The airplane captain may announce, "We're in for a little turbulence." If you've ever experienced it, it can be un-nerving. And Pope Francis has asked for us to take Mary's October Rosary Month most seriously while we ride out this time of "devil's turbulence" in the Church (and I'd add, Nation..) Here's a set of in-between-Hail Mary-meditations to help us keep focus. The Third Luminous Mystery: Jesus Proclaims the Kingdom. "Let us pray."
Our Father...
Jesus announced the Kingdom. This is what he has come to do. But what is The Kingdom? Good teacher that he is, Jesus anticipates we'll need to know, and so he tells us within the context of his well-known and much-loved prayer: "Thy Kingdom come (that is) Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Plain spoken.
Hail Mary...
Integral to life in the Kingdom is the cultivation of compassion. Compassion is not an emotion, but the sure, chosen and unchanging commitment to wish everyone well, even those whose behaviour and thinking is troublesome or negative. Growing in compassion could help us through these dark days: wish even the destroyers well and to be freed of their own personal suffering. Not easy, but there you have it.
Hail Mary...
There are lots of Christians who spend a lot of time thinking about and working for everyone else's salvation: saving souls and making converts. We'd do better having a real hard look at ourselves. We have the power to change the world by changing ourselves from the inside out, by getting the weapons out of our own hearts: all the negative emotions and the thoughts of bitterness, divisions and out-of -control-ego.
Hail Mary...
Pick up the Gospels at just about any point and we'll find Jesus on the road. He doesn't sit around waiting for people to come to him. He even taught while walking. That's his action plan for living. Everyday I wake up - once again God has given me the wonderful and precious gift of life, a new twenty-four hours. I must not waste it.
Hail Mary...
I've got good "kingdom-sense" when I realize in my bones that the essential message is the love of God and the simultaneous love of neighbor. The Jewish fellow was beaten up and left for dead in a ditch on his way to temple. Two of his fellow religionists stepped around him. The Samaritan stopped and took care of everything with generous and tender love. this is perhaps the most well-known story of all times. and the hero of that Jesus-story is (as far as Jews were concerned) a heretic. We have so much to learn.
Hail Mary...
Hail Mary...
A non-Catholic fireman, who went to Mass every Sunday with his wife and children, decided he wanted to share the faith of his family. The priest told him when, where and how long the RCIA meetings would take place. But the fireman said this would be impossible with his difficult schedule. In so many words the priest said, "Too bad then." Why do we make people jump through hoops: Jesus didn't do that. P.S. A priest from another parish came to the rescue with a generous and creative solution.
Hail Mary...
In many Gospel scenes Jesus is surrounded by enemies - people who don't wish him well or are actively set against him. But Jesus engages them, works with them and even tries to teach them. He shows us that a real hero is not someone who achieves the heights of religious observances but the one who is victorious over his or her own potential for anger and hatred.
Hail Mary...
Hail Mary...
Hail Mary...
Glory be to the Father...
