Ruby-crowned Kinglet Sings

 

Here is male Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Isn't he a charming bird, with his soft colors, white circle around his eyes, streaks of wing-white and ruby-crown? Kinglets are one of the tiniest North American birds weighing only a few ounces —front to back only a few inches. I was introduced to these marvelous birds a few weeks ago when sitting in a friend's garden where the electric company had come through and without warning took down the seventy year old White Pine trees along her backyard border. Deprived of the insects harbored in the pine trees, the Kinglets were foraging in the leaf and pine-needle litter. Then a few days later I discovered what seemed to be a whole flock of Kinglets feasting on late summer Oenothera seeds (Evening Primrose) in the cemetery garden where I volunteer. 

Seldom at rest, even hanging upside down to find hidden insects, Kinglets are such high energy birds, they cannot do without food for even a very short time in order to stay alive. 

Kinglets lay two broods each year, filling a soft cup-like nest with upwards of twelve lightly speckled eggs. While they are hardy little birds, (like Chickadees) their winter mortality rate is high. We might expect that when they migrate to California this year they will suffer all the more as so many miles of forest burned during the summer. No trees, no insects, no Kinglets. It's hard being a bird.

But perhaps the most delightful bit of information about Kinglets is that they sing on their way back north in the spring. Their song is described as a kind of loud and complex chattering. Psalm 100:1 says "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth." Kinglets seem in some way to understand, do I? That doesn't mean I have to join the church choir. Some folks sing in the shower. Some folks sing while doing housework or preparing meals, jogging or taking walks.

Do I ever sing hymns along my own life-way? In the wonderful 1985 film, A Trip to Bountiful, widowed Carrie Watts lives in a one bedroom Houston apartment with her son, Ludie, and nagging daughter-in-law Jessie Mae. Jessie Mae hates and forbids hymn-singing in the apartment —"Hymn-singing makes me nervous," she complains to Mother Watts. A God-loving woman, Carrie has to get out of that apartment and back to her girlhood home, Bountiful, where she intends to work the land with her girlhood friend Callie Davis, and where she'll be free to sing to her heart's content, "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling," "We Shall Gather at the River" and "Blessed Assurance".

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet sings on its way north. How wonderful is that!?

Intercessions ~ Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Beautyberry

Autumn is a  season of great beauty:/ bird migration,/ berry yield,/ leaf color,/ less humid, clearer air./ May we be protectors and promoters of beauty,/ especially that beauty which is Jesus Christ,/ his face,/ his word and deed,/ his invitation to wholeness./ We pray to the Lord. 

We know the great hymn,/ Be Thou My Vision./ Grant that we would share God's way of seeing and envisioning,/ a new way of seeing creation and one another,/ especially those who come to the Church in great variety and hope./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the many who work for the health of others./ Give comfort to those who live with debilitating illness,/ chronic pain or a sense of hopelessness./ For all who are sick/ mindful of anyone from among our own family and friends,/ but also the sick who live unattended and in fear and loneliness./ We pray to the Lord.

While this Monday the Church celebrates a feast day honoring all the saints,/ we pray with grateful hearts for  those who over the years have done any good for us — who have helped us,/ lifted us up,/ taught and guided us,/ provided for us,/ walked with us through our challenges and struggles./ We pray to the Lord.

Strengthen and uphold the leaders of the nations who work to build up the common good./ Bless the efforts of those who work for reconciliation and the promotion of peace around the world./ Bring to an awakening those in leadership who are failing the people,/ who are beholden to money or power./ We pray to the Lord.

This week five hundred young German Lutherans visited the Vatican and sang for Pope Francis./ He responded by saying to them,/ "Singing unites. In the choir no one is alone."/  May we learn how to listen to one another again,/ building up that solidarity which makes for a safer world and a more holy Church./ We pray to the Lord.

Luke 7:24-30 Among the Most Important Verses in the Gospel

 

24 When these messengers had gone back, Jesus began to talk to the crowd about John. "What did you go out to the desert to look at? Was it a reed waving in the breeze? 25 Well, what was it you went out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? But the men who wear fine clothes live luxuriously in palaces. 26 But what did you really go to see? A prophet? Yes, and I tell you, a prophet and far more than a prophet! 27 This is the man of whom the scripture says, 

27 'Behold I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.'

