Pentecost Sunday 2009
John 15: 26-27, 16:12-15
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. 27You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."
If you are reading this blog I would assume that you are a Catholic Christian, that you attend Mass on Sundays and perhaps other days of the week, that you yearn for God’s presence in your life, that you pray in times of trouble and give thanks to the Lord in good times and that you are concerned about being who the Lord has called you to be. Have you ever stopped to think that on your own steam you have no capacity to be the spiritual person you are and that the only reason you can desire God and make efforts to include him in your life is because the Holy Spirit is blessing you moment by moment with vision, desire and capacity? It is the Holy Spirit who prepared your spirit for creation and continues to do so in the same way he hovered over the chaos of the world and prepared it to hear the Word. The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is a gift beyond comprehension.
Yet, the Holy Spirit has been called The Forgotten Paraclete. Why? Perhaps it’s because we remember to ask Jesus or the Father or Mary or our favorite saints for help and guidance but we often forget to direct our prayers to the Holy Spirit. This may be because Jesus, Mary and the Saints had human bodies and human natures and the word ‘Father’ is basically a human concept which embodies in our minds a certain set of characteristics. But the Holy Spirit in scripture was never presented to us in a human form and has not been portrayed as a being with a human face or human characteristics. He is usually symbolized by flames of fire, a mighty wind or by a dove and that makes him a little more difficult to comprehend or apprehend with our minds. It’s challenging to have a close relationship with fire or a wind or a bird.
Which is a pity. Just think of a few of his alternative names: Comforter, Counselor, Advocate and Paraclete. The word Advocate comes from the Latin Advocare- “to call to one’s aid.” And the word Paraclete comes from the Greek words para, “alongside”, and kletos, “to call”. The Holy Spirit is on call 24/7 and he walks alongside with us to comfort us, counsel us and give aid to us.
Still, who is this Holy Spirit, really? What can we say about him that would fix in our minds and hearts the reality of the person that he is?
I’ve got a little list. This list is from the book of Wisdom, (chapter 7: 22-30 and 8:1) and it is one of my all time favorite scripture passages. It is actually a description of Wisdom itself (personified in the old testament as a ‘she’) but in reading this descriptive list of the characteristics of wisdom, it is so obviously also a description of the Holy Spirit. Read this list and you will have a much clearer idea of the amazing and awesome nature of the Holy Spirit who was sent to us in baptism and who has remained with each one of us ever since:
There is in her (wisdom) a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.
For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior,
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
When I read that I am comforted and excited. This is the One whom Jesus sent to be with us forever to guide, console, help, counsel and make us more aware of who Jesus and the Father are.
It might surprise you to know which word in that description I love the best: “subtle”. The Holy Spirit is so subtle that he penetrates all other subtleties. What this means is that if we are not experiencing blatant displays of God’s power in our lives in ways we would like to see, it does not mean we are forgotten or that nothing is being accomplished. The Holy Spirit is subtle and his power is more likely to subtly penetrate the deepest areas of our lives causing slow but deep-rooted change rather than wowing us with lightshows of his power which can thrill us in the moment but leave us unchanged in the roots of our beings. That doesn’t mean we can’t witness the beautiful movement of the Spirit. It just means we need to pay more attention to the small and subtle movements of the Spirit in our lives. He is always there, always working and always creating, but we usually miss his presence and workings unless he graces us with a really obvious display of power. Again, living in the moment is where we will gain a huge appreciation for how the Spirit moves. It may not always be the way we think he should move or the way we want him to move but the wisdom of the Spirit permeates our lives. He “orders all things well.”
This Sunday, celebrate the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life with gratitude and make a resolution that, for you, he will no longer be “the Forgotten Paraclete”.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Ascension of the Lord
Mark 16: 15-20
15And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Drunk any good poisons lately? How about snakes? Anyone out there picked up a viper or two and survived to tell the story? No? Why not? Apparently that’s what scripture says we should be able to do if we are good believers.
There’s always a tendency in people to be attracted to – or repelled by– the sensational. In reading the gospel this week, the phrases about picking up snakes and drinking poison are sure to raise even fleeting questions about one’s own faith levels given that most of us wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about putting our faith to the test by going out and finding a snake or looking under the sink for a poisonous substance.
