Photo: Old Boston

 

Spirituality: Makoto Fujimura in "Art and Faith: A Theology of Making"

I have come to believe that unless we are making something, we cannot know the depth of God’s being and God’s grace permeating our lives and God’s creation.

Photo: Arise

 

Prayer: Sr. Joyce Rupp (adapted)

                              May the Gospel teachings resound in 

   your thoughts…

May you listen closely to how God

   invites you to grow spiritually…

May you slow down and look more

   intently in order to find

   God’s movement in your life…

May you carry any cross of difficulty

   with courage, trusting God’s

   strength to uphold you…

May your service be so intertwined

   with God that this love overflows

   from your heart…

May you keep turning your heart to

   God and allow this love to be reflected

   in the way you live your life…

May you welcome God’s companionship

   and guidance as you travel the path 

   of life… and so…

Return with all your heart…

Remember, the Holy Spirit dwells in you.

         Be at peace.

Spirituality: Oscar Romero, The Violence of Love

As Christians formed in the gospel you have the right to organize and, inspired by the gospel, to make concrete decisions. But be careful not to betray those evangelical, Christian, supernatural convictions in the company of those who seek other liberations that can be merely economic, temporal, political. Even though working for liberation along with those who hold other ideologies, Christians must cling to their original liberation. 

JUNE 19, 1977

Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given: The Body and Blood of Christ 2024

                                              Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given:

The Body and Blood of Christ 2024 

June 2, 2024

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Exodus 24:3-8; Psalm 116; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:16-26

 

After Moses sets up an altar to the Twelve Tribes of Jacob, he makes an offering to God sealed by the blood of young bulls solidifying the bond between God and the Israelites. Jesus replicates the Passover sacrifice and introduces the actions we associate with the Last Supper: Take, bless, break, give. As we see from the actions of Jesus, the meal is not an object, but an action that we are to replicate.

 

On Tuesday, I saw a three-year-old toddler enact this with her mother. As the girl was in a field, she ran over to pick the finest of flowers for their striking beauty – the yellow dandelion. She shouted in amazement, “Look!” knelt, smelled them before expertly picking two of them, and ran over to her mother, handing her one and keeping one for herself, and then give both to her mother. Take, bless, break, give. Her mother graciously received them and was quite happy that her daughter was considerate of her. It was not the gift that was important, but the intention behind the gift. The dandelions were not more important than the daughter.

 

The same happens with our Eucharist. When we bring our gifts to God, that is, our bread and wine, we are the ones who are blessed. God is grateful that we are considerate, and God takes our gifts and blesses them, but more importantly, us. The blessing is as if God is giving us a proverbial hug and saying how grateful God is for our thoughtfulness. We then must bring this action to others. The Eucharist is always a relationship. It is always an action to be lived out in daily life.

 

Take: We are to take and receive what God offers us – the stuff of our daily lives and sanctify it by our gracious and noble thoughts. We take what God gives us: our choices, decisions, life’s events, and we acknowledge that God is part of our life. We are to be like that girl who exclaims in surprise when she sees the dandelion, “Look!” 

 

Bless: We are to bless what we receive, that is, we are to honor each event with positive thoughts. Our first thought of the day is to be one of blessing in which we give thanks to God for life itself, and then we bless the people we meet along the way. We make holy what we sanctify, and we are to begin with our initial thoughts because our thoughts give rise to attitudes, attitudes to judgments, judgments to words, and words to action. We fall into a trap when we stop blessing. We judge when we choose not to think anymore.

 

Break: We are to share what we have with others. The little girl had two flowers, and she could have kept one for herself, but she was moved to make a full offering to her mother. We are called to give what makes us vulnerable – our time, our resources, our energies, our care for the less fortunate – and it hurts to give away what one has, but no one has ever become poor by being generous. 

 

Give: We are to share the blessings we have with others. The little girl, because she was holding onto something beautiful, was impelled to share it with a person she loved. We are called to do the same. Just as we have been given what we often do not deserve, we are to share that freely with others. For this reason, the Eucharist can never be a private, exclusive, personal moment because we are impelled to share God’s life with others. 

