Thoughts on prayer

 

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 11:1–13

Friends, our Gospel for today gives us an opportunity to reflect on the great prayer that Jesus taught us. Think how this prayer links us to all of the great figures in Christian history, from Peter and Paul to Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Francis of Assisi, John Henry Newman, G. K. Chesterton, John Paul II, and right up to the present day. A desire to pray is planted deep within us. It just means the desire to speak to God and to listen to him. Keep in mind that prayer is not designed to change God’s mind or to tell God something he doesn’t know. God isn’t like a big city boss or a reluctant pasha whom we have to persuade. He is rather the one who wants nothing other than to give us good things—though they might not always be what we want. Can you see how this prayer rightly orders us? We must put God’s holy name first; we must strive to do his will in all things and at all times; we must be strengthened by spiritual food or we will fall; we must be agents of forgiveness; we must be able to withstand the dark powers. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on the Jesuits

On July 31, the Church will celebrate the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a rather “big deal” for those whose lives have been shaped by Jesuits and their apostolic works, including, of course, White House Retreat. While its influence may often be subtle and even unnoticed, Jesuit (Ignatian) spirituality permeates the way in which our priests preach and teach, and the way in which our retreatants are invited to express themselves in prayer, in faith, and in service. 

 

Wanting deeply to please God, Ignatius strove to make his entire life a huge thank-you back to God. He did so by becoming a freer, more loving person, not fixated on his own perspective and desires, but sincerely committed to what he perceived to be God’s desires and hopes for humankind. Pleasing God by living according to God’s plans is what motivated Ignatius. And this is what allowed him to accept so many unexpected, and probably also undesired, twists and turns in his life. 

 

If Jesuit spirituality as a concept can sound a bit mysterious, there is nothing abstract about the actual Jesuits who have served White House Retreat over the course of its 103-year history.  Some have been bigger than life; some rather easily forgotten.  Each has had weaknesses as well as strengths.  At their best, all were propelled in ministry by the same holy desires that propelled the life of Ignatius of Loyola.  Key to their Jesuit vocation have been two hallmarks held in tension: a deep dedication to the work to which each has been assigned, combined with an ongoing availability, even at a moment’s notice, to take up a new assignment if that be the decision of the Jesuit provincial.

 

In your kindness, please pray for Jesuits, that we may be faithful to the vocation we have been given. And please pray that God will continue to call men to the Society of Jesus as priests and brothers, eager to serve God’s people in the manner of St. Ignatius.  A.M.D.G.

 

 

Fr. Frank Reale, SJ

Thoughts on love

 

A Greater Love than We Can Contain

Love, as Jesus reveals it to us, is a relationship between persons. The word “person” is a wonderful word. It comes from the Latin words per, which means “through” and sonare, which means “to sound.” A person is someone who is sounding through. What are we sounding through? We are sounding through a greater love than we ourselves can contain. When we say to somebody, “I love you,” that really means, “You are a window through which I can get a glimpse of the infinite love of God.”

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”   - Matthew 5: 14 - 16

Thoughts on Martha and Mary

 

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Luke 10:38–42

Friends, today’s Gospel is the account of Jesus’ visit with Martha and Mary. I have a different perspective from the standard view of balancing the active versus the contemplative life. In service of God’s way of ordering the world, Jesus allowed women into his inner circle. The story of Martha and Mary gives us a very interesting clue in this regard. Martha is in the space reserved for women: She is in the kitchen preparing the meal. But Mary is in the place reserved for men: She is sitting at the feet of the rabbi. It is the attitude of the disciple.  Luke, who told this story, was a companion of Paul, and his Gospel reflects many of Paul’s themes. In Galatians, Paul famously said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” This was very radical stuff, for these were some of the most basic social divisions of the time, and each carried a clear evaluative weight. Free men were a lot better off than slaves, Jews had huge advantages over Greeks, and males were seen as superior to females. But not anymore, in light of the kingdom of God that Jesus announced. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on community

 

Building a New Community

We can love others because the “I” in our innermost self has heard the first love – which is God's unconditional, unlimited love. When we come together in relationships, we recognize that others are also loved with the first love. The first love incarnates in different ways in every person and calls us together to build a new home, a new community, a new dwelling place for God in this world.

“If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”   - Matthew 5: 46 - 48

More thoughts on evangelization

 

Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 10:7–15

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus sends the Twelve to evangelize the countryside. To evangelize is to proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead. When this kerygma, this Paschal Mystery, is not at the heart of the project, Christian evangelization effectively disappears, devolving into a summons to bland religiosity or generic spirituality. When Jesus crucified and risen is not proclaimed, a beige and unthreatening Catholicism emerges, a thought system that is, at best, an echo of the environing culture. Peter Maurin, one of the founders of the Catholic Worker movement, said that the Church has taken its own dynamite and placed it in hermetically sealed containers and sat on the lid.  In a similar vein, Protestant theologian Stanley Hauerwas commented that the problem with Christianity is not that it is socially conservative or politically liberal but that “it is just too damned dull”! For both Maurin and Hauerwas, what leads to this attenuation is a refusal to preach the dangerous and unnerving news concerning Jesus risen from the dead. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on worship

