Intercessions ~ Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Monday is National Butterfly and Hummingbird Day./ May we love our planet/ with care for the smallest of God's creatures,/ all of which play a part in sustaining life and wellbeing./ We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi,/ who (perhaps shockingly) said to his religious brothers,/ "Better for you to go out into the street and kiss donkey dung than to even touch money."/ May we be a rightly prioritized people/ who try to live in the simplicity of the gospel,/ keeping far from power and money-love./ We pray to the Lord.

Wednesday is the Jewish Feast of Yom Kippur,/ the Day of Atonement./ We join the Jewish people in asking for the forgiveness of the world's sins:/ the atrocities of war,/ the distribution of increasingly destructive and easily gotten weapons,/ the exploitation of the world's resources,/ the leaving behind of so much of the world in poverty,/ the myriad ways in which we fail the world's children./ We pray to the Lord.

At the start of October we pray for those who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries,/ and other days of remembrance./ We ask good health for our relatives and friends/ and strength in the challenges,/ changes and difficulties they contend with./ We pray to the Lord.

Sunday Mass (Eucharist) is an answer to the alienation and polarization we experience these days./ Not only do we believe in/and receive the life of Christ hidden under forms of bread and wine,/ but we do so together./ Mass is the Sacrament of Unity./ May we know,/ experience and value this./ We pray to the Lord.

We make a mistake when we reduce Christianity to being simply a way of believing,/ when it is all the more a way of the heart,/ an inner path of becoming alive and whole./ May we experience a kind of heart-dilation,/ a waking up in awareness,/ listening and seeing deeply and truly,/ friendship/ and even the possibilities for growth through the suffering we experience./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the many who suffer through the destructive hurricane this week over Florida and other states:/ evacuees,/ the displaced,/ and those whose property is destroyed./ For helpers and rescuers./ For the healing of the ruined environment./ We pray to the Lord.

Matthew 23:37 ~ Jesus in the Wildernesss ~ the Hen

 

In the Winter of 1938/39 the English artist, Stanley Spencer (1892-1959) set out to paint forty pictures of Jesus in the wilderness. He knew well the scriptures that tell us Jesus went there for forty days and nights and that at the end he was tempted. But the gospels are silent about what Jesus did the other days. Spencer fills that out for us in his creative, spiritual imagination. Of the forty paintings he intended, only eight were completed. Here is Jesus with the hen and her chicks. 

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You murder the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would never have it! Matthew 23:37.

The image is vivid. Jesus is on the ground with the hen. Young roosters are in the background. His body forms a kind of protective wall around the vulnerable bird and her chicks. He sits with his head in his hand looking down tenderly on the scene. The hen has three chicks. One is pecking the ground. One  peeks out from under its mother's wing and a third looks out from under Jesus' tunic. Notice the sleeves of Jesus are billowed open — forming a kind of tunnel or point of entry.

But what strikes me most is that there is a fourth bird — a little sparrow or wren flying into the scene. There is a circle of soft light around it. Maybe these other verses come to your mind at once:

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's knowing it. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear, you are more valuable than sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

But there's more, isn't there? The little sparrow is zooming in and Jesus is not brushing it away. He will welcome it, glad for its presence. There's no in and out with Jesus. No inclusion and exclusion. No shut doors.

Something very crude and exclusive has found a fresh way into our nation. Something very ugly has been unleashed recently. We think of ourselves as the great melting pot. Really? We are indeed a nation of immigrants, but every group that comes here is at first hated and then, after having found their way in (often through great suffering) they become the new haters. 

Before Pope John Paul II asked for every parish to enshrine the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I had a lovely space in my church where I placed a framed copy of the Guadalupe tilma and a fine hand printed copy of her litany. You could light a candle there. A beautifully carved box received petitions. When I visited an elderly parishioner I said, "Have you seen the new image of Our Lady of Guadalupe we've put up in church?" She answered with a dismissive waving of her hand, "O I don't even go back there; she's for the Mexicans." What a pity. You'd think she'd have known better, having supposedly heard the gospel for many years and her own people having long ago been immigrants to this country. 

There's not a little of this kind of thinking, much of it having taken nasty, menacing and even deadly turns. Hate crimes are on the increase across the land. Politicians portend violence if things don't go their way. Christian Nationalists thinks white people were the first ones here. They, and others who think as they do, show up at rallies with bibles in hand and loaded guns strapped to their hips.

