Pauca Verba is Latin for A Few Words.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Fourth Joyful Mystery ~ The Presentation in the Temple



An icon never attempts to do what a camera would have done, if cameras had existed centuries ago. The forms and colors used by the painter point to the underneath of the scene. The Temple and the Jerusalem buildings in the background seem to have a wrong perspective. That's because this is a trans-historical event - beyond or outside of  picturable earth-time.

Joseph holds the little doves; his gift of the poor. Mary is already experiencing this first moment of separation. The holy people of great age, Simeon and Anna, represent ancient Israel awaiting the Messiah. Mary doesn't wear a maphorion of heavenly blue, but a dark red-brown - like the earth. She is one of us, and one with us in all the struggles that come with living on this earth. There is a great veil spread from left to right over the top of the scene: God is covering us with his love in the self-offering of Christ.

The Gospel account of the Presentaton of Jesus in the Temple is found in Luke 2:22-40.



Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Mary submits to a ritual of religious purification in Jerusalem forty days after the birth of her child. Does this seem odd? Mary of all people! Maybe she is teaching me, that I must be willing to fulfill the things God asks of me? Do I? Or do I exempt and excuse myself?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Purification? Tears, even weeping for the sins of my past. Or, and this is a problem for many people, holding onto the past and not allowing God to do with our mistakes, wrong turns and ignorance, what God wants to do with it all - which is to let it be lost in the forever abyss of God's mercy.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

This ritual of presentation, performed for first-born males, indicated that the child was God's particular property. A gift of young birds is made to buy the child back: the gift of the poor. God divests himself of his richness and becomes one with us in our human poverty.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Old Simeon has spent his life as a kind of holy watchman, awaiting the Messiah's birth: Jesus, the Light of the Nations and Israel's consolation. But how does he know these things? Then and now God shares what I should know, what I must know. God always does his part.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Simeon's song is an act of thanksgiving to God. He is filled with an over-the-top joy for having seen the Messiah and for all the heavenly blessings the child will bring to God's people. Imagine that Simeon then passes the baby to me as I stand in this scene, and I announce what this baby means to me. What do I sing about that people will remember until the end of time?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

And Mary and Joseph marveled at what was said about Jesus. They marveled means they expressed joy and wonder at what's being revealed in Christ - already! And God is always revealing, sharing or making himself known in Christ. Some people yawn, others doze, still others distract themselves. But I want to marvel!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The temple to which the infant Jesus was brought was wondrously beautiful. Indeed, the golden roof reflecting the sun made it nearly impossible to look at. But this temple was torn down by the Romans in 70 A.D. Ah, my heart will take its place!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The thoughts of many hearts will be laid bare. Exposing the thoughts of my heart? And the thoughts of my heart are these: a welcome for Jesus, friendship with Jesus, love for other people.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The temple was a chaotic slaughterhouse with bloody animal sacrifices taking place round the clock. But all of this will end. Jesus came to the temple, even in his infancy, to give himself to God in love. It is a sacrificial gift that is for all and forever.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Simeon said to Mary and Joseph that the Child will be contradicted. I stay close to Mary in this scene and trust God's forgiveness for any way in which I have ever contradicted her Son by my ignorance, foolishness, hatred or fear.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...


Oxeye Daisy ~ Bethlehem Star ~
 a reminder of the Magi's star.

Monday, April 29, 2013

The Third Joyful Mystery ~ The Nativity



This bright icon was painted for use in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, one of the oldest forms of Christianity in the world. The infant Christ holds the book of His teachings in His left hand. But the book is closed! Jesus' first intention is not to give us anything to do but simply to bless us with His right hand.

The two angels in the upper corners look at each other gladly, holding up the colorfully patterned backdrop to the Holy Mother and Her Son. Mary's maphorion (mantle) is voluminous - perhaps suggesting that all of creation fits under its great protecting folds. Jesus seems to sit comfortably in Mother's crossed arms. He is not a cuddly baby so much as a little man - always the LORD. And while he clearly looks to His Mother, she seems to be looking halfway between Him and us. After all, we are her dear children as well.

Why isn't there a manger scene to illustrate this Third Joyful Mystery? This icon is a perfect image for the Mystery of Christmas: The real light, which sheds light upon everyone, was just coming into the world. He came into the world, and though the world came into existence through him, the world did not recognize him. (John 1:9,10)

In her left hand the Holy Mother holds a decorated cloth. Is it her handkerchief? In her loving us she shares our sorrows, and where there are sorrows, often there are tears.




Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Mary hopes for a room in the inn to give birth to her baby. But this isn't where God should be born on earth. We might think a palace, a great shrine or church, a hospital for very important people, but not a motel. Travelers stay in motels. Perhaps the meaning is this: God is traveling with us through all the disasters of human history, the darkness of minds, the never-ending wars, the injustice that  we can't comprehend.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A Virgin-Mother. Ha! Angels in the sky. Ha! A traveling star. Ha! Many people scoff at these things, mocking them and boasting of not believing. But this is all wrong! The only thing to be questioned is myself. And sadly, too many people never get around to doing that in any substantive way.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Bethlehem means House of Bread. This isn't just a detail with no purpose. But already I am being gotten ready for the Eucharist. I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no self-existent life. Whoever lives on my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life and I will raise him to life on the Last Day, (John 53,54).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

We didn't invite Jesus into our world. We have always been content with the way things are. Before he was able to speak, his presence disturbed us. We wanted to be rid of him and so hunted him down and cast him out, to Egypt of all places. But again uninvited, he returned.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As a boy, Saint Aloysius Gonzaga described the 16th century court life in which he was growing as full of fraud, dagger, poison and lust. How might we describe our own time? Full of empty laughter, false alliances, violence and an insatiable hunger for drugs. Did the tears of the Holy Child wash the world's sins.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

God came into our world as an infant so that we could get very close to him. God came into our world as an infant so that our first impression of him would be as one who comes without judgment and who wishes us no harm. God smiling!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

God understands a long time. Mary, like all mothers, held her baby in her womb a long nine months. It was a long donkey ride to Bethlehem. It was a long forty days fasting and praying in the desert. It was a long night Jesus spent in prison. It was a long walk to Calvary. It was a long suffering on the cross. I mustn't complain so much about how long my suffering is. God understands.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Even before he could speak, Jesus was teaching us from the crib of Bethlehem. And the lesson he taught was humility: the one who made the heavens and the earth was shut out from the inn where there was no room, finding a shelter in the cave with the animals. The Shepherds were his guests.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

God has made himself to be a child. And little children all want to grow up. Children like to dress up as adults. Children like to listen in on adult conversations. Children want to stay up late. And I want to grow up too: grow up in responsibility so that Christ may count on me, grow up in courage, grow up in love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Salvation is for all. Saint Augustine wrote that the shepherds of Christmas were Israelites; the Magi were Gentiles. The shepherds lived nearby and the Magi lived faraway. Yet both came to Christ. Me too!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...


Marigold ~ Mary's Gold

Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Second Joyful Mystery ~ The Visitation

  

This vibrant picture of two pregnant Caribbean women meeting - Mary and her elder relative Elizabeth, is called the Visitation - the visit. The energy, the smiles, the colors, the embraces! The quote from Saint Jane Frances de Chantal is quite apt: "This is the place of our delight and rest." We might read the account of the Visitation in Luke 1:39-56, before going to pray this decade of the rosary with the ten reflections.


Our Father, Who art in  heaven...

The baby within Mary's womb is at first, like all of us, a cluster of cells. Yet God is here - a God who wants more than anything to be shared, expressed and loved. And I don't want to just know this, like data, but I want to be excited by this, excited to do or be something new.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mary wastes no time. Unannounced, with the embryonic child within her womb, she goes off to see her elder relative Elizabeth. Time is short. Let me not delay in the things of God: family, humility, justice, reconciliation, compassion.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Hastily, Mary went to Elizabeth to share the happy news. Perhaps at times she ran along the way, like the women of Easter morning - running - running from the empty tomb in the joy of Jesus Risen! Oh, God keep me from running to the people and places of false and temporary happiness. I will run instead with the happy news of Jesus in my heart!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Elizabeth would not have known of Mary's visit ahead of time. When Mary arrived at the home in Judea, Jesus was the size of a pinhead in his mother's womb. And Elizabeth said: Who am I, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth understands who this is in Mary's womb. Do I?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I am the Lord's servant, Mary said. She opened up space for God, and forgetting herself she went quickly to see her elder pregnant relative, Elizabeth. Love puts itself at the service of others.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mary's pregnancy. Christianity is about a cross and an empty tomb, but it is also about a womb. A fertilized ovum that became an embryo, that became a fetus. No matter how tiny, the God-man, Jesus, was with us from the start. He took on our human form and became one of us.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the time of the Visitation, Mary was pregnant likely no more than ten days. There would not have been signs of her pregnancy yet. But when Mary arrived, the baby inside Elizabeth's womb jumped for joy. Jumped for joy! (Luke 1:44)

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As unmarried, Joseph and Mary's family might have rejected her. She might have been reduced to ostracized poverty. She and her child might have become outcasts. Today she would be counseled to take all of these negatives into consideration and end the pregnancy. But she chose to have her child!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The angel is quite clear: not only is the child's conception announced but so is His name. His name will be Jesus. Already the little life in Mary's womb is known to God the Creator by name! And so was I? And so is the life of each conceived person. I have called you by name, you are mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

Hail Mary, full of grace...

This is strange. Some people still like to think of ourselves as a Christian county. But it was the ancient Chinese who calculated someone's age not from the day of the person's birth but from the best guess of when the person was conceived!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...


Lilium Candidum ~ Madonna Lily


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Da rosas, nam Regina! ~ Give roses, for the Queen! And The First Joyful Mystery ~ The Annunciation


DATING BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES, a rosarium is a garden where only roses are collected and cultivated. Roses are considered to be the most beautiful, elegant and prized of all the flowers. A rosarium is most often enclosed by a fence, stone wall or hedge, inviting privacy, quiet, contemplation and the enjoyment of beauty. The word rosary has come to mean the string of beads one uses to pray while considering the lives of  Jesus and Mary.