 

God is Right Here

Worship is coming together as a community of God to claim the presence of Christ. So we listen to the readings, we break the bread, we share the cup, we sing songs. They are all gestures in which we remind each other that no matter what we are experiencing – whether it is joy or pain or suffering – God is there. The world around us is trying to pull us away from that. It wants to say that nothing is happening here so why don't you buy this or go here or find your happiness there? The worshipping community is saying God is right here with us….The worship life of the church over the year is bringing Christ back into the center of our lives and realizing that we as a body of people are representing the living Christ in our world.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another…"    - Hebrews 10: 24, 25

Thoughts on evangelization

 

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 10:1–12, 17–20 (or 10:1–9)

Friends, our Gospel shows us what Jesus wants his followers to be doing and how they ought do it. We are a missionary Church. We are sent by the Lord to spread his word and do his work. The Gospel is just not something that we are meant to cling to for our own benefit; it is seed that we are meant to give away. Prayer is not incidental to ministry. It is not decorative. It is the lifeblood of the Church’s efforts. Without it, nothing will succeed; without it, no ministers will come forward. At all times pray, pray, pray. Poverty and simplicity of life are prerequisites to the effective proclamation of the Gospel. Anthony, Benedict, Chrysostom, Francis and Clare, Dominic, Ignatius, Mother Teresa—across the board, the most effective proclaimers of the Gospel are those who rely on the providence of God and strip themselves of worldliness. What is the first thing that the minister should do upon entering a city? “Cure the sick in it.” Christ is Soter, healer of both body and spirit. The second great task of the Church is to proclaim that “the kingdom of God is at hand.” The Church is an announcing, proclaiming, evangelizing organism.  Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on preparation

During my first years as a priest, I worked at one of the Jesuit high schools in St. Louis. One of my responsibilities was the organization of the school’s monthly “all-school Masses.” After about two years of arranging things – from the placement of chairs in the school gymnasium, to the recruitment of presiders, lectors and servers – it finally dawned on me that all these efforts, good as I hoped they were, had very little to do with planning, but lots to do with preparation. Indeed, I came to see that we don’t plan liturgies at all, any more than we plan any of our encounters with God, whether in prayer or in any other aspect of our lives.  Rather, the work is always God’s, not our own – the Spirit moves as it wills.  We don’t make God “happen.”  Instead, we seek to prepare ourselves in such a way that we leave ourselves more open and more available to the growth, the conversion and the discernment which are at the core of what it means to be a Christian.

 

All of us at times find ourselves surprised by life’s developments, by situations and turns-of-events which we have not planned.  Perhaps our best preparation as Christians for the unknown challenges and invitations that come our way is our ongoing commitment to live lives rooted in

faith, hope, and love whatever the current circumstances may be.  Then we will be ready, indeed prepared, for what we do not or cannot anticipate, for whatever the Lord wants to do for, with, and in us in the future.

 

Retreats are one special way in which we “prepare,” for both the known and the unknown, for both the inevitable and the unpredictable, knowing that if we remain rooted in faith, we will be able to recognize God’s presence and support each day of our lives. A.M.D.G.

 

Fr. Frank Reale, SJ

Thoughts on Independence Day

 

A prayer for Independence Day

Loving God,

We greet this Fourth of July with grateful hearts as we call to mind the vision of freedom and justice for all upon which our country was built.

We give thanks for those who imagined this vision.

We are grateful to those who continue advocating for all and pursuing a land of peace, liberty, and equity for all. We realize it is still being created, however, as we witness the divisions, prejudices, and injustices that plague us.

May we hold fast to the dream and vision of unity within our country.

May we dedicate ourselves to living as brothers and sisters respectful of one another's dignity and need for equity.

May we also realize the importance of reverencing our earth which provides for and sustains much of our lives.

We give glory and praise to our God and pray that we may always live in harmony as one family.

Amen

- Notre Dame Sisters

Thoughts on Jesus calming the sea

 

Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Matthew 8:23–27

Friends, in this wonderful story of the calming of the storm at sea, we witness some of the spiritual dynamics of fear and trust. The disciples stand symbolically for all of us journeying through life within the narrow confines of the fearful ego. When they confront the storm and the mighty waves, they are immediately filled with terror. Similarly, when the trials and anxieties of life confront the ego, the first reaction is fear, since there is no power beyond itself upon which it can rely. In the midst of this terrible storm, this inner and outer tension, Jesus symbolizes that divine energy that remains unaffected by the fear-storms generated by the grasping ego.  Continuing to read the story at a spiritual level, we see that it is none other than this divine power that successfully calms the waves: He “rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was great calm.” This beautiful narrative seems to suggest that if we but awaken to the presence of God within us, if we learn to live and to see at a deeper level, if we live in basic trust rather than fear, then we can withstand even the most frightening storms. Bishop Robert Barron