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Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, January 20th, 2012

Sunday, January 22, 2012 

Jonah 3:15, 10      1 Corinthians 7:29-31       Mark 1:14-20

As we resume “Ordinary Time” in the church year calendar, we will hear passages from the Gospel of Mark this year (Cycle B.)  Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the four gospels and he portrays Jesus as a very human man with strong emotions.  In fact, Mark’s Gospel does not contain any details about Jesus’ birth but instead introduces him as an adult after John the Baptist has been arrested.  Jesus announces “good news” from God and calls the first disciples and this is what we hear in this week’s Gospel passage.

Jesus calls four ordinary people (fishermen) to follow him.  He does not call the most powerful, most successful, most well-spoken people of his age; he calls simple, ordinary people who fished to make a living.  I remember learning to fish at camp one summer; I even received my own fishing pole for a birthday gift!  Fishing is not something that became deeply ingrained in my life (I didn’t like having to touch the worms) but fortunately Jesus isn’t only looking for fishermen to be his followers.

Whether a doctor, CNA, nurse, hospitality associate, billing specialist or volunteer, each of us is called to use the “talents and strengths and knowledge and passions that we have to make the contribution to God’s Kingdom that we alone can make.” (Dr. Jeff Stiggins, CT blog, 2009) It’s not about waiting until we are smarter, wealthier, more secure, or prettier.  Jesus invites us as we are and basically as followers, Stiggins writes, we are invited to do 3 things:

“Be who you are.”

“See what you have.”

“Do what matters.”

All in all, it’s a freeing message and it’s a good way to start a new year:  Be authentic to who we are.  Be grateful for the many, many blessings in our lives.  Take seriously our call to participate in healing ministry.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Integration

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Fourth Sunday of Advent

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Sunday, December 18, 2011

In the Gospel reading for this fourth Sunday of Advent Luke offers us a beautiful image of the angel appearing to Mary to announce that she has “found favor with God” and that she is going to bear a son that she will name Jesus.  It is an amazing encounter that changes human history and we proclaim it as the good news of the Annunciation.  Initially it wasn’t very good news for this young Jewish girl-being pregnant at this point in her life most likely would have meant the loss of her fiancé, the loss of her reputation and the loss of her future security.  Yet as Richard Rohr notes, Mary is a woman of extraordinary faith. Even though she does not fully understand what God is asking of her, she does not try to get out of it and protest that she is not worthy; she believes with all her heart that it can and will be done, and she acts accordingly.

What does she do? She does what most of us do when we receive earth-shattering news: seek support from our community, from someone who understands.  In this case Mary seeks out Elizabeth, a woman who is also pregnant through miraculous circumstances.  It is there with her kinswoman that the news that troubles Mary can become good news.  (I love this perspective from Benedictine sister Joan Chittister: “Here, two women look to one another for comfort and confirmation.  They don’t go to the synagogue to try to persuade the priests of the legitimacy of their call.  They don’t go to the government for protection.  They do not go even to the men to whom they are personally espoused to explain or cajole or plead.  They simply do what they must do together and leave it to the rest of us to make our own decision, just as they did.” Mary, Wellspring of Peace: A Contemporary Novena.)

In community Mary finds strength to proclaim her amazing prayer, the Magnificat.

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.
My spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.”

In community we can find strength to wait out difficult circumstances, realize hopes and even embrace apparent paradoxes.  Somehow we have turned faith into having an answer for everything.  Mary does not have answers-she “held all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:19, 51) until meaning was revealed.  This is good news for us and for our patients, residents and families who are looking for answers, sometimes in desperation.  As health care professionals committed to healing, we won’t always have all the answers but we are called to wait (to be present to them in their suffering) and to offer comfort so that love can be made visible and hope can be made genuine.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Integration

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Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Feast day of St. Marguerite d’Youville

Matthew 22:15-22

The Gospel reading from Matthew for this Sunday portrays the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus with a trick question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes?” If Jesus answers “Yes” he is in conflict with the Pharisees (and many others) who believe they shouldn’t pay taxes to the Roman Empire but if he answers “No” he will be in trouble with Rome. As usual Jesus very rarely answers a question directly-in fact in this instance he asks the crowd to look at a coin and tell whose head is on the coin. When they crowd answers, “Caesar”, Jesus says, “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but give to God what belongs to God.”