 

The Eucharist leads to communion and is always in relationship with God and with the community of believers. We pattern our lives after Jesus who became our offerings so that whenever we eat and drink in his memory, he is present among us – the gifts, in the community, in ourselves, and in those whom we are sent. We are called to be the Eucharist for the world – the ones who take, bless, break, and give so others may know God. Our Eucharistic actions make us the life for the world because God blesses us with great satisfaction. We are the Eucharistic gifts who are transformed to be a gift for the world. That’s a pretty neat reality. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (2 Peter 1) For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.

 

Tuesday: (2 Peter 3) Wait for and hasten the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved in flames and the elements melted by fire. But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

 

Wednesday: (2 Timothy 1) For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.

 

Thursday: (2 Timothy 2) If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we persevere, we shall also reign with him. But if we deny him, he will deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

 

Friday (Hosea 11) When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love

 

Saturday (2 Timothy 4) But you, be self-possessed in all circumstances; put up with hardship; perform the work of an evangelist; fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 12) A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard.

 

Tuesday: (Mark 12) Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?

 

Wednesday (Mark 12) Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants.

 

Thursday (Mark 12) And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." And no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 

Friday (John 19) Since it was preparation day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath, for the sabbath day of that week was a solemn one,
the Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and they be taken down.

 

Saturday (Luke 2) After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

 

Saints of the Week

 

June 2: Marcellinus and Peter, martyrs (d. 304) died in Rome during the Diocletian persecution. Peter was an exorcist who ministered under the well-regarded priest, Marcellinus. Stories are told that in jail they converted their jailer and his family. These men are remembered in Eucharistic prayer I. 

 

June 3: Charles Lwanga and 22 companion martyrs from Uganda (18660-1886) felt the wrath of King Mwanga after Lwanga and the White Fathers (Missionaries of Africa) censured him for his cruelty and immorality. The King determined to rid his kingdom of Christians. He persecuted over 100 Christians, but upon their death new converts joined the church. 

 

June 5: Boniface, bishop and martyr (675-754), was born in England and raised in a Benedictine monastery. He became a good preacher and was sent to the northern Netherlands as a missionary. Pope Gregory gave him the name Boniface with an edict to preach to non-Christians. We was made a bishop in Germany and gained many converts when he cut down the famed Oak of Thor and garnered no bad fortune by the Norse gods. Many years later he was killed by non-Christians when he was preparing to confirm many converts. The church referred to him as the "Apostle of Germany."

 

June 6: Norbert, bishop (1080-1134), a German, became a priest after a near-death experience. He became an itinerant preacher in northern France and established a community founded on strict asceticism. They became the Norbertines and defended the rights of the church against secular authorities.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• June 2, 1566. The Professed House was opened in Toledo. It became well known for the fervor of its residents and the wonderful effects of their labors. 
• June 3, 1559. A residence at Frascati, outside of Rome, was purchased for the fathers and brothers of the Roman College. 
• June 4, 1667. The death in Rome of Cardinal Sforza Pallavicini, a man of great knowledge and humility. While he was Prefect of Studies of the Roman College he wrote his great work, The History of the Council of Trent. 
• June 5, 1546. Paul III, in the document Exponi Nobis, empowered the Society to admit coadjutors, both spiritual and temporal. 
• June 6, 1610. At the funeral of Henry IV in Paris, two priests preaching in the Churches of St Eustace and St Gervase denounced the Jesuits as accomplices in his death. This was due primarily to the book De Rege of Father Mariana. 
• June 7, 1556. Peter Canisius becomes the first provincial superior of the newly constituted Province of Upper Germany. 
• June 8, 1889. Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins died at the age of 44 in Dublin. His final words were "I am so happy, so happy." He wrote, "I wish that my pieces could at some time become known but in some spontaneous way ... and without my forcing." 

 

Tomado, Bendito, Roto, Dado: El Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo 2024

                                                  Tomado, Bendito, Roto, Dado:

El Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo 2024

2 de junio de 2024

www.johnpredmoresj.com | predmore.blogspot.com

predmoresj@yahoo.com | 617.510.9673

Éxodo 24:3-8; Salmo 116; Hebreos 9:11-15; Marcos 14:16-26

 

Después de que Moisés levanta un altar a las Doce Tribus de Jacob, hace una ofrenda a Dios sellada con la sangre de novillos, solidificando el vínculo entre Dios y los israelitas. Jesús replica el sacrificio de la Pascua e introduce las acciones que asociamos con la Última Cena: tomar, bendecir, partir, dar. Como vemos en las acciones de Jesús, la comida no es un objeto, sino una acción que debemos replicar.

