Intercessions ~ Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

At the start of July we ask the blessings of good health,/ safety and well-being for all who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries and other days of remembrance./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for Pope Francis/ who travels to Dublin for the World Meeting of Families in August./ We ask for a re-configured world order/ which would restore hope to those families throughout the world/ where life is un-imaginably difficult,/ where the burdens are very great./ We pray to the Lord.

The apostles experience terror in the Gospel today./ We pray for those who live in fear:/ fear for their children,/ health and financial fears,/ fear of enemies and persecutors,/ personal fears of failure and loss,/ life and death fears./ For gifts of courage and faith./ We pray to the Lord.

For the safety of travelers during the World Cup games in Russia./ And as scoring goals is the aim of soccer,/ may peace,/ justice and global compassion be the real goals we set out to achieve./ We pray to the Lord.

As we have returned to the green of Ordinary Time,/ may we "green" in our capacity for self-knowledge/ and our continual need to learn how to live in God/ and to love others rightly./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for world leaders to be honorable and good people:/ civil,/ decent,/ intelligent,/ sincere./ And while serving the needs of all,/ may they have a particular commitment to the ones who are most easily ignored or forgotten./ We pray to the Lord.

Mother of God ~ Searcher for the Lost

Here is the icon of the Mother of God ~ Searcher for the Lost. Her eyes are wide open; she sees. The edge of her ear beneath her cap; she listens. The lamp's flame invites us to pray from an expanding heart.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you I am wide awake
for the children lost to untreated disease, 
malnutrition,
abortion and infanticide.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you I am watching
for the children lost to sex trafficking,
child-soldiering,
kidnapping and border separation.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you I am listening 
for the children lost to murder,
domestic violence, 
parental neglect and addiction.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you my heart is attentive
for the children lost to degradation,
poor example,
slavery and child labor.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you my heart has room
for the children lost to gun mayhem,
rejection,
drowning and dehydration along the refugee-way.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you my consciousness holds
the children lost in war zones,
disaster areas,
unclaimed and un-named.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
with you I stand in heart-solidarity
with the children lost in terror,
tears,
broken-hearted and lonely.

O Lady, Searcher for the Lost,
patterning for us:
every child welcomed,
every child wanted.

Orca and Healing

This amazing tulip with layered petals is named Orca. It blooms early to mid-spring, orange-tangerine with gold highlights. There were a dozen of these show stoppers in the front of the house here along the blue stone walk to the chapel.  

The display lasted about two weeks before the petals fell. The leaves then lost their green  and started to decay. A friend returned a week or so later and asked, "What's happened to your tulips; they look like they're dying?"

What's happened is a normal and necessary process called Healing. The bulbs, having worked so hard in producing these wonders, have now gone into a rest period, building up reserves and even "birth-ing" bulb-lets, all of which will survive through the winter and re-appear in April of 2019. What a great name for this process - Healing.  

The word healing might well capture the Christian imagination: Jesus the Healer. But the miracles of Jesus are about much more than simply physical healing: the blind man, the deaf man, the mute, the crippled man, the bent over woman, the fevered mother in law, the little girl dead in bed, Lazaraus in his stone-tomb. They are indeed images of our present need for healing and new life in our human condition, the healing, binding up, raising up of our families, our emotional lives, our spiritual, relational, psychological, cultural, national and ecclesial lives.

He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue  on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up and read, and they handed him the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The Spirit of the Lord is with me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord. (Luke 4:16-19)

O Jesus, please, your healing of our family tree,
the ancestors, the long lineage of
divorce and domestic violence,
suicide, abortion and infidelity,
sex abuse, emotional brokenness,
addiction, alcoholism, poverty,
failure, desperation and depression.

O Jesus, good news for us too in the affliction of our 
loneliness,
the wounds of younger years,
sex abuse,
willful ignorance,
naivete,
our bubble world,

O Jesus, your freeing us from our enervating
greed,
selfishness,
arrogance,
superficiality,
vanity and fear,
our collecting,
our storage bins from 
sea to shining sea.

