Thoughts on community

 

Community Makes God Visible

Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other as a gesture of hope. In community we say: “Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs—but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.” Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. We can do little with them as individual stones except compare them and judge their beauty and value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic, portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the Passage of Time

  "In my beginning is my end," the opening verse of poet T.S. Eliot's "Four Quartets" reflection on the passing of time, is most appropriate for us as we approach the end of the liturgical year with the feast of Christ the King and the beginning of a new year on the First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2023).

 

The bible readings for this Sunday's Feast of Christ the King (November 26, 2023) invite our prayerful reflection on such endings and beginnings.

 

For some people, entitling Christ as our "King" might ring untrue or even sacrilege because of the discredit royalty has gained in recent years. Who would want the incarnate Son of God and his immaculate mother to be burdened with such royal family "trappings"?

 

What kind of royalty are we talking about? Jesus' trial before Pontius Pilate (Matt 27:11-14, Mk 15:2-5, Lk 23:2-5) is inconclusive, finding "no crime in this man," but Jesus' last days exemplify his reign that is “not of this world,” a kingdom of self emptying for the least in this world, rather than some kind of pompous coronation ceremony. 

 

This is what we prepare for at the end of this church year, a new beginning from the perspective of the values of Christ's kingdom, reflected in the beatitudes (Mt 5:3-12, Lk 6: 20-23)...blessed are...the poor...the hungry...the excluded...the merciful...the peacemakers..., values also beautifully imaged in Christmas' nativity narratives we'll pray with once again in our new beginnings on into 2024.

 

How can you prepare in this way for these new beginnings? Certainly many of the prayer resources provided during your White House Jesuit Retreats such as the Anima Christi (WH prayer book p. 41) in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius can help guide you through this transition from beginning to end and on to new beginnings once again.

Fr. Ted Arroyo, S.J.

Thoughts on Thanksgiving

                                            Is your heart a grateful heart?

In her new book Come to Me: Living the Nine First Fridays, Sr. Anne Flanagan reminds us that "thanksgiving is the foundation of everything in the spiritual life. We can never thank God enough for having created us—and especially for creating us to live with him! We have an infinite future ahead of us.... We can look forward to [heaven], taste it in anticipation, and be refreshed in trials by the thought of it."

But like everything else, gratitude takes practice. It is a habit. We need to practice it daily, and the more we do, the more our heart awakens to the generosity and goodness of God.

As Thanksgiving weekend approaches for our readers in the United States, and as all of us prepare to step into the holy season of Advent, use these tips from Come to Me to welcome the gift of gratitude into your heart:

• Give thanks for the blessings that come to you through your 
  family members, one by one.
• Bless the Lord for the teachers and mentors (at school, 
  at work, in times of crisis) who have been a support and 
  example to you.
• Go day by day through your week, or month by month 
  through the year, or year by year through your life (this may 
  end up taking quite a while!), recalling the moments of grace 
  you have lived and experienced.
• Take a mental road trip to the cities and neighborhoods 
  where you’ve lived, gone to school, worked, and traveled. Name 
  and give thanks for the blessings you have encountered in 
  those places.

"Even if your life has been marked by sufferings of the worst kind, by betrayals and crushed hopes, this part of the journey will not last," writes Sr. Anne. “Give thanks for everything. This will lead to amazement with God, and less preoccupation with self."

"Make this ... a day of amazement and gratitude for the gift of existence."

In Christ,
Daughters of St. Paul

Thoughts on caring

 

Caring for the Dying

Caring for others is, first of all, helping them to overcome that enormous temptation of self-rejection. Whether we are rich or poor, famous or unknown, fully abled or disabled, we all share the fear of being left alone and abandoned, a fear that remains hidden under the surface of our self-composure. It is rooted much more deeply than in the possibility of not being liked or loved by people. Its deepest root lies in the possibility of not being loved at all, of not belonging to anything that lasts, or being swallowed up by a dark nothingness—yes, of being abandoned by God. Caring, therefore, is being present to people as they fight this ultimate battle, a battle that becomes evermore real and intense as death approaches. Dying and death always call forth, with renewed power, the fear that we are unloved and will, finally, be reduced to useless ashes. To care is to stand by a dying person and to be a living reminder that the person is indeed the beloved child of God. . . . We shouldn’t try to care by ourselves. Care is not an endurance test. We should, whenever possible, care together with others. It is the community of care that reminds the dying person of his or her belovedness. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on joy