So here is a link of unusual delicacy - that while we're praying the rosary, we're offering Our Lady roses! Indeed, each Hail Mary (the prayer which echoes the words of the Archangel Gabriel and Mary's relative, Elizabeth) can become a rose selected from your own inner enclosed rosarium.

Here then are three collections of meditations which I have composed, each set containing five scenes from the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries. The Luminous Mysteries can be found in the posts just prior to this one. Each of the scenes contains a collection of ten very short meditations for us to consider, so that our prayer will remain focused and thoughtful.

The rose at the head of the reflections serves to remind us that the Hail Mary is our gift. A decade then (the groups of ten) is a bundle of roses: white for Joyful Mysteries, red for Sorrowful Mysteries, yellow for Glorious Mysteries.

Mary calls herself, servant (Luke 1:38), while we call her queen. And we've all seen pictures of queens coming to pay visits to towns and villages. Long lines of people, with children up front, stand waiting to give small bouquets of flowers to the queen. Even a little child with the tiniest bouquet waits with excitement and anticipation, hoping the queen will pass and the gift can be made person, in humility and joy. The prayer-bouquet then mustn't be put together sloppily or hurriedly. I must consider what I'm doing in my prayer, like placing flowers together nicely, giving each consideration. This will help us to put away that praying of the rosary which is often made ugly by racing - "rattling" Jesus says (Matthew 6:7-8).

The whole rosary doesn't need to be prayed in one sitting; it can be spread out over the course of the day or longer. Prayer should refresh, not exhaust us, and so a few moments of silence can be introduced between the reflection and the Hail Mary.


The First Joyful Mystery

The Annunciation



John Collier painted this Annunciation in 2000 for the Church of Saint Gabriel in McKinney, Texas. Isn't it wonderful that someone is interested in painting the Annunciation in a contemporary setting? This indicates that Mr. Collier understands that the Mysteries of God - the bright closeness of God - is for every age in every place - that these things are  forever and not moments lost in time. What makes the painting so reflective is that Mr. Collier has included some traditional elements, like the lily placed on the porch, that the angel has wings and is wearing a robe, that Mary is dressed in blue. But there are other elements that are surprising and delightful: that Mary is wearing saddle shoes which suggests she is quite young, that there is a breeze against her dress reminding us of the breath of God in the story of our creation, that the light indicates it is morning (the start of something new), that the neighborhood is one we might know from our own American experience. We might read the gospel account of the Annunciation before praying this decade ( Luke 1:26-38).




Our Father, Who art in heaven...

Coming from heaven, an angel must be terrifying. And so in kindness, Gabriel said to Mary, Don't be afraid. Why would I be frightened at the appearance of an angel? Perhaps fearful of what God might ask of me?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

As the angel appeared to Mary and invited her not to fear, I'm to think of the other angel, at the end of the gospel-story, at the tomb of Easter morning. Already the gospel is getting me ready for the Resurrection of Jesus: Love that refuses to lose me!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I should acknowledge that Mary likely had her own life-plans. But she put these aside as God revealed His urgent request. As I ponder my own life-plans, am I open, Mary-like, to what God surely has in mind for me?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I must remember too that Mary is going to have to tell Joseph of her pregnancy and that the expected baby is not his! Talk about trusting that things will work out; that God is in charge!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The baby will be great, the angel told Mary. He'll be great in having followers down through the ages. He'll be great in his miracles and in his teaching that can turn a life around. He'll be great in His promises and in how far He'll go to get us back for Himself. And I want to be great too: great in love.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The baby will be called Emmanuel, the angel told Mary. Is this like a nick-name? The name means: God is with us. The best any friend can do in the sorrows, struggles, disasters and joys of life, is to be with me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The name Jesus means: Yahweh saves. Yahweh is the Hebrew people's name for God. But saves us from what? Saved from the downward spiral of wrong choosing that seems to have been going on since soon after humans were created. Saved from our worst selves. Saved from our ultimate undoing. Saved from death's hold on me.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Often in pictures of the Annunciation scene the painter places a lily near Mary: a symbol of her purity. Blessed are the pure of heart, Jesus says, they will see God. Do I know that I can see God, that I can reach out and even touch God? That's not nonsense. But it will never happen if I don't first have a pure heart.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Saint Augustine wrote: Before Mary conceived Jesus in her womb, she conceived Him in  her heart. Oh, I want a heart like Mary's: all YES to Jesus!

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A disciple isn't just a follower. The word follower can connote a weak tag-a-long, someone with nothing better to do. But a Christian disciple is the one who pursues Jesus in the adventure of obedience and friendship. This Christ-Adventure promises joy, like nothing to be found elsewhere.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Friday, April 26, 2013

The Luminous Mysteries ~ The Gift of the Holy Eucharist



The Fifth Luminous Mystery

The Gift of the Eucharist

Our Father, Who art in heaven...