As always, scripture must be read in context. This week there is a choice of two passages for the second reading and in one of the passages (Ephesians 4: 1-13) we are told “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” And further on it says, “The gift he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry…” In the total context of all the readings, what is being said is that there are many signs that will accompany all believers, but not necessarily will all the signs accompany every believer. Not all of us will be evangelists, not all will be teachers and not all will pick up snakes. This is easier to digest. Each one of us is called. Each one of us has been Gifted and we are required to open ourselves to the Spirit so that our Gift will be used for the building up of the body and for the good of the whole world. If God decides at some point that someone should pick up a snake or drink poison in order to glorify his name that is well and good. It is not up to us as individuals to decide arbitrarily we should go snake hunting!
Jesus ascended into heaven after he completed his mission, but before doing so he indicated, “I have done all that I was called to do and now it’s your turn.” What we need to do is ask him, “What do you want from me, Lord? What is my Gift? Who and what have you called me to be? What is my mission?”
At this point most people would look at either their talents and skills or their vocation to determine what Gift God has given them for the building up of the body and for the good of the world. Some of you would say, “I am a mother or I am single or I am married. That’s my Gift for the building up of the body.” Others might look at a talent they have for singing or leading a group or for administration. Someone else might ponder the skills they have learned in school or elsewhere, ones they are good at, and see how those skills could benefit the body of Christ. For instance a doctor might donate her skills to helping the poor or a good cook might bring people together around her table for communion and fellowship, thereby building up community.
All these skills, talents and vocations are absolutely critical to the body of Christ and are used by the Lord for building up his people. But we all need to go one step further. Talents, skills and vocations can be lost due to circumstances of life or they can change or they can fade away eventually. Mothers will not always be involved in the intensive giving called for when children are living at home. Spouses can die suddenly. A singer can lose her voice due to old age or illness; a good reader can go blind. A carpenter can get arthritis. The Gift God gives for the building of the body will never die and never fade, though it is possible for it to be forgotten. A talent, skill or vocation is the medium through which the Lord gives the Gift. The Gift is the electrical current; the talent, skill or vocation is the wire. I will go even one step further and state that the one who is in the process of discovering her Gift is a heart who is discovering who she is in God’s eyes and has begun to understand her full personal value to him, to the body and to the world. The Gift is not only powerful, it is immensely attractive and has the capacity to inspire others to thirst for God himself as well as bring the bearer of the gift to spiritual fullness.
There is a great deal of agony when we discover that we can be fully engaged in the vocation we were called to and not feel entirely fulfilled by that vocation. Many mothers who yearned to be mothers and knew without a doubt that God called them to be mothers will tell you, if they are honest, that they go through a lot of pain and even guilt because they thought they would be inwardly fulfilled to the max by motherhood and it just isn’t the case. Certainly there are times of great joy in being a mother but there are more times of weariness, frustration, anger, resentment and boredom. The same is true for a woman in a chosen career or a woman who has chosen a celibate single life or a woman who is married without children.
The vocation is not the Gift. It is simply the vehicle God has chosen for you. Once committed to one’s vocation, one still needs to recognize and allow the Lord to develop the Gift.
By now you may have noticed that I have been capitalizing the word “Gift”. That’s because the Gift is a person. The Gift is a manifestation of Jesus himself and that is why The Gift of God is so attractive, so beautiful, so healing and so powerful. It’s also the reason why the Gift cannot fade, wither or die. Jesus is alive! He ascended to heaven so that we could become vessels of the Gift for the world, so that we can all become Christophers, which means “Christ Bearers”.
Listen to me! I did not say that you should simply act like Jesus. You are to become conduits of Christ himself so that in offering your Gift, what you are offering is an aspect of Jesus that he has anointed you (you!) to carry and give. What a Gift! If each of you were to freely offer to your family, to the Body and to the world the unique part of Jesus he has anointed you to offer, the church would be turned upside down and the world would be astounded. And you would experience a deeper spiritual fulfillment than you could imagine.
A prayer that you may hear at Mass this weekend is written by St. Paul and is the beginning of one of the alternative scriptures for the second reading (Ephesians 1: 17-23). Please read this slowly and prayerfully and know that I am truly praying it for all of you.
