Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Holy Name Monastery

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Mark-9_35Jesus and his disciples enter a private home. Jesus asks his disciples about the argument they had while they were journeying.  Their arguing about who is the greatest is on one level amusing.  Jesus asks them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” And they are like children who don’t want to tell their parents what they’re talking about.  Or adults, when there is dead silence when the principal or prioress enters the room.  I think Mark is amused.  Jesus doesn’t push for an answer.  He won’t publically humiliated or embarrass them.  Instead He calls forward a child.

Jesus could have just told taught them his lesson. Why did He use a child?    Well, remember in first-century Palestine, children were without status or power, possessing no legal rights.  They were viewed as mere property and largely ignored by most adults. Secondly, Jesus used a child to teach about service because children really can’t do anything for adults.  A child can’t make you more important in the eyes of the world. However, a child can teach you much about ministry!

Think about it, every parent (or older sibling) knows what happens when there’s a new baby in the house. That child demands everything! From day one it must be served, every need must be met by a willing adult. Children take constant care and attention. If they are ignored, they let you know all about in loud and irritating fashion.   Children teach us what giving and service are all about.   And the giving does not stop …  often into adulthood.

Jesus used a child but notice that he does not say “receive this child.”  Rather He says: Receive one such as this.”  Children need to be served, but they cannot serve us in return. That is a lesson we all need to take to heart. Too often, we only serve those who can do something in return for us. Jesus would have us reach out to those who are the neediest. He would have us serve those who cannot, or will not, serve us in return. He directs us to do as He did and give our all for those who may break our hearts in return.

So, this leads to question: Who are the people without power or status in our society? Do we serve them willingly? Jesus teaches that God’s judgment of us will be based on this criterion alone.

We see this no better portrayed than in the upper room with Jesus’ washing the disciple’s feet even as he offers the new covenant meal, and later hanging on the cross, offering himself.

At the deepest level Jesus’ idea of service — humble servanthood — reminds us that none of this is about us!  It’s not about our ego. It’s not about how much we give, how much we work, how many hours we minister, whose ministry is more important. It’s not about our wants and needs, or what we think others must do for us.

Service, instead, is about absorbing the sufferings of world by sharing our life — our time, our resources and our gifts. It’s building-up the other so that she in turn is built up to be Christ to others.

 Jesus asked his disciples:  “What were you arguing about on the road?” This is another key word: ‘road’. Every time we travel with Jesus they are “on the road”. Because Jesus himself is the Road: he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We are being asked what we are doing while on the Way.   The disciples refused to answer and kept silent. They were ashamed. It was not the kind of talk suited to people on the Way. They had been arguing about which of them was the greatest; who would become the leader of their group if Jesus’ prediction of death proved true?  They could hardly say, “Well, since you are going to be killed in the near future, we were wondering which of us should take over.”

With a child in his arms, Jesus says, that to accept, to welcome persons such as this little one, is to welcome him. To be concerned about the wellbeing of another person, oblivious to the cost – putting the focus on the other rather than on what serves one’s own self.   Benedict captures this sentiment in RB chapter 72, in quoting the Letter to the Romans:

Anticipate one another in honor,  vie in paying obedience one to another – no one following what she considers useful for herself, but rather what benefits another…

What had caused the disciples to even begin thinking along the line of who Jesus’ successor would be?  Could it have had something to do with the fact that Jesus had chosen only three of them, Peter, James and John to go with Him up the mountain?  As they walk, they talked and the brewing question just sort of came up.  The three had been elated when they came down the mountain.  But, they had been admonished by Jesus not to talk about what they had seen or heard.  The nine felt left out.  When they were talking among themselves the issue seemed important. But, when they stood before Jesus, they suddenly saw how silly, immature, arrogant and self-centered they had been. He was talking about the matters of eternity.    And, all they could do was fight about who should be first!

When this life is over and we are before God; all of our petty, silly striving to be first will be seen to be as childish. Would you rather stand before Him in embarrassment because you wanted to be first? Or, would you rather stand there and hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful over a few things.. enter thou into the joy of you Father.”   The choice is ours.

 

                                                                                                          Mass Reflection by S. Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

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23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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ephphatha-mark7-34In this story we find clues about our understanding of sacrament.   We are struck by the physical means used to heal the man, the use of spittle and touch.  Jesus cannot tell the man verbally what He is about to do, so He uses a rough form of sign language to communicate His intentions. First, He sticks His fingers in the man’s ears to let him know that He is going to do something about his deafness. He spits on His finger and touches the man’s tongue to let him know that He is about to lubricate his speech. That’s gross, but it’s what Jesus does!

Nowadays babies often learn sign language before they speak … they signal when they are ready to nurse or take a bottle, YES, NO, MORE indicating that they comprehend long before they can articulate those concepts.

It would seem that here Jesus is attempting to awaken faith in this man’s heart. He is trying to help the man understand that something is about to happen in his life and that Jesus is the One who is going to bring about the changes.

After touching the man, Jesus looks toward Heaven. This act served two purposes. First, it told the deaf man where the healing was coming from.