28 Believe me, no one greater than John has ever been born, and yet a humble member of the kingdom of God is greater than he." 29 All the people, yes, even the tax-collectors, when they heard John, acknowledged God and were baptized by his baptism. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the Law frustrated God's purpose for themselves, for they refused John's baptism.

I would suggest that Christianity today has no idea how important and pertinent these verses are. We've (the churches) have lost the Christ-center and don't even know it. Because we're filing religious lawsuits in court, or wave "Jesus Saves" banners at a riot, or defend ancient liturgical rites, doesn't mean we've got a Christ-center.

Scene setter: In the previous gospel sections, Jesus' disciples have told John they have seen Jesus heal the Centurian's slave healed and the Widow's son raised to life at Nain.  They then went back to Jesus to make ask Jesus the questions posed by John, "Are you the one?" Jesus told them to go back yet again to  tell John what he (Jesus) is doing and announcing. It sounds a little silly perhaps, all the back and forth, but okay. Jesus now addresses the remaining crowd. He begins by asking them three questions about going out into the desert. 24-25 "Did you go to see the reeds in the wind?" The desert is a harsh place where right minded person would never go to watch the wind. Jesus answers his own second question — rich people, all dressed up, don't live in deserts, but high end palaces. 25 Jesus must have in mind that among this crowd there were folks who had gone into the desert where we are told in another Gospel place, John was living. But John wore rags and ate bugs. Nothing soft or lavish about that.

Nor was John wasn't a weak-bending reed. Jesus knows they were looking for a prophet (one who reveals the mind of God) but they found John who (Jesus says) is greater than a prophet because he's the messenger, the advance man, we say — forerunner of Jesus, the Lord, the Messiah (the great king who is even greater than Kings David and Solomon.) In verse 28 — Jesus lifts John up high. But John is only the messenger of the one who greater still, and that's Jesus. So John, while lifted up to a high place, is also among the littlest, who still needs the truly great one — Jesus. 

What does it mean for us? We live in times of unimaginable cultural popularity. We're constantly invited to join the cult. Cult thinking is irrational thinking. Sometimes the idea of popularity cult mixes in to religion, "I'm a JP II priest," "I'm a Benedict priest" we might hear among the younger clergy.  One man on a TV spot says, "Every citizen should have a gun?" What?! That's cult thinking. Should we give guns now as Baptism day gifts, birthday gifts, graduation from elementary and high school gifts? So that by age 22 every citizen might have his/her own arsenal? Now, seemingly everything on social media is sold by sex. Turns out a strong man soaking in a floating bathtub is really an advertisement for cream cheese. The celebrity red carpet nights often cause me to think, "Why did you bother putting on clothes at all?" 

But perhaps the worst of it is the political/religious cults. We fall into cults because we're looking for something. The "I'm a JPII or Benedict priest" is looking for what he thinks is the authentic religious/spiritual way. When Francis was elected Pope, one priest told his Sunday crowd, "We'll get through this together." That says a lot. And it's sad. Out of our vacuums we turn to figures who have wealth, who are  high profile, who surround themselves with the indicators of success and power, who claim to know the truth. Mr, Trump announced his candidacy by descending from above riding a golden escalator. Like a Monty Python bible spoof. Jesus asks every generation, "What are you looking for? What are you going out to see?" We become cartoon Christians when we fail to see his gospel questions are for us.

Anti-mask, anti-climate crisis, anti-vaccine, anti-voting whatever, anti-science, anti-theory, anti-history. We clearly listen to lots of people who we believe have the answers to fill our vacuum. It's going bad. It's become violent, furiously angry, bitterly divisive, threatening, menacing, shockingly bad example for children. But it's always been this way (made worse by the speed of social media) — some get it — some don't. But Jesus celebrates that even the despised tax-collectors were hearing John's message to turn to heed the claims God makes on  our thinking and doing. It is called God's justice. Some people are terrified of what God's justice and God's purposes would exact from them. Charity? Sure. God's justice (read the angry prophets) — no. Old Testament sexual morality? Yes (at least the bits that make sense to them). God's justice? No. It may mean we have to give up some privilege, power, influence, prestige, wealth.