A cup exists to be filled. I can ask God to fill me up with what I need to give Him glory, to serve Him well and to be happy and at peace.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the Mystical Supper Jesus broke the bread, passed it around and gave it away. Righteous people live this way: broken and given away. Often they are non-believers. A doctor just completed the Boston Marathon when the explosions happened. He turned around and started to serve the many people who were injured.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In the Mass the plate is offered with the little bread that will become the Body of Christ. Put on the plate every concern, every problem, every heart-longing, every suffering, and ask for a transformation as God wills it.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

An Episcopalian minister, who is also a Jungian analyst said: The Catholic Mass must remain; it is the only thing left in our culture that calls us to transformation. But it is not a transformation of bad to good, so much as the transformation of my personal evolution or coming to wholeness (holiness).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A mother who lives in Brooklyn, takes the subway into Manhattan each day with her little daughter. The girl is dropped off at her full day kindergarten in the neighborhood where the mother works. In the evening about 6, the mother returns to pick up the girl from the after-school program. The mother gets them something to eat at a fast food place, and then they get back on the train to Brooklyn. It is an exhausting day. She is ground up like wheat and crushed like grapes.God understands.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

In receiving Holy Communion we receive the Body and Blood of Christ separately - as if to signify the death of Jesus in which His body was emptied of his life-blood through his wounds. I bring all my wounds with me to Communion: the abuse, the failed relationships, my addictions, my depression and anxieties, my self-loathing, the wreckage of my past as AA says.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus is the High Priest who forever makes intercession before the Father on behalf of our weary world. What Jesus did at Calvary He does always, and the Eucharist lets us enter into that mystical self-gift as nourished sharers and participants.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

We reverence the Eucharist: we genuflect and bow, we incense the Eucharist and sing hymns before it, we place it in a golden container and adore it. But do we reverence each other, who are made in God's image and likeness?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

At the Holy Thursday meal there should have been someone to wash the dusty feet of the arriving guests. Apparently this detail was missed that  night. Jesus waited through most of the meal to see if someone in the room would assume that responsibility. Finally he did it himself. Maybe he said to them: You know we've been together for years now, and I would have hoped that after all this time you'd have learned the lesson. The Eucharist is intimately linked to the service of people.

Hail Mary, full of grace...


At the Last Supper Jesus gave Judas his First Communion before Judas left the room in a hurry. Afterwards Jesus accepted Judas' kiss of betrayal in the garden and even called Judas, friend. On Holy Thursday night, Pope Francis washed the feet of twelve young people in jail. The message of the Mystical Supper with its Holy Food, Foot Washing and the Passion begun that night is, we are all the friends of Jesus.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...


Holy Saturday Night ~ The Sepulchre of Jesus ~ Jerusalem


Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Luminous Mysteries ~ The Transfiguration of Jesus

Apse mosaic of the Transfiguration ~ 6th century Monastery of Saint Catherine ~ Mount Sinai

The Fourth Luminous Mystery

The Transfiguration of Jesus

Our Father Who art in heaven...

On the way to Jerusalem - up the mountain and down the mountain. It is a recurring New Testament theme: we're on a journey with Jesus. And journey means to move along, to keep going step-by-step, as the Christ-person in me grows to full stature.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The great mosaic is over the altar at Saint Catherine's Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai in Egypt which Moses climbed and where he beheld God while receiving the Law. Moses and the prophet Elijah are pictured here, and Jesus standing in the ancient continuity of law and prophet. He fulfills all that they said and directed in his law of love, lived wholly on the cross and from the Easter tomb.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus is splendid in a radiance the gospels can only struggle to express. But whatever Jesus has, he shares. I pray to reflect my own personal brightness - not attractiveness as the culture perceives it but as Christ would call me to.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus has just told Peter, James and John that he is going to suffer and die. He lets these three apostles witness the bright window into His Resurrection, as they will be with Him in the garden of His arrest. He consoles them by this Easter insight.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

This Transfiguration is our hope - our assurance that God will act: "That we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1Cor.15:51) Change! What an important word in a world of stubborness, pride, arrogance, smuggness. That my mind would be made fresh - like the freshness of the Christ who shines as new snow.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Peter, James and John are here tumbling down the mountain, so bright is the glistening Christ. Have I ever allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the beauty of Christ? Have I ever allowed Christ to knock down what I think is life - Christ who will then raise me up in His bright vision?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A cloud overshadowed them - like the Spirit of God hovering bird-like over the abyss in the beginning. (Genesis 1:1)  Now God hovering over Jesus, the new human person.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

We listen to sales pitches, news commentators, politicians, the clergy, good-neighborly and family advice, the experts...But when heaven opens over us, the Divine Voice tells us to "Listen always" to Jesus.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The face of humanity is often dirtied, weary; diseased; tear-stained; contorted by anger, fear or sadness. Can I see the face of Christ there too?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Rumi is a 13th century Persian poet, scholar and Sufi mystic. The Jesus of bright-light would clap with appreciation when Rumi wrote:

There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it don't you?

Hail Mary, full of grace...
 
Glory be to the Father...


