Prayer: Alberto Hurtado, S.J.

I have something to say to you. How can we go on with this? I didn't sleep last night and I think you would have suffered from insomnia as well had you seen what I saw. I was arriving at St. Ignatius late last night when a man stopped me. He was standing there in shirtsleeves in the freezing drizzle. He was think as a rail and shaking with fever. The lamplight was sufficient to show me that his tonsils were inflamed. He had no place to sleep and he asked me for the price of a bed in a hostel. There are hundreds of men lik this in Santiago and they are all our brother, and that is no metaphor. Each one of these men is Christ, and what have we done for them? What has the Catholic Church in Chile done for these sons of hers who walk the streets in the rain and sleep in doorways in the cold nights of winter, their bodies found frozen in the early dawn. This sort of things is happening in a Christian country. Tonight a beggar may die in the doorway of any one of your houses. What stupid oxen we Catholics are, how lost in our dreaming, how untouched by the need for social solidarity! We are held back by the possibility of difficulties, obstacles, and scandals.

Spirituality: Gerald May “Grace: Qualities of Mercy” Addiction and Grace Part 7 of 8

“We saw its glory,” says the ancient hymn. Not “I,” but “we.” It is a song of community. The soul and God are in love like planet and sun, but the family of humanity is perfused by an intergalactic radiance of grace, a power so immense and dynamic, a Word spoken and so cosmically expanded that time and form, space and substance become simultaneously meaningless and filled with burning glory. At intersections of paths through space that only God can chart, we are drawn together in systems of shared histories, we form covenants, and we become traditions, churches, communities of faith. Here our energies coalesce, and grace pours through the spaciousness of our communal solitude, through our intimacy and interdependence, and, with exponential brilliance, through the sacramental gatherings of true community.

Third Sunday of Lent

March 7, 2010

Vivid biblical scenes are put before us in today’s liturgy. We begin with Moses standing before God in the form of a burning, unconsumed bush inviting him to bring word to the Hebrews that the God of his religious tradition is with him and hears the suffering cries of the people. The God of the Living is with them. Paul then warns us against the sin of presumption by explaining that we have historical lesson to teach us about our appropriate dependence upon God. Jesus uses two illustrations of calamities that fell upon people as a way of unlinking their feelings of deserved punishment with the source of sin in light of accidents and natural disasters. God does not punish people for their wrongdoings by sending bad events to happen to them. Accidents are merely accidents.

But we have to be patient with the work of God and do our part- not doing more or any less. Realizing what we are called to do and doing it best gives great satisfaction. As we look at the image of the parable of the fig tree, we see that our efforts can be valuable even when it does not appear that way to us. Though it appears that the fig tree is barren and useless, we are to give it that extra bit of care and nourishment because it may bear fruit in the future. Stay the course a little longer. Persevere. We are all too quick to give up on our projects because they seem futile and pointless. We can never know what is happening below the surface until some fruit or new life arises.

Today’s message reminds me of Oscar Romero’s poem when he writes: “We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.” It is always helpful for us to remember that the work or ministry we are doing is first and foremost a mission from God. It is God’s project in which we are asked to do our part, however big or small a role it may be. Do it well and fully. Our God who is always with us will be there working alongside us.

Quote for the Week

From the Evening prayer at St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer, Massachusetts:

“Lord Jesus Christ, grant us your peace, and when the trials of earth shall cease, grant us the morning light of grace, the radiant splendor of your face.”

Themes for this Week’s Masses

First Reading: We get many Old Testament readings designed to match the Gospel themes but do not tell a continuous story in the customary fashion. We start this week with 2 Kings and the story of Namaan, the Syrian leper, who was cleansed by the prophet Elisha rather than the many Israelite lepers. God works outside our boundaries. Then we turn to Daniel’s dreams as he asks the Lord to receive him and his associates with humble hearts. In Deuteronomy the people are exhorted to keep the commandments as a way of completing God’s work, but Jeremiah reminds us that the people will seldom listen to God’s voice. Hosea reminds us that God does not want our sacrifices, but our love.

Gospel: Jesus shows that he mirrors the miracles of the prophets Elijah and Elisha in healing people, except that his mission is broader than focusing only on the Jews. He describes the type of behavior needed for discipleship: it means deeply forgiving one’s brother and sister and keeping and preaching about the commandments. As he talks about the work of his disciples, he lets people decide whether they want to be a part of it. He tells them that whoever is not with him is against him, that the love of God is the most important action in the world, and that inclusion in the kingdom may be surprising as a dreaded tax collector makes it into the kingdom while a Pharisee does not.

Saints of the Week

Monday: John of God is a major saint to the Spanish for his tireless work with the neediest people of Granada. He drew others to his type of ministry as he cared for sick and the poor in remarkable ways. His order has been entrusted to the medical and dental care of the Bishop of Rome

Tuesday: Frances of Rome is an Italian saint who petitioned her wealthy parents to become a nun; instead they arranged a marriage for her that turned out to be happy. During a plague, she lost two of her six children. This sensitized her to the plight of the sick and the needy. She began a confraternity to assist the poor.