Every Christian needs to do a personal self-check or questioning now and again to see if we haven't drifted into irrational thinking (or someone else's irrationality). Maybe the irrational one we listen to is a talking TV head or the podcast voice. Some have been corrupted by money. We can fool or trick ourselves, thinking we're living in the Lord's kingdom when really we're just bumping around following some personality or movement be it political, religious, media, sports, entertainment or favored channel. We find God-substitutes all the time and can even become rabid in defense of our drift. There are people who live outside God's kingdom. And not infrequently (like the tax-collectors) it's the littlest and most insignificant people who are more submitted to God's rule than those who wield the greatest appeal, influence, voting power and sway over people's minds and hearts. But self-knowledge and genuine docility (teachable-ness) are in short supply these days. 

Our outside-the-Kingdom-cult-irrationality invades everywhere. I once favorably said the word Mexican in a sermon and a man walked out. Never mind they are the people to whom the Guadalupe revealed herself and left her image. I invited the Salvadoran parish lawn men to a Guadalupe Feast Day party and got insulting hate mail. I had a fellow block me in the church aisle once to tell me, 'I'm so sick and tired of hearing about the poor." But I'd venture as a white man of American abundance he had no clue what "the poor" even means. He'd already formed his truth that they are all lazy scammers. What made it all the more bizarre was that I'd said nothing about the poor in the homily. I invited him to investigate the text I used (still on the pulpit), but he declined and disappeared with his scary energy.

As great as John the Baptist is — Jesus and his new God-mind is greater. The people of least importance or belonging may well "get it" ahead of the rest. That's what these verses are about. It isn't easy if we're really hearing. 

A Week of Prayer Before Duccio's Archangel

Perhaps you'll remember (Lent 2020) we reflected here on a number of paintings which comprised Duccio de Buoninsegna's MAESTA (Majesty) which was created for the Cathedral in Siena in 1308-1311. The great image had as its centerpiece the Mother of God enthroned among angels and saints. There were additionally forty-three smaller scenes of the Childhood of Christ with Prophets, the Life of the Virgin Mary, and the Life and Passion of Christ.

In 1771 the feckless cathedral clergy had the five-meter tall masterpiece roughly sawed up, and sold off. Money is such a spoiler — especially of spiritual life. In 1956 many of these paintings were collected and are now housed in the Duomo Museum adjacent to the cathedral. Other pieces remain scattered around the world in European museums and in the United States.

Originally there were twelve archangels across the top of the MAESTA altarpiece. The whereabouts of only four are known today. One is found in the Mount Holyoke College Museum in Massachusetts, another in Brussels, another in a private collection and one in the Philadelphia Museum. I made my own pilgrimage to see the Philadelphia angel when the museum re-opened after the worst of the Covid epidemic.

I thought I'd find the angel in a special place, much like Duccio's Madonna  and Child at the Met in New York City, but it's not. (You might want to scroll back to the post and prayer of that visit — January 29, 2019). Instead, while looking for the angel on the museum map, I accidentally passed it. Bumping into the wall at the end of the long and out-of-the-way corridor, Turning around and retracing my steps, I finally discovered it between two large paintings. Here's the photo I took with my phone camera (from the side to avoid glare). 

I'm thinking of that sweet prayer the Catholic child used to learn by heart: "Angel of God, my guardian dear..." Then I thought I'd honor the Duccio angel, composing my own prayers — one for each day of any week. Of course you can add your own. But whatever prayer you may offer, let it grow out of silence. 

Sunday

Angel of God,

   mixed in with everything else

   along the marginal museum corridor —

   then suddenly,

   as if you had been waiting for me —

   in joy,

   in gratitude and surprise,

   I greet you.

Divinity discovered in what's little —

   the little coin,

   the little seed,

   the little field-lily,

   the little bit of bread,

   the little yeast,

   the little flock of Jesus' teaching —

   I see you!

