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

Thoughts on Jesus as our Shepherd

 He said, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while…”  His disciples returned from their journey excited and no doubt tired. What Jesus had planned for them was a time to relax and spend time together. What ensued was a clear picture of Jesus as the Shepherd, not only for his close followers but for those “other” sheep” who rushed ahead to meet him and be with him to get what they thought they needed from him.

As we imagine ourselves in the boat with him, what might we have felt when we saw a vast crowd of needy people, occupying this place of quiet refuge? The true picture of our Shepherd emerges: his heart is deeply moved by their condition: “sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus is not that shepherd described in our first reading, one who cares more for himself than for his people. He is the one we yearn for—the one who nurtures and protects and guides with strength and love.

Shepherding can be a daunting work for anyone who is called to care for others, to love unselfishly. And so, strengthened by this picture of Jesus and his shepherd’s heart, we can give thanks that he is our eternal companion—loving and guiding us as we journey with him. We are sheep who do have a shepherd!

Len Kraus, S.J.

Thoughts on weakness

 

The Divine Choice of Weakness

God chose to enter into human history in complete weakness. That divine choice forms the center of the Christian faith. In Jesus of Nazareth, the powerless God appeared among us to unmask the illusion of power, to disarm the prince of darkness who rules the world, and to bring the divided human race to a new unity. It is through total and unmitigated powerlessness that God shows us divine mercy. . . . It is very hard—if not impossible—for us to grasp this divine mercy. We keep praying to the “almighty and powerful God.” But all might and power is absent from the One who reveals God to us saying: “When you see me, you see the Father.” If we truly want to love God, we have to look at the man of Nazareth, whose life was wrapped in weakness. And his weakness opens for us the way to the heart of God. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on fear

 

Matthew 10:24–33

Friends, Jesus instructs his disciples in today’s Gospel, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna.”  What is the greatest fear we have? Undoubtedly, the fear of losing our own lives; we fear the death of the body. But Jesus is telling us not to worry about those paper tigers that can only affect the body and its goods. When I am in love with God, when I am “fearing” him above all things, I am rooted in a power that transcends space and time, a power that governs the universe in its entirety, a power that is greater than life and death. More to it, this power knows me intimately and guides me according to his purposes: “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid.” Because of this we have nothing to fear from anything or anybody here below. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on missions

 Take nothing for the journey…

Our Readings for this weekend speak about being sent on a special mission: Amos, Jesus and the Twelve, St. Paul. All of them were chosen and given a prophetic mission. We may not think of ourselves as we do them: extraordinary people who did extraordinary deeds. Yet, Amos, for example, saw himself just like every ordinary person around him. He was a “a shepherd and a dresser of vines,” sent on a mission to communicate God’s desires to a people living in a world that had lost its way.

We might think that those whom Jesus sends out would need more than sandals and a walking stick—but Jesus gifts them with what he wants them to have. They went, and later they will come back to tell Jesus all that had been accomplished by his gifts.

A prophet is someone sent to tell the truth with love—the truth about God and about us. Each of us has the power to do what a prophet is called to do, perhaps not with words but with the example of our lives—lives graced lives like those of Amos, the twelve, and those “saints” in our lives who inspire us. We can draw encouragement and strength from thinking of those people in our lives as whom we see as “holy.”  Indeed, we are surrounded by a “cloud of witnesses” who help us to embrace the fact that we are chosen, sent, and blessed on our way. And, like the twelve, we are sent on our journey with what we have with us right now.



We are given our mission, as St. Paul says, so that we might exist for the praise of God’s glory. His prayer can be our prayer: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing as he chose us in him.”



Len Kraus, S.J.

Thoughts on Matthew's conversion

 

Matthew 9:9–13

Friends, our Gospel for today is the simple but magnificent story of the conversion of Matthew. I urge you to read it and meditate upon it this week, for it’s about you. The Bible says that Jesus told Matthew, “Follow me.” The call of Jesus is meant to get into your mind, and then past your mind into your body, and then through your body into your life, into your most practical decisions.  And then we hear that Matthew “got up and followed him.” The verb used here in the Greek is the same verb used to describe the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead: Matthew rose. Conversion means a transition into a higher life, arising from a preoccupation with the goods of the world and a reorientation to the things of God. Then we hear what happened after Matthew’s conversion: “While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.” This deeply annoys the Pharisees, who ask of Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The answer is that Jesus loves sinners, and he doesn’t require perfection before he approaches them. Bishop Robert Barron

Thoughts on Independence Day

 

An Independence Day prayer

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 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.

—Sister Rita Ostry, N.D.

Thoughts on gratitude

 

Gratitude is a Quality of the Heart

Gratitude is the awareness that life in all its manifestations is a gift for which we want to give thanks. The closer we come to God in prayer, the more we become aware of the abundance of God’s gifts to us. We may even discover the presence of these gifts in the midst of our pains and sorrows. The mystery of the spiritual life is that many of the events, people, and situations that for a long time seemed to inhibit our way to God become ways of being united more deeply with him. What seemed a hindrance proves to be a gift. Thus gratitude becomes a quality of our hearts that allows us to live joyfully and peacefully even though our struggles continue. Henri Nouwen