Empowered by a blessing . . .

 

May the God of Mission be with you. May you know God's purpose for your life, God's overwhelming desire for your happiness. May you be "infected" with a deep passion for the Word of God and for what is right and holy in God's sight. And with that passion may you "contaminate" the world around you. May the God of Mission bless you. --Maxine Shonk, OP

A Holy Waiting . . .

 

 

 

Keeping Watch

 

In the morning

When I began to wake,

It happened again –

 

That feeling

That You, Beloved,

Had stood over me all night

Keeping watch,

 

That feeling

That as soon as I began to stir

 

You put Your lips on my forehead

And lit a Holy Lamp

Inside my heart.

 Hafiz

God speaks in unexpected places. . .

 

The Auction
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art.  They had everything in their collection from Picasso to Raphael. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war. He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door.  A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart, and he died instantly.  He often talked about you, and your love for art.” The young man held out his package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.”

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. “Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift.”

The father died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. “We will start the bidding with this picture of the son. Who will bid for this picture?” There was silence. Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, “We want to see the famous paintings.  Skip this one.”

But the auctioneer persisted. “Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?” Another voice shouted angrily, “We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!” But still the auctioneer continued, “The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?”

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford. “We have $10, who will bid $20?” “Give it to him for $10.  Let’s see the masters.” “$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?” The crowd was becoming angry. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections. The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, twice, SOLD FOR $10!”

A man sitting on the second row shouted, “Now, let’s get on with the collection!”  The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, the auction is over.” “What about the paintings?” “I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything!”

(Author Unknown)

Be ready for the God of surprises . . .

Making Space for Grace:

 

The Thirteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 

June 28, 2026

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2 Kings 4:8-16; Psalm 89; Romans 6:3-11; Matthew 10:37-42

 

 

Matthew’s Gospel presents hard sayings of Jesus. We are told that we must take up our crosses and put the welfare of our families subservient to God’s commands. They are difficult thoughts to understand. We have domesticated these sayings and have taken the shocking energy out of them. He ties love of God to hospitality. We are to go out of our way to make people feel welcome and to make space for God. The story of Elisha the prophet shows the life-sustaining value of hospitality.

 

The City of Boston experienced fun hospitality when people from Scotland, Iraq, and Norway converged on the city and brought vitality and joy. It raised our spirits and the ushered in an atmosphere of discovery and curiosity so much so that we want to build stronger relationships with them. Their visits changed us and made us light-hearted.

 

In the Book of Kings, the prophet Elisha visits a nameless woman of influence who extends hospitality to him. Elisha never asks for anything and the woman does not expect anything in return. Her generosity opens the door of an unexpected blessing – the birth of a son she never imagined she would have. The blessing may not come in the way we expect, but hospitality always changes the host as much as the guest. The moral of the story is: Whenever we make room for others, God quietly enlarges our life. 

 

          This previews the life of Jesus. Whenever he taught, he was dependent upon the hospitality of others. We know he stayed at the houses of Peter, Mary and Martha, and Zaccheus, and he gave instructions of proper visitor etiquette to his disciples. The hosts who welcomed Jesus and his friends discovered that they received far more than they gave. Is this not like the Eucharist? When we are host to Jesus in our lives, we carry our weariness, failure, hope, and gratitude, and Christ prepares a table for us to be nourished. He makes room for us with divine hospitality. 

 

In our Old Testament story, we see the progression of hospitality. It is not about entertaining guests or putting on a good meal. It is about seeing the dignity of a person of God and making room in our lives for them. It is about knowing that every person bears the presence of God. With Elisha and the woman of influence, hospitality progressed from a simple meal, to greeting him in passing, to building a room just for him. It grows from a single meal to a permanent place of welcome. 

