Archive for May, 2010

Feast of Pentecost

Friday, May 28th, 2010

May 23, 2010

John 20:19-23

There is a detail in Sunday’s Gospel reading that I wish to reflect on. After His resurrection, the first time Jesus visited with His apostle friends, He breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” In Hebrew, the word Spirit and breath are the same, “RUAH.”

We first encounter “RUAH” in the Bible story of creation. The creator is portrayed as a sculptor, Gen:1-7 “God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then He breathed into his face a breath of life (RUAH) and the man became a living being. God created man in the image of Himself. Male and female He created them. God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.’ And God saw that all He made was very good!”

Now think about this. How does one breathe into the face of a clay statue and share His breath so deeply that the statue becomes alive?

- Does He blow his breath the way we extinguish candles on a cake?

- Does He give puffs of breath the way we breathe on dying embers to revive the flames?

- Does He softly cloud the shiny metal with the dampness of His breath the way we polish a silver tray?

In my imagination, none of these breathing methods seem to be adequate to “jump start” the figure of a human.

It seems that the Master Potter kissed life into the statue and it became alive with the Potter’s RUAH! Imagine that! The first book of the Bible records the first “soul kiss!”

I was reminded of this unexpectedly when my one-year old granddaughter, Sophia, came at me for a goodbye kiss with mouth wide open. We all laughed, including her, and I went on to explain the sharing of breath from the Bible point of view. Her parents were really taken aback when I explained that Sophia was instinctively kissing me the way God first kissed us. I couldn’t help thinking: “That’s why the Kingdom of God belongs to little children!”

When we are created, we are infused with God’s RUAH! We are jump started…and we take our first breath with cries of life and liberation.

Now on Pentecost, Jesus comes around and deliberately breathes on His disciples-friends. They were aware of the RUAH with which they were alive. But on Pentecost, they received a “double dose”…to give them energy and conviction to be fully alive.

As I grow older, my faith (hopefully) becomes more mature. My God has become my “Breather.” In fact, everything that lives and breathes is the direct sharer of the “RUAH YAHWEH.” In today’s biology, even plants are said to breathe. The whole universe pulsates with God’s RUAH! No wonder we can feel God’s presence everywhere!

At Pentecost, we celebrate being breathed upon by God. As healthcare workers, we are all helping people, ultimately, to prolong their breathing because breathing is not only necessary for life, it is also one of the most sacred things we do. Our individual lives are marked by our own breathing, a sharing of the one and only RUAH of God. So when we die our breath does not die with us. Our breath returns to its source…because nothing from God ever dies!

Kenn Rancourt, M.Th.

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Seventh Sunday of Easter

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

May 16, 2010

Acts 7:55-60
Rev. 22:12-14,16-17,20
Jn 7:20-26

“So that they may all be one”

The readings this week are from the Gospel of St. John and Jesus is praying before his final journey to Jerusalem before his death. He prays for unity, not only among the followers of his time but for all who will believe in Jesus through their words in order to form, as writer John Shea notes, “a living chain across time and history.” We are part of that living chain in our healing ministry but what does it mean to be unified? That we all think alike? That we all do the same thing?

One of my favorite music groups is the Irish band U2. A lifelong dream was made real for me last summer; I was able to see U2 perform in their native Dublin, Ireland. One of their most beautiful songs is titled “One” and the lyrics say “We’re One but we’re not the same; we get to carry each other.” In other words, rather than calling us to be exactly the same, our unity calls us to care for each other bringing our own gifts to bear. Our foundress, St. Marguerite d’Youville, said it this way, “I look into the eyes of the poor and see Jesus looking back.” In this way she and the Sisters of Charity reached out to criminals, prostitutes, children, the sick and the elderly, all of whom reflected Jesus.

“They are your gift to me.”

Later in his prayer, Jesus acknowledges his followers as a gift and prays that the love with which God loved him may flow through us as well. It is the essence of the living chain that unites us. This love is a hallmark of our healing ministry here at St. Mary’s Health System. It is an observable love through our continued care of the sick, outreach to the poor and respect for the most vulnerable. Our patients, elders, families and colleagues are a gift to us; may we make the living chain that unites us visible through our service to them.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Effectiveness

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Sixth Sunday of Easter

Monday, May 10th, 2010

May 9, 2010

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Rev. 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29