Sisters, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of revelation and wisdom as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
Amen and amen.
P.S. When I was typing out “…with the eyes of your heart enlightened”, I accidentally typed, “…with the yes of your heart enlightened”. I thought it was equally appropriate. Sometimes our “Yes” to God needs to be enlightened and filled with a deeper revelation of Him.
15And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Drunk any good poisons lately? How about snakes? Anyone out there picked up a viper or two and survived to tell the story? No? Why not? Apparently that’s what scripture says we should be able to do if we are good believers.
There’s always a tendency in people to be attracted to – or repelled by– the sensational. In reading the gospel this week, the phrases about picking up snakes and drinking poison are sure to raise even fleeting questions about one’s own faith levels given that most of us wouldn’t be too enthusiastic about putting our faith to the test by going out and finding a snake or looking under the sink for a poisonous substance.
As always, scripture must be read in context. This week there is a choice of two passages for the second reading and in one of the passages (Ephesians 4: 1-13) we are told “When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.” And further on it says, “The gift he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry…” In the total context of all the readings, what is being said is that there are many signs that will accompany all believers, but not necessarily will all the signs accompany every believer. Not all of us will be evangelists, not all will be teachers and not all will pick up snakes. This is easier to digest. Each one of us is called. Each one of us has been Gifted and we are required to open ourselves to the Spirit so that our Gift will be used for the building up of the body and for the good of the whole world. If God decides at some point that someone should pick up a snake or drink poison in order to glorify his name that is well and good. It is not up to us as individuals to decide arbitrarily we should go snake hunting!
Jesus ascended into heaven after he completed his mission, but before doing so he indicated, “I have done all that I was called to do and now it’s your turn.” What we need to do is ask him, “What do you want from me, Lord? What is my Gift? Who and what have you called me to be? What is my mission?”
At this point most people would look at either their talents and skills or their vocation to determine what Gift God has given them for the building up of the body and for the good of the world. Some of you would say, “I am a mother or I am single or I am married. That’s my Gift for the building up of the body.” Others might look at a talent they have for singing or leading a group or for administration. Someone else might ponder the skills they have learned in school or elsewhere, ones they are good at, and see how those skills could benefit the body of Christ. For instance a doctor might donate her skills to helping the poor or a good cook might bring people together around her table for communion and fellowship, thereby building up community.
All these skills, talents and vocations are absolutely critical to the body of Christ and are used by the Lord for building up his people. But we all need to go one step further. Talents, skills and vocations can be lost due to circumstances of life or they can change or they can fade away eventually. Mothers will not always be involved in the intensive giving called for when children are living at home. Spouses can die suddenly. A singer can lose her voice due to old age or illness; a good reader can go blind. A carpenter can get arthritis. The Gift God gives for the building of the body will never die and never fade, though it is possible for it to be forgotten. A talent, skill or vocation is the medium through which the Lord gives the Gift. The Gift is the electrical current; the talent, skill or vocation is the wire. I will go even one step further and state that the one who is in the process of discovering her Gift is a heart who is discovering who she is in God’s eyes and has begun to understand her full personal value to him, to the body and to the world. The Gift is not only powerful, it is immensely attractive and has the capacity to inspire others to thirst for God himself as well as bring the bearer of the gift to spiritual fullness.
There is a great deal of agony when we discover that we can be fully engaged in the vocation we were called to and not feel entirely fulfilled by that vocation. Many mothers who yearned to be mothers and knew without a doubt that God called them to be mothers will tell you, if they are honest, that they go through a lot of pain and even guilt because they thought they would be inwardly fulfilled to the max by motherhood and it just isn’t the case. Certainly there are times of great joy in being a mother but there are more times of weariness, frustration, anger, resentment and boredom. The same is true for a woman in a chosen career or a woman who has chosen a celibate single life or a woman who is married without children.
The vocation is not the Gift. It is simply the vehicle God has chosen for you. Once committed to one’s vocation, one still needs to recognize and allow the Lord to develop the Gift.
