Thoughts on time

 

Time Speeds by Us

Time speeds by, one event falling into another. I see this now. Was I in danger of reaching the end without stopping to see what was being given? I kept looking up and another year was gone. Another holiday. Another birthday. I was living in my mind. I wasn’t really here. Now a door swings open and life is looking back at me. The roses, the trees, the birds, the stars. Everything is watching. I ask myself, where have I been? While I was lost in lists of things to do and goals to realize, where was I?

—from the book Stars at Night: When Darkness Unfolds as Night

Thoughts on despair and division

 

Stars in the Night Sky

In this world darkened by despair and deep division, we fumble dimly, to see past self-interest, fears, and endless feuding. But even looking down we can see beyond, like the pilgrim seeking clarity who found a limpid pool, and bending down glimpsed the Milky Way mirrored in the deep. Then gazing heavenward, gaped and gasped at the cosmic show above, while awe-filled silence taught: the stiller you become, the clearer will your reflection be.

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

Thoughts on All Souls Day

 

All Souls Day Prayer

Merciful Father,

On this day, we are called to remember those who have died,
Particularly those who have died in the past year,
And pray for their joyful reunion with you, their loving creator.
As your son taught us to call the stranger 
neighbor, our fallen are many—

Names we will never know,
Voices we have never heard,
In lands we may never visit,
Yet brothers and sisters all.
And so we pray.

For victims of war, caught in the crossfires of
conflicts we could not quell,
for soldiers and civilians,
adults and children, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For those migrants who have died seeking a
haven where they hoped to find safety
and opportunity for themselves and for their families, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of hunger, denied their share in the
bounty you have placed before us, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of AIDS, Malaria, Ebola, and other infectious diseases,
who died before adequate care could reach them, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For those refugees seeking asylum from war,
who died in a land that was not their home, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

For victims of emergencies and calamities everywhere,
who died amid chaos and confusion, we pray …
Grant eternal rest, O Lord.

Lord, as you command, we reach out to the fallen.
We call on you on behalf of those we could not reach this year.
You raised your son from the dead
that all may share in his joyful resurrection.

In Jesus' name, we pray …

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace.

Amen

—via Catholic Relief Services

Thoughts on Halloween

 "Today, salvation has come to this house." St. Luke loves the word "today." We find it throughout his Gospel, and once again this Sunday. Salvation is always a present experience for Christians. Focusing on the past or the future only brings us desolation, as St. Therese warns us. God's presence is only found in the present moment--"I am who AM." 

Some of us are gearing up for Halloween now, the eve of All Saints technically (Hallows Eve). Gauging by the decorations we see on many front lawns, one could lament that this has partly degenerated into a national holiday for dabbling with darkness. Might we be invited to focus instead on becoming more like the saints who overcome that darkness? To bask rather in the "today" of God's conquering grace, as they did? How might God be wishing to sanctify and strengthen me today? How might I be more open and disponible to his inspirations? Today is indeed the day of my salvation. No other day. May you and I rejoice and be glad in the victory we are meant to experience, today!

-Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on friendships

 

Be a Real Friend

True friendships are lasting because true love is eternal. A friendship in which heart speaks to heart is a gift from God, and no gift that comes from God is temporary or occasional. All that comes from God participates in God’s eternal life. Love between people, when given by God, is stronger than death. In this sense, true friendships continue beyond the boundary of death. When you have loved deeply that love can grow even stronger after the death of the person you love. This is the core message of Jesus. When Jesus died, the disciples’ friendship with him did not diminish. On the contrary, it grew. This is what the sending of the Spirit was all about. The Spirit of Jesus made Jesus’ friendship with his disciples everlasting, stronger, and more intimate than before his death. That is what Paul experienced when he said, “It is no longer I, but Christ living in me” (Galatians 2:20). You have to trust that every true friendship has no end, that a communion of saints exists among all those, living and dead, who have truly loved God and one another. You know from experience how real this is. Those you have loved deeply and who have died live on in you, not just as memories but as real presences. Dare to love and be a real friend. The love you give and receive is a reality that will lead you closer and closer to God as well as to those whom God has given you to love. Henri Nouwen

Thoughts on gratitude

    Children often love to climb trees. When is the last time you climbed a tree? In the Gospel we hear about a grown man of notable reputation climbing a tree in order to see Jesus. I imagine you would try too if Jesus were coming along your way and you were in a big crowd! I know I would.

   Jesus is impressed by the mustard seed of faith he sees in Zacchaeus. He looks up with joy in his heart, desirous of a one-on-one encounter with this childlike character. It's as if he calls out, "Come on down and let's hang out together!" Literally, he says, "I must stay at your house." That’s a pretty bold statement! Jesus literally wants to break bread with him, which in the Jewish context means to become one with him, foretelling the Eucharist. Zacchaeus cheerfully climbs down and welcomes Jesus into his home. Almighty God--the Trinity really--has chosen to pitch his tent with this man. And Zacchaeus has no greater desire than to respond lavishly to God's generosity, and tithe 50% of his income to the needy people around him.

   This is our invite, too, to welcome Jesus into our homes, our living places, and then, out of gratitude, to invest a Godly portion of our disposable income for the benefit of the most needy, so that they not only survive but thrive. What better way to please Jesus' heart! And think about it, dear brothers in Christ, what else matters in this life than that?? To please the Heart of Jesus…it’s worth scaling trees for.

Fr. Anthony Wieck, SJ

Thoughts on suffering

 

Suffering

The poor we see every day, the stories about deportation, torture, and murder we hear every day, and the undernourished children we touch every day, reveal to us the suffering Christ has hidden within us. When we allow this image of the suffering Christ within us to grow to its full maturity, then ministry to the poor and oppressed becomes a real possibility; because then we can indeed hear, see, and touch him within us as well as among us. . . . Once we have seen the suffering Christ within us, we will see him wherever we see people in pain. Once we have seen the suffering Christ among us, we will recognize him in our innermost self. Thus we come to experience that the first commandment, to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, resembles indeed the second: “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39–40). Henri Nouwen