This Week in Jesuit History

• Mar 7, 1581. The Fifth General Congregation of the Society bound the professors of the Society to adhere to the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas.
• Mar 8, 1773. At Centi, in the diocese of Bologna, Cardinal Malvezzi paid a surprise visit to the Jesuit house, demanding to inspect their accounting books.
• Mar 9, 1764. In France, all Jesuits who refused to abjure the Society were ordered by Parliament to leave the realm within a month. Out of 4,000 members only five priests, two scholastics, and eight brothers took the required oath; the others were driven into exile.
• Mar 10, 1615. The martyrdom in Glasgow, Scotland, of St John Ogilvie.
• Mar 11, 1848. In Naples, Italy, during the 1848 revolution, 114 Jesuits, after much suffering, were put into carts and driven ignominiously out of the city and the kingdom.
• Mar 12, 1622. Pope Gregory XV canonized Sts Ignatius, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila, and Philip Neri.
• Mar 13, 1568. John Segura and five companions set sail from Spain for Florida, a fertile field of martyrs. (Nine Jesuits were killed there between 1566 and 1571.)

Stations of the Cross

Catholics have a tradition of praying the Stations of the Cross, particularly on Fridays in Lent. We walk the spiritual road with Jesus through Scripture-based Stations that depict the last moments of the life of Jesus. We reflect more deeply on particular moments in Christ's Passion: at prayer in the Garden of the Gethsemane, during Peter's denial, through his trial and judgment, ending with his death and entombment. At the end of each station, we add our prayers to God asking for strength, wisdom, courage, patience, and mercy to imitate His Son as we make the journey through Lent to the great Paschal celebration.

“We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

Chile

We pray for the people of Chile who suffer from the devastating 8.8 earthquake that hit the middle of their country. Jesuits from the Maryland province have a long-standing relationship with the Jesuits in Chile. Please continue your prayers for the people as they strive to rebuild their country. Please be generous to the local church and social service agencies that will provide needed services.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

Twelve Jesuits in Australia (including me) and seven in California who are at their last stage of formation (tertianship) are praying through an intense 30-day program of prayer called the Spiritual Exercises. These are a series of prayer exercises designed to bring a person deeper into his or her relationship with God. They are not only for Catholics. Retreatants move through four movements of prayer that allow them to notice the ways they may unknowingly block some aspect in their relationship with God. God works gently with a person to help him or her uncover those disordered attachments so that God can draw a person into closer friendship. It is a period of prayer that is usually full of surprises. Please pray for those of us who are making this long retreat this month.

Note:

I am now on long retreat and may not be able to send out the weekly email, but I will update my blog regularly. Access predmore.blogspot.com for weekly and daily updates or predmoresj.blogspot.com for my tertian program news.

To search for prayer and Jesuit resources, in the blog search field type in the keywords: poem, prayer, song, spirituality, Jesuit, constitutions, photos, or specific phrases.

Prayer: Michael J. Buckley, S.J.

What did Ignatius envisage as the Jesuit priesthood? A prophetic priesthood, one which was concerned to speak out the word of God in any way that it could be heard, assimilated, and incarnated within the social life of human beings, a priesthood which spoke with the religious experiences of human beings and - as did the prophets of the Old Testament - coupled this care for authentic belief with a concern for those in social misery: the ministry of the word, the ministries of interiority, the ministry to social misery. This is not an arbitrary collection of concerns. The preaching of the word very naturally tends to the ministries of interiority by which the word can be heard, and this tends very naturally to the ministries of justice through which it can be lived and shared with others in the historical living out of human life.... A Jesuit priest is ordained because he gives himself over to this call, because he is consecrated by the Church for this mission of the Church - a service of the word that gathers into its unity all the moments of his life.

Spirituality: Gerald May “Grace: Qualities of Mercy” Addiction and Grace Part 6 of 8

Often we do not sense the constancy of God’s grace-giving love. In many situations God may seem unloving or even completely absent. Sometimes this is because we are blinded by our attachment; we are so preoccupied – our attention is so kidnapped by our compulsions – that we tune out the background of God’s love. I am convinced that our brain cells do habituate the constant reality of God’s love.

Many other reasons exist for our lack of appreciation of God’s constant love. Sometimes the activity of grace so transcends our understanding that it becomes essentially invisible to us. We cannot notice God’s loving presence because it is too numinous, too elusively mystical to be perceived. There are also occasions when we cannot appreciate grace because we really do not want to. And sometimes God actively hides grace from us. But of all the possible explanations for our lack of awareness of grace, there is no possibility of God being indifferent, or falling in love with someone else instead of us, or pouting because of some insult, or being otherwise elsewhere attached.

