Pauca Verba is Latin for A Few Words.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

The Temple Will Fall




As he came out of the temple one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." Mark 13: 1,2

Here is a photograph of a devout Jewish man praying at what's left of the temple which Jesus and the disciples are discussing in these two verses. Seeing the huge stones, we get a sense of how awe-inspiring the temple was. 

Notice that Jesus says the temple will be thrown down. He doesn't say HE will destroy it, as some claimed at his trial. Maybe when Jesus cast out the animal sellers and money changers (11:15-17) he was hinting at the temple's destruction, as if to say: If this temple isn't going to serve the purpose of being God's house, then it will fall. We might also notice that the prediction of the temple's destruction is not linked to the other gospel verses in which Jesus speaks of the end time.

Jesus assumes a prophetic role here. But lots of people only think of prophets as fortune tellers. And lots of people love fortune tellers: "Will I see my relatives in heaven?" "Will I see my pets in heaven?" "Should I marry him/her?" "If I lend them the money, will I get it back?" Will I get this desired job or promotion?" "Should I move to this new place?" Religion is easily trivialized.

In the Hebrew Scriptures people ask the prophet for a word, but when he speaks a call to reform or change, the message is ignored and the prophet winds up exiled or murdered. It's still that way: 
  • Oscar Romero, the Archbishop of El Salvador, was murdered in 1980 for speaking boldly against poverty, social injustice, assassinations and torture.
  • Father Pino Puglisi was murdered in 1993 because he publicly challenged the Mafia against luring children into drug dealing. He would not take Mafia bribes to allow them to lead religious processions and was critical of Church inaction in the face of Mafia crimes.
  • Polish Father Jerzy Popieluszko was beaten, bound and drowned at the height of the Soviet years for being a vocal defender of human dignity, freedom and workers rights.
  • Sister Dorthy Stang was shot dead in 2005 for defending the peasants and indigenous peoples of the Amazon, against ranchers who wanted their land. Her motto was: "The death of the forest is the end of our lives."

The Prophet detests the worship of false gods and the abuse of power that chews up the poor, the weak and the vulnerable. The prophet demands change. His themes are not about sex but about justice. And so when Jesus is uttering this prophetic word about the ruin of the temple, he's not acting as a scary fortune teller, but calling us to make the necessary changes - as individual persons, as nation, as church - to stand with God and God's agenda. 

And when we're not on the side of God's justice (and more than a few Christians won't allow for this) - it can all come tumbling down. In 70 A.D. the Romans demolished the great temple and its impressive complex of splendid buildings. No matter how impressive the stones and decorations, no matter how old and far reaching the empire or sphere of influence, no matter how vast the military might, no matter how much power the lobbyists exercise, no matter how astute the powers are at protecting incriminating secrets, no matter how vociferous the claims of greatness and prominence - it can all come to a disastrous end. 

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Gatha Under The January Sky





January sky,
spin around blue,
open up bright
over the children of war,
dispel disappointment,
cheer aching hearts.


A gatha is a mindfulness poem-prayer practice. The goal in writing a gatha is not to sound like what I think a poet sounds like, it simply brings to mindfulness this moment. The past is gone and the future is not here yet. There is only this present moment which is a  gift to you - to me.

A gatha gently invites me back from the margins where anger, anxiety, projecting and rehearsing about the past and future can swallow me up. It can be about any moment easily wasted as I roam around in regrets or fantasies about things that likely won't happen anyway: washing the dishes, folding laundry, sitting with my dog, chopping vegetables, brushing my teeth, mowing the lawn, raking leaves (does anyone do that anymore?) ironing a shirt, planting seeds. As I do these things (and hundreds of other everyday activities) I become totally present to being there and not "a million miles away." Then see where your mind goes being locked on to a present un-repeatable moment.

Thursday, January 25, 2018

Intercessions ~ Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time


Friday ~ Feast of the Lord's Presentation in the Temple

We pray for those who lead in government./ May they speak strong words of truth,/ words that put an end to divisions,/suspicions,/ blaming and barriers,/ words that heal and welcome,/ that build up confidence and love among the people./ We pray to the Lord.