Monday

Billions of dollars spent

trying to communicate with Mars,

yet we can't communicate with

each other down here —

   divides deepening,

   obstruction solidified

   good will dissipating,

   ignorance celebrated.

The very idea of communicating 

   with an angel —

   a laughable absurdity —

   Angel of God,

   we need your teaching.

Tuesday

Bright one,

   were you with Gabriel when Mary was saluted?

Were you a Nativity night-sky songster,

   who ministered to Jesus in his desert fasting?

Was it you who sat on the Easter tombstone,

   an Ascension angel

   who instructed the apostles, Stop looking up?

Were you the one who freed Peter from prison,

   of the untold number who sing Holy, Holy around the throne?

As I stand before your image,

   don't hold back,

   but from this silence,

   whisper the good word I need to hear.

Wednesday

Originally you were of a community of angels,

twelve,

all winged,

dawn colored,

divinity sparked.

Then the foolish priests,

with money on their minds,

wildly sawed up your assembly —

only four of you surviving.

I imagine you forgave them long ago

as we need to forgive our own today —  

spoilers and destroyers,

waste-rs,

heart-breakers.

Angel of God,

train me to wish everyone well —

to love people as I encounter them

or as they may become.

Thursday

Sunrise angel,

wrapped in red

of holy love,

wise servant —

share some of your mind

with us

in need of warming. 

Angel in blue,

your power,

your faith —

searching,

questioning,

wondering — 

give us the courage

we need to get

out of bed each morning — 

here,

in this country,

at the end of Mary's October,

470 mass shootings!

Can you touch us —

heal our anti-everything

with the wand God has

put into your hand?

Friday

Can you teach us how

to contemplate,

desire

that other world,

where there is no 

guzzling,

no hoarding,

no yammering self-advertisement,

no mindless chatter.

Protector,

strengthener,

divine-knowledge-sharer,

angel woven in silence,

looking deeply into hearts

do you find only a little love?

Saturday

Sleepless angel

   you see our illness,

   our withering,

   our distress,

   our frailty,

the narrow corridor of our thinking.

Light-dweller,

   open-eyed,

   outwardly gazed,

   other-referred Angel,

   penetrating the boundaries 

   we prefer to stay the safe side of —

   may I encounter you,

   not on the museum wall,

   so much as in my inner room.

May I see myself clearly —

   not so self-assured.

 

Touch hearts,

   so they may be clean

   like your own,

   who stands before God

   rightly.

Sunday

Angel of searching sight,

whose gift is vision,

of peaceful countenance,

of spiritual perception,

of epiphanic presence,

of still intimacy,

that I may be preserved in goodness,

upheld in hope.

I want to be luminescent too!

Intercessions ~ Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday is the Feast of perhaps the most obscure of Christ's apostles,/ Simon and Jude./ May our own lives of discipleship be characterized by quietness,/ courage,/ hiddenness and hope./ We pray to the Lord.

In a world of fracture and wound,/ we pray for those who work for peace and the healing of  body,/ mind and spirit./ We ask justice for those who live outside the circles of power,/ wealth and success./ May we have servant hearts./ We pray to the Lord.

A recent scientific study relates that our planet is not as brightly lit from space/ as its light-reflective cloud cover is dissipating./ May God forgive the ignorance and greed that leaves the earth increasingly vulnerable./ May we grow up in understanding what earth- stewardship means./ We pray to the Lord.

Renew those who lead the nations./ We pray for those who suffer violence,/ persecution,/ discrimination,/ hunger,/ crushing poverty,/ homelessness and loneliness./ We pray to the Lord.

This week Pope Francis said he would continue to be a "pest in defending the poor and most vulnerable"./ He asked for weapons manufacturers and dealers to stop contributing to the awful geopolitical games which cost millions of displaced lives and millions of dead,/ as this is part of Christianity./ May we understand./ We pray to the Lord.