O Jesus, liberty from the slavery of our
false worship - our idolatry,
love of money,
trusting of power,
the adulation of might,
the glorification of weapons,
the sins of nationalism and
that politics...
that radio voice which keeps us from thinking freely for ourselves.

O Jesus, healing the blindness of our
hatred, 
distractions,
lack of imagination,
sight-stealing fears, 
inattention to our interior lives,
our winking at,
our confident admiration for what is repugnant to you.

O Jesus, a year of favor for us too,
anointing us with
that essential truth,
the only truth which matters really,
the truth about ourselves
as we stand before you
with the soul-seeing Father and
the Spirit of renewing life and love.


Father Stephen P. Morris

Intercessions ~ The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

This Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist,/ we pray for the children of tears:/ the children of border crossings,/ war zones,/ abandonment,/ sex-trafficking,/ poverty,/ domestic violence and neglect./ For those who minimize,/ exploit or ignore the terror of children./ We pray to the Lord.

In our hemisphere it is the the season of summer traveling,/but also the time of tornadoes,/ hurricanes and fire./ For the safety of all./ We pray to the Lord.

Renew those in government around the world/ who are so protective of their power/ that they have forfeited the basic human values which serve the good of the people./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the turning of hearts:/ hard hearts,/ ice-cold hearts,/ unfeeling hearts/ and Spirit-resistant minds./ May we learn the tender-hearted way of Jesus and his saints./ We pray to the Lord.

These June days are the days of longest light and shortest darkness./ May we know some increase of light within ourselves:/ some new self-knowledge,/ the resolution of a problem/ or awareness of God's bright presence and help./ We pray to the Lord. 

Grant strength and consolation to the sick,/ comfort to mourners and those carrying deep inner wounds,/ hope to those despairing of challenges and troubles./ We pray to the Lord

In this liturgical green time,/ which many people are feeling is a time of national crisis,/ may we rediscover and reclaim Jesus,/ who came to  establish,/ promote and extend God's kingdom-message of justice and compassion./ We pray to the Lord.

Jesus in Gethsemane

Way back in 2014 and over a thousand posts ago, we started working our way, scene by scene and verse by verse, through St. Mark's Gospel. We are now towards the end in Chapter 14. Bernard van Orely's (1492 ~ 1591) painting Christ in Gethsemane helps us to see and understand. 

32 When they reached a place called Gethsemane, he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.' 33 And he took Peter and James and John with him. 34 Horror and dismay came over him, and he said to them, 'My heart is ready to break with grief; stop here, and stay awake.' 35 Then he went forward a little, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, this hour might pass him by. 36 'Abba, Father,' he said, 'all things are possible to thee; take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.' 

37 He came back and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, 'Asleep, Simon? Were you not able to keep awake for one hour? 38 Stay awake, all of you; and pray that you may be spared the test: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.' 39 Once more he went away and prayed. 40 On his return he found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know how to answer him.

41 The third time he came and said to them, 'Still sleeping? Still taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed to sinful men. 42 Up, let us go forward! My betrayer is  upon us.'

43 Suddenly, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared, and with him was a crowd armed with swords and cudgels, sent by the chief priests lawyers, and elders. 44 Now the traitor had agreed with them upon a signal: 'The one I kiss is your man; seize him and get him safely away.' 45 When he reached the spot, he stepped forward at once and said, to Jesus, 'Rabbi', and kissed him. 46 Then they seized him and held him fast.

47 One of the party drew is sword, and struck at the High Priest's servant, cutting off his ear. 48 Then Jesus spoke: 'Do you take me for a bandit, that you have come out with swords and cudgels to arrest me? 49 Day after day I was within  your reach as I taught in the temple, and you did not lay hands on me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled. 50 Then the disciples all deserted him and ran away. 

51 Among those following was a young man with nothing on but a linen cloth. 52 They tried to seize him; but he slipped out of the linen cloth and ran away naked.' (Mark 14:32-52)

Verse 34: We are told that Jesus is overcome with horror and dismay. What depth of human depravity and sin was revealed to him then? What did Jesus see? Our killing, our lies, our criminality, our cruelty and hatred, our greed, our explosive and burning destruction...

Verse 35: Jesus has thrown himself down on the ground. The word Gethsemane means olive press. Jesus is pressed or crushed by the inner knowledge of his approaching death and the why of his suffering. 

