Thoughts on gratitude

 

Gratitude Transforms

From: Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit

The opposite of resentment is gratitude (from the Latin gratia = favor). Gratitude is more than an occasional “thanks be to God.” Gratitude is the attitude that enables us to let go of anger, receive the hidden gifts of those we want to serve, and make these gifts visible to the community as a source of celebration.

Reflection Question: How has gratitude allowed you to receive hidden gifts from those you serve?

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. - Colossians 3: 16

Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) was a priest, professor, and spiritual writer. He authored over 40 books on the spiritual life and spent his final years at L'Arche Daybreak, a community for people with intellectual disabilities. Drawing from his own journey of vulnerability and faith, he invites seekers into deeper intimacy with God, themselves, and others.

More Books by Henri Nouwen

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Thoughts on parables

 

Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 8:4–15

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus explains the purpose of the parables: “Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God has been granted to you; but to the rest, they are made known through parables so that they may look but not see, and hear but not understand.” The use of the word “para” in the New Testament signals the failure to see at various levels. The great metaphor here is the blindness of the Jews, a blindness that is identified with disobedience. The parables of Christ are meant to highlight and point out this blindness, this willful refusal to see. They themselves, in their peculiar form, are judgments on those who cannot see in them signs of salvation. The parables are often exercises whose purpose is to confuse and confound the hearer, overturning her expectations and upsetting her theological convictions. A parable does its work by turning our ordinary conception of the spiritual world upside down. And we would be greatly remiss if we did not attend to the instruction that emerges from those startling, funny, off-putting, and strangely enlightening stories that Jesus loved to tell.  Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on mercy

 

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 18:21–35

Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable that illustrates God’s mercy. The Latin word for mercy is misericordia, which designates the suffering of the heart, or compassion—cum patior (“I suffer with”).  Mercy is identical to what the Old Testament authors refer to as God’s hesed or tender mercy. It is the characteristic of God, for God is love. The love that obtains among the Trinitarian persons spills over into God’s love for the world that he has made. Think of a mother’s love for her children. Could you ever imagine a mother becoming indifferent to one of her offspring? But even should she forget, we read in the prophet Isaiah, God will never forget his own. Consider the fact that nothing would exist were it not willed into being by God. But God has no need of anything; hence, his sustaining of the universe is an act of disinterested love and tender mercy.  There is no greater manifestation of the divine mercy than the forgiveness of sins. When G. K. Chesterton was asked why he became a Catholic, he answered, “To have my sins forgiven.” This is the greatest grace the Church can offer: reconciliation, the restoration of the divine friendship, the forgiveness of our sins. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on solitude

 

The Careful Balance

From: Spiritual Formation: Following the Movements of the Spirit

Somewhere we know that without a lonely place, our lives are in danger. Somewhere we know that without silence, words lose their meaning; that without listening, speaking no longer heals; that without distance, closeness cannot cure. Somewhere we know that without a solitary place, our actions quickly become empty gestures. The careful balance between silence and words, withdrawal and involvement, distance and closeness, solitude and community forms the basis of the spiritual life and should therefore be the subject of our most personal attention.

Reflection Question: Where can you find your solitary place? If you can't find one easily, how can you make one for yourself?

… for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. - Philippians 2: 13

Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) was a priest, professor, and spiritual writer. He authored over 40 books on the spiritual life and spent his final years at L'Arche Daybreak, a community for people with intellectual disabilities. Drawing from his own journey of vulnerability and faith, he invites seekers into deeper intimacy with God, themselves, and others.

More Books by Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Matthew 1:1–16, 18–23

Friends, today we celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. And our Gospel declares that she will be the mother of Jesus, who would be “God with us.” Mary is a rich and multivalent symbolic figure in all of the Gospels. In Luke’s infancy narrative, she emerges as the spokesperson for ancient Israel, speaking, in her Magnificat, in the words and cadences of Hannah. In Matthew’s Christmas account, she is compelled to go into exile in Egypt and is then called back to her home, recapitulating thereby the journey of Israel from slavery to freedom. She is thus the symbolic embodiment of faithful and patient Israel, longing for deliverance.  In John’s Gospel, she is, above all, mother—the physical mother of Jesus and, through him, the mother of all who would come to new life in him. As mother of the Lord, she is, once again, Israel, that entire series of events and system of ideas from which Jesus emerged and in terms of which he alone becomes intelligible. Hans Urs von Balthasar commented in the same vein that Mary effectively awakened the messianic consciousness of Jesus through her recounting of the story of Israel to her son.  Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on summer

 Summer

For many people, summer has a lot of different parameters as far as when it begins and when it ends. For children, summer begins when school lets out for the year.  When I was a kid, that meant sometime in June, but now it means late May.  This past school year, my children were done for the year on May 23rd!  For people who work for a living, Memorial Day weekend kind of marks the beginning of summer, a time when the temperatures are warmer and the local swimming pools open up.  Of course, if you go by the calendar, the official beginning of summer is on June 21st with the summer solstice.  If the weather doesn't cooperate, most anyone else will have to admit that by July 4th, Independence Day weekend, we are definitely into summer.  For a few, summer doesn't begin until you take your vacation from work and go on a trip out of town. 

People who have children in school will most likely agree that what we think of as summer, the time off between when school ends and when it begins, has definitely moved from a Memorial Day to Labor Day time period to a late May to early to mid August time period as schools nation wide have adjusted their schedules over the last 20 years or so.  For many folks, once the calendar flips over to August, vacations are over and you are buying back to school supplies and thinking about school starting again.  But really, summer is only about half over because it doesn't really end until Sept 21st. So when is summer to you?  I guess it really doesn't matter, unless you make calendars.  Enjoy the warm weather and time off of work.  Slow down and enjoy the enjoyment!

Scott

Thoughts on judgements

 

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

In celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), it is not uncommon for individuals to list among their sins that they have been “judgmental.” Sometimes I am left wondering if they have truly committed a sin.

Human beings have a right to make judgments. We have a right to have opinions, even negative ones! But, how do we exercise that right in a way that is consistent with our desire and commitment to act morally, to act as Jesus did? Of course, as Christians the answer to that question is crucial because the fact is that although we have a right to have (negative) opinions/judgments, we cannot exercise that right in such a way that we denigrate someone else or dismiss them as simply evil. They may do evil things, in our judgment, and may have qualities and attitudes which we might reasonably consider to be obnoxious. We may also perceive that they make decisions which are self-serving, insensitive, foolish or even cruel. All of that may be true, in our judgment, BUT we do not as Christians have the right to use our own opinions, judgments and words as weapons to destroy someone else. Jesus himself could be quite critical at times of the behaviors and attitudes of others, but he did not equate what they did with who they were as a son or daughter of God.

So, what guidelines should apply to the Christian exercise of judging? First, of course, our opinions must be, as best we can determine, true and accurate. We do not have permission to lie or gossip! Also, we must bring a certain humility to our opinions. Others have the right to make judgments, and often those are inconsistent with our own. We should not assume that our opinions and judgments contain total and absolute truth. There’s one more criterion, and for me at least, it’s the toughest one. Even when I am certain that my opinion is accurate, and even when I am being careful to separate the behavior from the person, I must keep in mind the most basic of Christian principles… My words and actions should be motivated by love. If I cannot sincerely say that the sharing of my opinions will serve the cause of helping a person or the world be better, the most loving option is usually to keep my judgments to myself – my mouth shut!

Fr. Frank Reale, S.J.