 

El martes vi a una niña de tres años hacer esto con su madre. Mientras la niña estaba en el campo, corrió a recoger las flores más finas por su sorprendente belleza: el diente de león amarillo. Ella gritó asombrada: "¡Mira!" Se arrodilló, los olió antes de elegir dos de ellos con destreza y corrió hacia su madre, entregándole uno y guardándose otro para ella, y luego le dio ambos a su madre. Toma, bendice, rompe, da. Su madre los recibió gentilmente y estaba muy feliz de que su hija fuera considerada con ella. Lo importante no era el regalo, sino la intención detrás del regalo. Los dientes de león no eran más importantes que la hija.

 

Lo mismo sucede con nuestra Eucaristía. Cuando llevamos nuestros dones a Dios, es decir, nuestro pan y vino, somos nosotros los que somos bienaventurados. Dios está agradecido de que seamos considerados y Dios toma nuestros dones y los bendice, pero más importante aún, a nosotros. La bendición es como si Dios nos estuviera dando un abrazo proverbial y diciendo cuán agradecido está Dios por nuestra consideración. Luego debemos llevar esta acción a otros. La Eucaristía es siempre una relación. Es siempre una acción que debe vivirse en la vida diaria.

 

Tomar: Debemos tomar y recibir lo que Dios nos ofrece – las cosas de nuestra vida diaria y santificarlo con nuestros pensamientos nobles y llenos de gracia. Tomamos lo que Dios nos da: nuestras elecciones, decisiones, acontecimientos de la vida, y reconocemos que Dios es parte de nuestra vida. Debemos ser como esa niña que exclama sorprendida al ver el diente de león: “¡Mira!”

 

Bendecir: Debemos bendecir lo que recibimos, es decir, debemos honrar cada evento con pensamientos positivos. Nuestro primer pensamiento del día es ser de bendición en el que damos gracias a Dios por la vida misma y luego bendecimos a las personas que encontramos en el camino. Santificamos lo que santificamos, y debemos comenzar con nuestros pensamientos iniciales porque nuestros pensamientos dan lugar a actitudes, las actitudes a juicios, los juicios a palabras y las palabras a acciones. Caemos en una trampa cuando dejamos de bendecir. Juzgamos cuando elegimos no pensar más.

 

Descanso: Debemos compartir lo que tenemos con los demás. La niña tenía dos flores y podría haberse quedado con una, pero se sintió impulsada a hacer una ofrenda completa a su madre. Estamos llamados a dar lo que nos hace vulnerables –nuestro tiempo, nuestros recursos, nuestras energías, nuestro cuidado por los menos afortunados– y duele regalar lo que uno tiene, pero nadie se ha vuelto pobre por ser generoso.

 

Dar: Debemos compartir las bendiciones que tenemos con los demás. La niña, porque conservaba algo hermoso, se vio impulsada a compartirlo con una persona a la que amaba. Estamos llamados a hacer lo mismo. Así como se nos ha dado lo que muchas veces no merecemos, debemos compartirlo libremente con los demás. Por esta razón, la Eucaristía nunca puede ser un momento privado, exclusivo y personal porque estamos impulsados a compartir la vida de Dios con los demás.

 

La Eucaristía conduce a la comunión y está siempre en relación con Dios y con la comunidad de los creyentes. Modelamos nuestras vidas según Jesús, quien se convirtió en nuestra ofrenda para que cada vez que comamos y bebamos en su memoria, él esté presente entre nosotros: los dones, en la comunidad, en nosotros mismos y en aquellos a quienes somos enviados. Estamos llamados a ser la Eucaristía para el mundo: los que tomamos, bendecimos, partimos y damos para que otros puedan conocer a Dios. Nuestras acciones eucarísticas nos hacen vida para el mundo porque Dios nos bendice con grandes satisfacciones. Somos los dones eucarísticos que se transforman para ser un regalo para el mundo. Esa es una realidad bastante clara.