With this response Jesus avoided sedition but he also made a much greater point about who/what ultimately belongs to God. As Jesuit priest John Foley writes, “What if, in spite of the voices within you saying that you are not worth much, in spite of the setbacks of life, the losses, the flatness, in spite of all these, what if God created you with room inside you where God, out of love for you, can be quietly present? I can hear all the objections to such an idea: ‘God would never be at home in me, not until I do a lot better with my life.’ Or, ‘You want me to be some kind of nut, running around acting holy?’ Or simply, ‘I don’t want to.’

But what if God were a great friend, a loving, faithful amigo who really does want to be with you, within you, as much as is possible? In fact, how would it be if God were a companion who truly and actually accepts you and forgives you completely whenever you need it? Wouldn’t it mean that God put you and me into the world to sanctify it, to befriend the things of Caesar? Could be that we ourselves are those ‘things that belong to God’ that Jesus spoke of? ‘Belong,’ not in a possessed way, but in the way felt by those who love and are loved…If this were so, why wouldn’t we want to give ourselves to God, and then also bring our God-filled selves to Caesar’s palaces and to the dirty roads outside them and show everyone what Jesus is all about?” (Center for Liturgy)

Sunday, October 16 is the feast day of St. Marguerite d’Youville and this week we presented the Marguerite d’Youville awards to employees who demonstrate our values of respect, excellence, compassion and stewardship. Respect is about acknowledging the dignity and worth of the human person and while it may be Caesar’s image on the coin in the Gospel, it is in God’s image that humans are created. In the Judeo-Christian tradition this is a foundational concept and this is why we are called to show respect. We are called to bring our God-filled selves to work every day to treat each person we encounter (patient, family, resident or colleague) with respect and with love in order to promote healing. We don’t have to wait to be holy enough or good enough; we already belong to God and to each other and we have a wonderful role model in the spirit of St. Marguerite d’Youville.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Integration

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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sirach 27:30-28:7      Romans 14:7-9      Matthew 18:21-35 

I’m sure most of us can recall exactly where we were and what we were doing 10 years ago in the morning of September 11, 2001.  The shock and horror eventually gave way to the dawning realization that our country would be changed forever.  

My supervisor used to say that there is no such thing as a “coincidence,” only a “holy incident” that could lead to grace and deeper understanding.  She would probably apply the term “holy incident” to the fact that the readings for this Sunday, September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, focus on forgiveness.

In the first reading from Sirach, we are faced with these questions:

“Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?”

“Can anyone refuse mercy to another, yet expect pardon for one’s own sins?” (Sirach 28:3-4)

And if these questions weren’t provocative enough, in the Gospel we hear Peter’s question about how often we need to forgive (seven times?–thinking he was being more than generous) and Jesus’ response (no, seventy-seven times!!) followed by a powerful parable about debts being forgiven and yet refusing to extend debt forgiveness to others.  Interestingly, the other time this mathematical image is used in Scripture is in the book of Genesis where Lamech (a descendant of Cain) claims he can avenge himself seventy-seven times.  Matthew’s Gospel often has Jesus refer to images from Hebrew Scripture to connect with his Jewish followers but in this case, instead of exacting vengeance, Jesus calls for uncountable forgiveness.

Jesus is not calling us to be passive in the face of wrong-doing.  In fact the call to forgiveness is not so much about the one who does the wrong-doing but about the one who was wronged.  Holding on to anger, bitterness, and grief can have profound negative effects on our physical, mental, and spiritual health.  Are there some things that are too terrible to forgive? Abuse, acts of terrorism?

On this tenth anniversary of 9-11, Pax Christi offers us this image from Scripture:

“As Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19:41-42) 

Perhaps this is one response in the face of evil and destruction–one approach to acting in a loving and forgiving way:  to focus on the things that make for peace–“drawing closer to those who suffer, cultivating understanding in the midst of suspicion, finding truth in the arguments of those with whom we disagree, embracing some measure of personal sacrifice today to make a better world for our children and grandchildren tomorrow.” (Pax Christi statement on the 10th anniversary of 9-11)

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Integration

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Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Sunday, August 7, 2011

1 Kings 19:9,11-13            Romans 9:1-5                  Matthew 14:22-33

Scripture scholars tells us that the phrase “Do not be afraid” occurs 350 times in Scripture, including the readings for this week.  Both the first reading about the prophet Elijah and Matthew’s Gospel featuring Peter and the disciples show us people in great fear, feeling helpless and overwhelmed.  They also experience God’s power and ultimately God’s peace.  In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus went to a mountain to pray leaving the disciples in a boat.  After his prayer Jesus walked across the water to the boat and the disciples were afraid.  Peter wanted Jesus to prove it was really him by commanding Peter to walk on the water.  Jesus did so and at first Peter could walk on the water, but then he became afraid and began to sink; he cried out for Jesus to save him.