Verse 33: Peter, James and John have gone with Jesus because he has invited them, but they have fallen asleep. 

Verse 37-42: The apostles are not only sleeping but they are sound asleep. Five verses to describe their sleep and the frustration of Jesus! Maybe too much wine. But it is much more than physical sleep. St. Thomas More said of England, "England would have slept through the Sermon on the Mount." And our country?

Verse 43: The word suddenly seems to be important - we are being shaken awake. It is a ridiculous scene, an armed crowd coming after Jesus with swords and clubs. Who do they think they are coming to arrest that they need weapons? Talk about ignorance! And notice the men from religious headquarters (chief priests, lawyers and elders) have not come in person, but have sent a posse to do their dirty work. I wonder how much money crossed the table.

Verse 44-46: The kiss. The expression of deepest affection and love has been twisted into a sign of betrayal and death. And why did they need a signal in the first place? Maybe just because it was dark. But I might suggest because they have never even seen Jesus before, let alone listened to him. They grab hold of Jesus and don't let go of him. Little do they know Jesus would not run away. 

Verse 47: The scene turns bloody and violent. We have such an inclination to violence. Even a soccer game can become violent and injurious. We don't understand that violence solves nothing. We even make it our entertainment. Violence is our go-to solution. Jesus won't have it; he heals the ear. He heals our hearing. We haven't heard - we refuse to hear and accept the teaching of Jesus which forbids blood-letting violence. 

Verses 48-49: Jesus knows what's up. In so many words he says to them: With all your weapons, you're treating me like a bandit." And we're supposed to remember when Jesus drove out of the temple all those who made money selling animals for sacrifice. He called them bandits. And he drew the contrast: You were in the temple to make money; I was there to teach people about God.

Verse 49: We're not told which scripture verse is being fulfilled, but it is enough for us to know that what is happening in this scene, and the subsequent trial and suffering, is willed by God.

Verse 50: The disciples deserted Jesus and ran away. It is a sad scene. It happens still, of course. A whole nation can run away from Jesus.

Verses 51-52: Finally, there is this mysterious guy who is wrapped in a linen cloth. Scholars have lots to say about who he is. I have my own idea. I think he is a symbol of any of us who have been baptized, and who fearfully run away into the darkness naked, having dropped or slipped out of our baptismal clothing.

Awesome Seeds

I didn't do well in elementary school because I was out the window. That tendency to be looking outside caught up with me in fourth grade when we had to master multiplication and division tables. Everyday was an utter pit-in-the-stomach-nerve-wracking-depressive hell. Once a week we had finger-nail inspection: hands flat out on our desks and she'd say publicly: "Stephen, stop biting your nails." And I'd think: "I'd be able to stop biting my nails if you'd throw out your flash cards."

But there were two things wonderfully redemptive of fourth grade: every day after lunch the overhead fluorescent lights were turned out and the teacher would read Stuart Little or Charlotte's Web to us. I was mesmerized and felt sad when she'd mark the page and close the book. And then one day, janitors brought in two long lunch tables and set them up in the middle of the room. Pushing our desks closer to each other to make space for the mystery unfolding - so began weeks of learning about plant propagation. 

We placed bean seeds in glass jars which were lined with wet paper towels; the seeds suspended for our observations. We all brought in small bags of soil from home and planted more beans in our cut down half-pint milk containers (1950's recycling!) Cuttings from geranium and snake plants were rooted in large trays of wet yellow sand. A huge avocado seed was suspended with tooth picks over a glass of water. We cut up potatoes and planted the eyes in soil. Best of all we planted pole string-beans in huge buckets of soil and made stick tepees for their support. The seeds grew and even flowered. It was all too wonderful: studying seeds and roots; and I was hooked.

In the late 19th century, Celia Thaxter wrote An Island Garden in which she wrote: "The very act of planting a seed in the earth has in it to me something beautiful. I always do it with a joy that is largely mixed with awe." 

Seeds are awesome miracles of transformation and evolution: this tiny thing packed with potential, color, fragrance, food and delight. The awe is intensified when (with larger seeds anyway) you see the ground start to crack or heave up just before the new plant emerges and the tightly packed leaves unfold to light and air.