Rose Window ~ Saint John the Divine ~ New York City

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The Luminous Mysteries ~ The Proclamation of the Kingdom


The Sermon on the Mount ~ Jan Brueghel the Elder (1598)

THIS IS A GREAT PICTURE. There is a light from Jesus which permeates the crowd, but then it stops. Maybe the people beyond the line of light have hearts that are closed to Jesus. Look! Not everyone is paying attention, especially the folks in the back of the crowd. Most are involved in their own conversations. Some men even seem to be flirting with the girl with the dog. Are there people selling things? I've preached in churches which resemble aspects of this scene. Saint Thomas More (1478-1535) said of Medieval England: "England would have yawned at the Sermon on the Mount." But we're no different. Along with a deep consideration of the image, we might read The Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5,6,7) before praying. It's the content of the teaching Jesus delivered in this painting.

The Third Luminous Mystery

The Proclamation of the Kingdom

Our Father, who art in heaven...

Jesus sat down for his Sermon on the Mount because he taught them with authority. He's the new Moses; the new Sinai. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it!" (Luke 11:28) Jesus says. I must be attentive to the other voices I heed, especially media voices.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The Kingdom of God, which Jesus proclaims, is God's rule in my life. God first! On Easter night the Soviet soldier stood at the church door, redirecting the young people to the movie theatre to watch free Western films. The young man refused the pressure and went inside the church for the liturgy. He understood God first.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The Beatitudes are not a new code of conduct for everyone to copy but rather God's announcement of blessing for those in the world who are at the bottom, reversing the world's emphasis: the Untouchables of India, whose job is to pick up human waste from the streets. God knows. So why doesn't God do something about it? Rather, why don't people do something about it?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Blessed are the mourners. Much of the world lives in perpetual mourning: those who live where  wars are unceasing; those in the fourth world who live off the refuse of the first world.

 Hail Mary, full of grace...

Blessed are the meek. But meek isn't a good word because it makes us think of someone who is weak or perceived as a loser. Rather, blessed are those who know how dependent we are upon God, for all we have and who we are, and who don't resort to cheating to improve things for themselves.

 Hail Mary, full of grace...

Blessed are the merciful. Mercy isn't pity but God's kindness through justice. The first world has the best food, the best toys, the best shopping and uses the most electricity. Living in that first world we often forget about the more of the world which has little to nothing.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Blessed are the pure of heart. But this isn't about sexual things. A clean heart create in me, O God (Psalm 51:10) - that is: a heart free of resentment, attachments, cynicism and inner blindness. A pure heart is open to God and other people.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Blessed are the peacemakers. Peacemakers, not peace hope-ers or peace wishers. I will be attentive to the desire for power which causes conflict. And in another gospel place, "Take no walking stick" (Luke 9:3) - the walking stick being a means of self-defense. Jesus would undoubtedly understand that this is difficult beyond imagining! But He also would probably have little patience with our bitter and divisive fighting over gun clips and background checks. 

Hail Mary, full of grace...

They will be called children of God. There can be no more derogatory name-calling. This is who we are: children of God. All of us! And the world will not be well until we realize this in our hearts and start to live out of that realization.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, Jesus says. Exceedingly glad! There can be no such thing as a sad Christian. Mother Teresa says our smile is our best gift. Often the poorest people smile the most and the best.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...  


Lights in the night, bless the Lord! (Daniel 3)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Luminous Mysteries ~ The Wedding Feast at Cana

The account of the Wedding Feast at Cana is found only in Saint John's Gospel ( 2:1-11). It is one of the Luminous Mysteries (Mysteries of Light) because Jesus first revealed his glory there. The splendid painting by Nicolas Correa first deserves its own silent contemplation.


The Second Luminous Mystery

The Wedding Feast at Cana

Our Father, who art in heaven...

This wedding scene is one of extravagance: the robes, furnishings, the guests and table settings. In Christ, God has held nothing back nothing of Himself - He has given it all away to us in love.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


There is the canopy over the bride and groom's table. God has covered us with the unbreakable bond of His kind mercy.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


The disciples are with Jesus at the wedding, but there have been no signs as of yet. Mary indicates the wine has run out, and Jesus reluctantly performs his first miracle. The disciples believe. Where Mary intervenes, faith abounds.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


Now Jesus uses the water jars of Jewish purification, not for ritual washings but for something far better - the wine that calls to mind his later gift of the Eucharist.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


The Prophet Amos tells us that when the Messiah takes up his reign: "Behold the days are coming...and the mountains shall drip new wine" (Amos 9:13).


Hail Mary, full of grace...


The guests have drunk freely, but Jesus extends the feast with a seemingly unreasonable amount of high quality wine. Where Jesus is welcomed as inner guest, there is delight!


Hail Mary, full of grace...


Jesus isn't rude but addresses His Mother formally, calling her Woman. She is the New Eve - the new Mother of all who would follow her Son. She instructs us to learn from Him.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


Mary doesn't make a specific request of Jesus, rather she states the problem, "They have no more wine." Jesus always responds to faith.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


Jesus knows that if He performs a sign His enemies will gather and begin to scheme against Him. That hour of His glorification has not yet come. But when it does, Mary will be there too, standing resolutely beneath the cross as first disciple.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


The wine represents the wise teachings of Jesus. But a jar is missing; there would never be six, but seven, the number representing totality and fullness. Jesus is  the missing jar of wisdom.