Today Pope Francis visits the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Sophia in Rome./ May his presence strengthen and comfort the people of that parish,/ many of whom have relatives in Ukraine,/ sorely tested by war and divisions./ We pray to the Lord.

The Winter Olympic Games begin soon in South Korea./ We pray for them to teach us friendship and cooperation./ May we learn to enjoy each other on this planet./ We ask for the safety of athletes,/ organizers and spectators./ We pray to the Lord.

Today is called Septuagesima Sunday;/ Easter is roughly seventy days away./ May we give some thought to the approaching Lent,/ a plan that will help us to evolve as new Christ-persons./ We pray to the Lord.

Wednesday is the Feast of St. John Bosco,/ a patron for young people./ May the nations learn to safe-guard their children well,/ offering them a peaceful world,/ a healthy world,/ a just and loving world./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for our families,/ mindful of any who are living in darkness,/ sadness or chaos./ For people who live with special needs,/ those in hospice/ and for their care-providers./ We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Psalm 102 ~ A Psalm of Grief and Confidence





Verse 1: The psalmist begins with an expression of trouble. It is serious trouble; the prayer is a crying out. He feels desperate and all alone: "Don't hide from me, O God."

Verse 2: Incline to me. He is asking God to lean-in to his prayer. It is an image of intimacy - like a child needing the adult to bend down to hear and feel to the little troubled voice.

Verses 3-5: It sounds as if the problem is physical sickness. Perhaps the psalmist even contemplates his death. "Bones burning like coals." Imagine the doctor's alarm if we confided these symptoms. He feels withered. He's not eating which reduces him to skin and bones. He's so uncomfortable; he's groaning. This poor fellow is in bad shape.

We might take a moment to think  gratefully of all the doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, seen and unseen technicians who have helped to restore us to health or treat our discomfort. There are scores of them!

Verse 6: Here the psalmist references two birds: a vulture (another translation says pelican) and an owl. A pelican belongs by the ocean where it can fish. An owl belongs in the forest or over the fields, not in a desert or ruined city. It is an image that things are not right. A sad image.

Verse 7: Here, the sparrow is referenced - a sparrow alone on a rooftop. But a sparrow is not a solitary bird - it lives together in flocks. How isolated the psalmist feels.

Verses 8-9: Maybe the sickness is related to some relational or emotional problem. Sometimes we can make ourselves sick with worry. The he acknowledges he's got some serious enemies - even for good cause. He is crying in repentance - in the ash heap. A person who is repentant for some crime or  serious failure will understand: the addict who has abused his family, someone who has brought about marital or parental failure, the cause of an accident by carelessness, ignorance or stupidity.

Verses 10-12: The flaw must be serious enough for him to worry that God holds it against him. He'd understand if God were to be done with him - like a passing shadow or withered grass. But then he snaps out of his misery-song and begins to ponder how enduring God is: God's Name is mercy, compassion, forgiveness, loving kindness!

Verses 13-14: The psalmist gets out of himself and reminds God of the larger need to rebuild the ruined temple in Jerusalem (Zion). He stands amidst the broken down walls and the dust of destruction. He believes God feels with him. 

Verses 15,16: He looks to the day when everyone will love God - when all the nations will acclaim how awesome God is. The temple will be rebuilt as a reflection of God's beauty and goodness. 

Verse 17: Now the psalmist sings that from the temple sanctuary God will show favor to the plight of the homeless. Does this ancient message foreshadow the Catholic "preferential option for the poor?" Do today's pulpits announce this? Or is the priest afraid of someone disapproving of this kind of religion? "God helps those who help themselves," they claim the bible says. It doesn't. We're often afraid of the poor? We might connect with them just long enough to give them some charity, but we're afraid that justice means we'll have to share, do without, feel insecure or uncomfortable. 

Verse 18: Would that we would think of the future generations - we would take better care of our planet, for God's sake. In the interests of money, we're rolling back all the environmental protections that keep the water and the air clean. What are we leaving "the children yet to be born" - a treeless landscape, endless pavement, waste and garbage, a few animals in cages or simulated wild environments?