 

Escritura para la misa diaria

Lunes: (2 Pedro 1 ) Por esto mismo, esforzaos por complementar vuestra fe con virtud, la virtud con conocimiento, el conocimiento con dominio propio, el dominio propio con paciencia, la paciencia con devoción, la devoción con afecto mutuo, el afecto mutuo con amar.

 

Martes: (2 Pedro 3 ) Espera y apresura la venida del día de Dios, por causa del cual los cielos serán disueltos en llamas y los elementos derretidos por el fuego. Pero según su promesa esperamos cielos nuevos y tierra nueva en los que habite la justicia.

 

Miércoles: (2 Timoteo 1 ) Porque Dios no nos dio espíritu de cobardía, sino de poder, de amor y de dominio propio. Así que no os avergoncéis de vuestro testimonio de nuestro Señor, ni de mí, prisionero por causa de él; pero soportad vuestra parte de penurias por el Evangelio con la fuerza que viene de Dios.

 

Jueves: (2 Timoteo 2 ) Si hemos muerto con él, también viviremos con él; si perseveramos, también reinaremos con él. Pero si lo negamos, él nos negará. Si somos infieles, él permanece fiel, porque no puede negarse a sí mismo.

 

Viernes ( Oseas 11 ) Cuando Israel era niño lo amé, de Egipto llamé a mi hijo. Sin embargo, fui yo quien enseñó a caminar a Efraín, quien los tomó en mis brazos; Los dibujé con cuerdas humanas, con lazos de amor.

 

Sábado (2 Timoteo 4 ) Pero tú, sé dueño de ti mismo en todas las circunstancias; aguantar las dificultades; realizar la obra de evangelista; cumple tu ministerio. Porque ya estoy siendo derramado como libación, y el tiempo de mi partida está cerca.

 

Evangelio:

Lunes: (Marcos 12) Un hombre plantó una viña, la rodeó con un seto, cavó un lagar y construyó una torre. Luego lo arrendó a unos arrendatarios y se fue de viaje. A su debido tiempo envió un sirviente a los labradores para obtener de ellos algo del producto de la viña.

 

Martes: (Marcos 12) Maestro, sabemos que eres un hombre veraz y que no te preocupas por la opinión de nadie. No tenéis en cuenta el estatus de una persona, sino que enseñáis el camino de Dios conforme a la verdad. ¿Es lícito pagar el impuesto del censo al César o no?

 

Miércoles (Marcos 12 ) Maestro, Moisés nos escribió: Si el hermano de alguno muere, dejando mujer pero sin hijos, su hermano debe tomar la mujer y levantar descendencia a su hermano. 
Ahora eran siete hermanos. El primero se casó con una mujer y murió sin dejar descendencia.

 

Jueves (Marcos 12 ) Y cuando Jesús vio que respondía con entendimiento, le dijo: No estás lejos del Reino de Dios. Y nadie se atrevió a hacerle más preguntas.

 

Viernes (Juan 19) Como era día de preparación, para que los cuerpos no permanecieran en la cruz en sábado, porque el sábado de aquella semana era solemne, 
los judíos pidieron a Pilato que les quebraran las piernas , y ellos ser derribado.

 

Sábado (Lucas 2 ) Cumplidos sus días, mientras regresaban, el niño Jesús se quedó en Jerusalén, pero sus padres no lo sabían. Pensando que estaba en la caravana, caminaron un día y lo buscaron entre sus parientes y conocidos, pero al no encontrarlo, regresaron a Jerusalén a buscarlo.

 

Santos de la semana

 

2 de junio: Marcelino y Pedro, mártires (m. 304) mueren en Roma durante la persecución de Diocleciano. Pedro era un exorcista que ministraba bajo el respetado sacerdote Marcelino. Se cuentan historias que en la cárcel convirtieron a su carcelero y a su familia. Estos hombres son recordados en la oración eucarística I.