Hail Mary, full of grace...


Glory be to the Father...
  

Night-grotto at Lourdes, France


Monday, April 22, 2013

The Luminous Mysteries

THE LUMINOUS MYSTERIES WERE INTRODUCED BY POPE JOHN PAUL II in October of 2002. They are another set of five scenes, this time taken from the public life of Jesus, which we might consider while praying the Rosary.

For most people the word mystery means: A puzzle we can't solve. Sometimes we can't understand something, like the resolution of a crime, because the clues have been covered or removed. Or something might be a mystery because: "The clues were right under my nose all the time."

I might not be able to see well because there is not enough light, or I might not be able to see because there is too much light. Christian mystery is the later: right under my nose, so close, too much light. How's that? In Jesus Christ God has come to be with us as close as God can get. "So the Word (the self-expression of God) became flesh and blood and lived for a while among us, abounding in blessing and truth..." (John 1:14).

Luminous means shining with a bright light. Don't we need to be invited to the light in a dark world: a world where terrorism is now an everyday world, a world so often constructed on lies, a world of uncertainty and fear?

In the 1930's throughout parts of Europe, the clergy devised a method of praying the rosary in which two or three sentence reflections were offered between each Hail Mary, to help the mind remain focused or locked on the mystery being considered. Here I've composed a new set of reflections, using that helpful format.

Better to light a candle than curse the darkness, the Chinese Proverb and the Christophers say. Maybe these new prayer-flames will light up some dark place within and help to focus our thoughts - distractable as we are.



The First Luminous Mystery

The Baptism of the Lord Jesus in the Jordan River

Our Father who art in heaven...


"I want to walk as a child of the light..." the hymn says. What could this mean for my mind and its thoughts? What could this mean for my awareness, intentions and gratitude?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus begins  his public work at his Baptism. Later He will tell us "Don't hide your light; let it shine, (Matthew 5:15).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus steps down into the waters of the Jordan. In Jesus Christ, God begins to take back everything lost to Him. He begins with the water of which we're all made.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The waters of our planet are increasingly polluted. Millions upon millions of people have no access to drinkable water. I can't ignore this.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The nakedness of Jesus. But it is not sensual nakedness like in a movie or in a magazine. He is each human person, stripped of nationality, custom, time. Jesus stands as God sees us - without masks.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The waters of the Jordan don't flow crisp and clear all the time. In places the river is muddy, cloudy and even polluted. Much of it flows through lands where war seems perennial. In Christ, God immerses Himself in the muddiness of our human story.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

A dove appears. I am reminded of the dove which did not return to Noah after the waters of the flood receded. God is always ready and eager to begin again (Genesis 7:10-13).

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Jesus is in the crowd of people whose land is occupied by the Romans. They are full of  anticipation, of weariness, desire and a sense of failure. I may discover Jesus in church, in my prayers, in the teachings of religion, but will I find Him in the human crowd?

Hail Mary, full of grace...

The humility of John, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" (Matthew 3:14) However I may hold to religious truths, values or practices - humility means I still have so much to learn  from others.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Mother's water broke and I passed through to be born. In Baptism I returned to the water, passing  through again, to be born this time from above; born to become the new kind of human person Jesus reveals and to which he invites.

Hail Mary, full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

Sunday, April 21, 2013

That with Thy saints I may be praising Thee, forever and ever


THE SAINTS. I have always loved them. I remember as a young boy kneeling by my bedside praying a prayer to Saint Aloysius out of my prayerbook. Moonlight illumined his picture on the opposite page. But we have canonized so many nuns, religious order priests, bishops, popes and consecrated virgins, I can't envision heaven as a place of great fun.

To tell you the truth, I get annoyed or uneasy when I hear there's going to be more canonizations in Rome. I automatically expect it will be  another round of celibate, 19th century religious order founders and foundresses.

I hope for a truly Catholic Church that canonizes a married Haitian man and his wife who came to Brooklyn after their lives were reduced to rubble in the earthquake. He's a livery cabdriver working long hours and she's a mom, who takes the subway into Manhattan to work in an office. They work hard to pay their rent for an extremely modest apartment. He's got to secure his own insurance because he's free-lancing, and yet they put aside some money each month to send back to Haiti to help their large families, struggling to get back on their feet. They're God-loving people who keep the faith and love their neighbors. They thoroughly enjoy making a baby. They're hospitable, generous with the poor,  honest as the day is long, patient,  kind and merciful. They worship and pray, and for heaven's sake, they know how to laugh and laugh. I want to spend eternity with folks like them.

...I may be praising Thee forever and ever. What do these words, praising Thee, mean? That we be singing Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, eternally? That we be posing eternally for a great saint, photo-shoot, like we see painted on the ceilings of churches - everyone posed looking at God, holding the symbols of their martyrdom? Does praising Thee mean having become an angel and  sitting on a cloud with an instrument? Many people don't think beyond these kinds of images or they are comforted by them or totally okay with them. But I don't think it will be like that at all.