 

Choosing Joy

I am convinced we can choose joy. Every moment we decide to respond to an event or a person with joy instead of sadness. When we truly believe that God is life and only life, then nothing need have the power to draw us into the sad realm of death. To choose joy does not mean to choose happy feelings or an artificial atmosphere of hilarity. But it does mean the determination to let whatever takes place bring us one step closer to the God of life.  Maybe this is what is so important about quiet moments of meditation and prayer. They allow me to take a critical look at my moods and to move from victimization to free choice. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on the unexpected

 

Expect the Unexpected

Unexpected moments can change our lives: moments when we receive a message, word, image, or inclination that points us in a new direction, reveals fresh possibilities, and initiates an unplanned adventure. These inspirational moments can come through a chance encounter, a post on social media, or a surprise phone call. Unplanned moments such as these awaken us to holy adventures in which guidance appears out of nowhere and mysticism leads to mission. The divine call and the human response resound in unison. We see more deeply into reality, discover a new vocation, and begin a new way of life. Perhaps you are looking for fresh, new ways to fulfill your vocation in your immediate community and the world. Perhaps you need to begin again, finding a way forward where there appears to be none. Pause awhile and pay attention, and you may experience God’s insight coming to you in this holy moment.

—from the book Simplicity, Spirituality, Service:The Timeless Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure
by Bruce G. Epperly

Your life in perspective

 

If Today Were Your Last Day

If this were your last day, hour, minute, or breath, imagine how you might drink in the daylight, taste the twilight, touch the stars, smell the sunshine, delight at songbirds, listen to the look of your loved ones, bow before the sanctity of a stranger, be carried away with astonishment, and be beside yourself with awe at the wonder of it all. Perhaps we engage life in its fullness when we stop asking if we are “there” yet and live into the unfolding and radical realization that we are always already “here.” For it is only “here” that we can really be, wholly present and fully engaged; and no matter where you go, there you are.

—from the book Wandering and Welcome: Mediations for Finding Peace
by Joseph Grant

Thoughts on All Saints Day

 The Story of the Solemnity of All Saints

The earliest certain observance of a feast in honor of all the saints is an early fourth-century commemoration of “all the martyrs.” In the early seventh century, after successive waves of invaders plundered the catacombs, Pope Boniface IV gathered up some 28 wagon-loads of bones and reinterred them beneath the Pantheon, a Roman temple dedicated to all the gods. The pope rededicated the shrine as a Christian church. According to Venerable Bede, the pope intended “that the memory of all the saints might in the future be honored in the place which had formerly been dedicated to the worship not of gods but of demons” (On the Calculation of Time).

But the rededication of the Pantheon, like the earlier commemoration of all the martyrs, occurred in May. Many Eastern Churches still honor all the saints in the spring, either during the Easter season or immediately after Pentecost.

How the Western Church came to celebrate this feast, now recognized as a solemnity, in November is a puzzle to historians. The Anglo-Saxon theologian Alcuin observed the feast on November 1 in 800, as did his friend Arno, Bishop of Salzburg. Rome finally adopted that date in the ninth century.

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Reflection

This feast first honored martyrs. Later, when Christians were free to worship according to their consciences, the Church acknowledged other paths to sanctity. In the early centuries the only criterion was popular acclaim, even when the bishop’s approval became the final step in placing a commemoration on the calendar. The first papal canonization occurred in 993; the lengthy process now required to prove extraordinary sanctity took form in the last 500 years. Today’s feast honors the obscure as well as the famous—the saints each of us have known.

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Enjoy this meditation on the Feast of All Saints!