Earth . . .be our teacher . . .

 

Photo by SJH, OSU

Native American Prayer

O Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds and whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me. I come before you, one of your children. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made, my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise, so that I may know the things you have taught my people, the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength, not to be superior to my brothers (or sisters), but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: myself. Make me ever ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes, so that when life fades as a fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.
 - Chief Yellow Hawk

Apache Blessing
May the sun bring you new energy by day,
may the moon softly restore you by night,
may the rain wash away your worries,
may the breeze blow new strength into your being,
may you walk gently through the world and
know its beauty all the days of your life.

 - Apache Blessing
A Native American Prayer for Peace

O Great Spirit of our Ancestors, I raise my pipe to you.
To your messengers the four winds,
and to Mother Earth who provides for your children.
Give us the wisdom to teach our children to love, to respect,
and to be kind to each other so that they may grow with peace in mind.

 Let us learn to share all the good things you provide for us on this Earth.
 - U.N. Day of Prayer for World Peace 2

Hidden In the Clay . . .

Clay Balls  
Author Unknown  
    
  
 A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him. 

As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone.

Excited the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure.

He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he just threw it away.

Author's reflections:
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person by God.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way God sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.

May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

Monique Jacobs Preaches for the Fifth Sunday of Easter (5/2/2021)

Catherine of Siena ~Doctor of the Church, theologian, philosopher, spiritual writer, and one who could "speak truth to power", , ,

 

April 29, the feast day of St Catherine of Siena, a lay Dominican,

 Doctor and Reformer of the Church

St. Catherine of Siena was the 24th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy.
She started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints.

St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430.

 

Sarcophagus of St. Catherine of Siena - Rome, Italy

 

 Catherine’s Prayers:

 

• You, God, are a fire that always burns without consuming. You are a fire consuming in its heat every compartment of the soul’s self-absorbed love. You are a fire lifting all chill and giving all light. In Your light You show me Your truth. You’re the Light that outshines every Light. You, God, give the mind’s eye Your divine light so completely and excellently. You bring lucidity even to the light of faith. In that faith, I see my soul has life, and in that light, I receive You who are Light itself. 

 

• God is a bright ocean that distills and reveals hidden truths so that my soul has a better understanding of how to trust Love, and the water is a mirror in which You, Eternal Trinity, give me knowledge.

 

• I want you to be a tree of love, grafted into the Word who is love, Christ crucified – a tree with its roots in deep humility. If you are a tree of love, sweetly rooted, you’ll find the fruit of patience and strength at the tips of your branches, and crowned perseverance nesting within you. You’ll find peace and quiet and consolation in suffering when you see yourself conformed with Christ crucified. And so, by enduring with Christ crucified, you’ll come with joy from much war into much peace. Peace! Peace!

 

Bonnie Anne MacLellan, CSJ Preaches for the Fourth Sunday of Easter (4/2...

Climate Change: How We’re Accelerating Towards The Perilous 2 Degree Mil...

A Prayer For Our Earth, from Laudato Si’

Mother Earth Prayer . . .

 

Source Unknown

O GOD,
we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and the blessed sun, for the ocean and streams, for the towering hills and the whispering wind, for the trees and green grass.

WE THANK YOU for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of fields of golden wheat, and taste autumn's fruit, and rejoice in the feel of snow, and smell the breath of spring flowers.

GRANT US a heart opened wide to all this beauty; and save us from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thornbush is aflame with your glory.

 

 

Earth Mother . . .

 

Web of Life by Chief Seattle

Teach your children what we have taught our children - that the Earth is our Mother. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons and daughters of the Earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood that unites one family. All things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons and daughters of the Earth. We did not weave the web of life; We are merely a strand in it. Whatever we do to the Web, We do to ourselves.

Earth Day ~ Everyday!

 
Let the rain come and wash away
the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds
held and nurtured over generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory
of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and
fill the sky with rainbows.
Let the warmth of the sun heal us
wherever we are broken.
Let it burn away the fog so that
we can see each other clearly.
So that we can see beyond labels,
beyond accents, gender or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness
of the sun melt our selfishness.
So that we can share the joys and
feel the sorrows of our neighbors.
And let the light of the sun
be so strong that we will see all
people as our neighbors.
Let the earth, nourished by rain,
bring forth flowers
to surround us with beauty.
And let the mountains teach our hearts
to reach upward to heaven.
Amen.
a prayer for the world - rabbi harold kushner - 2003
 

Honoring Earth . . .