By now you may have noticed that I have been capitalizing the word “Gift”. That’s because the Gift is a person. The Gift is a manifestation of Jesus himself and that is why The Gift of God is so attractive, so beautiful, so healing and so powerful. It’s also the reason why the Gift cannot fade, wither or die. Jesus is alive! He ascended to heaven so that we could become vessels of the Gift for the world, so that we can all become Christophers, which means “Christ Bearers”.
Listen to me! I did not say that you should simply act like Jesus. You are to become conduits of Christ himself so that in offering your Gift, what you are offering is an aspect of Jesus that he has anointed you (you!) to carry and give. What a Gift! If each of you were to freely offer to your family, to the Body and to the world the unique part of Jesus he has anointed you to offer, the church would be turned upside down and the world would be astounded. And you would experience a deeper spiritual fulfillment than you could imagine.
A prayer that you may hear at Mass this weekend is written by St. Paul and is the beginning of one of the alternative scriptures for the second reading (Ephesians 1: 17-23). Please read this slowly and prayerfully and know that I am truly praying it for all of you.
Sisters, I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of revelation and wisdom as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
Amen and amen.
P.S. When I was typing out “…with the eyes of your heart enlightened”, I accidentally typed, “…with the yes of your heart enlightened”. I thought it was equally appropriate. Sometimes our “Yes” to God needs to be enlightened and filled with a deeper revelation of Him.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
6th Sunday in Easter
May 17th, 6th Sunday in Easter
John 15: 9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Quite often I will sit down to write a reflection with one idea or theme in mind and end up with something totally different. In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is telling us the essence of Kingdom ministry: love one another, which will cause us to bear fruit, which will cause us to love one another, which will cause us to bear more fruit…a luscious stream of flowing life. So, I wrote a whole reflection on that. It was fine but something wasn’t sitting right inside me. The phrases that kept coming to my mind were, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” and “You did not choose me but I chose you.”
Have you ever heard the saying, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives”? We all know that we are part of God’s family and that we are daughters and sons of God. We talk about being sisters and brothers in Christ and about God being our Father. There is so much in scripture that speaks of our familial relationships to God and to each other.
But…friends? Friendship is an intimate relationship. We all have scads of casual acquaintances but there are only a few people we would call very good friends, and when it comes to revealing the most secret parts of our thoughts and feelings, there may be only one person we feel completely safe with. A real friend is carefully chosen. A real friend is a precious gift.
Friends listen, really listen, to each other. Good friends are usually similar to each other and share a lot of preferences and points of view. Good friends hear each other’s joys and heartaches and empathize deeply with all the experiences the other one is going through. Good friends have an ongoing connection and know instinctively what is important to each other and will support each other in each one’s dreams, desires and visions.
Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Of course. Real friends hear the inner heart of each other and would never knowingly undermine or ignore what is truly important to the other. Jesus is asking his disciples – and us – to move from the master/servant relationship into a real friendship. Jesus pours out to his true friends all that has been poured into his heart by the Father and what has been poured into his heart isn’t just a bunch of rules that encourage us to “be nice and play nice.” What has been poured into Jesus’ heart is Joy. Life. Awesome love for his people. Passion. Compassion. An understanding that whatever this earth holds, it is nothing compared to dancing with the Father and being filled with the wonder of a relationship with him. This is what he wants to pour into our hearts. This is the fruit he speaks of. These are the things that create love in our hearts for others. He longs to share these things with his friends.
Good friends love to share things with each other. It could be a sharing of pain and wounds but it doesn’t stop at that. When I see a great movie, when I read a fantastic book, when I hear an amazing speaker, when I have a mystic and wonderful experience, who is the first person I want to share these things with? My best friend, because I know how much she’ll appreciate my experience and be open to having her own experience of something that gave me such pleasure. There is then huge satisfaction in having that experience together and being able to discuss it with each other. This is the kind of friendship Jesus wants with me and with you.
Jesus has chosen me, as an individual, to be his friend. This indicates longing on the part of Jesus to have more of a relationship with me than that of a master giving commands and directions to a servant or slave. He desires to have intimacy with me. He longs to share with me what he has experienced and learned from his Father because he knows I will love it. He knows it will make a huge difference to who I am, how I feel about myself, how I grow, how I walk with others and what I have to share with those I meet on my journey. Fruit. I will have exquisite fruit to share and I will be excited to share it and to share in the fruit of others.