 

The challenge for us today is to figure out what hospitality, what making room for God, means. We rush from one activity to another, and we care of those closest to us well. Still there is more. Hospitality means to offer rest to someone, to invite someone in for a conversation and social nourishment, to provide a place for someone to sit, to think, and to prayer, and to offer hope. We have to make room in our hearts before we make room in our homes. Our challenge today may be: For whom am I making room? We may discover that as we prepare our hearts to receive another person, God has already made room for us. God provides unexpected, unsolicited blessings. By making space for others, God quietly enlarges our own lives.

 

Breath of Summer . . .

 

Image by: DE

Breath of Summer

Creator God
who breathed this world into being,
who is discernible within
the harmony of nature,
the perfection of a butterfly's wing,
the grandeur of a mountain range,
the soaring eagle and humming bird,
thank you for this world
which you have created.
Thank you for summer sun,
which reminds us
that your creative breath
is still alive and active.
Thank you for the warmth of your love,
sustaining this world.

Author Unknown

You are Safe in Love:

 

The Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time2026 

June 21, 2026

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Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 69; Romans 5:12-15; Matthew 10:26-33

 

The prophet Jeremiah writes about a hostile environment that makes it challenging to practice one’s faith and to speak rightly. We hear this reading during Holy Week to emphasize the difficulty of the Suffering Servant. We know from experience that the human heart can be terrorizing, and we suffer at the expense of verbal bullies who impose their thoughts upon others. It takes courage, fortitude, and safety to speak from one’s faith. Most times, we keep our thoughts inside until we feel safe. 

 

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells his Disciples that they do not have to be silenced by the fear that others impose upon them. Those who are bullies do not see that they take away the freedom of others. They do not even perceive that they are bullies. Those who speak authoritatively and excessively do not realize that they silence others. Those who are aggressive think they are acting rightly for others. Someone recently told me in absolute terms that he disagreed with someone who spoke in absolute terms. Why can we not see that what we find critical in others represents what we do ourselves. The fault we see if others is the fault we need to own.

 

Jesus continues to offer hope though. He says, ‘be patient.’ The bully will find herself isolated and lonely, perhaps misunderstood. She will continue to blame others because life did not go as she planned. The know-it-all will have an epiphany. The aggressive person will have a day of reckoning when he recognizes his vulnerability. Jesus reminds us that whatever harm a person intends or is unaware of doing will cause us harm, but it will not erode our soul or our conscience. No one can touch that. It is off limits to the bully, and we are reminded that control is an illusion. When someone thinks they can control the behavior or thoughts of another person, they are living an illusion that will crumble. Those are focused on their own ego needs says, “My will be done,” and so they focus on getting attention, admiration, comfort, security, pleasure, and one’s very self. For an evolving Christian, we pray, “Not my will be done, but God’s will be done.” 

 

Jesus tells us that as we are his friends, we enter into the Cosmic Christ, a human-divine being that is higher and greater that ourselves. We are elevated. Consciousness of God is the deepest part of us, and that cannot be harmed. There is a fire within our souls that keeps us moving towards God, and it moves us to increased transcendence. The very center of God is love and the center of our soul is love. This is foundational and the heart can only move towards a more understanding, magnanimous love. Jesus rightly reminds us that we have no worries. Though we may be near people who are trying to fill their ego needs, your Christian heart is evolving towards the freedom of a larger life in Christ.

 

Our faith is an energy that allows us to create and bring love to loveless places. Our faith is a fire that transforms the souls of others who seek the divine. Faith allows us to look at suffering and endure it. We can look at a world that may be unresponsive to human suffering, and we have the courage and fire to amorize the world, that is, to fill the world with love, to transform the world with love. This is a love that has no fear. This is a love that holds you preciously in admiration. Please accept this love. We need this love to permeate the world.

 

A Summer Morning prayer. . .

 

Opening Prayer
I bow before you, my hidden but beloved God,
as I begin this day.
An alarm rings in my heart to awaken me to the fact
that I am a pilgrim who travels a sacred path.
I now answer that call to mindfulness,
as I prepare to enter into silent prayer.
I join myself with all who are in prayer at this sacred hour
when the Earth once again faces its source of life, the sun.
I now turn fully to face you, O God,
the source of the universe and of my life,
as I enter into silence. (pause for silent prayer).