Verse 19: God's view is not from the roof top of the temple sanctuary, but so high as to see what is happening all over and around the world - even (or maybe especially) the things that powerful people keep secret to protect their interests - the sub-contracting of African mines so we have the precious metals needed to make our computers and the raping of the local women around those protected mines. Father forgive!

Verse 20: That God might hear the groan of the captive. Lots of people are held captive in their addictions. And lots of people are groaning in prisons where they are held, wrongly condemned. Or the prisons are torturous and cruel, where nothing is done to rehabilitate; only punish. "Lock em up and throw away the key," some Christians say. That's not God's way. Christians are supposed to be the world's healing experts.

Verses 21,22: Again, the psalmist celebrates Jerusalem as the symbol of God's in-gathering. God is for everyone. What a pity that God's city is so divided, embittered and bloody. And the people are gathered to be God's people and to serve God, which is to love God and other people brothers and sisters. Early on in his papacy, Pope Francis said, "We will meet the atheists in the doing of good deeds." How hopeful is that - a uniter!

Verse 23: "Brought down my strength before my time; shortened the number of my days." I'm thinking of the UNICEF commercials, the Shriners and St. Jude's Hospital commercials, the children aborted, the children who die in the first year of life for lack of clean water, the children blown up in cities which have been reduced to dust and which we call collateral damage, the young soldiers killed in the ill-conceived and wasteful wars of proud men. God is insulted!

Verse 24-26: But for all that threatens and shortens our human lives, God endures - God, who has imagined everything that exists: the living things, even the stones and the heavens which we can see into more deeply than ever before - God has envisioned and created it. The picture up top was taken from the Hubble Space telescope, offering a window into the colorful assortment of white, yellow and blue stars inside the core of Omega Centauri, a giant cluster of ten million stars whose light is 15,000 light years away!

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Psalm 96 ~ Be Glad and Praise the Lord!





Here is Psalm 96 - a most happy invitation to praise the God of the  Universe.

Verse 1: The psalmist begins by calling out to the temple choir and congregation: "Sing a new song!" Did you catch that? A NEW song. The energy seems to encourage a happy, new song. Did he imagine the folks would quickly compose a song with new ideas or insights about God? I'm thinking of the resistance I've met over the years trying to get a Sunday congregation to learn a new hymn. And then hearing folks complain: "Church is boring." Go figure. 

Question: Do I resist what is new about God? Same-old, same-old, AA says. God is the Master of New: each day is new. The seasons go round and round in newness. A new baby arrives. There is a new school year. Turn a corner and there is a new vista. We make a new friend. How thoughtful of God, always offering what is new, and we are invited to respond to God in kind.

Verse 2: "Proclaim the good news of salvation." Religion is felt good news. Let's not reduce this word salvation to a slogan: "Oh Jesus died on the cross to forgive sins, to save me by opening the gates of heaven." Salvation is NOW! Today! Salvation packs my personal human story. God saves me from chaos. God saved me from dying that day. God has saved me from despair and depression. God has healed me and saved me from confusion and self-degradation. God has saved me from the utter loss of addiction. God has saved me from the fears that were consuming me. In an African American church, this is when folks would start shouting out, "Tell it brother!" "Tell it sister!"

Verse 3: "Declare his glory among the nations...among all peoples." A lot of Christians really hold back. Maybe they're afraid of being perceived as holy rollers. The psalmist is inviting us to tell everyone. The 12 step folks seem to get it: they sit in a circle and share out loud how: "I once was lost but now am found; was blind, but now I see." 

Verses 4,5a: "God is to more to be feared than all gods...they are idols."  Idols. I shouldn't think of little bronze statues standing on shelves. Idols: all the stuff that really gets our attention; that we defend come hell or high water: money, perceived "rights" - even constitutional ones, treasured opinions, power, political dogmas, my possessions, prejudices, personalities that can do no wrong. Before God, these are worthless. Silly. 

Verse 5b: " The Lord made the heavens." We might remember the lesson we hear at the Easter Vigil from the Prophet Baruch 3:35 - 

'The one before whom
 the stars at their posts shine and rejoice. 
When he calls them, they answer,
 "Here we are!"
 Shining with joy for their Maker.'