While attending the recent gathering in Augusta featuring the world renowned Maya Angelou, I was struck by her ability to make present the power-in-the-word. Recognizing the “power” in words, manuscripts and books were laboriously and beautifully hand copied in the past. This art was largely lost after the invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century. Tradition holds that the first book printed was a Bible. Today, the art of fine calligraphy and illumination has been recovered; we can see it most recently in Carl Jung’s The Red Book, but in particular, for our purposes, we can see it in a very special Bible commissioned by Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. In contrast to today’s mass-produced books, every page of this Bible is hand-lettered and illuminated. The Saint John’s Bible is a project of beautiful words, an expensive work undertaken out of love for aesthetics of the word and love for the word of God itself. This Sunday’s Gospel makes an important correlation between loving and living God’s word. The connection is a simple one: “Whoever loves me will keep my word,” Jesus says. For us today, however, it can be a real challenge to hear the Gospel as more than simply words, but as words we come to love, love so much that they become a way of life for us – a way of life, which will make demands on us. Jesus is telling us that his words cannot be simply skimmed and then discarded. They invite a commitment of self that is no less than the giving of self that Jesus modeled. These, indeed, are “expensive” words! “Keep my words,” Jesus commands. By this do disciples prove their love for Jesus. To help the disciples not to feel disheartened or afraid, Jesus gives his Spirit to guide them and his peace to reassure them. The risen Jesus gives us the same command and the same gifts. Like the disciples, we too are called to make keeping Jesus’ word our way of life; like the disciples, we have been given the power to do so. Jesus’ words usher in new life and a new way of being, one where the risen Christ dwells within us: “I will come back to you.” Jesus’ resurrection redefines everything. Words are no longer jots on a page, no matter how beautifully or lovingly done, but a command to a new way of living the intimate indwelling of Father, Son, and Spirit. Here is what is wholly new: God dwells within us! This intimate union between God and humanity is made possible by Jesus’ gift, the Holy Spirit. Indeed, in the Spirit all things are new!

  • Are you familiar enough with the “word of God” that the Holy Spirit can move you to live and act on that word?
  • In your interactions with patients, residents, and co-workers, what Scripture passages come to mind?
  • Are you convinced that the word of God is worth living?
    (If not, then opening your heart to Jesus, the Word, will bring you the Holy Spirit of conviction.)

Fr. Joseph Manship

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Fifth Sunday of Easter

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

Fifth Sunday of Easter: May 2, 2010

Acts 13:21-27
Revelation 21:1-5A
John 13:31-33a, 34-35

I can imagine St. Marguerite d’Youville listening to and reflecting on this Sunday’s readings at mass in 18th century Montreal. The enduring messages in these readings must have spoken to her, both personally and to the mission of the Grey Nuns.

“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.”

These words from the Acts of the Apostles must have had special meaning for St. Marguerite. After the loss of her children, her husband and the many difficult days in the first years of her religious community, Marguerite experienced the fire that destroyed the General Hospital in Montreal that her sisters administered when she was 64. In all of the moments of adversity, Marguerite did not despair or give in to self-pity. She saw God in these challenges and surrendered her trust to “the Father of Divine Providence.” This trust is validated in the accomplishments of the ministry of the Grey Nuns since then, a legacy of which we are an important part.

When we encounter adversity, whether individually, in our community in the current economic environment or in the challenges our health system faces, let us embrace the example of St. Marguerite and put our trust in the providential love of God. The witness to which God calls us in these moments of challenge can be as simple as surrendering our worries to God and placing our trust in God’s providence as Marguerite did.

“Behold, I make all things new!”

These powerful words from the Book of Revelation have inspired Christians throughout the centuries and must have given Marguerite and her sisters hope as they began new works to serve the poor and rebuild the General Hospital after the fire of 1765. During this Easter season, think about what God is making new in our lives, our community and our organization. Like the resurrection following the passion, new life and energy can come from the challenges of adversity. With faith in God’s providence and hard work- following the example of St. Marguerite and her companions – we can make things new as we help to bring about the Kingdom of God.

“This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”

These words from John’s Gospel must have resonated with Marguerite. The passion of her mission of service to the poor was fueled by how she and her community lived their Christian faith. God calls us to love one another. When you think about it, what hands to touch and to serve others does God have but ours? Like Marguerite, let us “dare to build our dreams of mercy to deeds of love.” Like St. Marguerite and the Grey Nuns, let us live a love that reaches out to all in need – those we serve, our co-workers, our families and our wider community.

As Sr. Estelle and Sr. Rita move to the motherhouse in Saint-Hyacinthe this week, let us thank them for their witness to the spirit of charity of St. Marguerite and continue this witness in our own work.

Peter Watko, Medical Affairs 

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