Every day you shall wonder at the richness of life (Isabel Allende / Phillips Brooks)

We don’t even know how strong we are 

until we are forced to bring
that hidden strength forward.
 In times of tragedy, of war, of necessity,
people do amazing things.
The human capacity for survival 

and renewal is amazing.

 --Isabel Allende 

    O, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks! Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle. But you shall be a miracle. Every day you shall wonder at yourself, at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God. 

--Phillips Brooks,
“Going Up to Jerusalem,”
Twenty Sermons

 

Image source: https://imrannsons.com/strenght-capabilities.htm
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The expectation of Advent (St. Pope John Paul II / Henri Nouwen)

Advent is… [an] annual meditation
on the work of salvation and sanctification,
the work of grace and love
which the Lord began and continually begins
in every person and in every generation.

 --St. Pope John Paul II 

    The expectation of Advent is anchored in the event of God’s incarnation. The more I come in touch with what happened in the past, the more I come in touch with what is to come. The Gospel not only reminds me of what took place but also of what will take place. In the contemplation of Christ’s first coming, I can discover the signs of his second coming. By looking back in meditation, I can look forward in expectation. By reflection, I can project; by conserving the memory of Christ’s birth, I can progress to the fulfillment of his kingdom. I am struck by the fact that the prophets speaking about the future of Israel always kept reminding their people of God’s great works in the past. They could look forward with confidence because they could look backward with awe to Yahweh’s great deeds. 

    I pray that Advent will offer me the opportunity to deepen my memory of God’s great deeds in time and will set me free to look forward with courage to the fulfillment of time by him who came and is still to come. 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: https://friendsofthesavior.org/blog/longing-for-the-dawn-an-advent-meditation
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Signs in the sun and the moon and the stars (Henri Nouwen)

   The state of the world suggests to me the urgent need for a spirituality that takes the end things very seriously, not a spirituality of withdrawal, nor of blindness to the powers of the world, but a spirituality that allows us to live in this world without belonging to it, a spirituality that allows us to take the joy and peace of the divine life even when we are surrounded by the powers and principalities of evil, death, and destruction. 

   I wonder if a spirituality of liberation does not need to be deepened by a spirituality of exile or captivity. I wonder if a spirituality that focuses on the alleviation of poverty should not be deepened by a spirituality that allows people to continue their lives when their poverty only increases. I wonder if a spirituality that encourages peacemaking should not be deepened by a spirituality that allows us to remain faithful when the only things we see are dying children, burning houses, and the total destruction of our civilization. 

   May God prevent any of these horrors from taking place, may we do all that is possible to prevent them, but may we never lose our faith when “great misery [descends] on the land and wrath on this people . . . [when there are] signs in the sun and moon and stars . . . [when] nations [are] in agony, bewildered by the clamor of the ocean and its waves” (Luke 21:24–26). I pray that we will not be swept away by our own curiosity, sensationalism, and panic, but remain attentive to him who comes and will say: “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34–35). 

--Henri Nouwen 

Image source: Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire Destruction (1836), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Course_of_Empire_%28paintings%29#/media/File:Cole_Thomas_The_Course_of_Empire_Destruction_1836.jpg
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When your sorrow is comforted (Isabel Allende / Antoine de Saint-Exupéry)

There is no death, daughter.
People die only when we forget them,
my mother explained shortly before she left me.
If you can remember me,
I will be with you always.

 --Isabel Allende, Eva Luna

    All men have the stars… but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For other they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems. For my businessman they were wealth. But all these stars are silent. 

    You — you alone — will have the stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night… 

    And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content to have known me. You will always be my friend. You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure… And your friends will be properly astonished to see you laughing as you look up at the sky! 

--Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,
The Little Prince 

In November we remember All Souls...

Image source: https://www.designboom.com/art/encounter-little-prince-exhibition-paris-musee-des-arts-decoratifs-02-17-2022/
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Sunday Gospel Reflection, December 1, 2024: Strengthen your hearts...

Strengthen your hearts…

How can Christians stand erect and raise their heads

in moments of trial and tribulation? 

    In Luke’s Gospel, as his teaching ministry in Jerusalem comes to a close, just before his Passion, Jesus speaks to his disciples of the tribulations that are imminent, reminding them that they must be vigilant at all times, and pray that they have the strength to escape the tribulations and to stand before the Son of Man. Some people will die of fright, Jesus says, but the disciples know the Lord, know how to remain in right relationship with him, and thus know that their redemption is at hand. They must continue to trust, therefore, in the promises given through the prophet Jeremiah: that the just shoot that is Jesus shall do what is right and just in the land. 

    We want to know the ways of the Lord; we would rather have certainty than signs, definite answers rather than dismay. But, as Psalm 25 reminds us, the friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction. It is openness to this instruction and trust in the Lord our justice that allow all Christians to stand erect and raise their heads in moments of trial and tribulation. The psalmist prays, Your ways, o Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths; we echo this prayer as we wait for the coming of Christ. 

    Yet, as St. Paul tells the Thessalonians, we have simply to conduct ourselves in such a way as to please God, according to the instructions given to us through the Lord Jesus to be assured of eternal life. If we are open to God’s love active in our lives, then the Lord will make us increase and abound in love for one another and for all – a sure way for us to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus. Constant vigilance, as the refrain goes, is essential. Don’t lose sight of the goal that is eternal life; don’t lose sight of the face of God who loves you and who calls you to union with him; don’t lose sight of the love that is ours, but remain strong in heart, dedicated to the one Lord Jesus Christ. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture classes and homilies.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Let God know how you are grateful (Mary Oliver / Thornton Wilder)

Love still as once you loved,
and without patience.
Let God know how you are grateful.
That the gift has been given.

 --Mary Oliver 

    The happiness of life is made up of little things - a smile, a helping hand, a caring heart, a word of praise, a moment of shared laughter. We are most alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. 

--Thornton Wilder 

What are you grateful for today?
Give thanks to God! 

Image source: https://lacatholics.org/2020/11/10/gratitude/
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We give thanks this day (Thomas Merton / O. Eugene Pickett)

To be grateful is to recognize
the love of God in everything.

--Thomas Merton 

For the expanding grandeur of creation, worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies, filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations:
We give thanks this day.

For this fragile planet earth, its times and tides, its sunsets and seasons:
We give thanks this day.

For the joy of human life, its wonders and surprises, its hopes and achievements:
We give thanks this day.

For our human community, our common past and future hope, our oneness transcending all separation, our capacity to work for peace and justice in the midst of hostility and oppression:
We give thanks this day.

For high hopes and noble causes, for faith without fanaticism, for understanding of views not shared:
We give thanks this day.

For all who have labored and suffered for a fairer world, who have lived so that others might live in dignity and freedom:
We give thanks this day.

For human liberty and sacred rites; for opportunities to change and grow, to affirm and choose:
We give thanks this day.

We pray that we may live not by our fears but by our hopes, not by our words but by our deeds.
We give thanks this day. 

 --O. Eugene Pickett, Giving Thanks 

Image source 1: Harvest theme at the altar, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1246813152046771&set=a.1198614813533272 

Image source 2: Catherine Twomey, from her “Universe” series, https://humansandnature.org/the-universe/
Prayer source