This is too wonderful! God naming the stars, placing them in the sky above us, calling to them and their happy response. And if God interacts with stars so personally and warmly, all the more must that be so for each of us!

Verse 6: Kings and queens, presidents, congressmen, premiers, prime ministers, CEO's and movie stars travel with an entourage - people who secure their safety and facilitate their movements and interactions. But God's attendants are his own divine attributes: majesty, beauty, magnificence and strength. And the beauty of the Jerusalem Temple reflected these attributes, with the brilliant sun bouncing off the roof as if to dazzle and blind us.

Verses 7-9: "Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples." The American family today comes in great variety, unlike the tidy affair of the 1950's - a married mom and dad with children like steps. Rather than assessing it all, can't we just share the song and the gladness as the psalmist calls every family to the praise of God.

Then we're given a picture of Temple worship: people bringing their gifts, the wearing of clothes befitting the presence of God, even trembling before God. As I walked into a church for a Confirmation ceremony, I overheard a woman say, "The roof of this church may fall down with my coming here today." How did we ever come to reduce our religion with such trivial, silly, cute talk? Have we lost trembling before God - not for fear of being sent to hell - but trembling before the enormity of God, the vastness of God, the imagination of God, the compassion of God and the requirements of justice God lays out before us. If we ever really thought about God's ideas of  justice - we'd tremble.

Verse 10: "The Lord is King." Oh God, set up your rule in my life! What might that look like? And then the psalmist tells us, "God made the earth not to be moved." God has set our planet in an elliptical orbit perfectly distanced from the sun, perfectly angled, and at the perfect speed that life is sustained here in tremendous beauty and variety. The slightest change could doom it all. Pray we don't throw it all out of whack with the big bombs we pound into the earth. Blasphemy is a God insult.

Verse 11-13: At the psalm's end all of creation is invited to share in the congregation's great chorus of glad praise. Let the plants - the very ground rejoice and be glad. Let the life-teaming oceans and seas thunder their praise. Oh God, we dump eighteen million tons of plastic into the waters every year - have mercy! By 2050 the plastic in the oceans will outweigh all the fish - have mercy! Then the fields get in on the praise: flower power, color riot, sensory overload! And the forests - let them shout for joy before God. Oh God, forgive us for burning the forests, chopping them down, defoliating them with chemicals, shattering them with missile practice. The forests are God's extraordinary gift to oxygenate, purify and cool our planet - and to delight us with their beauty.

"God comes to judge the earth." God judges the earth with his righteousness (God's right-ness). God's rule isn't for some far off never-never land. God's judgment isn't a spectacular, heavenly pyrotechnics show. Some people can only think of God's judgment as God's punishment (which usually means punishing the people who are not like us). But God's judgment is God's final display of God's truth - God's final attempt to teach our hearts!



Thursday, January 18, 2018

Intercessions ~ Third Sunday in Ordinary Time




At Sunday Mass we intercede for the countries where the persecution of Christians is most intense:/ North Korea,/ Afghanistan,/ Somalia,/ Sudan,/ Pakistan,/ Eritrea,/ Libya,/ Iraq,/ Yemen and Iran./ We pray to the Lord.

As we are in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:/ grant that the followers of Jesus would come to discover each other/ in the love we have for Jesus./ May we learn to put away suspicion and ignorance./ We pray to the Lord.

Monday is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children./ We ask that every child conceived would be welcomed and loved./ And for those children who have been born/ to be recipients of justice and compassion./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for our families where there is danger,/ sickness,/ anger,/ emotional or spiritual problems./ In the cold time/ we pray for those who run shelters and kitchens./ For those in government to care about the problem of homelessness./ We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday is the Feast of Mother Marianne Cope/ the Franciscan Sister of Syracuse who worked in Hawaii/alongside Father Damian of Molokai./ We pray for those who suffer still from leprosy/ and every other life-threatening illness./ For all who work in health care around the world./ We pray to the Lord.