For those who struggle with depression,/ addiction,/ anxiety,/ cancer,/ AIDS,/ Covid,/ diabetes,/ dementia or any other illness./ For doctors and nurses,/ ambulance drivers,/ first responders,/ technicians and hospital support staff./ We ask blessings for home health aids./ We pray to the Lord./

We take a moment to name those in our families for whom we ask health and every other blessing (....)/ We pray as well for those who have no family — who have lost everything./ We pray to the Lord.

 

Divine Protection Meditation

 

Jan Brueghel the Elder (1596) ~ Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee

I came across this prayer-meditation while visiting a friend with cancer. She kept it on her night stand and was eager for it to be shared with you here. But first, consider Brueghel's painting of the terrible gospel scene. The sea is wind swept and white capped. The little boat is taking on water. The apostles are overwhelmed with fear. Some are hunkering down in the boat. Two of them have been tossed upside down. One apostle tries to get control of the flapping sail. It is a picture of hopeless trouble. Peter is trying to wake the soundly sleeping Jesus.

Divine Protection

Things looked hazardous and hopeless to the group in the tempest-tossed boat on the Lake of Gennesaret. Water was swamping the boat, waves were beating upon it mercilessly. Frightened seamen and disciples turned to Jesus, who slept in the stern of the boat. Harshly they cried, even as some of His followers are crying today, "Do you not care if we perish?" (Mk. 4:38). He did care, for He arose at once and quieted the storm so that the sea became calm and safe once more.

The Savior cared then, and He cares now. He calmed the sea then, and he will protect you now. The same powerful Christ-spirit that spoke with authority then will speak through you now, saying, "Peace! Be still!" (Mark 4:39). As the Christ-spirit worked wonders then it will work wonders now. This powerful Spirit will work through you to provide security, protection, and peace.

No matter who you are, where you are, or what dangers surround you, you carry with you the greatest possible power for protection when you carry with you an awareness of the loving presence of God. In his presence is all power, all might. Establish yourself firmly in the thought of God's presence every moment wherever you are. Free yourself from every thought of fear, evil, and harm. When your mind and heart are thus free, God works through you as your power and protection, and no danger can touch you.

You are always surrounded by impenetrable walls of Spirit. Wherever you are, God is there too. Whoever you are, God loves you, because you are His child. Whatever you are doing, God is with you as your guide and help. Enfolded in His mighty love, you are kept safe and secure. His watchful, loving care is always with you.

John the Baptist with Wings and Luke 7: 1-23

 

This 16th century detailed icon of St. John the Baptist with Scenes from His Life is found in the Yaroslavl Museum of Art, Russia. He is called, Forerunner, Precursor, Angel of the Desert. All around the border there are scenes from John's life. Some are biblical, others are apocryphal, like the image on the left where an angel leads the saint as a little child into the desert. 

But notice this, the central figure of John the Baptist wears wings. He is not an angel. Why wings then? In other icons, the wings are even larger than these, signifying the message of John: The Christ I announce has cosmic significance. They are often colored wings —dark red, green, bright orange with white borders. We can detect similar colors in the planets and stars, even without a telescope. 

This is simply my conjecturing: but wings are for spreading and for flying — that in Christ — announced by John, God has flung himself in fullness out of the heavenlies into our realm. Then further, that perhaps these wings suggest we might take our own flight from the un-spiritual world of our own mal-creation: the plastic pile-up, the oil soak, the money grab, the gun lust and weapon idolization, the toxification of water, the animal and tree extinction, the child inconvenience, the shopping addiction.

Finally, see the plants growing around the feet of John. They symbolize the full-blossoming of life when Christ comes into the world — beginning with our own personal worlds. The worlds of heart and mind. This is the message Jesus sends back to John.

18 The disciples of John told him of all these things. 19 And John, calling to him two of his disciples, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" 20 And when the men had come to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist  has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?'" 21 In that hour Jesus cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many that were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is he who takes no offense at me." 

Ah, there it is — Jesus lays out for John a world that is full-blooming with God's wedding-like love for us. 

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Art Wolfe Nature & Cultural Photography

 

Autumn is a season of great beauty and transition./ May we have hearts filled with wonder and gratitude./ We pay to the Lord.