I awoke the other morning and this line from seminary came to mind: Saint Irenaeus wrote,  "The glory of God is a human being fully alive, and to be alive consists in beholding God." Now we must know that people behold God who don't believe in what we believe.

There's a  little joke about a man who died and when he went to heaven Saint Peter met him at the gate, and after welcoming him, took him on a tour of heaven. The man was utterly impressed. Along the way they passed a very high wall with sounds of fabulous partying coming out over the wall. The man asked, "Who's that, so happy on the other side of the wall?" And Saint Peter answered, "Oh, it's the Catholics; they think they're the only ones here."

Now of course we could use the name of any group in place of Catholics. It's: the Greek Orthodox, the Hasidim, the Southern Baptists, the Muslims... Notice too that Saint Irenaeus doesn't say, "The glory of God is an orthodox Roman Catholic whose life is lived in Full Communion with the magisterium."

When I did a bit of research to see if I had the Irenaeus quote correct in my memory, I immediately found web pages that went to some lengths to be sure we all understood that "human being fully alive" didn't mean any of the new-age, self-actualization, fully realized, psychologically well adjusted stuff we hear so much of today. I think these people are afraid of what it might mean to be a real human being, fully alive. Jesus, of course is the human being fully alive.

I suppose that's where we get the term Alter Christus, which means that we are to be another Christ. Most often that term refers to priests, but by baptism we're all supposed to be other Christ's. And what does that mean? Carl Jung asks the question: "What does it meant to be another Christ?" And then answers: "Does it mean to ape his stigmata? No, but rather that I should live my own unique self as truthfully and as beautifully as Christ lived his." I can't think of another way of living. And to live this kind of life, in a world often gone ugly and weary with selfishness, violence, lies and earth-bound greed,  requires a tremendous awareness and resolve.

Forever and ever. Like the word Alleluia, it's almost baby talk. "And they lived happily ever after." Or with a kiss a mother will say to her little child at bedtime, or newlyweds will whisper on wedding night:  "I'll love you forever and ever." It's a lovely way of wrapping up the things of love.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

At the hour of my death, call me and close to you, bid me

In the 1991 film, Black Robe, young, French Jesuit Father LaForgue has come to North America. Escorted by Algonquins, he is being sent up river to start a mission to the Huron Natives. The river scenes are uncomfortable: full of suspicion and alienation.

Along the way, Father LaForgue is being questioned about heaven by the doubtful chiefs. They want to know if there will be women and tobacco in heaven. Father LaForgue is uneasy and resorts to a catechism answer. The chiefs effectively roll their eyes and mutter among themselves, why bother? The young priest is well-intentioned, but he's failed to make heaven in any way real for these men, who are asking a legitimate question.


In  The Green Mile, Arlen Bitterbuck is in State Prison's Death Row awaiting execution for having killed a man in a drunken argument over a pair of boots. Arlen is a silent man, deeply introspective and remorseful. One night as his execution approaches, he opens up to the Tom Hanks figure, Paul,  who is in charge of the inmates, wondering aloud about heaven:

"Do you believe that if a man repents enough for what he done wrong, that he'll get to go back to the time that was happiest for him and live there forever? Could that be what heaven's like?"

Paul answers: "I just about believe that very thing."

Christians haven't done a very good job of convincing people that heaven is especially desirable. Lots of people, so unable or unwilling to explore what heaven means, have us all becoming angels when we die. In Emily Dickinson's poem, Going to Heaven! she doesn't sound especially excited about the prospects saying, "How dim it sounds!"

Jesus knew how to talk about the Kingdom of God - the full realization of which we call heaven. He more often than not made references people could identify with in happy, sensory and satisfying ways: a great banquet, a wedding feast. Food is one of the most memorable aspects of life on this planet: This food is heavenly, we might say.

But here the author of the Anima Christi uses the words call and bid in reflecting upon one aspect of heaven. Calling and bidding can be understood in many ways, perhaps signifying danger or trouble: the soldier being called-up for active duty, or being called to the Principal's office, or a refusal to do someone's nasty bidding. But here the sense is a warm invitation.

Keeping Arlen Bitterbuck's thoughts about heaven in mind, perhaps we're able to think of some time in our lives that was particularly wonderful, when we felt most alive, perhaps when, if even for a few moments all was well, when we were called or bidden into something that was, happiest. 

I have in mind when I was 8 years old, the third graders took a field trip to Farmingdale Agricultural College on Long Island. It was spring and when the yellow buses pulled onto the college property, the lambs were literally jumping up vertically in the air.

I was fascinated as we spent the day seeing all the animals: calves, turkeys, horses, chickens. This was a working farm and not agri-business. I was typically an introverted boy who would have moved throughout the day staying on the edges and in the rear - silent - almost invisible.

The last stop was the sheep pen with the lambs. The farmer-professor took the class right up to the fence and told  us about  the newborns. He ended by saying, "Would anybody like to hold the lamb?" I don't remember anything else except that my right arm shot up in the air from the back of the group and the voice calling - bidding: "You there, in the back, come on up!" and walking up to the front and having a lamb, just days old, put into my arms. And I doubt I had the words for it, but I remember feeling this happiness could last forever."