Preserve us from the loss of the Holy Spirit./ Save us from panic,/agitation of mind and heart,/ despair and predictions of doom./ Give us instead/ gifts of discernment,/ balance and inner peace./ We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Jesus Draws Contrasts



There was a great crowd and they listened eagerly. He said as he taught them, 'Beware of the doctors of the law, who love to walk up and down in long robes, receiving respectful greetings in the street; and to have the chief seats in synagogues, and places of honour at feasts. These are the men who eat up the property of widows, while they say long prayers for appearance' sake, and they will receive the severest sentence. Mark 12:38-40
Once he was standing opposite the temple treasury, watching as people dropped their money into the chest. Man rich people were giving large sums. Presently there came a poor widow who dropped in two tiny coins, together worth a penny. He called his disciples to him. 'I tell you this,' he said: 'this widow has given more than any of the others; for those others who have given had more than enough, but she, with less than enough, has given all that she had to live on. Mark 12:41-44

Jesus takes clericalism head on in verses 38-40. Clericalism: the rules that apply to everyday folk don't apply to deacons, priests and bishops. Clericalism is an ugly stain on the church. It makes for church leaders who are soft, lazy, entitled, materialistic, superficial... 

Notice this: In all four Gospels, it's clerics who receive "the most severe sentence" v. 40 - not prostitutes, not divorcees, but clerics! Men! Indeed, in the next gospel section, it's a woman who demonstrates the kind of love human persons should have for God. Jesus must have surprised his audience by proposing a woman as an example of how to be with God. 

Mother Teresa used to say to people, "Give until it hurts you." This widow understood that. In the ancient world the words, "poor widow" (no male siupport; no Social Security, no 401K) were an image of an utterly hopeless, lonely, miserable person. And this is precisely the one who still finds a way to give (in the world's eyes) recklessly to God.

I remember feeling sad and confounded one night at dinner in my first parish when the pastor told me that he had to start visiting the homes of wealthy people in the parish because the Bishop's Appeal had been announced. I wondered: Why does he have to go and grovel, when these people knew the annual appeal had begun? Why didn't they just send in their gift? Why didn't they value their pastor's time more, insisting on his visitation, turning him into something of a CEO or fundraiser? 

I really like this widow because she feels her religion. There are Christians who do religious things because, "I've been raised that way," or they're motivated by fear or guilt. It makes for minimalism. "It's the least I can do," some folks say. Yes indeed. But this widow - even though it's a penny - has "given everything."

When I was student teaching in the early 1970's there was a middle-aged woman in my parish named Vicki L. She slept on a cot in the back of the parish used clothing room. My priest friend met her all smiles on the street one morning. He asked, "Vicki, what are you so happy about?" and she answered, "I've just given away my last nickle."  I'm not telling anyone to copy or comment on that vignette - but I expect it has something to say to each of us. 


Sunday, January 14, 2018

Ronald Reagan and John Paul II ~ Thoughts for Today





These days there's a great deal of conversation and debate (more than a little of it unpleasant) about immigration, refugees, who may come here, who may not.

Pope John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan met a number of times here in the United States and in Rome. I came across two statements, one from each leader that we might add to that conversation.

"I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind, it was a tall proud city built on  rocks stronger than oceans, wind swept, God blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace - a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here." Ronald Reagan ~ Farewell Address to the People of the United States, January 2, 1989.

"Solidarity means taking responsibility for those in trouble. For Christians, the migrant is not merely an individual to be respected in accordance with the norms established by law, but a person whose presence challenges them and whose needs become an obligation for their responsibility. "What have you done to your brother?" (Cf. Genesis 4:9). The answer should not be limited to what is imposed by law, but should be made in the manner of solidarity."  Pope John Paul II ~ The Church and Illegal Immigration ~ World Migration Day ~ July 25, 1995

Friday, January 12, 2018

Haiti Earthquake - 8th Anniversary



More than 250,000 people died 8 years ago today in the terrible earthquake which devastated the island nation of Haiti in 2010. How does a poor country ever recover? Here is a desperate young mother holding her little child in the rubble.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the patronness of Haiti. In her icon the Mother of God also holds her Infant Child who looks up into the sky where angels hold the instruments of his future suffering and death. He flees to his mother and his shoe falls off. She looks at us. She knows. We pray:



O Lady,
that or hearts would be opened,
that our hearts would be softened,
that we would know real compassion.