 

The Earth is always a good teacher — and especially in spring. End your days this season with this prayer from the Native American tradition.

Earth teach me stillness
       as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
       as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
       as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth teach me caring
       as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
       as the tree which stands all alone.
Earth teach me limitation
       as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
       as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
       as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
       as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
       as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
       as dry fields weep with rain.
— Ute prayer

A Blessing of Mary . . .

 

The Magdalene’s Blessing ~ Author – Jan Richardsonhttps://www.janrichardson.com/

You hardly imagined

standing here,

everything you ever loved

suddenly returned to you,

looking you in the eye

and calling your name.

 

And now,

you do not know

how to abide this hole

in the center

of your chest,

where a door

slams shut

and swings open

at the same time,

turning on the hinge

of your aching

and hopeful heart.

 

I tell you,

this is not a banishment

from the garden.

This is an invitation,

a choice,

a threshold,

a gate.

This your life

calling to you

from a place

you could never

have dreamed,

but now that you

have glimpsed its edge,

you cannot imagine

choosing any other way.

 

So let the tears come

as anointing,

as consecration,

and then

let them go.

Let this blessing

gather itself around you.

Let it give you

what you will need

for this journey.

 

You will not remember the words –

they do not matter.

All you need to remember

is how it sounded

when you stood

in the place of death

and heard the living

call your name.

Christy M. Hicks Aydt Preaches for the Third Sunday of Easter (4/11/2021)

Healing Touch ~ Believing Touch!

https://shepherdofthemountains.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-11-Online-Readings-Gospel.pdf

This Gospel story has always touched me because I am a twin. I know there are fraternal and identical – and some other combinations too.  But I do not claim to know much more genetically than that since I just live it out and not study this part of my life.  I do know that my sister and I have “intuitions” about each other. Sometimes we call each other at the same time because we “sensed” something and that there seemed to be a “disturbance in the force” between us and that maybe one of us was feeling sick or dealing with a particular event!  One time we met and brought each other surprise gifts. I opened my gifts first – she brought me gourmet coffee, a couple of great candles of my favorite scent, and some homemade dish cloths. When she opened my surprise bag, she found a bag of her favorite gourmet coffee, a couple of her favorite candles, and some hand towels!!  What can I say?

This Sunday the Gospel reading is from John 20:19-34, the story of Thomas who seemed to be missing at the first appearance of Jesus in the upper room. Thomas is known as “Doubting Thomas” but it is also stated that he is called the Twin.  I wondered if he had a twin sister like me. Some commentaries I have read over the years have said that possibly he was called “twin” because he was similar in looks to Jesus.  Other reflections stated that WE are the TWIN!  We, like Thomas, have times in which we ask for a sign, need more evidence before we believe something, or walk around with doubts – Jesus was so attentive to the way in which Thomas needed to move into a deepening of his faith.  “Then he focused his attention on Thomas.  ‘Take your finger and examine my hands.  Take your hand and stick it in my side. Do not be unbelieving.  Believe.'”

As I pondered in my prayer today – I wondered - what if Jesus were standing in front of me and he tenderly and compassionately desired to place his fingers in my wounds?  Where are those unseen, secret and sacred places within me that only God knows that are awaiting a healing touch?  What wounding am I aware of in myself that are the sorrowful mysteries of my own life? How would I come to forgiveness of myself, of others, and of creation?  How would I come to a deepening of my own faith, love, and hope? 

Where do we need to invite Jesus to touch the wounds of humanity? Let us together ask Jesus to touch with healing, mercy, and peace those areas where there are conflicts, abuse, hunger, poverty, injustice, suffering for those who are marginalized in our governments, church, or systems?   I know there is a litany with much more that I could name. 

So let us pray: Holy Darkness, God of Mystery that creates in and through us, help us not to resist the darkness. Help us to trust in you precisely in those moments when we are confused or uncertain or do not understand.  Heal us of our trepidation in the face of the unknown and help us to yield to the creative process that at this very moment is at work in the inner darkness, in the unseen, secret places that only you know.  Like dark energy, may your Spirit expand my being so that I become more of who you desire me to be – free, capable of loving and being loved.  Amen. (From Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredulity_of_Saint_Thomas_%28Caravaggio%29

In the breaking of the bread . . .

 

EMMAUS JOURNEY (Luke 24: 13-35)

All was chaos when he died.
We fled our separate ways at first,
then gathered again in the upper room
to chatter blue-lipped prayers
around the table where he’d talked
of love and oneness.

