Archive for June, 2010

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21   Galatians 5:1, 13-18       Luke 9:51-62 

The theme of the Old Testament reading and the Gospel have to do with answering God’s call. In the Old Testament, Elisha is called to follow the Prophet Elijah and to be his successor.  There is some hesitation at first but then he answers the call and follows. 

In the Gospel reading we see Jesus passing through “enemy territory” of Samaria on his way to Jerusalem instead of going around the long way as most Jews would do.  He was hoping to find hospitality and probably extending a hand of friendship to people who were considered enemies.  Both hospitality and the offer of friendship were refused.  But when the disciples want to call divine intervention to blot out the town, Jesus seems to call them to the duty of tolerance.  In many ways it may be a lost virtue in our society.  Jesus may be asking us to allow other people to think differently than we do and to do so with respect.  We might say that we can disagree without being disagreeable. 

In the next part of the Gospel, the words of Jesus could seem harsh, but if properly understood, there is a meaning for us.  Jesus is extending three different invitations to several people to follow him.  The first has an immediate and generous response: “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus offers a serious reminder that He has no home, not even a place to rest his head.  Following Jesus is not easy.  There can be difficult times if we want to live and love as Jesus loved.  Being Christian is not an easy, selfish way of life. Love, kindness and service can be very demanding of us. They require selflessness. We might ask ourselves: “Are we ready?” 

The response to the second call to follow Jesus incurs some other apparently harsh words from Jesus.  Actually, the man who says he’ll follow after he buries his father, most probably meant “after his father dies.”  Jesus is saying that there are crucial moments in life and we can’t procrastinate.  We have to act and seize the moment or we may never answer God’s call, whatever it might be.

The third call finds a person with another excuse.  Jesus makes a statement about putting one’s hand to the plow and not looking back. Maybe Jesus is telling us not to live in the past, whether we think of the past as “the good old days” or as some very painful times.  We are invited to live in the moment and to move forward…not backward.  Life is now and in the future.   I once read a saying that says: The past is history, the future is mystery and the present is gift.  That’s why we call it the present!

The second reading from Galatians is almost a summary of the call of Jesus to every one of us here at St. Mary’s: to live in love and in service with compassion and kindness as St. Marguerite d’Youville did before us.  It is possible if we allow the Holy Spirit of Love in our hearts to guide us.

Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, SSCh
Director of Pastoral Care

Posted in Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, SSCh, The Scribes | No Comments »

12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Sunday, June 20

Luke 9:18-24

In the Gospel this week, Jesus asks his closest friends “Who do you say I am?”  Everyone’s identity is important, even sacred.  It might be helpful to ponder this question in prayer.

Because today is Father’s Day, I wish to share with you one of the most personal reflections I have ever done regarding my own father . . . who died when he was only 54 years old, but who remains to this day the most important man in my life.

Happy Father’s Day!

When I was a child my father was my god. 

He knew all the answers to my questions.
He could solve problems and fix toys.
He was strong and could hold me up over his head with one hand.
He tickled well too and knew when to stop.
When I was a child my father was my god.

When I was a growing boy my father was my god. 

He taught me how to ride a bike,
Pitch a baseball and swing my bat evenly.
He asked me to help him around the house
And even let me use his tools.

He even sneaked me up some food once when I was sent to bed without supper.
When I was a growing boy my father was my god.

When I was twelve my father was my god. 

He taught me how to pitch horseshoes and play cribbage . . .
And he never let me win on purpose.
We climbed a mountain together and mowed the lawn.
We helped neighbors and old uncle Babe with his home fixing chores.
He watched me play hockey and baseball
And cheered my mediocre abilities.
When I was twelve my father was my god.

When I was a teenager my father was my god. 

I discovered his faults for he wore them on his outer surface,
Like everything else he ever wore.
He was short on temper,
Loud on voice
And long on sermons.
We went to church as naturally as we visited grandparents and relatives.
More than once we waited in line together for confession.
Once I overheard him brag about me with pride.
When I was a teenager my father was my god.