O Lady,
may we disparage no one,
may we love people into health and safety,
may we be other-referred.

O Lady, 
may we be real pro-life people in the widest sense,
may we realize that while we can't do everything, we can do something,
may we never be de-sensitized to the littlest and the poorest.

O Lady,
that we would take nothing for granted,
that we would never look away,
that we would recognize the dignity of each human person.


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Intercessions ~ Second Sunday in Ordinary Time


Pope Francis has said, "Many powerful people don't want peace because they profit off of war."/ We pray boldly for war profiteers./ We pray to the Lord. 

Pope Francis travels to Chile and Peru this week./ We pray for his safety/ and for the delicate mission of reconciliation he has deliver./ We pray too for those/ even among the clergy/ who resent and resist him./ We pray to the Lord.

Jesus doesn't redeem humanity only from sin,/ but from systems of unjust political,/ social and economic conditions./ May we learn the heart of God./ We pray to the Lord.

The Church returns to the liturgical time of green from now until Lent./ May we each have an experience of personal growth/ and the green-ing of faith,/ hope and love./ We pray to the Lord.

Wednesday is the Feast of the desert-monk,/ St. Anthony of Egypt./ May we learn well his lessons of humility,/ non-complaint,/ and the authentic discernment of God's will for us./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray boldly for those who are sick with power,/ whose darkened hearts complicate and burden the lives of others:/ con-artists,/ manipulators,/ panderers,/ those with secret agendas/ or who are self-serving./ We pray to the Lord.




Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Psalm 22 - A Psalm of Confidence





In some bibles this is Psalm 22 while in other bibles it's called Psalm 23. A number of bibles combine Psalms 9 and 10 which can throw the subsequent numbering this way or that. There's more online if anyone's interested.

Living on this planet means living with contrasts. Some folks don't like that - they want everything to be black or white. "You're in or you're out," they say. We'll see in this psalm that God allows for contrasts, even as to how we think of God or address God.

Verse 1: Notice here how personal the psalm is, "The Lord is my shepherd." Religion speaks of us and our, but this psalm is individualized and close: MY.

God's name is ineffable (too great to be expressed or described in words) we shouldn't even speak God it. And so Israel found name substitutes. Lord is one of those divine words. It is a head-bowing word, a hushed word, full of courtesy.

Then, after calling God, Lord, God is called Shepherd. We might see
the contrast with the depiction of God in Psalm 2 where God sits in heaven laughing the enemies to scorn. Then the psalmist speaks of God's anger, God's rage striking the enemies with terror. My goodness, in Psalm 2 God carries a rod of iron that will break the enemies like a clay jar!

But maybe Israel was getting tired of this image of a terminator God - exhausted with all the striking, shattering, burning and wiping off the face of the earth. Here in Psalm 22, the psalmist seems to step away from all of that and the rod of iron becomes a shepherd's crook. The terminator God becomes the gentle leader, the safe-keeper who is so aware of me in my struggles and who knows what I need: "There is nothing I shall want." 

Verses 2,3: Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Fresh and green! What an alive image - especially for people who live in a desert-y climate. Can you name that for yourself? Some life experience where you felt God's presence, such that you'd liken it to fresh and green?

The psalmist isn't finished: Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit. We all know what a drooping spirit feels like. The shepherd's promise is revival. God leads me to life again!

The shepherd also guides me along right paths. Lots of Christians have been taught that the right path means the sinless way. Oh, it's so much more than that! I'd suggest right path means God can lead me out of a too small vision of life, an un-fulfilling, unimaginative life-path, a self-degrading life-path, an all-in-the-head-no heart life-path, a life-path of divisions and barriers. 

The Shepherd-God is true to his name. God can't be otherwise. If God is called Shepherd - then God is going to be a shepherd. We're the ones who wear masks and false personas, or who hide behind desks, labels, protocols, false smiles, hidden agenda. God understands us and shows a better way. 