 

3 de junio: Charles Lwanga y 22 compañeros mártires de Uganda (18660-1886) sintieron la ira del rey Mwanga después de que Lwanga y los Padres Blancos (Misioneros de África) lo censuraran por su crueldad e inmoralidad. El rey decidió librar a su reino de cristianos. Persiguió a más de 100 cristianos, pero tras su muerte nuevos conversos se unieron a la iglesia.

 

5 de junio: Bonifacio, obispo y mártir (675-754), nace en Inglaterra y se cria en un monasterio benedictino. Se convirtió en un buen predicador y fue enviado como misionero al norte de los Países Bajos. El Papa Gregorio le dio el nombre de Bonifacio con un edicto para predicar a los no cristianos. Fuimos nombrados obispo en Alemania y ganamos muchos conversos cuando taló el famoso Roble de Thor y no obtuvo mala suerte por parte de los dioses nórdicos. Muchos años después fue asesinado por no cristianos cuando se preparaba para confirmar a muchos conversos. La iglesia se refirió a él como el "Apóstol de Alemania".

 

6 de junio: Norberto, obispo (1080-1134), alemán, se convierte en sacerdote después de una experiencia cercana a la muerte. Se convirtió en predicador itinerante en el norte de Francia y estableció una comunidad fundada en un estricto ascetismo. Se convirtieron en norbertinos y defendieron los derechos de la iglesia contra las autoridades seculares.

 

Esta semana en la historia jesuita

 

• 2 de junio de 1566. Se abre en Toledo la Casa Profesa. Se hizo muy conocido por el fervor de sus residentes y los maravillosos efectos de su trabajo.
• 3 de junio de 1559. Se compra una residencia en Frascati, en las afueras de Roma, para los padres y hermanos del Colegio Romano.
• 4 de junio de 1667. Muerte en Roma del cardenal Sforza Pallavicini, hombre de gran conocimiento y humildad. Mientras era Prefecto de Estudios del Colegio Romano escribió su gran obra, La Historia del Concilio de Trento.
• 5 de junio de 1546. Pablo III, en el documento Exponi Nobis , faculta a la Sociedad para admitir coadjutores, tanto espirituales como temporales.
• 6 de junio de 1610. En el funeral de Enrique IV en París, dos sacerdotes que predicaban en las iglesias de San Eustaquio y San Gervasio denunciaron a los jesuitas como cómplices de su muerte. Esto se debió principalmente al libro De Rege del padre Mariana.
• 7 de junio de 1556. Pedro Canisio se convierte en el primer superior provincial de la recién constituida Provincia de Alta Alemania.
• 8 de junio de 1889. El poeta Gerard Manley Hopkins muere a la edad de 44 años en Dublín. Sus últimas palabras fueron "Estoy tan feliz, tan feliz". Escribió: "Me gustaría que mis piezas pudieran ser conocidas en algún momento, pero de alguna manera espontánea... y sin que yo las obligue".

Photo: Rhododendron

 

Prayer: David and Sue Woods, Australia

In the silence of this place

 may all the suffering, violence and confusion of the world

 encounter the power that will console, renew, and uplift the human spirit. 

May this silence be a power to open the hearts of all people to the vision of God 

 and so to each other, 

 in love and peace, j

ustice and human dignity. 

 We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen

Photo: Front Steps

 

Spirituality: Getting ready for the Election Cycle

This is an excerpt from a conversation I had with two people who are frustrated with one another about political views. 

"I appreciate that you and your associate expressed your positions in defense of democracy. You come at it from very different worldviews and perspectives. You each represent a passion for unity and a solution for how democracy can be preserved. He thinks democracy is already dismantled while you fear a certain candidate will undo the last vestiges of democracy. The courts have a specific role and they are now tainted with partisanship and lack credibility.

We need to find a way to coexist and work together harmoniously while still retaining the wisdom from our experiences. As it stands, your associate's rationale will not change your mind, and your rationale will not change his. Logic and rationality do not change minds and hearts, as much as we would like to believe that they do. Hearts are changed by compassion and understanding.

We have to learn how to listen deeply so we can understand two things about a person: (1.) how and why are they suffering, and (2.) what do they need? When we listen to the person and let our hearts be moved out of compassion and from vulnerability, the person's suffering is lessened. When we demonstrate that we understand and care, the person begins to settle and calm down. We need to be in a state of balance before we enter conversations. Likewise, the most important question we can ask is: What do they need? It puts the burden on the person to articulate the ways they are hurting and what would help them hurt less. They become a person who reclaims authority because he is now responsible for his own recovery and healing. 