When I was a young man, my father was still my god. 

I saw him hide his tender feelings
When he was moved with joy.
His efforts to hide his tears
Were more visible to me than his tears would have been.
He loved mom gently and could not hide from us
How pleasing and beautiful he thought she was.
The greatest gift he ever gave us
Was the way he loved her . . . and showed it.
When I was a young man, my father was still my god.

When I was an adult my father was still my god.

There was never a doubt that he loved us all.
Cut and dry…black and white.
You love or you don’t love.
There was no wishy-washy fidgeting with him on anything.
When I was an adult my father was still my god.

He died…45 years ago. 

Now that I’m a father myself, my father is no longer my god.
But how easy it’s been to believe that God is my Father.

Kenn Rancourt

Posted in Kenn Rancourt, The Scribes | No Comments »

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

June 13, 2010                                               

Luke 7:36-8:3

In the Gospel of Luke this Sunday, we hear a powerful story of hospitality, forgiveness, and the extravagance of God’s love.  Jesus has been invited to the home of Simon the Pharisee.  Jesus and the Pharisees often clash because of Jesus’ teaching and Jesus’ tendency to include those considered outcast in society.  In this case Simon has extended an invitation for hospitality but does not follow the normal customs of welcoming someone into his home (such as having a servant wash the feet of the guest.)  Then a woman enters, someone known to be a sinner in the community, and she not only washes Jesus’ feet but she kisses them and dries them with her hair.  Simon and the other guests are shocked that Jesus would allow a “known sinner” to touch him.

Jesus then asks what some homilists consider to be the most important phrase of this gospel passage: “Simon, do you see this woman?” He then goes on to compare the hospitality the woman extended to the lack of hospitality Simon offered.  And he makes the connection that because the woman has known forgiveness and mercy, she is able to extend great love.

Simon really didn’t see the person before him; he only saw a “certain kind of woman”–someone known to be a sinner.  He is so caught up in the law and propriety that he does not even recognize who Jesus truly is.  As Christian writer Kate Huey notes,

            Simon, unfortunately wasn’t in tune with God’s presence in the
            midst of his party…in the wisdom and tender love of Jesus, who
            accepted her gratitude, and in his own need for God’s mercy and
            understanding…Instead, his eyes were clouded by judgment and
            he missed a golden opportunity for grace.  So where do we stand
            in this story?  And with whom do we stand? What about our hospitality? 

It’s an interesting passage for us to consider.  Are there times when we see only the labels we assign against people who disagree with our views politically or religiously, those we consider our enemies?  Can we widen our vision enough to see them as children of God?  Many of us find it difficult to understand the hospitality God extends–senseless mercy and extravagant love for everyone. 

Rooted in the spirituality of St. Marguerite d’Youville, foundress of the Sisters of Charity, we have received a call to love and serve in health care ministry.  But before we can love and serve, we have to see our patients, residents, and colleagues and, as Frederick Buechner notes, not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces.  Seeing them in this way makes it easy to recognize each other as children of God.  Then we too can be extravagant in love and mercy. 

Elizabeth Keene, Mission Effectiveness

Posted in Elizabeth Keene, The Scribes | No Comments »

Feast of Corpus Christi: The Celebration of the Body and Blood, Joys and Tears, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sunday, June 6th, 2010

June 6, 2010                                                                           

Early Contemporary Reminders:
The whole being needs to be fed bread and drink for the body, knowledge and wisdom for the soul, atmosphere and consciousness for the Spirit.

Ernest Holmes 

Within, where Soul and Spirit meet, is the only place where the true bread of life is found.           

Eva Bell Werber 

Ancient Reminders
Deuteronomy 8: 2-3:  Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart.  The Lord humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, in order to let you understand: it is not by bread alone that man lives, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 

Psalm 147:   The Lord heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. The Lord makes grass grow on the hills and gives the animals their food. 