I just read the introduction to a gardener's autobiography that says we should just appreciate plants for themselves and be done with any kind of parable or symbolism for our own living. I don't necessarily agree with that. Why can't we do both, if without too much of a stretch the connections come to mind. When God made us, we were first put in a garden (kind of planted ourselves) surely for our delight, but also that we might learn about God and ourselves. Maybe some people just don't believe in God and they don't like anything that suggests otherwise.

So yeah, seeds are awesome as they sprout, and God wants us to emerge and open up as well. God wants our transformation. Indeed, real living is about transformation. God wants us to realize who we are and what we have within us to become.

Intercessions ~ Eleventh Sunday in Ordinaarly Time

We pray for the world's fathers today,/ asking courage,/ strength and safety for their families./ Give new clarity, direction and resolve to fathers who are failing their families,/ and peace to those who are away from their children./ We pray to the Lord.

In the Gospel today,/ Jesus teaches us about the kingdom of God using parables./ May we learn the method of God's Kingdom rule:/ that it is a kingdom of mercy,/ compassion,/ justice,/ love and peace./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the world where life is feeling chaotic,/ where leaders are failing their people,/ where fresh divisions and threats arise./ We ask for selfless leaders of good heart./ We pray to the Lord.

Wednesday is World Refugee Day./ We pray for the millions around the world who are displaced,/ fleeing death and catastrophe./ May the safe nations be creative and generous in helping them in their desperation./ We pray to the Lord.

Thursday is the Feast of St. Aloysius* Gonzaga,/ the patron saint of young people./ Grant to young people the rights to which they are entitled:/ physical protection,/ food,/ nurturing,/ health care,/ freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the sick,/ the disabled,/ the wounded,/ the fragile and those who are weakened by age or neglect./ We ask blessings for care-givers,/ helpers and rescuers./ For our families and loved ones,/ mindful of those struggling with troubles and problems./ We pray to the Lord.


*Aloysius: Al-Oh-Wish-Us

A friend visited Rome

A friend text-ed early Saturday morning that he and his daughter were in Rome. I wrote back that he might visit the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major) and "Up front, under the main altar, there is a tiny chapel housing the relic of the crib of Bethlehem. Pray for the children of the world there." 

Here we can see it above the little grotto altar. Notice there is a kneeler and a small wooden chair behind the rope. We can imagine our own visit: the place is quiet, no other visitors; so we are left to ourselves and the intimacy of our prayer. Imagine going behind the rope and sitting there, awake and attentive.

O Jesus, I pray

for the children I know,

even the grown-up children,

and for grandchildren

and great-grand children,

nieces and nephews

and the children around me at Mass.

But the many others too.
Have pity, 
have mercy, O Jesus,
that any of us might ever ever handily say
for the plight of children:

Of course, it's just terrible...just awful...

Oh, what a shame...

Might I feel something of their terror,

some upset,

some holy anger,
a prophet's just-anger.

Forgive us, Jesus, 

as we get more upset over over-ripe strawberries,

angered having to walk too far in the parking lot,

grieved when when the weather ruins our day,

than over the news of the children

thrown away,

sent away,

blown away,

withered away.

By your Bethlehem bed,

over which your mother sang,

restore us

who have lost our sense of outrage for the 

neglect of the planet's children.

The sociologist said:

"It's charity-exhaustion; not to worry."

Nah!

But Kierkegaard said:

"The function of prayer is not to influence God,

but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."

That's me Jesus!

That's us, Jesus!

Before I leave this so lovely chapel,

the manger where

Mother Mary placed you,

no room in the inn,

give me some new idea,
shed some Bethlehem light -
what I might do

for the most vulnerable of your children.

Even just one.

Amen.

Hymn to the Virgin

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was an English composer, conductor and pianist. In 1930, at age 16, and while laid up in his school infirmary, he set to music the words of a Medieval poem-prayer to the Virgin Mary. The piece is titled, "Hymn to the Virgin." 