Many of us have experienced this type of fear in our own lives–maybe not literally sinking–but certainly fears about economic security, a family crisis, or physical pain.  Our patients experience this too, and sometimes that fear can overtake reason and hope.  One patient I worked with was in her 30s and had advanced cancer.  She and her children lived in the inner city and though she did not have many resources, she gave her children all the gifts and wisdom that she could by telling them stories, riding the bus around the city to keep them warm in winter until she ran out of bus tokens, and teaching them about a God who would never abandon them.  As her cancer progressed, she became afraid and expressed her fears about what would happen after she died.  She became so overwhelmed with fear that she couldn’t deal with making plans for her children.  We read some of her favorite Scripture stories together and she reminded herself about her faith and belief in a God who wouldn’t abandon her.  One day her fear was gone and she recounted a dream that she had the night before: she was in heaven and a beautiful bus came along and opened its doors.  Inside St. Peter was driving and said to her, “Welcome.  Come aboard; you can ride wherever you’d like and the trip is free.”  The dream gave her courage and a sense of peace, similar to Jesus offering an outstretched hand to Peter to save him in Sunday’s reading.  She began to imagine her transformation after death like that of a caterpillar into a butterfly.  On the day she died she told me, “Today is a good day for butterflies.” After her funeral I was feeling deep sadness so I went for a walk.  A butterfly came and landed on my shoulder and stayed on my shoulder for a full 5 minutes as I walked.  That experience gave me a sense of peace and hope.

We can help each other find courage so that fear does not overwhelm hope.  As Patricia Sanchez writes, “we are strengthened by the assurance that there is nowhere God is not, no heart in which God does not choose to dwell, and no hand that God will not reach out to save.”

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Integration

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Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, July 1st, 2011

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Zechariah 9:9-10      Romans 8:9, 11-13      Matthew 11:25-30

The passage from Matthew’s Gospel this Sunday is a familiar one:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

for I am meek and humble of heart;

and you will find rest for yourselves.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Matthew 11:28)

It is also particularly comforting for those seeking healing and for those working in health care. When I worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD, I was struck by the 10 ½ foot Carrara marble statue of Jesus as “The Divine Healer” that stands in the famous Hopkins dome. At the base of the pedestal is the Scripture passage from this Sunday-“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” It fascinated me that Johns Hopkins, a hospital intentionally established without any religious affiliation, would have this statue in its front entrance. What I discovered is that the statue comforts people, regardless of religious affiliation (or even no affiliation). One foot is shiny from thousands of hands touching it seeking hope, courage, and healing. Employees, regardless of race or religion, also touch the foot of the statue on their way into the hospital and on their way home.

The Gospel reading includes an invitation (“Come to me”) and a message of healing (“You will find rest”). We have incorporated this Scripture passage of welcome and healing into the inscription of our statue of the Woman at the Well at St.

Mary’s Auburn Campus. Beyond the words inscribed in stone, we also live this by letting people know they are welcome here-whether it’s offering them a smile, helping someone find the ED or going above and beyond to make them feel comfortable.

St. Marguerite d’Youville was certainly attuned to relieving people’s burdens, whether caring for abandoned children, the elderly or the poor. We also try to lighten patients’ burdens and help them find rest as we continue her mission of healing reflected in this Gospel passage. Interestingly we hear this passage on a weekend when as a nation we celebrate our independence. In truth, we cannot provide healing independently; we work as a team of dedicated health care professionals strengthened by the spirit of St. Marguerite d’Youville and knowing that Jesus promises we will not be alone in our work.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Effectiveness

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Feast of Pentecost

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Sunday, June 12

When my parents traveled to Italy on their honeymoon they took time out to visit my grandfather’s family in Rome. My grandfather was a quiet, patient, kind man of few words. My grandmother was a very passionate, expressive woman who usually dominated the conversation. She was from Calabria, in southern Italy and the Italian spoken in that region is a very different dialect than in Rome. So while my mother spoke and understood Italian, it was from hearing my grandmother’s Calabrian dialect. She had difficulty communicating with her aunt in Rome but kept trying to find different ways to say the words. At one point my father said to her, “Grace, I don’t really know Italian but I know at this point you’re speaking French, not Italian!” Finally her aunt simply said, “We don’t need to talk; just to have you here with me and see your face is enough.”