On the third day Cleopas and I
left for the home we’d abandoned
in order to follow him.

We wanted no part of the babble
the women had brought from the tomb.
We vowed to get on with our grieving.

On the road we met a Stranger
whose voice grew vaguely familiar
as he spoke of signs and suffering.

By the time we reached our village,
every tree and bush was blazing,
and we pressed him to stay the night.

Yet not till we sat at the table
and watched the bread being broken
did we see the light.

Irene Zimmerman, osf
From: Woman Un-Bent

 

(Previously posted)

Nicole M. Perone Preaches for the Second Sunday of Easter (4/11/2021)

"Alleluia Happiness" . . .

 

On June 22, 2018, 12 members of the Thailand Wild Boar soccer team (ages 11-16) and their coach (age 25, a former Buddhist monk) entered one of the many cave networks in Thailand for a quick, relaxing excursion.  Then unexpectedly, the torrential rains began falling while they were underground, and water filled the caverns cutting them off from their exit and blocking their escape.

After nine days of being trapped one-half mile below the surface and two miles from the mouth of the cave, they were found by two British divers who were among the first responders. According to reports, they were not “panicking, crying, yelling, or depleting their resources.” Instead, they were found sitting in the darkness meditating.  “Their coach had taught them to meditate to keep them calm and preserve their energy.”

During the nearly three-week ordeal with no food or water, they drank sparingly from the fresh water that trickled from the ceiling. They were tough, resilient athletes who believed in one another as members of the Wild Boar soccer team.

Parents, friends, and people from surrounding villages set up prayer shrines and food centers for the workers, and prayed that the lost would be found – alive!

The first responders were a mix of a thousand volunteers from across the world including:

·                 60 Thai Navy Seal divers

·                 Chinese, British and Australian cave experts

·                 U. S. military teams

·                 Other teams included translators, oxygen refueling teams, mountain climbing teams, electricity and water management teams, kitchen teams, and spiritual support teams.

·                 Their equipment consisted of pumps, ropes, oxygen tanks, helicopters, medics, and so much more.

Finally, on July 10, the 18^th day, and after three previous days of rescue efforts to remove all the boys, their coach, medics and divers, all were safe and escorted off to a nearby hospital; after which, all water pumps broke and rushing waters filled the caves once again.  It was thus written:

“The rescue of Thailand’s Wild Boars’ soccer team and its coach from a flooded cave will be remembered as one of the greatest rescues of all time.”(Ottawa Citizen) 

Tonight all our vigil readings speak to us that our God has always been our eternal, divine first responder, finder, and redeemer!  In our Gospel this evening, we meet our Easter women who are first responders as well.

As they begin their own early morning “excursion” to the garden cave-like tomb fully expecting to find the dead body of Jesus, they are still walking “ankle deep” in grief and sorrow, reeling from having witnessed the arrest, crucifixion, death, and burial of Jesus, their friend, leader, and teacher. 

They witness to us a determination, a courage, and resilience, much like the Thailand responders, as they carry their simple equipment of fragrant substances – spices, perfumes, and oil to anoint the body of Jesus. 

In every Gospel narrative of the Resurrection, it is always women who are the first responders to the tomb. No special teams journey with them to the tomb; no heavy-duty equipment is available to move the rock. These women, with the power of their love, magnanimous faith, trust, and bold spirits are all that is needed to respond.

As we further ponder this Gospel scene, we may ask:

·       At this early hour, have they considered that they have broken the rules and come without a male companion?

·       How were they going to explain their presence to the guards keeping watch as they approached the tomb?

·       Had they thought out a plan for the removal of the two-ton rock that had been rolled across the entrance to the tomb? 

Upon approaching the tomb, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, and the cohort of guards was no longer present. Moving from the dimness of the early morning light into the darkness of the cave, they soon realized that it was empty and Jesus’ body was gone! (Now we know that Jesus is truly an early riser!) 

Confused and somewhat terrified upon discovering that the body of Jesus was gone, they immediately encountered two messengers dressed in dazzling white garments. The blinding blaze from the garments flooded the entire tomb and swiftly flashed outward into the entire cosmos, dispelling Good Friday darkness and kissing all of creation with Easter energy!

The messengers ask the women why they seek the living one in a cemetery, then tell them that Jesus is risen, he is alive; he is loose among them once again!  For Jesus breaks all the rules: he disobeys Pilate and the culture of death and illegally rises from the dead.