The carol-like work is called a tiny masterpiece, full of spiritual drama. The lyrics are sung in English by a first chorus but a second group of singers provide a kind of Latin echo after each line. The spiritual content is felt deeply by the use of increasing intensity and tempo, while the hymn ends in a profound tranquility.

Before listening to the hymn we might read the lyrics. The Latin  to English translation to the short phrases is given in parerentheses.

Of one that is so fair and bright,

   velut maris stella, (like a star of the sea)

Brighter than the day is light,

   parens et puella. (mother and maiden)

I cry to thee, thou see to me,

   Lady, pray thy Son for me, Tam pia, (such a virtuous one)

That I may come to thee. Maria! (Mary)

All this world was forlorn

   Eva peccatrice, (through Eve, the sinner)

Till our Lord was y-born

   de te genetrice. (of thee, the mother)

With ave it went away

   darkest night, and comes the day salutis: (of salvation)

The well springeth out of thee virtutis. (of virtue)

Lady, flow'r of everything,

   rosa sine spina, (rose without thorn)

Thou bare Jesu, heaven's King,

   gratia divina: (by divine grace)

Of all that bear'st the prize,

   Lady, queen of paradise, Electa: (chosen one)

Maid mild, mother es effecta. (you are made)

- anonymous author, circa 1300

Intercessions ~ Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wednesday is the Feast of St. Anthony of Padua/ patron of lost things./ May we not be lost to the darkness/ but find our way to Christ,/ find our way to our true selves as God's dear ones,/ find our way to one another./ We pray to the Lord.

Pope Francis has written: "Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money...That economy destroys the Earth."/ We ask forgiveness for the sins of indifferent-greed and exploitation/ that leave our planet a wasteland./ May we learn God's wisdom./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for those whose life is a grind,/ who are detained at border crossings/ who have lost everything to war or disaster./ We pray for the world's children/ mindful that many live in misery./ We pray to the Lord.

For the politicians and public servants of our nation,/ to be unite-rs,/ courageous in facing the problems of poverty, /racism and gun-mayhem./ For leaders to feel the wounds and burdens of people./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the sick and those who are weakened by age/. We ask comfort and friendship for mourners and people who are depressed or exhausted./ For the healing of prisoners and the victimized./ We pray to the Lord.

For June graduates and the safety of summer travelers./ For those we know who need help and companionship to get through the struggles and difficulties of the week ahead./ We pray to the Lord.

Prayer for this new day

Lord, yesterday cannot be re-lived,
and tomorrow is only in my imagination,
But there is this new day, 
this, today, 
and I thank you for it.

You have brought me in safety through the night:
receive my first thoughts,
my first awareness,
my first conscious breath,
my seeing, hearing and sensing.
May I set out into this day in joy and peace.

I ask the blessings of health and safety,
security and peace for my dear ones,
for those who are far away physically or emotionally,
those who I will meet today,
those who know only misery.

Keep me from a heart enflamed
with argument and discontent,
a heart preoccupied with my own agenda,
the spoilers of pettiness, willful ignorance,
and foolish waste. 

And now receive this first prayer of my new day
offered in humility and littleness
as you have invited me to say,
Our Father...


Father Stephen P. Morris

Dandelion Thoughts

These are dandelions of course - likely a jar-vase of them picked for a child's mother as a spring gift. It is said that dandelions are the one flower a child is allowed to pick without permission and with abandon. But also, dandelions are symbolic of the rigorously determined person:

Dandelions can take over a lawn in a season.

Dandelions can grow up through a crack in cement.

Dandelions can sprout in a place too shady for other desirable plants.

Dandelions can grow back even after having been mowed down. 
Dandelions can re-appear after our thinking they were successfully pulled out.

I was visiting with a friend this past Sunday who afterwards went with her four-year-old to visit her husband in prison. She later wrote about a wonderful moment when starting out to return home:

"Going home, my boy spotted some dandelions growing near the parking lot. He ran and tried to pick everyone. It was touching to see how he spotted beauty in the midst of the concrete and razor wire and the bleakness of the place. We made flower crowns, with the inmates looking out at us from their cell windows. As we were leaving, he looked up and waved to them with his flower crown and yelled, 'Bye guys' They waved back. A little light in the darkness."