At the feast of Pentecost (celebrated 50 days after Easter) Jesus’ followers were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the Good News. Amazingly those gathered could understand the apostles even though the crowd spoke many different languages and were from many different cultures. They gathered as one to hear the mighty acts of God.

Paul’s letter in the second reading emphasizes that while the Holy Spirit is sent to confer different gifts, it is into the one Spirit that we are all baptized. And when Jesus breathes on the disciples to give them the Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel, his message is one of peace and forgiveness. How do we welcome people of different cultures and people who bring different gifts? How do we extend peace and forgiveness at home, school, work, or church?

Spiritual writer Henri Nouwen notes that throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, God is revealed more fully. In the Exodus story, the revelation is of God-for-us as the Israelites are led out of slavery into freedom. In the person of Jesus, God is revealed as God-with-us, the God who takes on flesh to stand in solidarity with us. And at Pentecost, God is revealed as God-within-us because, as Nouwen writes in The Fullness of the Divine Life, through the sending of the Holy Spirit, we are “enabled to breathe the divine life ourselves.” That is the grace that makes peace and forgiveness possible.

It’s a wonderful image for the feast of Pentecost and for our healing mission at St. Mary’s. All people gathered as one body. One Spirit to bring peace, forgiveness and healing. And sometimes no words are necessary; just being present is enough.

Elizabeth Keene
VP, Mission Effectiveness

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Second Sunday of Easter

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

John 9:19-31

In this familiar Gospel of the second Sunday of Easter, Jesus appears to the disciples who are hidden behind locked doors because they were afraid (not a great start for the beginning of a religion that will change human history).  Jesus offers them a greeting of peace, breathes on them, and invites them to receive the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately one of the disciples, Thomas, is not there; when he returns later, he refuses to believe that Jesus appeared to them.  He even states, “Until I see marks of nails in his hands, I will not believe.”  The next week Jesus appears again and allows Thomas the opportunity to touch the nail marks and challenges him, “Do not be unbelieving, but believe.”

This is one of the few Gospel readings that we hear every year in all three of the cycle of readings so it must be really important that we understand it.  It is “good news” (the meaning of the word “gospel”) for us.  Scripture scholars now feel that a more accurate translation of Thomas’ experience is disbelief, rather than the phrase “doubting Thomas” with which he has been named.  The opposite of faith is not doubt, but disbelief.  Doubt can be a healthy part of faith; questions can lead us to a deeper faith and a stronger relationship with God. Beyond this, homilist Rev. James Liggett offers this perspective, “Jesus didn’t wait for the disciples to figure out that they didn’t need to be afraid anymore and unlock the doors themselves.  Jesus didn’t wait for Thomas to stop doubting.  He didn’t wait for any of them to do anything different or to be anyone different.  He showed up. And loved them…That’s what the resurrected Lord does.”

It’s not that everything becomes perfect when the resurrected Lord appears (a week later when Jesus reappears the disciples were still behind locked doors.)  But eventually this fearful band of disciples does find the courage to go beyond the locked doors and does change the history of the world.  How did they find this courage?  Jesus offers a peace-filled presence, gives the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide them, and calls them to service (mission.) They also had each other–a community of believers–for support. 

Are you living behind locked doors?  It might be fears, insecurities, illness, past hurts, or broken relationships that keep us locked in.  Jesus offers us the same good news (“You don’t have to be anyone different.  You are loved.”), the same gift of peace, and the Holy Spirit.  We too have been called to serve in the healing ministry–to show up for others who are locked behind doors of fear, illness, and hurt–and let them know they are loved.  Plus, we have a community of dedicated, compassionate healthcare professionals to support us along the way.  Alleluia!