May we learn or be strengthened in compassion for those who are are overlooked or forgotten./ We ask for leaders who are open-hearted,/ honest and genuinely loving,/ who see those they serve as neighbors./ We pray to the Lord.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus had "no place to lay his head./ For those who have no home or place to rest./ Bless those ministries and organizations which supply food and shelter,/ which restore hope and peace of mind./ We ask for a world that is more fair./ We pray to the Lord.

Pope Francis has said, "War is a failure of politic and of humanity/ a shameful capitulation,/ a stinging defeat before the forces of evil."/ May we understand with our hearts./ We pray to the Lord.

In Christ,/ God shares ours struggles and pain./ We ask blessings for those who endure mental or physical disabilities,/ and the communities which welcome,/ support,/ encourage and heal./ We pray to the Lord. 

Safeguard families in their variety and challenge./ In an increasingly nativist world/ which creates loneliness and despair,/ may Christian communities be places of not only of welcome but of deep belonging./ We pray to the Lord.

It's October and frost will be on the way.

The flowers in the photograph here come from the train station garden where I volunteer. I figured as it's October now, there could be a killing frost before the month's end and it would be a shame to have missed the chance to bring some of these flowers into the house. 

St. Paul (1Thessalonians 5:17) encourages us to "pray always." I've met folks who argue that's not possible, but I believe it is, if I set out to miss nothing and to heap up gratitudes throughout the day. I don't want my life to be taken up with the world's tasks or business. It's said that in England now, to be alive, is to go shopping. Here too. Indeed, we no longer even need to leave home to go shopping. A week or so ago, a young hard working mechanic said of his spouse, "She spends the entire day online shopping — and for stuff we don't even need." There are lots of people I pass on the street where I live, but they don't hear the birds, the wind, the tree leaves rustling or even my "hello" because they're plugged in, heads down. The world's business.

I think AA coined the phrase, "The thing you pay attention to, increases." So, I'm sending flowers from my garden your way this morning. Let's believe that earth is indeed crammed with heaven; that God fills our days with beauty. Let's look for everything that's still good.

 

An October Rosary Decade Before the Iveron Mother of God Icon

Mother of God Portaitissa ~ "She Who Resides by the Door" ~ Mount Athos

The Iveron icon of the Mother of God is kept in the Iveron Monastery on Mount Athos in the Greek Archipelago. The tradition says St. Luke painted the icon and by the 9th century it was in the possession of widow in Nicaea in Asia Minor. The stories surrounding wonder-working icons seem fanciful to moderns. "Really? That can't be true!" I don't concern myself with the newspaper truth of any of it — I look instead for the meaning — especially meaning for today. Anything else seems spiritually unhelpful.

During the iconoclastic period (8th-9th centuries) an icon destroying soldier slashed the icon's face with a sword. Immediately repentant he advised the widow to hide the icon. She prayed for guidance and rather strangely placed the wooden image in the sea where it didn't sink, but stood upright before drifting westward. Years later the icon appeared on the shore of Mount Athos close to the Iveron Monastery. A holy monk, Gabriel, retrieved the icon and placed it in the monastic church. But it refused to stay in place — each morning the icon was found standing by the monastery gate. Gabriel understood that the Mother of God wanted to protect the monks who built a chapel on the spot to house the icon. With this, she was given a kind of nickname: Portaitissa, which means gate-keeper. 

A thousand years later the monks, the chapel and the icon remain in place. Copies of the icon have been sent around the world, some of them observably wonder-working. Why would I doubt the story? We believe politicians who tell grievous lies. We believe the astonishing disinformation of anti-science folks. There are TV commercials making ridiculous promises and we still buy the products. I have a friend who believed an investment deal and lost a lot of money. An icon riding the waves, landing safely, kept and honored by reverent monks for a thousand years? Call me naïve, I don't have a problem with it. 