Verse 4: If I were to walk in a ravine as dark as death, I don't need to be gripped with fear - I can feel God at my side. No harm can come to me. A person who struggles with addiction or depression might understand this. The family which is falling apart can name this. The mid-life crisis guy (it's real!) can understand this. The person who just got a terrible diagnosis can understand this. The friendless person, the homeless person, the reduced-to-poverty person can understand this. A ravine as dark as death!

This psalm is the favorite all around the world because every person knows what it is to walk through danger and to feel the re-assurance of a divine companion.

We should take note that some translations say, even though I walk through the valley of darkness, and not just walk in. Walking through contains a sense of progress. Walk in could mean I'm just walking in circles. How patient God is, walking with me through it all, the advances and setbacks, the twists and turns. The stumbling. 

The shepherd doesn't carry a staff to beat me - but to lend support in an environment where for heat and lack of water a human person is likely to stumble and faint. How considerate God is.

Verse 5: You prepare a table for me. An image of a God who delights in offering hospitality, especially when I am feeling oppressed. And again, can we think of enemy as an inner "thing" - not some person who makes trouble for me, who is a pain in the neck or a national rival.  The inner enemy: maybe that is what AA calls my "stinking thinking." Christians know that stinking thinking isn't good for us - stealing away time, energy and creativity. When I find myself lost in a haze of stinking thinking, I don't obsess, but I pray, "Oh Jesus, such thoughts; have mercy." 

You anoint my head with oil. Have you ever had poison ivy or been stung by bees, had those winter cracks in the corners of your thumbs or cut yourself shaving - and you found some healing stuff to use that takes away the discomfort. God doesn't want us pained and stressed of mind and soul. God wants us on our feet, happy about living. I'm thinking of the minister and his wife whose daughter was killed in the Texas church massacre recently. They ponder the words of this psalm and look for every sign of comfort and healing God might be sending. Usually that comfort and healing comes through the supportive love of other people - even strangers. 

My cup brims over. We might know wonder-moments that seem to say: "This is just too good to be true," or "Who am I to have been given this?" A cup overflowing.  

Verse 6: Surely goodness, kindness and faithful love follow me every day of my life. A senior parishioner shared with me her morning prayer practice which I have made my own. She said, "Every morning, as soon as I open my eyes, I don't get out of bed until I have said the Our Father - slowly and mindfully." God's kind awareness of me, God keeping me in mind through the night time to the new day. I want to acknowledge that thought, treasure it and begin the new day with the first steps into gratitude.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life.

The Lord's house doesn't mean temple, mosque or church. The house of the Lord - that's my heart. I want to live in my heart with God. "Come into my heart, Lord Jesus" the little First Communicants sing in May.  "You're all in your  head" we might say to someone who's a thinker type. We have to train passing our thoughts through our hearts. Social media can be the enemy of this - inviting us to weigh in on every topic and subject, responding to every thing we see and hear. But there's the challenge: It's the heart!

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Psalm 8 ~ We share God's Glory




Verse 1 and 2: This rather short psalm jumps out with a great burst of praise: "How great is your name, O Lord our God..." The title, LORD, is a substitute for God's unspeakable name. Would that Christians were so careful about God's name, who (not infrequently) use it as a curse. 

Verse 3: Even the littlest children know and praise God. Who taught me to know God, to love God, to wonder about God's awesomeness? Then the psalmist announces that God's name is powerful and can foil the enemy. That enemy is spiritual: there is something about each human person that does not want us attached to God's praises!

Verse 4: "When I see the heavens..." The psalmist is awestruck by everything God has made. Am I? In a world of shame-ing I like that the psalmist looks UP. Notice in this verse that God seems to be playing - God taking delight in creating planets and their moons, the galaxies and constellations. So often, God is cast in a bad mood - but not here! Do we project our own irritability on God? God plays! How God must have enjoyed making the kinds of birds, each with its own feather coloring, nest construction and egg design, songs and migration patterns. How sad for us that any plant or animal species would become extinct by our greed and stupidity. 

Verse 5: And in the midst of all this designing and creating, God has kept us mind. No two of us are exactly alike, and that God would be so careful to provide for us in our needs. We are a breath of God; a heartbeat of God, Pope John Paul II has said.

