October 13, 2024: Donna Orsuto Preaches for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary ...

Anniversary - October 7 - A Prayer for Palestine and Israel . . .

 

O God of life and love and peace,

We witness the violence and injustice in your Holy Land

And our hearts break.

Our hearts break for the people of Israel—

For the victims of violent attacks by Hamas

For those who live with fear and insecurity

For those who suffer from the inter-generational trauma of violence.

Our hearts break for Palestinians—

For the victims of violent attacks by the Israeli military

For those being denied water, electricity and medical care

For those who are refugees, long displaced from their homes.

We especially pray—

That weapons of war be laid down

That walls of separation be dismantled

That prisoners be released

That demonizing of “the other” cease

That political leaders seek the good of all people in Palestine and Israel.

O God, whose heart breaks for the world,

May your justice dwell in the land

May your righteousness abide in fruitful fields

May the effect of righteousness be quietness and trust forever

May the effect of justice be peace—enduring peace.

https://mcc.org/resources/prayer-palestine-and-israel

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Being Peace!

 

Lord, make us instruments of your Peace.  In a world all too prone to violence and revenge, we commit ourselves to the Gospel values of mercy, justice, compassion, and love.

We will seek daily to promote forgiveness and healing  in our hearts, our families, and our world. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; Where there is injury, let us cultivate peace.

Fear and distance prevent people from recognizing all as brothers and sisters; tensions lead to violence and mistrust; We will strive to honor the dignity that God places in each and every human person.

Grant that we may not seek to be understood as to understand; To be loved as to love. Our failure to understand the other can create exclusion in all its negative forms – racism, marginalization of those who are poor, sick, the immigrant; it can also create situations of domination, occupation, oppression and war.

We pledge to seek the way of solidarity, to create hearts, homes, and communities where all people will experience inclusion, hospitality, and understanding.

For it is in giving that we receive, in pardoning that we are pardoned and in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Let us Pray:
Lord God, create in us:
-the Capacity to hear and understand the voices of those who suffer from
every form of violence, injustice, and dehumanization;

-the Openness to receive and honor people from other cultures, languages,
religious traditions, and geographical regions;

-the Creativity to explore new ways of communication and dialogue through
music, poetry, performing arts, and the mass media;

-the Audacity to undertake the building of communities of forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation.

To God who is above all and in all are the glory and the honor. Amen

(Source: by Chuck Faso, OFM)

Image: Dancing Francis, Viterbo University Campus

The Presence of the Presence . . .

 

 

Silent steps
By
Rabindranath Tagore

Have you not heard God’s silent steps?
God comes, comes, ever comes.

Every moment and every age,
Every day and every night
God comes, comes, ever comes.

Many a song I sung in many a mood of mind,
but all their notes have always proclaimed,
‘God comes, comes, ever comes.’

In the fragrant days of sunny
                       April through the forest path                          
God comes, comes, ever comes.

In the rainy gloom of July nights on the
thundering chariot of clouds
God comes, comes, ever comes.

In sorrow after sorrow
it is God’s steps that press upon my heart,
and it is the golden touch of God’s feet
that makes my joy to shine.

Love Lived . . .

 

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and love, embracing both trial and joy.”     St. Therese of Lisieux (Feast Day – October lst)

Off the Page | Ep. 6 | Richard Rohr | Eager to Love

TRUE AUTHORITY . . .

 

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

Readings: Nm 11:25-29 Ps 19:8, 10, 12-13, 14 Jas 5:1-6 Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48   “Would that the Lord might bestow the Spirit on them all!” (Num 11:29)   Presidents of nations and other leaders with wide influence usually have a designated spokesperson, who makes sure that the leader’s message is conveyed accurately and consistently. The leader exercises a measure of control, ensuring that the spokesperson follows the script, and that no one who is unauthorized is given credence. That’s not necessarily the way it is in ministry, however. In both the first reading and in the gospel, individuals who are not authorized by Moses and by Jesus, respectively, exercise a ministry akin to that of these leaders without their prior approbation. Take Eldad and Medad; they had not gone out to the tent of meeting along with the other seventy, upon whom God bestowed a share of the Spirit that was upon Moses. Nonetheless, the Spirit came to rest upon them too; like the others, they began to speak prophetically in the camp. This was most distressing to Joshua, who insisted that they be stopped. The text does not elaborate on Joshua’s motives. Was he resentful because he had trained at Moses’s side from his youth and followed carefully all the directives, whereas these two appeared suddenly and began to minister with the others? Moses assures Joshua that the prophesying of Eldad and Medad in no way diminishes Moses’s own authority as prophet. In fact, it was Moses’s own complaint to God about his too heavy burden of leadership that prompted God to bestow the Spirit on others who could lighten the load. Moses exclaims his wish that all the people would prophesy in God’s Spirit. He recognizes that while not all are authorized to prophesy officially, all do have a measure of the prophetic gift to be shared. The community, moreover, under the guidance of the Spirit, has a responsibility to choose, prepare, and authorize its spokespersons. But even the best and most careful process can exclude some whose gifts do not elude the Spirit, who always blows where she will. A similar scene is played out in the gospel, where Jesus’s disciples are upset about an exorcist who is claiming Jesus’s authority as he casts out demons. Jesus insists that disciples stop trying to prevent the exorcist from exercising his ministry, even though he is not an official follower of Jesus. It is curious that in both instances, those who want to be officially recognized ministers are focused, sadly, on a perceived threat to their own authority, rather than on the recipients of the ministry. Joshua might have asked, What is the effect of the prophetic word spoken by the two who were not authorized? Is it unleashing God’s freeing love in the hearers? Likewise, the disciples might have asked, Was the other exorcist freeing people from tormenting forces that blocked their ability to love and be loved? A word of approval from the wise leaders, Moses and Jesus, served to reorient their followers toward the important matter of ensuring that the pressing needs of their people be addressed by whomever the Spirit empowered to do so. One way for leaders and ministers to learn to see from this kind of perspective is to reflect on the ministry they receive from others. Jesus holds up to his disciples the example of one who offers them a cup of water to drink. With this simple act the giver recognizes in the thirsty one a shared humanity and a common thirst, as a member of Christ’s body. Jesus also directs his disciples to reflect on the ministry they receive from others. When they know themselves as needy, they can learn, by accepting the gift of a cup of water, to shift their attention away from the prerogatives of credentialed ministry toward the neediness of those to whom the service is rendered.   These reflections are adapted from Barbara E. Reid, Abiding Word. Sunday Reflections for Year B. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2011. Pp. 108-109.