Likewise, we have to continue to peel the layers off our proverbial onion to articulate what we need. When we speak out of our needs and suffering, we begin to have dialogue. Until then, we are fated to press and impose our positions hoping that someone will hear them, but it is not the way to be heard. We strive to be seen and heard and known, and we do not know how to get what we most need. 

Communion happens when we acknowledge one another's pain and realize we are still here for the other person, that we will not give up, and that the goal of our conversation is to understand each other better. 

We have a lot of work to do."

Photo: Strength and Beauty

 

Spirituality: Kurt Vonnegut in "More Letters of Note"

Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives...

Here’s an assignment for tonight...Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed...But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing...

Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.

Prayer: A Pentecost Sequence, by Joyce Rupp

 Come, Holy Spirit, come!

And from your celestial home
Shed a ray of light divine!

Come, Father of the poor!
Come, source of all our store!
Come, within our bosoms shine.

You, of comforters the best;
You, the soul’s most welcome guest;
Sweet refreshment here below;

In our labor, rest most sweet;
Grateful coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

O most blessed Light divine,
May that light within us shine
And our inmost being fill!

Where you are not, we have naught,
Nothing good in deed or thought,
Nothing free from taint and ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour your dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

On the faithful, who adore
And confess you, evermore
In your sevenfold gift descend;

Give them virtue’s sure reward;
Give them your salvation, Lord;
Give them joys that never end.

Amen. Alleluia.

Photo: Let's Wander

 

Prayer: A Prayer for Pentecost, Joyce Rupp

 Spirit! Power and Passion of my being,

press upon my heart your profound love.
Move through the fragments of my days;
enable me to sense your fiery Presence
consecrating my most insignificant moments.

Spirit! Source of Vision, Perceptive Guide,
permeate the moments of my choices
when falsehood and truth both call to me.
Turn me toward the way of goodness,
so that I will always lean toward your love.

Spirit! Blessing for the heart grown weary,
encircle me with your loving energy,
empower me with your active gentleness.
Deepen within me a faith in your dynamism
which strengthens the weak and the tired.

Spirit! Breath of Life, Touch of Mystery,
you are the ribbon of inner connection,
uniting me with the groaning of all creation.
Because of you, my life gathers into a oneness.
Keep me attentive to this interdependence.
Fill my being with constant compassion
and a deep hope that knows no bounds.

Spirit! Dwelling Place, Sanctuary of Silence,
you are the home for which I deeply yearn.
You are the resting place for which I long.
I find both comfort and challenge in you.
Grant that I may keep my whole self open
to the transforming power of your indwelling,
that I may ever know the blessings
of your tremendous companionship.

Photo: Full on Spring

 

Prayer: Karl Rahner, S.J., Encounters with Silence

 Only in love can I find you, my God. In love the gates of my soul spring open, allowing me to breathe a new air of freedom and forget my own petty self. In love my whole being streams forth out of the rigid confines of narrowness and anxious self-assertion, which make me a prisoner of my own poverty emptiness. In love all the powers of my soul flow out toward you, wanting never more to return, but to lose themselves completely in you, since by your love you are the inmost center of my heart, closer to me than I am to myself.

But when I love you,

when I manage to break out of the narrow circle of self

and leave behind the restless agony of unanswered questions,

when my blinded eyes no longer look merely from afar

and from the outside upon your unapproachable brightness,

and much more when you yourself, O Incomprehensible One,

have become through love the inmost center of my life,

then I can bury myself entirely in you, O mysterious God,

and with myself all my questions.

The future of God: The Trinity 2024

The future of God:

The Trinity 2024 

May 26, 2024

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Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8:14-17; Matthew 28:16-20

 

Moses relays to the people that God, the Creator, the Parent, was brilliant in creating the universe and humanity, and has found delight within us. Paul tells us in Romans that we closely belong to God through the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel assures us that Jesus will remain with us until the end of time because he has seen God face to face and knows what God intends. The moral of the story is that the Triune God will find multiple ways to draw us into friendship and keep us close.