Anyway, in this painting here Stanley Spencer (who was a field orderly during the most horrific fighting in the First World War) has given us a gift to contemplate for the expansion of our hearts. Contemplation is not nuns and monks flying around the chapel in ecstasy. Contemplation is seeing the sacred quality in the most unexpected places. "Otherism" is not allowed. Jesus-God has made a circle of protective and comfortable welcoming love around all of us — as has the mother hen with her chicks and the inclusion-seeking sparrow coming in for a landing. How can a Christian not understand these things?

Time to Start Living

A friend recently passed on this little video (just shy of ten minutes): an older retired man reflecting on his life. But we don't need to retire before thinking about what really matters. I'd suggest there are messages in the man's reflections from which any person of any age might benefit. Would Christians have additional insights?

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Wherever Ukraine is able to take back villages and towns,/ mass graves are discovered,/ some containing many hundreds of people,/ including children and those who appear to have been tortured and executed./ We pray for our poor, tormented world,/ where the most awful things happen./ We pray to the Lord.

Poor Puerto Rico is again destroyed by another hurricane/ five years after hurricane Maria./ It is said that the island was only half way back from that storm which leveled everything and left thousands dead./ Again,/ there is no electricity,/ no clean water./ We pray for those who suffer there and for those who help./ We pray to the Lord.

It is the fall season of Jewish Holidays./ May these days bring peace/ and the lessening of hatred and violence./  We pray to the Lord.

We hold in our minds and hearts the members of our families who are struggling and who ask for help or healing./ For the ones addicted/ divorcing/ whose relationships are broken or stressed,/ who have money problems,/ who are in mourning,/ where things seem to be falling apart./ We pray to the Lord.

Autumn has begun,/ the season of leaf-fall./ But behind each fallen leaf there is already next spring's leaf-bud./ And so we ask not to lose hope these days/ when even at the highest levels,/ lies,/ ugliness,/ dishonesty,/ corruption,/ theft,/ threats of violence,/ obfuscation and disintegration,/ seem to win./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for Pope Francis,/ his health,/ strength and endurance./ May he be effective in leading the Church in a stressed world./ May his enemies not prevail./ We pray to the Lord.

Walsingham Feast Day ~ September 24

The Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham is in North Norfolk, England. In 1061, an Anglo-Saxon woman noblewoman, Richeldis de Faverches, had a vison of the Virgin Mary in which she was instructed to build a replica of the Holy House in Nazareth where the Annunciation took place.  Hence Walsingham became known as England's Nazareth. For centuries people, in all their variety, pilgrimed to the great shrine from all across Europe.

But Mary's shrine fell victim to the English Reformation of Henry VIII. Once her greatest devotee, who even paid to have a candle burning before her image year round, in 1538 he had Mary's shrine, the Holy House and monastic priory plundered and leveled. It is said that the shrine's image of the Mother of God was dragged behind a horse from Norfolk to London where it was burned. Another version claims the broken remains are possibly kept in The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Either way, since the 1930's the shrine has been modestly restored and pilgrims in increasing numbers return.

Here is a small wood carved statue of Our Lady of Walsingham I bought when I was in seminary a long time ago. The tiny lily which Mary held in her right hand got lost somehow over the years. Anyway, I keep the candle lit before the statue as one of the first acts of my day. For me, lighting a candle before Mary's image keeps hope alive. 

And here is a a litany prayer I've composed for her feast day which is celebrated this Saturday, September 24.

My Lady Mary —

Who dwelt at Nazareth as a flower in its niche.

Who understands the language of angels.

Who is God's new home on earth.

Who is God's joy.

My Lady Mary —

Who is true and noble.

Who is is right and pure.

Who is lovely and admirable. 

Who is excellent and praiseworthy. Philippians 4:8

My Lady Mary —

Who praises God in the midst of creation.

Whose image so pleases us.

Whose lap a great throne.

Whose holy well a blessing place.

My Lady Mary —

Who bids us pray our own Magnificat.

Who gathers people in prayer.

Who heals hearts for loving.

Who understands the Beloved's mind.

My Lady Mary —

Who knows we are willed by God.

Who knows we are loved by God.

Who resides enfolded in the everlasting arms.

Whose praises on earth endure.

My Lady Mary —

Whose name, Miryam, is sweet.

Whose name is created for our encouragement.

Who creates an atmosphere of love around your son.

Who I approach in silence.

My Lady Mary —

Who restores comfort.

Who restores joy.

Who is my soul's fire.

Who is clean of heart.

My Lady Mary —

Who births the deliverer.

Whose enduring story is gladsome.

Who is there, with us, in our spiritual yearning.