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Effectiveness

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Second Sunday of Lent

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Genesis 12:1-4a             2 Timothy 1:8-10            Matthew 17:1-9

The readings for the Second Sunday of Lent highlight a tension between how we connect to God and to the world.  The Gospel reading is the story of the Transfiguration and in it Jesus brings disciples Peter, James, and John to Mt. Tabor.  The path to the summit of Mt. Tabor was steep and rugged; it was a dangerous journey.  As usual, when there is reference to a mountaintop in Scripture, it indicates a place to contact God, since mountains were seen as places where earth touches heaven.  At the summit Peter, James, and John are amazed by what they see.  Jesus is “transfigured”– he appears as a dazzling figure as radiant as the sun.  In addition, Moses and Elijah also appear and talk with Jesus.  Peter wants to maintain the special connection they experience by staying on the mountaintop and building shrines to what he witnessed.  Instead Jesus brings them away from the dazzling visions back down to everyday life where the sick and outcast were seeking healing.

This tension continues today.  Some prefer to stay focused on a one-way relationship with God in order to maintain a dazzling connection.  Jesus isn’t calling us to stay on a mountaintop or in shrines surrounded by like-minded people; Jesus teaches that our connection with God leads us to change the world.

Joan Chittister invites us to note with whom Jesus speaks at the summit of Mt. Tabor–Moses and Elijah.  They are not kings or other “powerful” people recognized in that culture.  Instead they are people who sided with the oppressed and the poor.  Moses led the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt and Elijah was known as a “troublemaker” prophet because he advocated for the poor.  As Chittister writes, “Real religion is not about building temples and keeping shrines.  Real religion is about healing hurts, speaking for and being with the poor, the helpless, the voiceless, and the forgotten who are at the silent bottom of every pinnacle…”

St. Marguerite d’Youville realized this in her ministry.  She advocated for the poor and the voiceless of Montreal and she and the Sisters of Charity have a legacy of healing hurts through healthcare ministry.  One of the beautiful images of her in our main lobby has this inscription: “She dared to build her dreams of mercy into deeds of love.”  We have the opportunity to do this every day in our healing ministry at St. Mary’s.  These works of mercy and the ability to act out of irrational love in caring for the sick and suffering are ways that we too can change the world and help build the kingdom of God.

-Elizabeth Keene
Mission Effectiveness

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Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Friday, February 4th, 2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Readings:  Isaiah 58:7-10                1 Corinthians 2:1-5               Matthew 5:13-16 

“You are the salt of the earth… you are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5)

My family loves salt: my aunt used to salt all her food, even her toast!  Family legend says my love of salt comes from the fact that my mother ate an entire jar of salt pickles in one sitting while she was pregnant with me.  These days we are wary of salt; most of us consume too much and end up at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke.  In Jesus’ time, salt was a rare commodity with many valuable uses.

Why did Jesus compare his followers to salt?  The Rev. Ken Kesselus identifies these analogies that might help us understand:

-Salt was a basic life ingredient serving as a nutrient, purifier, and source of flavor.  As salt in the world, we can bring a joyful spirit to nourish all whom we encounter.

-Salt was a healing agent. As salt in the world we can promote healing through prayer, caring for others, and serving the vulnerable among us. 

-Salt was a preservative to prevent food from spoiling. If we, as salt in the world, become preservatives of God’s goodness, we can help prevent ignorance and fear from overcoming justice and mercy.

-At this time of year, we are especially aware of the use of salt to thaw ice on roads. As salt in the world, we can help melt the iciness of life.  We can make the first effort to reconcile a relationship, instill hope when someone is in despair, or offer comfort to those who are lonely or in distress.

As Kesselus states, “Jesus empowers us to purify, to heal, to nurture, to thaw the frozen, to preserve, and to season the people of the earth.”   The first reading from the prophet Isaiah calls us to share our bread, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, and clothe the naked. These acts ultimately came to be referred to as the Corporal Works of Mercy: feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the homeless; visit the imprisoned; tend the sick; bury the dead. At St. Mary’s we are engaged in these Works of Mercy every day in keeping with our mission from the legacy of St. Marguerite d’Youville and the Sisters of Charity.  According to Isaiah, when we do these things, our “light will break forth like the dawn.”  As we prepare to celebrate the World Day of the Sick on February 11, 2011 we acknowledge the light that shines from our CNAs, hospitality associates, housekeepers, volunteers, physicians, therapists, nurses, and all who care for patients and residents with compassion and tenderness at St. Mary’s.  We invite you to attend a special White Mass on Sunday, February 13, 2011 at 10:00 am at the Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul in Lewiston, where Bishop Richard J. Malone will preside and offer blessing and support for all healthcare professionals.

Elizabeth Keene
Mission Effectiveness

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