Intercessions ~Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

We pray for the thirteen Felician Sisters who died of the covid virus this month at their Detroit Motherhouse./ We pray for their religious family who are overwhelmed with sadness./ Grant peace and healing to all who mourn the loss of loved ones during these long months of sickness./ We pray to the Lord.

With grateful hearts,/ we pray for scientists,/ researchers,/ lab technicians,/ doctors,/ nurses and all who staff hospitals./ May they be kept safe and well in their important and helpful work./ We pray to the Lord.

At the start of August,/ we pray for those who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries and other days of remembrance./ For our families and friends/ and for any who are suffering loneliness or stress these days./ We pray to the Lord.

Tuesday is the Feast of St. John Vianney,/ the patron saint of parish priests./ We ask for the renewal of priests,/ for priests who are troubled/ whose morale is low,/ who are sick,/ or whose inner life is un-evolved./ We pray to the Lord.

Thursday is the Feast of the Transfiguration:/ Jesus in a blaze of light,/ anticipating the Resurrection./ It is also the day of remembering the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima,/ and days later,/ the dropping of another weapon on Nagasaki,/ claiming the lies of upwards of 70,000 children alone./ We pray to know and embrace a new way of living peacefully on this earth./ We pray to the Lord.

We pray for the President of the United States,/ our Congress and all who are in positions of authority around the world/ May they elevate the people they serve,/ being freed themselves,/ of blaming,/ name-calling,/ lies,/ self aggrandizement,/ power-quest,/ material profit and vanity./ We pray to the Lord.

We ask blessings for those who humbly strive for self-awareness/ and do inner battle with hatred,/ racism,/ suspicion,/blaming,/ fear,/ meanness,/ bitterness and cynicism./ We pray to the Lord.

Openings

"Openings" is the Quaker word for life moments which invite growth and learning. I would add creativity. The other day, while walking through a nearby neighborhood, I came across a house that had lost a great curbside tree to age or disease. But rather than chop down the whole thing, the owner used the bottom third of the tree trunk to carve a great owl which seems to be checking out the street's comings and goings. Upon closer look, I discovered the especially insightful and creative touch — two owlets looking out at us from their hollow trunk nest.

Henry David Thoreau wrote: "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  Someone might have looked and seen a dead tree that needed to be taken down, someone else saw an owl with nestlings.  

An opening could occur while reading an article or book, catching a news item or listening deeply to someone's suggestion or insight, and I hear myself saying, "I never thought of it that way."  

An opening might occur in the moment of self-realization, when I ask, "Why do I keep doing that?" or "I don't like that about myself; why do I still think this way?" or "Why have I not grown up?"

A woman was told from a very early age that she couldn't draw, paint or sing — that she had no creative abilities. She accepted that as a fact about herself and lived well into her adult years with every creative impulse shutdown. She remembers gratefully the moment it all changed, accepting an invitation to join a community which encourages the arts. An opening!

As children, the first thing we learn about God is that God creates. God loves to create. God takes time to create and to actualize God's wonderful imagination. And we were made with capacities to grow, learn and create. There's something divine about that, isn't there? What about it?

A Feast Day About Little Girls

It is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anna — the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And this is a Spanish Colonial painting (oil on tin) of  this other holy family. Maybe they are going for a Sabbath Day's walk. It's very lovely, isn't it? We see serenading, petal strewing angels. We encounter the pair who had so hoped and longed for this child even into their senior years. The story of Mary's Conception and Birth gets us ready for the story of Jesus Christ — God, pulling out all the stops to love us, up and out of our savagery, our awful greed, our self-destruction and into light and wholeness.

I would venture most of the folks who tune in here, when asked on a questionnaire, "What is your religion?" would answer, Roman Catholic. But young people don't much answer that way anymore. These days they are more apt to print (or type), N-O-N-E on the form. There are so many of them they are even called, "NONES." They claim no religion. I'd also suggest that among them there are many who were baptized and even confirmed as Roman Catholics. When asked why they no longer identify as Catholic, they might well say, "The religion seems to be irrelevant to me." How did it come to that?

I think this lovely day is quite relevant — a celebration about parents, about grandparents, about children, and perhaps especially about little girls. The video below is wonderful. It is an episode from the TV show, Britain's Got Talent. Souparnika, a 10 year old Indian girl is auditioning, when suddenly things seem to go wrong. The situation is then just as quickly made right, and we are delighted. This little girl— with a flower in her hair, a pretty dress with a pink bow and matching slippers, a delicate left hand — sings for us. She is perfect for this feastday about a treasured little girl. Watch the video to the end where we see her after the performance rejoining her happy parents.

And might we hold in our awake hearts all the little girls around the world who are failed by adults — aborted (just because they're little girls), abandoned, runaway, sexualized, even sold, left un-treasured. On this feast of Mary's parents, may every little girl be nourished, encouraged, brought forward, applauded. May each one hear, "Go on, girl!"