There is another reason he longs to share all these things with me. He is lonely for my companionship.
He is lonely for yours as well.
You know that nameless and floating anxious desire you sometimes experience? The one where you know you want something really badly but you just can’t put your finger on what it is? It’s a kind of inner restlessness or hunger but food doesn’t satisfy and nothing you can think of seems like it would be the thing to make that longing go away. That’s the longing for the friendship of Jesus and it is in your heart only because he is longing for you. It is the sensation of being chosen. He aches so much to share with you all that the Father has poured into his heart and he knows how it will fill you in ways you cannot comprehend. He knows your heart, your desires, your wounds and your longings for something you can’t identify. He knows what you want and what you need. He knows you as only as a best friend can know you.
He knows your heart. Do you know his?
He wants you to be his friend. Are you?
John 15: 9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Quite often I will sit down to write a reflection with one idea or theme in mind and end up with something totally different. In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is telling us the essence of Kingdom ministry: love one another, which will cause us to bear fruit, which will cause us to love one another, which will cause us to bear more fruit…a luscious stream of flowing life. So, I wrote a whole reflection on that. It was fine but something wasn’t sitting right inside me. The phrases that kept coming to my mind were, “I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father” and “You did not choose me but I chose you.”
Have you ever heard the saying, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives”? We all know that we are part of God’s family and that we are daughters and sons of God. We talk about being sisters and brothers in Christ and about God being our Father. There is so much in scripture that speaks of our familial relationships to God and to each other.
But…friends? Friendship is an intimate relationship. We all have scads of casual acquaintances but there are only a few people we would call very good friends, and when it comes to revealing the most secret parts of our thoughts and feelings, there may be only one person we feel completely safe with. A real friend is carefully chosen. A real friend is a precious gift.
Friends listen, really listen, to each other. Good friends are usually similar to each other and share a lot of preferences and points of view. Good friends hear each other’s joys and heartaches and empathize deeply with all the experiences the other one is going through. Good friends have an ongoing connection and know instinctively what is important to each other and will support each other in each one’s dreams, desires and visions.
Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” Of course. Real friends hear the inner heart of each other and would never knowingly undermine or ignore what is truly important to the other. Jesus is asking his disciples – and us – to move from the master/servant relationship into a real friendship. Jesus pours out to his true friends all that has been poured into his heart by the Father and what has been poured into his heart isn’t just a bunch of rules that encourage us to “be nice and play nice.” What has been poured into Jesus’ heart is Joy. Life. Awesome love for his people. Passion. Compassion. An understanding that whatever this earth holds, it is nothing compared to dancing with the Father and being filled with the wonder of a relationship with him. This is what he wants to pour into our hearts. This is the fruit he speaks of. These are the things that create love in our hearts for others. He longs to share these things with his friends.
Good friends love to share things with each other. It could be a sharing of pain and wounds but it doesn’t stop at that. When I see a great movie, when I read a fantastic book, when I hear an amazing speaker, when I have a mystic and wonderful experience, who is the first person I want to share these things with? My best friend, because I know how much she’ll appreciate my experience and be open to having her own experience of something that gave me such pleasure. There is then huge satisfaction in having that experience together and being able to discuss it with each other. This is the kind of friendship Jesus wants with me and with you.
Jesus has chosen me, as an individual, to be his friend. This indicates longing on the part of Jesus to have more of a relationship with me than that of a master giving commands and directions to a servant or slave. He desires to have intimacy with me. He longs to share with me what he has experienced and learned from his Father because he knows I will love it. He knows it will make a huge difference to who I am, how I feel about myself, how I grow, how I walk with others and what I have to share with those I meet on my journey. Fruit. I will have exquisite fruit to share and I will be excited to share it and to share in the fruit of others.
There is another reason he longs to share all these things with me. He is lonely for my companionship.
He is lonely for yours as well.
You know that nameless and floating anxious desire you sometimes experience? The one where you know you want something really badly but you just can’t put your finger on what it is? It’s a kind of inner restlessness or hunger but food doesn’t satisfy and nothing you can think of seems like it would be the thing to make that longing go away. That’s the longing for the friendship of Jesus and it is in your heart only because he is longing for you. It is the sensation of being chosen. He aches so much to share with you all that the Father has poured into his heart and he knows how it will fill you in ways you cannot comprehend. He knows your heart, your desires, your wounds and your longings for something you can’t identify. He knows what you want and what you need. He knows you as only as a best friend can know you.