 

The day after I wrote my homily, I was at a Mass with a student who stood up in front of others and said, “I’m feeling good today. I was at two Masses last weekend, and I feel really close to God.” He stood there and beamed. His response moved me to realize that the Trinity is about how deeply we feel about God, and how God’s love energy back to us is an expression of the Trinity. The Trinity is the love energy between us and God. It made me wonder how we feel as we are sitting in the pews while attending Mass. Do we as priests make you feel closer to God during your experience?

 

The purpose of the homily is not to teach or preach; its purpose is to move you, to inspire you, to give you hope. It is to take the Gospel and relate it to today’s events, especially when faced with meaninglessness, suffering, and death so that you can feel God is close to you. Do we provide that for you? When you leave, do you get a physical sense that you have been blessed by God? If not, please tell me what we need to do to bring that about.

 

I spoke with a friend on Friday who was asking questions about the Eucharist because he wanted to understand it better. He was on his way to visit his daughter. We related it to her giving him gifts on special occasions, like Father’s Day. He told me, “Whenever I see her, I am very happy. She brings me gifts, which I don’t need, but she wants to give them. When I receive them, she is very happy. I hug her and kiss her and affirm her goodness.” I suggested to him that when that happens, that interaction is love-energy, and that is what the Trinity is, and that is what happens at Mass. 

 

When we offer our gifts to God, that is, our bread and wine, God certainly says thanks, but God is not focused upon the gifts as much as God is focused on the giver of the gifts. God sees us, blesses us, is aware of the gifts we brought, but wants to hug us and kiss us and affirm our goodness in the same way my friend affirmed his daughter. When we leave Mass, we need to feel loved by God, and to have that love energy that helps us affirm others and to see the world the way God does. This brings about communion when we first receive the love of God so that we instinctively want to share it with others. We want others to feel as we are feeling, and knowing that we are all affirmed together, we can feel connected as we know God is doing incredible work with us individually and as a community. 

 

Our attendance at Mass is supposed to be one of praise and worship collectively. We are intended to feel nourished and blessed as we walk out the church doors. We are designed to feel a buzz of that love energy – that we build an exchange with God, through Spirit, in the Spirit – and that this energy is alive and fully charged. Tell me what I need to do to help you feel fully charged. That’s what I want to learn from you.

 

I was going to select an excerpt from Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. poem on God’s Grandeur because it speaks about the oozing, seeping nature of the Trinity’s work in the world. It is short enough for me to end the homily this way. I hope you can feel it. 

 

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

    It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

    And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;

    And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil

Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

 

And for all this, nature is never spent;

    There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went

    Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent

    World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.

 

 

Original Homily

 

Moses relays to the people that God, the Creator, the Parent, has displayed brilliance in the creation of the universe and humanity, and has found delight within us. Paul tells us in Romans that we closely belong to God through the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel assures us that Jesus will remain with us until the end of time because he has seen God face to face and knows what God intends. The moral of the story is that the Triune God will find multiple ways to draw us into friendship and keep us close.

 

Theology is a quest for reasons to hope in the face of the threats of meaninglessness, suffering, and death. It seeks to answer the question: If God is all powerful, and all good, then why is there suffering, especially of the innocent? Religion is the basic confidence that there is an enduring rightness beyond the wrongness of suffering, perishing, moral evil, and death. This rightness is God, which Jesus of Nazareth called us to in the new Kingdom of God. Through God's spirit, a new era of justice and compassion was dawning, a reign of rightness that would have no end.

 

In our faith, we believe God to be creator of all things and to be the imperishable liberator of life from the fate of nothingness. We know that God has entered time to the point of suffering and dying. God does not hide in eternity as an unmoved mover or as an intelligent designer, but as one who accompanies. God remains imperishable, and when our time is over, we want to be with God in that eternal life. We want to jump out of our sense of time to enter God’s time, a life that never ends. We want to enter the mystery of God’s time that has not yet arrived. We believe in God’s promise of a life yet to be realized. 