There's a death-bed for all of us. This week an 8 year old boy was killed by a bomb in Boston.  Saint Irenaeus says that we should think of death often. I think we should think of life often - real life, then death will take care of itself. Maybe Arlen Bitterbuck is very right, that when death comes we might go back to that time which was happiest for us and live there forever. And Jesus-God will be there, who has said, "I have come that  you may have joy and have it fully," (John 15:11).

Friday, April 19, 2013

From the malignant enemy, defend me

MALIGNANT IS A SCARY WORD. And the author of the Anima Christi lived in a world that was much more spiritually attuned than our own. Some would at once dismiss that to mean superstitious. But that's too easy. The Medieval world produced arguably some of the most refined responses to God in music, painting, architecture and poetry the world has known.

Perhaps we're unable to fully comprehend how the author understood the words, malignant enemy, followed by defend me, but it surely sounds as if he believed there could be something ruinous poised against each of us. I'd say it this way: it seems that there is something personal to each of us that wants us down, not good, not whole or holy, undone, un-realized. I'd call it personal as it seems to be somehow tailored to each of us as we struggle to live our own unique lives truthfully.

A Buddhist occultist visited Athens in our own time, and while being taken around the city, he stopped his guide and said to him, "I see demons hanging off of people's lips, eyes, ears and throats. And who are the men in the black robes and beards?" The guide answered, "They are our priests." The occultist said, "I see demons swirling around them looking for a way to get in." When I shared this account with a Greek monk here in the United States he said, "Regrettably, demons do find a way into the priest's life too often."

Some will say, you'd expect an occultist to talk that way. But there are lots of people whose seeing is inexplicable. If that were not so, then police departments wouldn't employ certain clairvoyants to help solve crimes. Admittedly, it seems like dangerous business. Contemporary Christians are often embarrassed by these kinds of references. Maybe we've become too sophisticated.

But whether we frame it spiritually,  psychologically or socially - there does seem to be a malignant enemy against which we need to be defended. If the Medieval or Buddhist images are metaphoric, I'd suggest again that metaphor doesn't mean not real - but rather most real. So we can name these things for ourselves.

When I was a boy in the 1950's and 60's, the first vestment the priest put on over his street clothes before celebrating the Catholic Mass, was called an amice. An amice is a rectangular piece of white linen with strings attached to the two top corners. The priest would pass the opened amice over the right side of his head, and touching it to the back of his head he would begin a prayer. Then lowering the vestment to his shoulders he would arrange the amice around his neck, pass the strings around to his back, cross them over and pull them around to the front where he would tie them. The other vestments would be placed on top of the amice, making it essentially unseen, except for a little around his neck. A medieval amice kept a priest's throat warmer in a winter-cold church, and collected perspiration in a summer church. But like all the vestments, the amice had a mystical significance. You'd have to stand in a sacristy these days while priests are preparing for Mass to understand just how neglected this mystical awareness is.

One Sunday morning, when I was about seven years old, my large family was early for Mass. Taking up the front pew I had an unobstructed view of the sanctuary. Before the Mass began the old pastor appeared in the doorway leading out of the sacristy (priest preparation room) to the sanctuary (where the Mass would take place). He seemed to be checking things: are the candles lit, is the tabernacle key in place, are the people arriving? He was wearing a black cassock and the amice, which I had never seen before. But very clearly I heard in my mind, "I want to wear that." And on my ordination day, twenty-one years later, I did, and have ever since.

Some years later I became chaplain to a school for young people who were in trouble. Some had done dangerous things, illegal things, terribly hurtful things. Most had some kind of drug-alcohol involvement which resulted in not a little life-damage. Early one Wednesday morning as I was in the school-chapel sacristy getting ready for Mass, the teen-aged altar server stood nearby watching me. As I put the amice on my head and lowered it to my shoulders he asked, "What's that?" I told him "It's an amice and the little prayer the priest prays while putting it on asks God to protect the priest's thoughts." The boy answered, "We should all wear an amice." He understands.

Here's the Latin prayer and its English translation, with a final thought about the power of words. And indeed we can all pray the prayer, even each morning, asking to be defended against the malignant enemy, as in the course of the day, perhaps the place of the greatest ruinous and unholy toxicity might well be the place of our thoughts The amice is called the Helmet of Salvation, which clues us in: this is a kind of warfare.

Impone, Domine, capiti meo galeam salutis, ad expugnandos diabolicos incursus.
Place, O Lord, the helmet of salvation upon my head, that I may overcome the assaults of the devil.


The word expugnandos is translated here as overcome. But we get the word expunge - which is a stronger word - suggesting a violent pushing back or driving out of what is dirty, evil or seriously undesirable. The word incursus is translated here as assaults. But we get the word incursion - which again signifies a hostile, frightful, enemy invasion or raid.

Thoughts can be like that, can't they? Like J.R.R. Tolkien's Orc invaders!