He knows your heart. Do you know his?
He wants you to be his friend. Are you?
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
5th Sunday of Easter
May 10, 2009
John 15: 1 - 8
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Two reflections ago, I spoke of the importance of staying in the present moment and not allowing ourselves to constantly dwell in future desires, wishes, dreads and possibilities or in past resentments and regrets or even in the memories of happier and more pleasant times.
It is difficult to find the words to impress upon everyone how important this is for the spiritual life. Oh. Wait a minute…Jesus already said those words: “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
Definition of Abide: stay with, remain, continue without fading or being lost.
It’s that last phrase that caught my attention, “continue without fading or being lost.” It creates a pretty accurate picture of what happens to us all the time; we fade away into the past or the future, into our desires, anxieties and guilt. We fade away and get lost.
Jesus tells us in this week’s gospel that if we want to bear fruit we need to abide in him. It follows that in order to abide in him we have to stay with him where he is, which is in the present moment. Jesus is here now. Because we live in a world of illusion, it will often seem like the past and future are terribly real and relevant especially when one is dealing with broken relationships and difficult circumstances. These things will seem to be the reality we need to deal with, the situations in which we want the Lord to meet us. But, as one very astute person put it, the Kingdom is now or never.
If any of you have been trying to stay in the present with the Lord, you’ll know it’s not easy. The complaint that is often expressed to me is, “But most of the time I don’t like the present moment! There’s rough stuff happening in the present moment and when I try to be there I can’t immediately find God and so I slip off into the future or the past.” I had to find an analogy that would give a clear understanding of why we should stay as much as possible in the present even if it’s not pleasant and even if we cannot immediately perceive the Lord’s presence.
Mothers are generally careful about the diet of their children. An occasional treat is fine but most women understand that a constant diet of fatty, sugary foods and treats is unhealthy. If a child asks for a piece of cake 10 minutes before supper the mom will say no because she knows the cake will take away the appetite for the good healthy food she has prepared. And as for the idea of constantly feeding a child fast food and allowing him to snack on chips and pop and candy and desserts all day, we know that eventually good food will become unpalatable to the child and he will refuse to eat healthy food. To him it’s so unexciting, so bland and unsatisfying.
When we spend an inordinate amount of time in the future or in the past, eventually our appetite for and ability to stay in the present moment is diminished. Present moment becomes more and more unpalatable. The truth is that the present moment can be painful or at least boring or unpleasant and not easy to deal with. There’s often a burden there we have to carry. But why, oh why, would we desire to go to the past or the future and pick up more burdens, pain and unsatisfied desires and add them to the load? It’s then that we complain that we can’t find the grace to carry the load. I do that, you do that; it is human nature to do that.
The grace is there. The grace is provided but the grace is for the load of the moment, not for all the extra illusory loads we pull onto our shoulders indiscriminately.
Not only is there grace available for the given load, but also when we stay in the moment and abide with Jesus, fruit eventually starts to grow and flourish. When we are not with him in the present we can do nothing; we cannot produce fruit. Our spiritual life becomes like dry dead branches.
“Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” This sounds like a harsh condemnation but I don’t believe Jesus meant it that way. Yes, he is serious about us abiding in him because if we don’t abide in him we will become dry and unfruitful and we will get burned.
Burned and burnt out.
How familiar does that sound? So many women I have talked to lately are burned and burnt out. Jesus didn’t at some point condemn them, gather them up and burn them. It’s a natural consequence. It’s just what happens when we forget about abiding in him - forget, or never knew how to abide in the first place. So we shouldn’t immediately condemn ourselves for not abiding in Jesus because so many have not been taught how.
I have been sharing with women my personal prayer for staying in the moment. I don’t regard this prayer as one that makes things happen immediately or that guarantees that what I want and desire will come to be. It is a prayer of placement. It is a short prayer that simply brings me back to where I should be.