Who reconciles visible and invisible worlds.

My Lady Mary  —

Who sees the desecrator.

Who has compassion for minds turned coarse and cold.

Who pities our world of flame.

Who knows us in our cruel losses.

My Lady Mary —

Who will be there in joy on my resurrection day.

Who I serve reverently.

Whose protection covers me as with a vestment.

Who delights me like the golden hour.

Fr. Stephen Morris

All Things Little

In late August moving into September, when the rest of the garden is showing signs of exhaustion, clematis paniculata blooms. This deciduous vine, a native of New Zealand, reveals masses of star-shaped, creamy-white and sweetly scented flowers. Here, called Sweet Autumn, it is growing over a stone wall. The Maori Polynesian people call the plant, puawhanaga which means flower of the skies. 

All of this loveliness is shared by little flowers no more than an inch across. I can't pass by without sticking my nose into the white clusters and inhaling deeply. Little flowers with a big delivery!

Jesus is a master of little things that furnish a big divine message:

a group of shepherds at his birth — considered God's little ones.

a little girl raised up talitha koum

a lost sheep (I have always imagined to be a lamb)

a hen with her chicks

a little pearl

a little yeast

a little boy's gift of a little fish and a little bread that feeds thousands

a poor widow's littlest coin

a lot of seed thrown, but a little bit landing safely

a little sparrow

a cluster of mothers escorting their little children

a little boat on a stormy sea

a little Easter morning breakfast for friends

a little cup of water

a Passover passing a little bit of bread and wine

There are as well the little things of life full of meaning:

We come into the world as little.

At an early age we learn the power of the littlest words, Please and Thank you.

We are baptized with a little bit of water.

My first catechism was a little blue book.

At Mass we receive the little Bread we call Bread of Life.

We end our prayers with the little word Amen.

Even through the night there's the little flame by the tabernacle.

As children perhaps we developed an appreciation for life planting little seeds;

  caring for little animals.

"It needs a little salt," we say.

A little cricket's chirping can fill an entire garden.

To send a little note; a little gift.

A vignette (from the French vigne, meaning little vine) is a short, evocative life moment, a kind of frozen scene which invites some emotional response.  I take care of a garth (a low walled garden) in an old church cemetery. This morning I watered the garden very early, even before there was full light. Before rolling up the hose I quickly washed off the bluestone slabs which cap the stone wall all around. It only took a moment to bend over to turn off the faucet, but in that split second, already a robin had flown down out of a nearby tree to have a drink from the water that had puddled in the shallow irregularities of the stone. I stood watching for a full minute while he filled up. Then he flew off.

Our lives are filled with these little "frozen" moments. The earth is charged with God's energies and gifts. I want to watch and listen so as not to miss them.

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

El Greco ~ St. Matthew ~ 1610-1640

Wednesday is the Feast of the Apostle and Evangelist,/ St. Matthew./ We pray for our lives to be marked by knowledge of Christ in the Gospels,/especially conscious of Jesus' teachings found in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in St. Matthew's Gospel./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the sick,/ the wounded,/ the disabled,/ those who receive no medical attention./ We ask blessings for doctors,/ nurses,/ technicians and rescuers,/ all who bravely and generously put themselves in harms way for the life and well-being of others./ We  pray to the Lord.

The Jewish Holidays are observed soon:/ Rosh Hashanah — celebrating that God re-invests Himself in Creation/ and Yom Kippur — the Jewish Days of Atonement./ May they be days of safety,/ peace and renewal./ We pray to the Lord.

Pope Francis has said,/ How good it is for us when the Lord unsettles our lukewarm and superficial lives./ May we believe this/ and possess that kind of religion which even invites God's new direction and purpose./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the world where there is great suffering caused by fire,/ flood,/ drought,/ famine, and war./ Grant that those who are in positions of authority would be wise servants/ who have foremost in mind, not profit, but the protection and wellbeing of those they govern./ We pray to the Lord.

It has been said that with the death of Queen Elizabeth/ we have witnessed the end of an era of courtesy and grace./ We pray for the restoration of decency and respect where it has been lost./ May we understand even more deeply that each human person is a child of God,/ possessing a unique dignity,/ even if they are unaware of it themselves./ We pray to the Lord.

A Great Personal Challenge

 

So, instead of loving what you think is peace, love others and love God above all. And, instead of hating the people you think are warmongers, hate the appetite and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed - but hate these things in yourself, not in another. Thomas Merton

 

September 11 ~ A Picture and Prayer

To Liberty Park c 2000 ~ With Permission Richard C. Morris

For Those Who Died in New York City, Washington DC and Shankesville, PA 

For Those Who Mourn

Dominus regit me

The Lord is my shepherd;

therefore can I lack nothing.