He refuses to stay put. He is free again to create earthquakes among the religious and political leaders, to once again empower his disciples.                

For no cross can keep him from loving us!

No sealed tomb can keep him from loving us!

No experience of death can keep him from loving us . . .

Called by God to be the first witnesses of the Resurrection, the first disciples of the Easter Good News, and first responders walking into new Easter faith, these women came to grieve, but left with a message that would change the world.

Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ rising and ours as well . . .  for we are invited to take up where Jesus left off.   Let us recall that we moved from the darkness of the room below this chapel to blazing lights in procession, with our Easter candle illuminating our journey.

This Easter light now radiates through the pathways of this house and throughout the surrounding land, dispelling the darkness of our world and blessing it with the brilliance of Resurrection joy!

Therefore, as we experience life by embracing its joyful and sorrowful mysteries, let us move forward with Easter energy, and respond with Resurrection joy.

·       As we speak the Good News of truth and spread hope as joyful witnesses – let us respond with Resurrection joy.

·       As we stand up with resiliency for justice, goodness, and non-violence – let us respond with Resurrection joy.

·       Finally, let us accept and embrace our God’s desire to Easter in us and remove all stones of fear or resistance from our hearts, minds, and spirits, so that we, like the women in our Scriptures, may be responders to the power of God’s love raising us up with a resilient Easter faith and bold spirits that cannot be confined.

 (Previously posted)

And it was night . . .

 

Crucifixion

Stripped of godliness,
hands hammered open,,
arms yanked wide,
the crossbeamed Christ
pours himself out
till rivers run red with
wine enough to satisfy
century-cries of thirst.

Irene Zimmerman, OSF
Woman Un-Bent

 

Crucifix in chapel of Jesuit Retreat Center, Oshkosh, WI

Witnessing Love . . .

 

Lent has officially ended, and if we were to describe this night and the days following this service throughout Holy Week, we could respond by saying it is a sacred time in which - we remember, we celebrate, we believe.

 

Holy Thursday is a day of story-telling about God’s deep love for us. God puts on an apron and washes the feet of his friends.  A simple gesture of profound significance. Jesus desires to show his disciples how much he loves them before he takes leave for the events in the garden and beyond.  He desires this humble service to be carried on again and again – as if handing us the towel to wash the feet of those among us in need of love, healing, tenderness, forgiveness, acceptance, justice, and freedom.

Once upon a time when I was attending a Holy Thursday service at a parish in Milwaukee, I observed that there were chairs set up in the aisles along with pitchers of water, basins, towels, and an attendant at each station. So when it came time for the ritual of foot washing, everyone in the congregation participated. I found myself entering into the movements and happenings with such emotion, I could feel it deep in my throat and spirit as if God was kneeling before me with towel in hand and saying:

 “As I have done so you must do.                                                   

Learn to bow                                                      

Learn to kneel.

Let your tenderness encircle                               

everyone you meet,                                

Wash their feet                                                      

not because you have to,                                          

because you want to.” (Macrina W.)

During this time, I watched husbands and wives wash each other’s feet, children washing the feet of their parents. Children washing the feet of their brothers and sisters as well.  I saw sons and daughters washing the feet of their elderly parents.  And I observed an acceptance and welcoming by parish members of all those who may have possibly come for the first time to church or were new to this ritual of remembering, celebrating, and believing.

To tell you the truth, what I was experiencing and observing, was a ritual of total unconditional love expressed through each one participating in this washing and it spilling over into the entire congregation to be further shown through gestures of hugs, and smiles, and words of gratitude. It was so profound for me, that I cried throughout the whole experience, and especially as my feet were washed by one of our sisters.

How holy is this?  “This night is about bread and wine, about bodies and blood, about feet and washing, about intimacy and unbounded, unexpected love, about a God who bends before us hoping that one day we will treat each other with the same regard and dignity that God has always lavished upon us.” (Megan McKenna, Lent)

It is written that Jesus told so many stories that he became one. This week, we will have the privilege to listen to Jesus’ journey of unconditional love through the readings of the Passion and the other Scriptures that speak to us of God’s faithfulness to humankind. In a way, we are to be filled up with the wisdom of the God who dwells with us. For it is told, that this story of God’s love “is a truth so large that we can only touch one part of it at a time. We have to let ourselves encounter it bit by bit, without expecting that we will comprehend the whole story.  We can never grasp this mystery; we can only allow ourselves to be grasped by it.”(John Dear)