“I am here. You are here.”**(see note at the end of the reflection)
The prayer is simple and I don’t add to it. It is a prayer to bring me back to the moment, to remind me that he is in the moment and nowhere else. When I say to the Lord, “I am here,” I am saying, “I have come back to this present moment. I have come back to you.” When I pray, “You are here,” I am affirming to myself that he is indeed present. He is Lord of the moment and Lord of all that is occurring in that moment. It is saying that the moment is his; he owns it and I trust him to do with that moment whatever he wills, even if it means the moment stays unpalatable or difficult or boring. I am also proclaiming that the future and the past is also his, not mine, and I am going to allow him to be responsible for all the past and future moments of my life. It is a prayer to help me detach from my expectations of what I think he should be doing for me. He is always there for me but if I am always focused on my expectations I miss him 99% of the time.
God’s presence, help and inspiration often go by completely unrecognized because we are looking for and waiting for fire and wind. Our understanding of the Lord’s power has been distorted. We usually only think of one kind of power, the kind that moves the mountains we think should be moved. When we become more and more aware of the consistent and always present power of God that is quiet and non-intrusive but entirely awesome, we begin to get addicted to running back to that present moment and waiting and watching for him. The more we stay there, the more observant we become and we become adept at catching delightful glimpses of him and his actions.
The deep joy that grows from encountering the power of the Lord in innumerable small but distinct ways is infinitely superior to encountering that odd display of power that cannot be missed because it’s so obvious. As one stays present in the moment, watching for the stillness of his power, one’s connection to God grows less and less dependent on how situations are developing or on how one is feeling and begins to be based on a sense that God can do anything, anywhere and at anytime. And will! “I am here. You are here” is an official prayer of abdication. “You are the Lord, not me. I’m stepping down now. You take over.”
Jesus made this promise: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
I have to laugh about that promise. The thing is, when we are truly abiding in him, the only thing we really want to ask him for is to be able to stay there with him – while he takes care of everything else.
Sweet.
**After I’d been praying the “I am here, you are here” prayer for awhile, it came to my attention that there is a book by Lindsey Crittenden called, “The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns To Pray.” In this book she talks about using this prayer. I haven’t read the book; I just saw it on Amazon so I have no idea if she uses it as a present moment prayer or what. It just made me think that perhaps the Spirit is randomly dropping this prayer into various hearts. Love it when he does things like that!
John 15: 1 - 8
‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
Two reflections ago, I spoke of the importance of staying in the present moment and not allowing ourselves to constantly dwell in future desires, wishes, dreads and possibilities or in past resentments and regrets or even in the memories of happier and more pleasant times.
It is difficult to find the words to impress upon everyone how important this is for the spiritual life. Oh. Wait a minute…Jesus already said those words: “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
Definition of Abide: stay with, remain, continue without fading or being lost.
It’s that last phrase that caught my attention, “continue without fading or being lost.” It creates a pretty accurate picture of what happens to us all the time; we fade away into the past or the future, into our desires, anxieties and guilt. We fade away and get lost.
Jesus tells us in this week’s gospel that if we want to bear fruit we need to abide in him. It follows that in order to abide in him we have to stay with him where he is, which is in the present moment. Jesus is here now. Because we live in a world of illusion, it will often seem like the past and future are terribly real and relevant especially when one is dealing with broken relationships and difficult circumstances. These things will seem to be the reality we need to deal with, the situations in which we want the Lord to meet us. But, as one very astute person put it, the Kingdom is now or never.
If any of you have been trying to stay in the present with the Lord, you’ll know it’s not easy. The complaint that is often expressed to me is, “But most of the time I don’t like the present moment! There’s rough stuff happening in the present moment and when I try to be there I can’t immediately find God and so I slip off into the future or the past.” I had to find an analogy that would give a clear understanding of why we should stay as much as possible in the present even if it’s not pleasant and even if we cannot immediately perceive the Lord’s presence.
Mothers are generally careful about the diet of their children. An occasional treat is fine but most women understand that a constant diet of fatty, sugary foods and treats is unhealthy. If a child asks for a piece of cake 10 minutes before supper the mom will say no because she knows the cake will take away the appetite for the good healthy food she has prepared. And as for the idea of constantly feeding a child fast food and allowing him to snack on chips and pop and candy and desserts all day, we know that eventually good food will become unpalatable to the child and he will refuse to eat healthy food. To him it’s so unexciting, so bland and unsatisfying.