He shall feed me in a green pasture,

and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort.

He shall convert my soul,

and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness 

for his Name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil;

for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me.

You shall prepare a table for me in the presence of those that trouble me;

you have anointed my head with oil

and my cup shall be full.

Surely loving-kindness and mercy will follow me all the

day of my my life;

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23

 

A new psalm of lament and confidence

We pray a psalm at every Mass. But we never hear a complete psalm — the lectionary producers having taken out the verses which might in some way be problematic — where the psalmist seems to be fed-up, fearful or obsessed with enemies and troubles. The psalmist holds no emotion back from his prayer. Sometimes his/her thoughts turn violent. Our picked over Mass versions leave us with just the cheery bits. Were we to hear each psalm in its entirety, we might finish up scratching our heads. So I've composed my own psalm here (yes, we can do that) — holding nothing back from God. Notice I said we. Try it. No judging. God doesn't think less of us for our confusion, doubts, anxieties, distractions. In fact, I expect God would welcome it. It means we take God seriously.

There is the light at the east end of the street

rising and poised perfectly

through a tunnel of sycamores —

prototype of anything else

we might call golden globe.

But it's the mind-darkness 

that terrifies,

depresses me, 

O God —

our paradise planet

born of light,

parched and withered,

starved and weary.

The list of extinctions grows.

And it is our own fault.

Astounded —

that despite the signals

we've failed to take the hint!

Silly us,

to call anything, the war to end all wars,

when even now

   theaters,

   nurseries, 

   maternity hospitals,

   parks, farms, forests, 

   schools and rural villages

are disappeared by missile-strikes

ordered by a dark mind,

yet another incarnation of evil.

The new clouds are smoke clouds,

poison

ash-clouds,

rising up,

Vesuvius-like

from cities wasted.

Hear my pro-life lament:

  for the baby girl blown up in her stroller,

  the four year old boy dead and

  undiscovered under fifteen stories

  of crumbled cement and steel,

  the family running with their little luggage and their cat crate,

  the old man targeted from the sky while tending his bees.

I hold this sorrow,

even sorrow for you, God of Light.

Could it be that we've robbed you of omnipotence,

   who called the oak trees and ferns,

   the giraffes and frogs into being,

   who opened the sea for freedom's sake,

   who gave new sight to the blind man,

   who left behind Turin's shroud.

So unconscious,

we've insisted you go away.

Have you left us? 

Gone to another planet?

Perhaps a safer, non-weaponized world?

We have a telescope now that sees back to the origins of light —

   are you there, Holy One?

Have we frightened you away by our political party cult-darkness,

   who elect ignoble souls, 

   cheer them on,

   hooting,

   fist pumping the air,

   chanting their slogans,

   ignoring their lies,

   wearing their colors,

   waving their banners —

   ridiculous in our shame.

Do you remember the night,

when I brought the eight girls 

who had done terrible things

to pray before the myrrh-streaming icon

of the Mother of God?

And the gentle priest said,

"The icon is dry tonight,

so let's bless only

the children who are here."

And when my group approached the icon

it started to pour scented oil,

flooding off the bottom edge.

And the little acolytes rushed

to stretch the

red cloth to keep it from

landing on the floor. 

The poor girls didn't notice,

but I did,

wide-eyed for the faith-stirring sign.

But the devil is a spoiler,

and we need the autocrats of power-love,

and the pillocks of money-love

and their celebrators 

to see,

to inhale this too.

Show yourself again, O Blessed One,

whose omnipotence is love;

hearts have grown cold;

and the forests are on fire.

Intercessions ~ Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Pope John Paul I/ whose papacy lasted only thirty-three days,/ was beatified last week./ At the Vatican ceremony Pope Francis said of him:/ "How beautiful is a church with a happy, serene and smiling face, that never closes doors, never hardens hearts, never complains or harbors resentments, isn't angry, does not look dour or suffer nostalgia for the past." May we learn this lesson well./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for this community of faith,/ worship and service today./ We ask for the blessings of courage and strength/ to live well the vocations God has called us to/ for the good of others./ We pray to the Lord.

Children and young people have returned to school./ We pray for them and for their teachers,/ administrators and staff./ May they learn well,/ be kept safe,/ and preserved from the bitter contention that weakens and tires and distracts./ We pray to the Lord.

