Walk by Faith (Jeremy Camp)

                        Would I believe you when you would say 

                        Your hand will guide my every way 

                        Will I receive the words You say 

                        Every moment of every day 

                        Well, I will walk by faith 

                        Even when I cannot see 

                        Well, because this broken road 

                        Prepares your will for me 

                        Help me to win my endless fears 

                        You’ve been so faithful for all my years 

                        With one breath You make me new 

                        Your grace covers all I do 

                        [Chorus] 

                        Well, I’m broken, but I still see Your face 

                        Well, You’ve spoken, pouring Your words of grace 

                        [Chorus] 

                        Well, hallelujah, hallelu 

                        (I will walk by faith) 

                        Well, hallelujah, hallelu 

                        (I will walk by faith) 

                        I will walk, I will walk, I will walk by faith
                        I will, I will, I will walk by faith

To listen to Jeremy Camp's song, click on the video below:

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Living Faith, Spiritual Gardening (C. King)

This is how it is with the kingdom of God; it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.  (Mark 4:26-27)

Next to my desk at work is posted a Zen proverb that offers an even more passive version of Jesus’ words:  Sit quietly, doing nothing, spring comes and the grass grows by itself.  […] My role in kingdom building is simply to scatter seeds.

Claire J. King reflects on our spiritual growth, or spiritual gardening, and the ways the kingdom grows, ever imperceptibly, ever powerfully.  To read her complete reflection on the Catholic website Living Faith, click here.

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Sunday Gospel Reflection, June 14, 2015: We walk by faith, not by sight...

We walk by faith, not by sight… 

And it’s a good thing, because God’s kingdom is unfolding 

 in ways that are so beyond our comprehension! 

In our reading from Ezekiel this Sunday, the prophet wants the people to understand that only God can restore their destiny:  I, the Lord, bring low the high tree, lift high the lowly tree…  The people of Israel are having trouble believing this message; in exile, their faith in God is waning.  But the Lord reassures them:  As I, the Lord, have spoken, so will I do.  God is looking after God’s kingdom, and if the people focus on where God has planted them, they will prosper, because God who is ever faithful will be working in their life:  The just one shall flourish like the palm tree, Psalm 92 tells us, like a cedar of Lebanon shall he grow…  It’s all about faith, and faithfulness.

In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus uses parables to help the crowds understand the kingdom of God, choosing images of seed sown and the growth that results.  The process of cultivation may be a mystery – through it all the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how – but the result, in the end,  is tangible; likewise, we may not yet be able to see the fullness of God’s kingdom, but that kingdom is growing all around us, all the same, and growing within us as God works within us.  We may not think much of our gifts, but they do produce… so long as we walk by faith, as Paul tells the Corinthians.  Sight can leave us blind to what faith makes apparent; the more we believe in and are attentive to God’s power at work in us, the more physical sight fades in importance. If we allow faith to guide us, it will one day bring us home to the Lord, home to the fullness of that kingdom we cannot yet comprehend.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

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There is no better cookie (Naomi Shihab Nye)

"Gate 4-A" 

After learning my flight was detained 4 hours,

I heard the announcement:

If anyone in the vicinity of gate 4-A understands any Arabic,

Please come to the gate immediately.   

Well--one pauses these days. Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there.
An older woman in full traditional Palestinian dress,
Just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly.

Help, said the flight service person. Talk to her. What is her

Problem? We told her the flight was going to be 4 hours late and she

Did this.   

I put my arm around her and spoke to her haltingly.

Shu dow-a, shu-beduck habibti, stani stani schway, min fadlick,

Sho bit se-wee?   

The minute she heard any words she knew--however poorly used--

She stopped crying.
She thought our flight had been canceled entirely.
She needed to be in El Paso for some major medical treatment the
Following day. I said no, no, we're fine, you'll get there, just late.  

Who is picking you up? Let's call him and tell him.

We called her son and I spoke with him in English.

I told him I would stay with his mother till we got on the plane and

Would ride next to her--Southwest.  

She talked to him. Then we called her other sons just for the fun of

It. Then we called my dad and he and she spoke for a while in Arabic and
Found out of course they had ten shared friends.  

Then I thought just for the heck of it why not call some Palestinian

Poets I know and let them chat with her. This all took up about 2 hours.  

She was laughing a lot by then. Telling about her life. Answering
Questions.  

She had pulled a sack of homemade mamool cookies--little powdered
Sugar crumbly mounds stuffed with dates and nuts--out of her bag--
And was offering them to all the women at the gate.  

To my amazement, not a single woman declined one. It was like a

Sacrament. The traveler from Argentina, the traveler from California,
The lovely woman from Laredo--we were all covered with the same

Powdered sugar. And smiling. There is no better cookie.  

And I noticed my new best friend--by now we were holding hands--

Had a potted plant poking out of her bag, some medicinal thing,

With green furry leaves. Such an old country traveling tradition. Always

Carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.  

And I looked around that gate of late and weary ones and thought,

This is the world I want to live in. The shared world.
Not a single person in this gate--once the crying of confusion stopped

--has seemed apprehensive about any other person.  

They took the cookies. I wanted to hug all those other women too.

This can still happen anywhere.  

Not everything is lost.  

--Naomi Shihab Nye 

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Author bio / Collected poems

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We are the Body of Christ (G. Diekman, OSB)

What difference does it make 

if the bread and wine 

turn into the Body and Blood of Christ 

and we don't? 

--Godfrey Diekman, OSB

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Sunday Gospel Reflection, June 7, 2015: Christ offered himself unblemished to God...

Christ offered himself unblemished to God…  

Are you a living sacrifice?  

We celebrate this weekend the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ with readings that focus on word and sacrifice:  in Exodus, Moses reads from the book of the covenant and sacrifices young bulls; in Mark, Jesus establishes the sacrifice of his body and blood as the marker of a new covenant.  The author of Hebrews tells us that, as mediator of that covenant, Jesus entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 

This is why we offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving – none other than Eucharist – at every Mass, in the presence of all the people (Psalm 116):  liturgy is our chance not only to give public witness to what God has done in our lives, but also to enter wholly, body and soul, into that covenant with the entirety of our life, and to dedicate ourselves to the love that is at its core.  The celebration of the Mass is a celebration of the whole life of Jesus Christ; it is also a celebration of our total commitment to God, marking the covenant we have through baptism with Jesus.  If Jesus came to show us a way to salvation, then Eucharist is our celebration of that way, and a first step in following it.

Sacrifice will always be part of our journey; we participate daily in the death and rising of the Lord, giving up ourselves, our ego, so that we might exist for other, as Jesus, in his life of self-giving sacrifice, did for all humankind.  Our lives as Christians need also to be that living sacrifice, arms open to the needs of the world, hearts open with an outpouring of love.

This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.

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Unity-in-difference (K. Mongrain)

The Church at its best is a community of love that embodies the unity-in-difference of the Trinity. Christians learn how to respect difference while bonding in love through the life of prayerful participation in the sacraments. Christ is alive and living in the Church, and this is where most people will find him most of the time if they sincerely want to know him, his Spirit, and his Father.

--Kevin Mongrain, Ph.D., Hans Urs von Balthasar:  

Rediscovering Holistic Christianity (p.46)

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