Verse 6: The ancient Hebrew's believed that God's heavenly court was filled with mysterious god-like beings. Human beings are a little lower than they. God has given something of himself to us, so close, that we have been crowned with God's own glory and honor. Imagine if we believed this about every human being, in all our variety!

Verses 7,8,9: And God has trusted us, putting us in charge. But we have twisted it up badly. A great elephant is killed every twenty minutes for its big-money tusks, so we can have ivory baubles. A world without elephants and the great animals we track down with GPS systems, kill with super weapons and stupidly call "Trophies." How monied we are and power-addicted, but how poor.

Did God know at creation that we'd become the sick destroyers of his imagination-gift? If the whole world consumed resources to the degree that WE do, three planets would be needed to contain the trash and waste. 

Verse 10: The psalmist seems to have gone off in a stream of holy consciousness, and now, in this final verse, abruptly returns to his first thought: How great God is - how elegant, how wondrous and kind.



Thursday, January 4, 2018

Intercessions ~ Feast of the Epiphany




Wars are created by men who are sick with the sin of pride./ We ask for wise leaders/ who will want to know how to create and protect peace./ We pray to the Lord.

As we contemplate the Child of Bethlehem,/ we pray for human life wherever it is threatened/ wherever social or environmental life is degraded./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the nation in this cold time,/ for people who are un-protected,/ insecure or afraid./ For Eastern Christians who celebrate Christmas this weekend./ And for the people of Iran/ where there is protest and violence./ We pray to the Lord.

With the Star of Bethlehem before us,/ we pray for God's light to dawn where darkness fills human minds and hearts,/ where people are grieved and overwhelmed by terror,/ hatred and injustice./  We pray to the Lord.

We pray for families everywhere./ For violent,/ addicted,/ dysfunctional families./ For families where there is no faith,/ or where children are being raised poorly./ We pray for young people,/ mindful of those who have no job or sense of purpose./ We pray to the Lord.

We remember the sick,/ the dying,/ those who are wounded or damaged,/ struggling against great odds,/ fearful or burdened./ With grateful hearts/ we pray for those who help,/ encourage and support us./ We pray to the Lord. 




Monday, January 1, 2018

Prayer at the Start of the New Year



This painting, Joseph and Mary on the Road to Bethlehem (1475), is the work of the Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes. We see Joseph and pregnant Mary "coming around the mountain." How careful Joseph is of Mary who has gotten down off the donkey. Perhaps she is taking a stretch or fears the donkey might stumble on the sloping road. How tenderly Joseph takes her by the arm as he seems to be saying, "Just a few more steps, a little bit more. Are you doing alright?" The donkey follows, and look, the ox is coming around the bend too - setting the stage for the Christmas Nativity scene we know so well.

Notice that these little figures are placed within a much larger scenary: the imposing setting of rock and sky, plant life, light and shadow. All of creation seems to know! We might feel that we are down the road a bit, looking upwards, eager to lend a hand.

I am thinking of how patient all the figures are: Mary, expectant through her pregnancy, Joseph, faithful through the confusion and fatigue of the long trip. The burden-carrying donkey plods along, seemingly calm and sure in its service. The mountain is solid and grounded. 

Entering this scene, we might pray-in the New Year from a place of felt need, asking the Holy Couple for the gift of patience in its many forms.

Save me, O Lady, 
from
mumbling,
grumbling,
tysking and 
sighing,
eye-rolling,
complaining,
moaning and 
groaning.

Save me, Holy Joseph,
from
irritability,
curses,
procrastination and
blatant refusals,
negative tone,
attitude,
victimhood and
whining.

Save me, Holy Couple, 
from
resentments
my short fuse,
objections and
reluctance,
unwillingness,
false smiles and
a begrudging spirit.

Give me instead
new graciousness,
willingness,
no more parceling out of love.
Keep me from counting the cost,
that I might smile more,
laugh more
and swell with gratitude. 

And may I realize all of this
especially with my family, 
the ones nearest and dearest. 
We're harder on them, you know, 
than on the ones we've never met. 

Bless the New Year, 
as we journey to our own inner Bethlehem, 
where Jesus is to be born, and born, 
and born again.
Amen.

Father Stephen P. Morris