When we spend an inordinate amount of time in the future or in the past, eventually our appetite for and ability to stay in the present moment is diminished. Present moment becomes more and more unpalatable. The truth is that the present moment can be painful or at least boring or unpleasant and not easy to deal with. There’s often a burden there we have to carry. But why, oh why, would we desire to go to the past or the future and pick up more burdens, pain and unsatisfied desires and add them to the load? It’s then that we complain that we can’t find the grace to carry the load. I do that, you do that; it is human nature to do that.
The grace is there. The grace is provided but the grace is for the load of the moment, not for all the extra illusory loads we pull onto our shoulders indiscriminately.
Not only is there grace available for the given load, but also when we stay in the moment and abide with Jesus, fruit eventually starts to grow and flourish. When we are not with him in the present we can do nothing; we cannot produce fruit. Our spiritual life becomes like dry dead branches.
“Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” This sounds like a harsh condemnation but I don’t believe Jesus meant it that way. Yes, he is serious about us abiding in him because if we don’t abide in him we will become dry and unfruitful and we will get burned.
Burned and burnt out.
How familiar does that sound? So many women I have talked to lately are burned and burnt out. Jesus didn’t at some point condemn them, gather them up and burn them. It’s a natural consequence. It’s just what happens when we forget about abiding in him - forget, or never knew how to abide in the first place. So we shouldn’t immediately condemn ourselves for not abiding in Jesus because so many have not been taught how.
I have been sharing with women my personal prayer for staying in the moment. I don’t regard this prayer as one that makes things happen immediately or that guarantees that what I want and desire will come to be. It is a prayer of placement. It is a short prayer that simply brings me back to where I should be.
“I am here. You are here.”**(see note at the end of the reflection)
The prayer is simple and I don’t add to it. It is a prayer to bring me back to the moment, to remind me that he is in the moment and nowhere else. When I say to the Lord, “I am here,” I am saying, “I have come back to this present moment. I have come back to you.” When I pray, “You are here,” I am affirming to myself that he is indeed present. He is Lord of the moment and Lord of all that is occurring in that moment. It is saying that the moment is his; he owns it and I trust him to do with that moment whatever he wills, even if it means the moment stays unpalatable or difficult or boring. I am also proclaiming that the future and the past is also his, not mine, and I am going to allow him to be responsible for all the past and future moments of my life. It is a prayer to help me detach from my expectations of what I think he should be doing for me. He is always there for me but if I am always focused on my expectations I miss him 99% of the time.
God’s presence, help and inspiration often go by completely unrecognized because we are looking for and waiting for fire and wind. Our understanding of the Lord’s power has been distorted. We usually only think of one kind of power, the kind that moves the mountains we think should be moved. When we become more and more aware of the consistent and always present power of God that is quiet and non-intrusive but entirely awesome, we begin to get addicted to running back to that present moment and waiting and watching for him. The more we stay there, the more observant we become and we become adept at catching delightful glimpses of him and his actions.
The deep joy that grows from encountering the power of the Lord in innumerable small but distinct ways is infinitely superior to encountering that odd display of power that cannot be missed because it’s so obvious. As one stays present in the moment, watching for the stillness of his power, one’s connection to God grows less and less dependent on how situations are developing or on how one is feeling and begins to be based on a sense that God can do anything, anywhere and at anytime. And will! “I am here. You are here” is an official prayer of abdication. “You are the Lord, not me. I’m stepping down now. You take over.”
Jesus made this promise: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
I have to laugh about that promise. The thing is, when we are truly abiding in him, the only thing we really want to ask him for is to be able to stay there with him – while he takes care of everything else.
Sweet.
**After I’d been praying the “I am here, you are here” prayer for awhile, it came to my attention that there is a book by Lindsey Crittenden called, “The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns To Pray.” In this book she talks about using this prayer. I haven’t read the book; I just saw it on Amazon so I have no idea if she uses it as a present moment prayer or what. It just made me think that perhaps the Spirit is randomly dropping this prayer into various hearts. Love it when he does things like that!
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