+ Blessing The Ordinary +

 

An Ordinary Blessing for Ordinary Time ~

Let these words
lay themselves
like a blessing
upon your head,
your shoulders,

As if,
like hands,
they could pass on
to you what you most need
for this day,

as if they could
anoint you
not merely for
the path ahead

but for this
ordinary moment
that opens itself
to you - -

opens itself
like another hand
that unfurls itself,
that reaches out
to gather
these words
in the bowl
of its palm.

You may think
this blessing
lives within
these words,

but I tell you
it lives
in the reaching;

it lives
in the ache
where this blessing
begins;

it lives
in the hollow
made by the place
where the hands
of this blessing
meet.

From: Circle of Grace by Jan Richardson

 http://www.janrichardson.com/index.htmlichardson.com 
©Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com

The Best Wine!

 Cana Wine

By Irene Zimmerman, SSSF

Woman Un-Bent (p.31)

“The weather’s so hot and no more wine’s to be bought in all of Cana!
It’s just what I feared . . . just why I begged my husband to keep the wedding small.”

“Does he know?” Mary asked.

“Not yet. Oh, the shame!
Look at my son and his beautiful bride!
They’ll never be able to raise their heads again, not in this small town.”

“Then don’t tell him yet.”

Mary greeted the guests as she made her way through crowded reception rooms.
“I must talk to you, Son,” she said unobtrusively.

Moments later he moved toward the back serving rooms. They hadn’t seen each other since the morning he’d left her . . . before the baptism and the desert time.They could talk tomorrow on the way to Capernaum.

She spoke urgently, her words both request and command to him: “They have no wine.”
But he hadn’t been called yet! He hadn’t felt it yet. Would she send him so soon to the hounds and jackals? For wine?

Was wine so important then?
“Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
Her unflinching eyes reflected to him his twelve-year-old self telling her with no contrition: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

She left him standing there . . . vine from her stock, ready for fruit bearing . . . and went to the servants. “Do whatever he tells you,” she said.

From across the room she watched them fill water jars, watched the chief steward drink from the dripping cup, saw his eyes open in wide surprise.
She watched her grown son toast the young couple, watched the groom’s parents and guests raise their cups.

She saw it all clearly: saw the Best Wine pouring out for them all.

 

Artist Unknown

Part Two: A Love Too Small

 

Part Two

With that last bolt of lightning

a great calm came over me

and I felt free

the way I always feel, when

I’m finally able to own the truth.

 

God gave me back the pieces of my heart

without trying to fix them up or mend them

The Holy One looked at me with trust

with total confidence

as if to say,

I’ll be here when you’re ready to begin

the transformation of your heart

for we both know 

Your love is too small

That’s why your heart is so divided

That’s why the pieces never seem to fit.

 

I took the pieces back with reverence

My tears proclaiming

the truth of all I felt.

There was no pressure, no force

just the God of morning

asking for my love.

 

And now, every time I see those flashes

in the northern sky

I hear again, a voice

saying simply,

Your love is too small.

And I weep; I weep at the possibility

of who I could be.

(Used with permission)

Part One: A Love Too Small

 

Too Small a Love

Author: Macrina Wiederkehr

Seasons of Your Heart (1991)

 

Like lightning at dawn

the All-Powerful One came

electrifying

energizing

frightening

shattering

crashing

into my morning prayer!

 

Totally unprepared

for this kind of interruption

I froze on my knees

both in wonder and terror.

There was no morning silence left,

no comforting darkness to enfold me

only those flashes of light

that make hiding impossible.

 

It wasn’t exactly a surprise

I was expecting God this morning

But not like this

 

I was waiting for peace

I was looking for that quiet reassurance

that silence sometimes brings

I was listening for a sound of wings

hovering over me

surrounding me with care

convincing me of presence and protection.

 

But this?

Oh, this was awful!

God stood there

with terrible,

penetrating

loving eyes,

saying only:

Your love is too small!

 

Standing that close to truth

felt uncomfortable, unbearable

and I tried to hide my face

the way I often do

when truth gets too close.

I tried to hide the pieces

of my terribly divided heart.

But then the light came again

And God was standing there

even closer than before

holding the pieces of my heart

with such tenderness

still saying,

Your love is too small.

A Tired World . . .

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired                          
the world is tired also.

When your vision is gone                       
no part of the world                     
can find you.

Time to go into the dark     
where the night has eyes                        
to recognize its own.
There you can be sure           
you are not beyond love.
                                               
The dark will be                          
 your womb tonight.
The night will give you a horizon
further than you can see.

You must learn one thing.                
The world was made                                  
to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you
belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness
and the sweet confinement
of your aloneness
 to learn

Anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.

- David Whyte

Agnes - A woman before her time!

 

St. Agnes Feast day ~ January 21 Reflection

 

 

Someone once wrote: “If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”  Today, January 21st, we gather to remember and to celebrate St. Agnes of Rome, under whose patronage the Sisters of St. Agnes were founded. She declared herself Christian in a pagan society and committed herself to remain virgin in a patriarchal culture.  She gave testimony that she had chosen Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior with the public sacrifice of her life.

Much of her life and death are surrounded by legend, but early writings tell us that Agnes was born into a wealthy and powerful Roman Christian family and, according to tradition, she suffered martyrdom at the age of 12 or 13 during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian on January 21, in the year 305.

The story is told how the Prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, for women, at that time, were property of the State and had children to promote the State’s agenda.  But Agnes refused a forced marriage and remained adamant that she had consecrated her virginity to Jesus Christ.  Her refusal was considered an act of treason and punishable by death.  At that time, Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, so Sempronius had a naked Agnes dragged through the streets to a brothel.  In one version of the story, it is said, that as she processed through the streets, Agnes prayed, and her hair grew and covered her entire body.

Some also asserted that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind.  She was sentenced to death with many other Christian companions who refused to worship the Roman gods and to pay homage to the emperor as divine.

Agnes grew up in a patriarchal culture, whose religion included many gods – a religion of laws, customs, and prescriptions that no longer had the power to define her.  Agnes chose a new way of life – a life of virginity.  She was resolute in choosing her own power in Christ to define her new identity.

So what is the Good News for us today?

• Our God continues to invite everyone to live with hope, trust, courage, and faith.  We are all called to be witnesses of the Risen Christ. 
• As women and men religious, associates, friends, and partners in ministry, it is on such a feast as today, that we are invited to ponder our own witness to our faith and the values of our Christian lives.
• That like Agnes, when we find ourselves standing “naked” in our vulnerabilities, limitations, powerlessness, doubts, dilemmas, and decisions that affect the social, economic, cultural, religious, and political challenges of life, may we more and more learn to call upon the Spirit for guidance, grit, and grace – for it is in God that we live and move and have our being.
   

  

  Tomb of St. Agnes in Rome

Never Forget: Leadership, honesty, humility, and courage!!

 I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. . . . With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. . . . And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

~ Excerpt from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “ I Have a Dream” Speech