1 Corinthians 10:16-17:  Is it not the cup of blessing which we bless?  Is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?  This bread that we break is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? 

John 6:51-58:  I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever.  The bread that I will give you for the life of the world is my flesh. 

Today’s Reality
Visit a unit in our nursing care facility at meal time.  Observe a nurse or CNA feeding a resident. The gentleness and peace that prevails is truly a “God feeding us” moment.

A room where nursing mothers may feed their infants is provided on 1 East at d’Youville Pavilion Nursing Care facility.  God is there. 

We who receive nourishment from God have the obligation to give to others.  We know that in this abundant universe, there are sufficient resources for each person to be able to eat, and yet we do little to walk in that truth unless we are met by some devastation.  (Somewhat like the Hebrews in the desert who don’t believe until the manna falls from the heavens.  Their belief in the “ever Goodness” of God is weak, so they hoard the manna away in fear of going without.)  

Are we hoarding?  Our food, our goods, our time, our love? 

God holds back nothing from us.  Jesus at the Last Supper found a way to be with us always….”This is my body, this is my blood.  Do this in memory of me.”  If we fully partake in the bread of life, all our needs will be met. 

If God can be so creative in giving, can we do less? 

Go Gently!  

Chaplain Elizabeth Lowe
St. Mary’s d’Youville Pavilion

Posted in Elizabeth Lowe, The Scribes | No Comments »

Trinity Sunday

Friday, June 4th, 2010

 May 30, 2010

Proverbs 8:22-31        
Romans 5:1-5           
John 16:12-15  

In the last few months of this Liturgical Year, we have remembered and pondered the Passion and death of Jesus and celebrated his Resurrection.  Last week we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus.  He had said He would not leave us orphans, that He would send us the Spirit of Truth.  This week, we honor the Blessed Trinity, one God in three Persons. We have been taught that it is a mystery we cannot understand.  Perhaps…  But why not live in the mystery, embrace it and learn to relate to each Person of the Trinity in a special way? 

In the first reading, God speaks of Wisdom being present when God created.  In the second reading, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit being poured into our hearts.  Of course, in the Gospel we have Jesus himself speaking about his Father and about the Spirit of Truth.  There are indeed three persons in one God according to these readings.  So what can that mean for us?  Our God is so great that if we want to use a physical metaphor, we can think of God as having many facets or dimensions.  Theology has described the work of the Father as creation, the work of the Son as salvation, and the work of the Holy Spirit as sanctification.  Interesting… 

But how about a relationship with each Person of the Trinity?  There was a holy French nun several hundred years ago, named Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. She had such a personal relationship with each Person of the Trinity, that she affectionately called them “My Three.”  How do we relate to this triune God? 

Some people relate to God in a very generic way.  Others have an affinity or relationship with God as Father, the one who created, who gave us freedom and now watches over us with love, kindness, and mercy. Others are greatly attracted to Jesus, God become human, to live among us and teach us how to live and to love according to God’s desires for us. Others, but they are fewer in number, have a real relationship to the Holy Spirit of Love and Truth.  I say “fewer” because it has been said that the Holy Spirit is “the forgotten God.” 

I share these thoughts only to stretch our thinking and perhaps as an opportunity to ponder our relationship with God.  Personally, in my ministry here at the hospital, when I am tired or anxious about something, I like to relate to the Father who holds me like a father holds a child and the child then feels secure and trusting. When I am visiting patients, I ask Jesus to be my companion as I walk among the sick, that He be their healer and comfort and encourage them.  The Holy Spirit of Love is the one who fills me with passion and energy for the mission and guides me as I try to be a witness of God’s love and mercy to those I meet.  Blessed be God in the Most Holy Trinity! 

Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, SSCh
Director of Pastoral Care

Posted in Sr. Suzanne Beaudoin, SSCh, The Scribes | No Comments »