Thoughts on compassion

 

Nothing Human is Alien

Through compassion it is possible to recognize that the craving for love that people feel resides also in our own hearts, that the cruelty that the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses. Through compassion we also sense our hope for forgiveness in our friends’ eyes and our hatred in their bitter mouths. When they kill, we know that we could have done it; when they give life, we know that we can do the same. For a compassionate man nothing human is alien; no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Eucharist

 

John 6:24–35

Friends, today’s Gospel comes from the bread of life discourse: “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” What God has wanted from the beginning is to sit down with his creatures in a fellowship banquet, sharing life and laughter, giving and receiving and giving back again. This is the loop of grace that I’ve often spoken of. The more we receive the divine life, the more we should give it away and thereby get more of it. Throughout the Old Testament, we find images of the holy banquet. On God’s holy mountain, Isaiah says, there will be good meats and pure, choice wines. And throughout his ministry, Jesus hosts meals to which all are invited. God wants to share his life with us. This comes to full expression in the Eucharist, when Jesus identifies himself so radically with the bread and the wine that they change into his Body and Blood, and then he invites all of us around this table to feast and share life, to give and receive and give again. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Saint Ignatius

To understand St. Ignatius, it’s helpful to begin with his core attitude, his way of looking at the world, his “spirituality.” Fortunately, since he wrote so much about this, we don’t have to work hard to know it.  Looking around the world, Ignatius perceived the footprints and handprints of God everywhere.  To his eyes the world was one big sign of God’s love, a huge love letter to humankind.  First there is creation in all its glory – yes, trees and seasons, but even more so humanity in its own splendor.  More personally, Ignatius looked at his life and was deeply thankful that God had given him so many gifts and talents, and so many loved ones.  All of these he accepted as signs of God’s glorious creative love.

 

But for Ignatius God is not only the giver of earthly life, God is also the giver of eternal life: redemption.  As splendid as this world is, relationships and personal gifts are nothing compared to the eternal gifts that God has already crafted for us.  Despite the fact that we are owed nothing, despite the fact that we could never merit all that has been given, God gives them to us anyway…  just because he loves us.

 

But there’s more: Ignatius saw God not only as the source of all that is – both earthly and eternal – but he experienced God as the constant sustainer of life. He imagined God as a happy, attentive, faithful laborer, who never calls in sick, who never takes a break, but who toils night and day, day and night, so that we and the world can flourish. It is God who sustains every living thing, and in the case of human beings, not only physically or biologically, but also spiritually.  At every moment of our lives, from conception to death, God is hard at work filling us with his light and love and urging us to grow in wisdom, in holiness, and in love… All of this, so that one day we will be ready to receive the eternal gifts that await us.

 

In short, Ignatius knew that he and his life were gift – pure gift.  For this reason he cultivated in his heart a constant attitude of thanksgiving.  He was a deeply grateful man.  As he wrote in the Spiritual Exercises: we gaze upon the generosity of God and one question should arise in our hearts:  What ought I do to in order to say thank you to God?  The response, of course, is to love back, to love God with a love that is itself marked with profound and eager generosity.

 

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.  

 

Today, Ignatius invites us to join him in being generous lovers of the One who first loves us.

 

Fr. Frank Reale, S.J.

Thoughts on August

 How do you feel about August?  I feel like August does not get any respect.  It is in the middle of summer and in many places in the US, it is very hot and humid.  Perhaps you have heard the term, the Dog Days of Summer?  I believe they are referring to August.  Besides the heat, there are no national holidays in August, so no days off work without taking a personal day or using some vacation days.  Another thing that seems to give August a bad name is that August is the month when kids go back to school, so children and even parents dislike August for that reason as well.  Yes, August is very underrated and disliked by many.  So what are some good things about August?  Well, it's still summer time.  I don't know about you, but as I get older, I like summer way better than fall or winter.  You can wear shorts, t-shirts, flip flops or no shoes at all.  If you get hot, you can sit in the shade with a cool drink or go inside for some air conditioning.  Even pets prefer summer over winter.  I take my dog on walks that are twice as long in the summer versus the winter.  Yes, August gets overlooked, but when you think about it, it's not as bad as you think!

Scott W

Thoughts on unity

 

The Divine Gift of Unity

Jesus prays for unity among his disciples and among those who through the teaching of his disciples will come to believe in him. He says: “May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I in you . . .” (John 17:21). These words of Jesus reveal the mystery that unity among people is not first of all the result of human effort, but rather a divine gift. Unity among people is a reflection of the unity of God. The desire for unity is deep and strong among people. It is a desire between friends, between married people, between communities, and between countries. Wherever there is a true experience of unity, there is a sense of giftedness. While unity satisfies our deepest need, it cannot be explained by what we say or do. There exists no formula for unity.  When Jesus prays for unity, he asks his Father that those who believe in him, that is, in his full communion with the Father, will become part of that unity. I continue to see in myself and others how often we try to make unity among ourselves by focusing all our attention on each other and trying to find the place where we can feel united. But often we become disillusioned, realizing that no human being is capable of offering us what we most want. Such disillusionment can easily make us become bitter, cynical, demanding, even violent. Jesus calls us to seek our unity in and through him. When we direct our inner attention not first of all to each other, but to God to whom we belong, then we will discover that in God we also belong to each other. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on radical servanthood

 

In Service We Encounter God

Radical servanthood does not make sense unless we introduce a new level of understanding and see it as the way to encounter God. To be humble and persecuted cannot be desired unless we can find God in humility and persecution. When we begin to see God, the source of all our comfort and consolation, in the center of servanthood, compassion becomes much more than doing good for unfortunate people. Radical servanthood, as the encounter with the compassionate God, takes us beyond the distinctions between wealth and poverty, success and failure, fortune and bad luck. Radical servanthood is not an enterprise in which we try to surround ourselves with as much misery as possible, but a joyful way of life in which our eyes are opened to the vision of the true God who chose to be revealed in servanthood. The poor are called blessed not because poverty is good, but because theirs is the kingdom of heaven; the mourners are called blessed not because mourning is good, but because they shall be comforted. Here we are touching the profound spiritual truth that service is an expression of the search for God and not just of the desire to bring about individual or social change. Henri Nouwen

More thoughts on prayer

 

God’s Heart Has Become One With Ours

When we say to people, “I will pray for you,” we make a very important commitment. The sad thing is that this remark often remains nothing but a well-meant expression of concern. But when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart, then all those who have become part of our lives are led into the healing presence of God and touched by him in the center of our being. We are speaking here about a mystery for which words are inadequate. It is the mystery that the heart, which is the center of our being, is transformed by God into his own heart, a heart large enough to embrace the entire universe. Through prayer we can carry in our heart all human pain and sorrow, all conflicts and agonies, all torture and war, all hunger, loneliness, and misery, not because of some great psychological or emotional capacity, but because God’s heart has become one with ours. Henri Nouwen