Intercessions ~ Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Christ Emmanuel ~ God is with us.

October is Respect Life Month./ We pray for babies who are in the first month of life within the womb./ We pray for their mothers and fathers,/ asking for them gifts of generosity and strength./ We pray to the Lord.

In Respect Life Month we pray for prisoners around the world,/ asking for their inner healing and the conversion of  hearts to the truth of God's love./ We pray to the Lord.

Let us pray for those who suffer from Ebola/ and for health care workers who assist the sick or who research for a cure./ And as Africa is begging for a global response of compassionate assistance/ we pray for the world's heart to be moved./ We pray to the Lord.

Pope Paul VI spoke to the United Nations General Assembly on October 4th, 1965./ He said, "War never again; never again war."/  We pray boldly/ asking God for the conversion of human hearts to the things of justice,/ which creates peace./ We pray to the Lord.

As there are meetings in Rome preparing the agenda for next years Synod on the Family,/ we pray to stop blaming others for the threats to marriage and family life./ We ask rather, / that we would know ourselves truly/ and set out to find healing where selfishness tires,/ strains and ruins family relationships./ We pray to the Lord.

We ask for that true religious freedom which is interior./ For freedom from self-pity,/ addictions,/ ingratitude,/ hurtful impatience,/ and those actions which leave others lonely and unattended./ We pray to the Lord.

We ask God for the good health we need to do our work and to love our families./ We pray in solidarity with the sick,/ the fearful and depressed,/ the wounded,/ the dying and those with special needs and challenges,/ We pray to the Lord.

Finally we pray for all the dead/ asking Jesus to welcome them into the heavenly banquet which is shared here at Mass./ We pray to the Lord.

Michael ~ Raising His Sword Against the Enemy of Illusion

MICHAEL, GOD'S GREAT ARCHANGEL, wielding a sword and in battle attire is often invoked and acclaimed for saving churches from enemy attacks, overcoming plagues, changing the course of rivers, creating healing springs, and winning battles. But I would suggest that the angel's real influence is interior and spiritual. 

We're more likely to hear about the spiritual danger of illusion from a Buddhist than from a Christian. Maybe this is Michael's real target as he raises his sword: to separate or save us from illusion.

What is illusion? The word comes from the Latin illudere: to mock. 1. A false idea or conception. 2. An unreal or misleading appearance or image.

• the phrase The American People (what's that!?)
• the speeches of the retired generals brought out at war time
• polls and statistics to bolster argument
• press secretary reports
• everything is Breaking News 
• political cliches and rhetoric
• religious leaders who are really politicians 
• candidates who make grandiose promises
• agency reports that mislead or under report
• the claims of products to make life perfect (quickly)
• the lies we tell
• the masks we wear
• our arguing without knowing much
• our hidden agenda and motives
• falling back on power claims

Perhaps everything on this planet is illusory, because it fades. The joy of the first spring day in the garden disappears as the sun's heat increases and the first hand-blisters appear. The baby's smile is fleeting as hunger and fatigue bring on irritability.

Is illusion just fault-finding? No, illusion is much deeper than that. Fault finding is:

• "Why can't you remember to put the bathroom seat down?" 
• "Your potatoes are always so lumpy!" 
• "Do you have to make so much noise eating?"
• "You drive too fast and never come to a full stop." 
• "You bought the wrong kind of butter, again."

Illusion on the other hand accepts or gives credibility to what appears to be real but conceals untruth. Illusion is everywhere. Perhaps we accept so much that's illusory because it leaves us undisturbed. It makes for a neat world, like the little monkey with his hands over his eyes and ears.

Does accepting the world as illusory make for a cynical worldview (nothing pleases; everything presses down)? I would say, absolutely not - at least for those who believe in the love of God - and all the more for those who know and trust God's love as it is shared with us in Jesus Christ who calls himself the Truth - the one who transcends fads, trends, fashions, innovation, the advice of experts and party spokespersons, the talk-show guests, the entertainment-news and all the claims made as the definitive and last word.

My brothers and sisters I need only add this. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on whatever is true and honorable and just and pure and lovely and admirable. Put into practice what you have leaned from me and what I passed on to you, both what you heard from me and what you saw in me, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4: 8,9)

We hear an echo of this when Pope Francis tells the bishops and others gathered in Rome now, that the Synod on the Family is not for conversing about ideals and impressing others with our intelligence (illusion) but about helping people to live their lives authentically. 

I want to ask Michael the Archangel, with his sword held high, to sever from me (us) all that's pretend, or look alike, said to be true because it's born of power, all the insignia and protocols that conceal weakness, lies that are told to protect the guilty or to keep the peace, everything that's locked away, secreted, dreamed up, cooked, fanciful and falsely reported, buried away, lost. Then I am free, and unencumbered to know and love God.

In October ~ Jesus Christ the Apple Tree

It's apple season in many parts of the country. The retreat house is just over the New York - Pennsylvania border and so there are apple orchards, barns and stands everywhere. There is a lovely hymn which calls Jesus an apple tree.

The lyrics to that poem/hymn are 18th century American. The later tune is sometimes found among Christmas music collections, though neither has anything to do with Christmas. Rather than just presenting the thoughts of others surrounding the hymn I might offer some new ideas of my own.

Jesus as apple tree, is metaphor of course. A metaphor is a symbolic way of speaking: two things are so closely identified with each other that by symbol they are made to look as if they were one and the same. 

• She cried an ocean of tears.
• He died of a broken heart.
• It's raining cats and dogs.
• You're the light of my life. 

But why call Jesus an apple tree? Human beings knew to eat apples 6000 years before the birth of Jesus. "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," we say. Eating apples is a healthy thing to do. And people who knowingly or unknowingly follow Jesus' simple rule of loving others tend to be healthier and happier. I say unknowingly because there are people of course who are loving but who make no identification with Jesus. Indeed Jesus didn't invent love or a rule to follow the way of love - but he did bring love forward and surely modeled it as no one ever has before. Jesus is good for your health.

Apples are fragrant. The flowers of an apple tree in spring are wonderfully fragrant. Some people put an apple to their noses, inhaling the scent before biting into it. Even the wood of the tree itself has a lovely aroma. Now I'm thinking of that other fragrance which surrounds every Catholic Christian ~ the Chrism of our Baptism and Confirmation - and for the priest, his ordination. 

Chrism is consecrated once a year, just before Easter. And part of its blessing is the adding of fragrances, so when it is applied to the top of our heads, foreheads or hands we smell very nice indeed. The symbolism is: that we would leave behind us the lovely fragrance of Christ wherever we go in this life. 

Perhaps the most successful way of creating new apple trees is by grafting: a branch from one kind of apple tree is cut and attached to the trunk or main stem of another. Oh, to be grafted onto Christ - that his very life would careen in me and that I would be fruitful in his love. And what would that love look like?

"Have no fear of human sin. Love people even in their sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Care and is the highest love on earth. Love all of God's creation. The whole and every grain of sand on it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love." Fyodor Dostoyevsky ~ The Brothers Karamazov