But to quote Shakespeare, "Here's the rub" (a problem or difficulty) — I believe more than this. I believe the story about the icon standing on the waves and keeping watch at the gate for centuries has meaning for today. Such exploration might prove discomforting. The icon and its story haven't survived this long so we could be simply edified, incense-bearing admirers. But I'd suggest the gatekeeping icon needs to be re-interpreted as welcome-r, greeter in an inhospitable world. Might the Portaitissa be a corrective to those countries that have swung hard right in their nationalist "keep out, go away, go home, go back to where you came from" policies.

So here's my new rosary decade before the Iveron Mother of God — who floated away looking for a home during terrible times. 

Icon of the Portaitissa Icon on the Waves

Our Father...

There are eighty million people in the world who are refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking. Eighty million! They suffer greatly. 

Hail Mary...

"We have to respect the human dignity of the person. The human person is the image of God." Pope Francis

Hail Mary...

The Iveron Icon floated on the sea. I pray for the Christian people to feel the need to move from indifference to solidarity to better understand the plight of migrant people and refugees around the world.

Hail Mary...

The Portaitissa is called the gatekeeper. "Countries have the moral obligation to open the doors for those who might be rich in dreams and expectations." Pope Francis

Hail Mary...

Some people float on an actual sea or ocean hoping for help, but millions more float on a "sea of troubles." May my sense of human family continually grow. In Africa, only one percent of the population has received even one dose of Covid vaccine. Here, many people are putting up their noses.

Hail Mary...

Honoring the new comers — the stranger — is a primary message of God. Jesus says, "Love your neighbor."  He further teaches that neighbor extends well beyond my next door. The double arched colonnade outside St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is symbolic of arms reaching around the world.

Hail Mary...

The Church is a "we" — not an "I" — to walk together, to make alliances with others to help, to lift up, to work together. No more walls of separation. No longer "others," but a "we" that encompasses all of humanity. This is classic Catholic social thinking.

Hail Mary...

"We are called to love others as much as one's family. Let us love the stranger. Let us love the immigrant, the undocumented, the one who is unfortunate, faceless, voiceless because they are the dwelling place of Jesus Christ." Pope Francis

Hail Mary...

Before the Portaitissa Icon I pray: "O Lady, may every child be welcomed and loved." 

Hail Mary...

The Iveron Icon was recovered. I pray for every human person who needs to be recovered, to be brought back into the human family. May my thinking, my personal policies, my votes, my contributions reflect this. "Christ, you have come to disturb us." Leonid Dostoyevsky

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Teresa of Avila ~ Johan Bergstrom-Allen

Friday is the feast of the 16th century Carmelite mystic,/ St. Teresa of Avila,/ who said, "If Christ Jesus dwells in a person as friend and noble leader, that person can endure all things, for Christ helps and strengthens us and never abandons us. He is a true friend."/ May we know the friendship of Jesus./ We pray to the Lord. 

Before the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Quaker leader Gretchen Castle said,/ "The poorest who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are the hardest hit. This is the time to address our over consumption and wasteful habits, and to learn to live in a collective, socially supportive world community, respectful of all life and to heed Jesus' call to "go and sin no more."/ May we understand and act./ We pray to the Lord. 

Oil spills happen all the time and all around the world./ This week another oil disaster on the California coast is causing great destruction,/ the killing of birds and marine animals,/ the ruin of beaches and wetlands./ May the Holy Spirit renew the face of the earth by our learning to care and change./ We pray to the Lord.

In France a devastating report has disclosed the sex abuse of hundreds of thousands of children by thousands of priests and church workers over the last seventy years and the law of silence that has concealed it./ One nun speaks of it as crimes against humanity./ The pope calls it a moment of shame./ May God restore those who have been violated and betrayed./ We pray to the Lord.

For the nations of the world and their leaders./ For those who fight against evil./ For those who are not helping by their obstruction,/ game-playing,/ greed,/ anger or abandonment of their servant role./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for those who live or work in dangerous situations and places./ For those who come to the rescue or help of those in trouble or danger./ For those who live in fear,/ addiction or  discouragement./ For the sick and those who grieve losses./ We pray to the Lord.