 

Scripture tells us that God is the liberator whose very Word, Jesus Christ, opens us to a new future in the face of what seems to be dead ends. We trust that God’s promises will be fulfilled, and Jesus of Nazareth experienced his Father to be the one who was generous, just, steadfast, and liberating. This is a God who creates, heals, and offers reasons for hope, and we have to wait for the “not-yet” aspect of God, who is still becoming, just as the universe is still being born. 

 

In this God, we hope for the “more.” We, and the cosmos, are still waking up to that which is to come under God. This is exciting news. We are an unfinished story that is part of a larger cosmic drama that continues to unfold in the “not-yet” of time. We are still evolving and the whole future lies open to us. God creates the world freely out of goodness and allows for its transformation in due time. We will find God in an inexhaustible future that is still coming to be and is not yet fully present. God is the absolute future, and it shows us that the life that is to come will be better than our present reality. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (1 Peter 1) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who by the power of God are safeguarded through faith, to a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the final time.

 

Tuesday: (1 Peter 1) Concerning the salvation of your souls the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and investigated it investigating the time and circumstances that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated
when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories to follow them.

 

Wednesday: (1 Peter 1) Realize that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished Lamb. He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you.

 

Thursday: (1 Peter 2) Like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God.

 

Friday (Zephaniah 3) Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! Sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The LORD has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies.

 

Saturday (Jude 17) Beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.

 

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Mark 10) "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments:  "You are lacking in one thing.”

 

Tuesday: (Mark 10) "We have given up everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age.”

 

Wednesday (Mark 10) he disciples were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him.

 

Thursday (Mark 10) As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd,
Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.”

 

Friday (Luke 1) Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb.

 

Saturday (Mark 11) Jesus and his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things?

 

Saints of the Week

 

May 26: Philip Neri, priest (1515-1595), is known as the "Apostle of Rome." A Florentine who was educated by the Dominicans, he re-evangelized Roe by establishing confraternities of laymen to minister to pilgrims and the sick in hospitals. He founded the Oratorians when he gathered a sufficient following because of his spiritual wisdom. 

 

May 27: Augustine of Canterbury, bishop (d. 604) was sent to England with 40 monks from St. Andrew's monastery to evangelize the pagans. They were well-received. Augustine was made bishop, established a hierarchy, and changed many pagans feasts to religious ones. Wales did not accept the mission; Scotland took St. Andrew's cross as their national symbol. Augustine began a Benedictine monastery at Canterbury and was Canterbury's first archbishop.

 

May 31: Visitation of the Virgin Mary commemorates the visit of Mary in her early pregnancy to Mary, who is reported to be her elder cousin. Luke writes about the shared rejoicing of the two women - Mary's conception by the Holy Spirit and Elizabeth's surprising pregnancy in her advanced years. Elizabeth calls Mary blessed and Mary sings her song of praise to God, the Magnificat.

 

June 1: Justin, martyr (100-165), was a Samaritan philosopher who converted to Christianity and explained doctrine through philosophical treatises. His debating opponent reported him to the Roman authorities who tried him and when he refused to sacrifice to the gods, was condemned to death. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• May 26, 1673. Ching Wei‑San (Emmanuel de Sigueira) dies, the first Chinese Jesuit priest. 
• May 27, 1555. The Viceroy of India sent an embassy to Claudius, Emperor of Ethiopia, hoping to win him and his subjects over to Catholic unity. Nothing came of this venture, but Fr. Goncalvo de Silveira, who would become the Society's first martyr on the Africa soil, remained in the country. 
• May 28, 1962. The death of Bernard Hubbard famous Alaskan missionary. He was the author of the book Mush, You Malemutes! and wrote a number of articles on the Alaska mission. 
• May 29,1991. Pope John Paul II announces that Paulo Dezza, SJ is to become a Cardinal, as well as Jan Korec, in Slovakia. 
• May 30, 1849. Vincent Gioberti's book Il Gesuita Moderno was put on the Index. Gioberti had applied to be admitted into the Society, and on being refused became its bitter enemy and calumniator. 
• May 31, 1900. The new novitiate of the Buffalo Mission, St Stanislaus, in South Brooklyn, Ohio, near Cleveland, is blessed. 
• June 1, 1527. Ignatius was thrown into prison after having been accused of having advised two noblewomen to undertake a pilgrimage, on foot, to Compostella.