Today marks the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center,/ The Pentagon in Washington D.C./ and outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania. A total of  2977 people died./ We pray for those who mourn loved ones still,/ for the many who still suffer physical and emotional effects for having worked in and around these sites long after September 11./ For recovery,/ wellness and courage./ We pray to the Lord. 

All around the world there is great suffering from unprecedented heat,/ forest fires,/ drought and conversely/ in other places,/ floods./ Lives have been lost and winter food supplies have been negatively impacted./We will need understanding,/ generosity and patience this winter./ We pray to the Lord.

The soil,/ air and water of Ukraine are being laid waste and left toxic by this invasion/ that began in February./ We pray for the cessation of violence and for restoration.// We pray for the children,/ the elderly and the weak./ Some of those left behind./ who survived the brutalities of the Second World War/ are now once again living in fear and extreme need./ The winter will claim many more lives./ We pray to the Lord.

Beautiful too...

 

Muscovite Schist

The beauty of the schist-y stone church

Beautiful too the Sunday Song.

The beauty of Nazareth's Ave

Beautiful too Bethlehem's Gloria.

The beauty of the cricket awake all night

Beautiful too the silence of dawn.

The beauty of the purple crocus

Beautiful too the pollen-laden bee.

The beauty of Aquila, Cygnus and Phaeton

Beautiful too the night flight on its way to JFK.

The beauty of the womb's conceptus

Beautiful too each person born.

The beauty of spring's greening

Beautiful too autumn's leaf-drop.

The beauty of the cirrus sky

Beautiful too the cloudless. 

The beauty of God long ago

Beautiful too a present life in Christ.

The beauty of the weather's changing

Beautiful too a gentling heart.

The beauty of the icon's lamp

Beautiful too Venus at midnight.

The beauty of meeting a saint

Beautiful too expecting to hear God.

The beauty of eyes lifted to heaven

Beautiful too one's feet on the ground.

The beauty of God's reliable love

Beautiful too compunctive tears.

The beauty of the Divine Face

Beautiful too the I and the Thou.

Fr. Stephen Morris

Window at night

 

My little dog puts his front paws up

on my bed to wake me at 4:00 A.M.

I don't mind at all —

the day begins with this small act of mercy —

his need to go out

for business and a biscuit

and for me

the first of the day's perceiving.

It is the hour of the nocturnal animals,

the ubiquitous  rabbits,

the solitary red fox,

the toad sitting under the street light

  waiting for a moth to fly by,

the night crickets

  which pitch

  varies with each turn,

and the "night owl"

  whose lamp is lit

  on the second floor.

Who's there awake at this hour?

  the collegian cramming for the first period class?

  a nurse who's needed to relieve the night shift?

  an insomniac who dozes by day

    then tosses and turns the night away?

  the parent who soothes the frightened child or

    the grown child who consoles the frailing parent?

  a worrier who prays the comfort restoring rosary?

  a loner who's afraid of the dark

  or the couple who have argued through the night.

My matins prayer is a prayer of gazing

and an upward sending of every good wish.

Intercessions ~ Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

This is 91 year old Ukrainian Holocaust Survivor Vanda Obiedkova/ who died last April while seeking shelter in a basement during the bombing of  Mariupol./ Pope Francis has called this invasion:/ morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant, sacrilegious./ May we not forget/ and pray for the restoration of sanity wherever there are wars./ We pray to the Lord.

At the start of September we pray for those who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries and other days of remembrance,/ asking for good health,/ safety,/ well-being and growth in the things of God./ We pray to the Lord.

It is Labor Day weekend./ We pray gratefully for the many whose work provides the basic necessities of our lives:/ food,/ health care,/ law enforcement,/ safety./ For those who are paid unjustly./ For anyone whose work is dangerous./ For those who are out of work./ We pray to the Lord.

Thursday is the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary./ We pray for the little girls of the world,/ mindful that many are not allowed to attend school,/ others are enslaved or sex-trafficked,/ still others live sad lives where there is domestic violence or poverty./ Some little girls are thrown away./ We pray to the Lord.

In some places the Church is divided,/ having been infiltrated by political and cultural ideologies./ We pray for those Christians,/ including some among the clergy,/ who have lost the joy of the gospel,/ choosing instead a life of contention./ We pray for our healing and growth in Christ./ We pray to the Lord. 

It seems that now for many,/ our go-to emotion when we disagree with others is to make death threats./ Some,/ including politicians and media types stir-up violence,/ danger,/ menace and fear./ We pray boldly for God to heal the national soul./ We pray to the Lord.