The Teacher Says; The Teacher Asks

 

This lovely image was painted by the American artist Morgan Weistling (b. 1964). "The hardest thing for a painter to learn is how to paint light," an artist friend told me. What a perfect title for this painting then — Glow. But while the young girl holds the light, she is pensive. She is in an interior place, isn't she? This is Christ's invitation. He doesn't say, "Let's go to Rome and get these issues settled once and for all." He doesn't say, "Let's go to court and find the judges who will decide in our favor." He says, "Go to your inner room," Matthew 6:6. It is a great sadness when Christianity misses Jesus in an inner way.

Many years ago, when visiting the Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City, I discovered a large sign posted before the monstrance where there was adoration all day. It's said that the average American can identify over one hundred commercial logos and over one hundred commercial slogans. Maybe we could learn these verses and their invitation by heart and rehearse them when we are feeling unhappy, unsure, afraid, unwell. Each saying of Jesus has been translated into a question, as if he is speaking to us personally. I've made some adjustments where the online Spanish-to-English translation struck me as perhaps shallow or dull.

The teacher says; the teacher asks:

I am the bread of life — do you want to be filled with me? John 6:51

I am the light — will you allow me to penetrate your heart? John 8:12

I am the stone — will you dash your thoughts against me? All of them? Mark 12:10

I am the way — will you follow me? John 14:6

I am the truth — will you allow me to disturb you? John 14:6

I am the life — are you searching for me? John 11:25

I am a teacher — are you listening to me? John 11:28

I am the Lord — how are you allowing me to refashion you? John 20:28

I am your friend — how do you love me? Matthew 26: 50

I am the good shepherd — do you really know me? John 10:11

I am the living water — does this fountain well up within you? John 4:10-11

I am peace — do you want me deeply? John 20:20

I am your God — do you still wonder about me, as when you were a child? John 20:28  

If you are unhappy, don't blame me, because I have come to give you life and to give it abundantly. John 10:10

"Unsung Hero" ~ For the Feast of Saint Francis

A Rosary Decade Before the Tolga Icon of the Mother of God ~ At the Start of October

October is the month of Mary's Rosary. Here are ten short prayer-focusing meditations before the Tolga icon of the Mother of God. The icon's 14th century story is told through the prayers.

Our Father

The Holy Bishop, Prochorus was traveling throughout his diocese and stopped to spend the night along the Tolga River. He was awakened at midnight by a bright light shining among the trees. May we know Christ who calls himself, Light for the World.

Hail Mary...

The icon of the Mother of God was revealed to the bishop at midnight. May we be inwardly awakened to Christ these days of deep darkness.

Hail Mary...

Prochorus wasn't a stay-in-the-office bishop, but a traveler. As our lives are a kind of traveling on this blue, green and white planet, may we discover God's energies, which delight us with gifts and blessings.

Hail Mary...

The maphorian of the Mother of God is the color of clay. May we be grounded in a Mary-like faith, humility and gratitude.

Hail Mary...

The Tolga icon is of the Eleousa (tenderness) type — the Holy Child and Mother are cheek to cheek. Christ's left arm reaches around his Mother's neck. I pray for those who only know fear and desperation, who hope to feel this kind of belonging. Deporting hopeless people who have lost everything is not the gospel way.

Hail Mary...

The Holy Mother holds and supports the Christ with her left hand. I give thanks for those who have held me up and supported or guided me over the years — offering this prayer for those who are rejected and cast away.

Hail Mary...

The Mother of God seems to have stepped up to heaven's window looking full-faced with Christ into our world. May I never fear looking with eyes of mercy into our world of troubles.

Hail Mary...

The icon is not approached with the world's critical, consumerist eye — "Does this suit my tastes? Would this complement my décor?" but with a heart of wonder. May wonder be birthed again in me, as when I was a child.

Hail Mary...

The Holy Child is in full motion — as if he has taken a running jump into his Mother's arms. This is how the world is loved by God — God, who is not waiting for us to sin, but who leaps in love into our world.

Hail Mary...

This is an old icon, cracked, chipped. I ask for strength when I am feeling worn down, where strength is perhaps fading, asking to feel God's close embrace. I also pray for —N— to experience this enabling strength today.

Hail Mary...

Glory be to the Father...