The immanent God in us becomes wounded with us, suffers, struggles, hopes, and creates with us, shares every drop of our anger and sadness and joy. The reality of God is so intimate as to be experientially inseparable from our own hearts. But that very same God is at once transcendent, the creating, sustaining, and redeeming Power over and above all things. We should not be dismayed that God’s being surpasses understanding, for it is precisely through this mystery that God incarnate can both lovingly share our condition and powerfully deliver us from it. It is through this mystery that grace remains absolute, permanent, and victorious.

Spirituality: Styles of Shame-based Persons

Acting shameless embodies several behaviors that serve to alter the feeling of shame and to interpersonally transfer one's toxic shame to another. (Please note that these characteristics are only being described in a situation when a person is affected by toxic shame.):

Perfectionism: This flows from the boundariless core of toxic shame as it has no sense of limits. One never knows how much is good enough. This person was taught that he or she is valued for only doing. When parental acceptance and love is dependent upon performance - perfectionism is created. The performance is always related to what is outside self. The child is taught to strive onward. Never is there a place for rest or for inner joy and satisfaction.

Striving for Power and Control: Power is a form of control and control is a grandiose disorder of the will. Control insures that no one can ever shame us again. It involves controlling our thoughts, expressions, feelings and actions and it is involved in controlling other people's thoughts, feeling and actions. Control is the ultmate villian in destroying intimacy. We cannot share freely unless we are unequal.

Rage: Rage is a defense. It keeps others away or it transfers the blame to others. This person becomes bitter and sarcastic.

Arrogance: Arrogance offensively exaggerates one's importance. The victim of arrogance believes he or she is inadequate because of the lack of knowledge, experience or power.

Criticism and Blame: If I feel put down and humiliated, I can reduce this feeling but blaming and criticizing someone else. A parent telling a child that he or she never thinks of anyone else allows the child to interpret his or her self-worth as being bad.

Judgmentalism and Moralizing: These are off-shoots of perfectionism that seek a victory over the spiritual competition. Condemning another as bad or sinful is a way to feel righteous.

Contempt: One becomes intensely conscious of another person who is experienced as disgusting. In contempt, the self of the other ins completely rejected.

Patronizing: To patronize is to support, protect or champion someone who is unequal in benefits, knowledge or power, but has not asked you for your support. This is a subtle transfer of shame that usually hides contempt and passive aggressive anger.

Caretaking and Helping: Helpers are always helping themselves. A person who feels flawed and defective feels powerless and helpless. This person feels better about his or herself by taking care of others. Caretaking is an activity that often distracts one from one's feeling of inadequacy.

People-pleasing and Being Nice: The goal of a nice person is one's own image and not the other person. Being nice can manipulate people and situations by avoiding any real emotional contact and intimacy. By avoiding intimacy, this person insures that noone will see him or herself as one truly is.

Envy: Envy is the discomfort at the excellence or good fortune of another. Envy can bring about the other's belittlement and may assert itself in self-assertiveness, admiration or greed.

John Bradshaw

Poem: Francis and the Sow

The bud
stands for all things,
even for those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
as Saint Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail,
from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the sheer blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking and
blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of the sow.

by Galway Kinnell

Song: Ennio Morricone's "Gabriel's Oboe" from The Mission

Ennio Morricone conducts "Gabriel's Oboe" from the soundtrack "The Mission". Click on the link below to listen.

Ennio Morricone "The Mission"

Prayer: To Know God's Will by Ignatius of Loyola

May it please the supreme and divine Goodness
to give us all abundant grace
ever to know his most holy will
and perfectly to fulfill it.

Spirituality: Gerald May “Grace: Qualities of Mercy” Addiction and Grace Part 5 of 8

God’s love is more constant than human love can be. Human loving has its pure moments, and parental love especially can express a likeness of God in its deep steadiness. But however solid it may be, human love is always prey to selfishness and distractions bred by attachment. Even in the best of situations, human love is bound to become intermingled with attachment. When this happens, we can feel possessive of our loved ones or jealous or even vengeful if they do not meet our expectations. We can see our loved ones as extensions of ourselves, wanting them to make good impressions on other people so we ourselves will look good. We can want them to live out our fantasies, conform to our desires, meet our needs, provide us with security and worth. The degree to which we can feel or express authentic love is always conditional upon such attachments.

It is not so with God’s love. God goes on loving us regardless of who we are or what we do. This does not mean God is like a permissive parent who makes excuses and ignores the consequences of a child’s behavior. Such permissiveness is more cowardly than loving, because it devalues the child’s capacity for dignity and responsibility. In God’s constantly respectful love, the consequences of our actions are very real, and they can be horrible, and we are responsible. The freedom that God preserves in us has a double edge. On the one hand, it mean’s God’s love and empowerment are always with us. On the other, it means there is no authentic escape from the truth of our own choices.