With fidelity I have tried to still my restless heart in you,
the divine source of all that I am.
May this effort bear fruit by my living more fully in the
present moment this day.
I join my voice to all the awakening sounds of the Earth
at this hour, as I pray. (reflect on a chosen passage of scripture)

Concluding Prayer

This summer day is growing warmer
as we turn to face the fullness of our daystar, the sun.
Plants, animals, and we human folk are all solar-powered
in the marvel of your clever creation.
May this morning prayer give me the energy
to act at all times this day with love and kindness.
May I treat each person and each living being as a
brother or sister, as a member of your sacred family.

I pray now for these personal needs: (offer intentions), and
for the special needs this day of (n.).
May the business of this day never eclipse my real work
as a pilgrim on the sacred path.

Open my eyes and ears to the miracles you have hidden
along my path this day.
Let my mind find its joy in the present moment,
the only place where you dwell.

I bow before you, Divine Creator, Holy Mother,
Eternal Source of my existence.
Your heart is my home;
from you I have come
and to you I journey this day.
AMEN.

(Author: Edward Hays)
 

A Summer Blessing . . .

May the God of Summer be with you, enveloping you with the warmth of love, filling your heart with the brilliance of light, refreshing you and cooling you in the living water of God's grace. In the shade of God's guiding, protective presence, may your deepened experience of this presence draw others to God's warm, refreshing love. May the blessing of Summer be with you.

--Maxine Shonk, OP

This Time . . .

 

To everything a season, a time for every purpose under heaven

and yet this time out of all other times is special

A moment of grace,

A Kairos time,

A time for urgency when there is no time

A window opened on eternity where all is possible

For those with eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to understand

A time to risk all that has not been risked before

so that we might flow with all that God intends.

 

A time to seize because it will not come again.

A time to place our lives where words have been.

A time for bridges to be built and others crossed, and others burned,

because there is no going back.

A time to leave the past behind because the present, this precious “now,”

is Holy Ground and from it the future beckons.

To leave the past, and not to do so lightly.

To take it out and dare to look and name what has been done and cannot be undone.

 

To allow the pain to surface.

To give voice to silent wounding, that, hearing, and being heard,

we might with due and holy reverence allow the dying to take place,

and, picking up the pieces that give life, to travel on;

our burden now a cleansed and sanctified inheritance;

one that puts into our step a spring and into our hearts

a flame of hope that cannot be extinguished.

 

This time so fragile and so priceless, gift of God to you and me

to grasp and to embrace, to give it all we’ve got;

and, in the giving and receiving, to learn to celebrate the Presence of the One who in mercy and grace has given one more time.

(Adapted)

~Reverend Ruth Patterson

Ruth Patterson, A Farther Shore (Dublin: Veritas Publications, 2000), pp. 116-119.

Image by Doris Klein, CSA

Let’s work for the Common Good:

 

   

The Eleventh Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 

June 14, 2026

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Exodus 19:2-6; Psalm 100; Romans 5:6-11; Matthew 9:36-10:8

 

 

The reason for calling these first twelve men as his disciples was this line: his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned. Jesus responded compassionately to the emotional and spiritual needs of the people. In the first reading, God’s heart is likewise moved by the plight of the Israelites and takes them under his care. We get a glimpse of God’s emotions and God’s desire to care for us as a parent does a child. Because of this care, the Israelites and the Disciples are called to greater matters. They are called to care for humanity.

