautiful revelation of the risen Lord. She draws a parallel between Thomas’ doubt and the epileptic’s father who exclaimed, “I believe Lord, help my unbelief.” Often, like Thomas, I struggle with doubts of my own. I often doubt that God will tend to me and provide for me as I walk the narrow way, stewarding my sexuality. I fear loneliness, rejection, isolation, and unhappiness as the result of my celibacy. However, I find much comfort in knowing that like Thomas I can express and speak aloud my doubts and like Thomas not be rejected for my doubt but met by the Risen Lord so I may cry, “You are my Lord and my God.”

“St. Thomas Didymus”
by Denise Levertov

In the hot street at noon I saw him
a small man
gray but vivid, standing forth
beyond the crowd’s buzzing
holding in desperate grip his shaking
teethgnashing son,
and thought him my brother.
I heard him cry out, weeping, and speak
those words,
Lord, I believe, help thou
mine unbelief,
and knew him
my twin:
a man whose entire being
had knotted itself
into the one tight drawn question,
Why,
why has this child lost his childhood in suffering,
why is this child who will soon be a man
tormented, torn twisted?
Why is he cruelly punished
who has done nothing except be born?
The twin of my birth
was not so close
as that man I heard
say what my heart
sighed with each beat, my breath silently
cried in and out,
in and out.
After the healing,
he, with his wondering
newly peaceful boy, receded;
no one
dwells on the gratitude, the astonished joy,
the swift
acceptance and forgetting.
I did not follow
to see their changed lives.
What I retained
was the flash of kinship.
Despite
all that I witnessed,
his question remained
my question, throbbed like a stealthy cancer,
known
only to doctor and patient. To others
I seemed well enough.
So it was
that after Golgotha
my spirit in secret
lurched in the same convulsed writhings
that tore that child
before he was healed.
And after the empty tomb
when they told me He lived, had spoken to Magdalen,
told me
that though He had passed through the door like a ghost
He had breathed on them
the breath of a living man-
even then
when hope tried with a flutter of wings
to lift me-
still, alone with myself,
my heavy cry was the same: Lord,
I believe,
help thou mine unbelief.
I needed
blood to tell me the truth,
the touch
of blood. Even
my sight of the dark crust of it
round the nailholes
didn’t thrust its meaning all the way through
to that manifold knot in me
that willed to possess all knowledge,
refusing to loosen
unless that insistence won
the battle I fought with life.
But when my hand
led by His hand’s firm clasp
entered the unhealed wound,
my fingers encountering
rib-bone and pulsing heat,
what I felt was not
scalding pain, shame for my obstinate need,
but light, light streaming
into me, over me, filling the room
as if I had lived till then
in a cold cave, and now
coming forth for the first time,
the knot that bound me unravelling,
I witnessed
all things quicken to color, to form,
my question
not answered but given
its part
in a vast unfolding design lit
by a risen sun.