 

Pope Leo introduced his first encyclical called “Magnificent Humanity” so that he could call us to greater behavior. We are called to care for others, which is the reason he relies upon Catholic Social Teaching with four points. (1.) The letter calls us to build a civilization of humanity built upon the common good by having a foundational relationship with God. (2.) Building the common good means accepting the limits and weaknesses of humanity without considering them an error to be corrected. True fulfillment is not achieved by eliminating weakness but through harmonious growth. (3.) Building a world where everyone can flourish requires shared responsibility and courage. Tensions and differences are welcome because they can become the creative forces when guided by shared responsibility. (4.) Building the common good requires respectful language. We are to avoid humiliating or antagonistic words. Instead, we need to choose clarity that sheds light on our issues, and we need frank discussions that unlock new possibilities. 

 

The Pope’s letter says that we need to set standards for discernment, especially upon these issues – the dignity of the human person, the universal destination of goods like food and basic necessities, including health care, the preferential option for the poor, care for our common home, and peace between neighbors. The Pope writes, “True progress always stems from a heart open to others, an intelligence that is willing to listen, and to a will that seeks what unites rather than what separates.” 

 

Back to Scripture, we see that God raised the Israelites to a new relationship and that Jesus raised twelve men to a ministerial responsibility. We must discern how the Spirit, through Pope Leo’s words, are raising us up to a new form of discipleship. We are invited to become builders of communion. We are to be servants with God’s project for the world instead of those who lord it over others. We are asked to adopt the heart of a shepherd and a loving parent to help others to join forces to build up the common good, so that humanity, in the face of today’s challenges, will never lose its beauty, and that the world once again will recognize the human heart as the place where God desires to dwell. Are you ready to respond, “yes?”

 

Love Calls . . .

The Sisters of St. Agnes have been praying this prayer as a community in preparation for Chapter 2026 which will take place June 14-25.

Love calls...

Transitions mark our lives.

God of Beginnings, you call us to live our vowed life in community

authentically and passionately.

Together, we accompany those whose faith life or human

dignity is threatened.

Empowering Spirit, embolden us to be channels of Your love

and compassion in a world of fear and division.

God of Vulnerability, break open our hearts to see and release all

that limits our vision.

Together, we welcome the truths that nest within each of us.

Empowering Spirit, keep us clear-sighted and honest in

confronting the injustices that demean Your image in

our sisters, our brothers, ourselves, and all creation.

God of Resurrection, you call us to be joyful witnesses of the

Risen Christ.

Together, we traverse the Good Friday terrain in our country,

church, and world.

Empowering Spirit, strengthen us to respond to the

transitions that mark our lives with humility, courage,

and whole heartedness.

Love calls...

Statue of St. Agnes in Motherhouse lobby

Sacred Life!

 

Litany Prayer ~ Chief Seattle

Every part of the earth is sacred,
every shining pine needle, every sandy shore.
every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy.

The rocky crest, the juices of the meadow, the beasts and all the people,
all belong to the same family.

Teach your children that the earth is our mother;
whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.

The water’s murmur is the voice of our father’s father,
we are part of the earth, and the earth is part of us.

The rivers are our brothers; they quench our thirst.
The perfumed flowers are our sisters.

The air is precious, for all of us share the same breath.
The wind that gave our grandparents breath
also receives their last sigh.

The wind gave our children the spirit of life.
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 which unites one family.
All things are connected. Our God is the same God,
whose compassion is equal for all.

For 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.
Let us give thanks for the web in the circle that connects us.
Thanks be to God, the God of all.

Printed in CRCN/CiRCLe M Newsletter May 2011

From Rising to Setting . . .be light!

 

Blessed Are You Who Bear The Light 



Blessed are you
who bear the light
in unbearable times,
who testify
to its endurance
amid the unendurable,
who bear witness
to its persistence
when everything seems
in shadow
and grief.

Blessed are you
in whom
the light lives,
in whom
the brightness blazes ___
your heart
a chapel,
an altar where
in the deepest night
can be seen
the fire that
shines forth in you
in unaccountable faith,
in stubborn hope,
in love that illumines
every broken thing
it finds.

(Author: Jan Richardson
From Circle of Grace) 

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