Secondly, this act of looking toward Heaven also demonstrated Jesus’ dependence on the Father. Jesus often looked to Heaven for the help He needed.   Jesus lived a life of close communion with his Father.

After looking toward Heaven, Jesus “sighed”. This word means “to groan”. The deaf man could not hear the sigh, but he could see Jesus when He did it and it spoke volumes to him. The sigh said “I care about you and what you are going through!”

Then, Jesus said one word, “Ephphatha”, which means “be opened”. When Jesus said this, the man’s ears were healed and his tongue was loosed. He could hear! He could speak! Oh, what a miracle! One command from Jesus and his life changed forever! That is the power of the Word of God!

Scripture tells us that the people were “astonished beyond measure” . What they saw Jesus do was more than their minds could comprehend. It left them with their mouths hanging open in amazement. They summed up what they felt about Jesus by saying, “He has done all things well!”

“All” is a mighty big word! It covers a lot of territory. He does all things well. Come to Him and let Him teach you the truth!  He can fix it so you shake your head saying, “Well done! Well done! Very well done!”

In ancient Greece it was customary for peddlers who walked the streets with their wares to cry out, “What do you lack?” The idea was to arouse people’s curiosity and let, especially the housewives know they were in the vicinity.  They would come drifting out to see what the peddler was selling this time…  kinda like the Dollar Tree … what’s new today.  It might be something they lacked and needed, or simply something they wanted.

What do you lack? We may have sight and hearing, but what do we lack? We do well this week to take an honest inventory of ourselves.   Have you found contentment? Are you close enough to God to receive his guidance and strength? Have you secured peace of heart and peace of mind? Deciding what we lack is the first step in securing it. Only then can we express our needs to Christ.  Remember what Fr. David said a couple weeks ago: God takes time answering prayers not because he does not know our needs but to give us time to recognize what our true needs are.

The man in Mark’s story lacked the physical ability to hear and speak. We, too, may lack the spiritual ability to hear. We suffer a kind of a spiritual deafness. The affliction of not really  listening to people, or, to put it another way, the affliction of physically hearing what people say, yet failing to comprehend, to understand, and come to grips with the full meaning of the message.   Remember the saying: what you are not saying is speaking so loud I cannot hear what you are saying.

One of the greatest weaknesses of the human heart is that we are very able to hear the cries of the poor but overlook their real needs.  We can hear the cries of the hungry, broken people of the land across the sea, but miss the cues of the persons we live with.

This man, even though he was handicapped, had people around him that cared about him. They heard that Jesus was passing by and they brought their deaf friend to Jesus.  Benedict calls us to the carry each other, to help one another understand the word of God spoken in community, to uphold the weak, challenge the faint-hearted, rouse us from sleep and open our eyes to the light that come from God – and our ears to the voice from heaven that every day calls out to us.  …  This is how, teaches St. Benedict, that we shall “progress in the way of life and faith, running on the path of God’s commands, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love… with the help of community “we will run, and not grow weary,  with the inexpressible delight of love – if we do now what will profit us forever.”

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22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Mark verseOne Sunday a young father came into church with his three young children. As was their family custom, they sat in the very front row so the children could see what was going on in the sanctuary.   This particular service included an infant baptism.  The six year old was quite taken by this, observing that Father was saying something and pouring water over the baby’s head. With a puzzled look on her face, the little girl turned to her father and asked, “Daddy, why is he brainwashing that little baby?”

 

Indeed what is required by each of us is that we allow our brains to be washed by God – our brains and our hearts as well.  Jesus was telling us that what really counts is that which is in our hearts. It is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come….  and defile a person.”
We need to be heart-healthy — taking seriously what is in our hearts – people who spend time in lectio, time in the presence of the Lord.   We have a responsibility to do what we can to make our community a heart-healthy place.  It follows that to have a heart-healthy community requires for each of us to feed on a steady diet of soul food – and just the ham hocks and collards greens kind. Good things come from hearts that have been fed on soul food — Scripture — love of neighbor — devotion to God – nourished by prayer both communal and private.

 

Jesus makes it clear – in so many words – “We have met the enemy and they are us.”  We are at one and the same time perpetrators and victims.  And being the victim of our own making furthers our capacity to inflect ill on another.   “The human heart,” or the human will, remains a complex thing.  But if we fill our hearts with good things, our minds with chaste, charitable, other-directed thoughts – that’s what will come out of our mouths.   God will bless us, and through us, will bless the world.

 

The words of a hymn we sang earlier this week say it well:

May we be blest with hearts full of love – hearts full of joy – with peach in our days … this will enable us to be a blessing to others – keep God’s presence abiding with in – and reap the reward of an abundance of friends at our side.

 

Have you ever seen Suze Orman on TV?  Well, she is a financial planner and author. She tells of a period when her career was not so successful.   During that time she struggled to save face, to maintain an image of success.  She continued to entertain her friends at fine restaurants and to drive her luxury car to keep up the image of a successful professional. The truth was that every dinner, every car payment, every tank of gas was putting her deeper into debt.

 

Many folk who believe in God are like Suze.  They look good.  They keep up the appearances.  They try to conform to the traditions of culture and our faith – but inwardly they are empty… inwardly they are impoverished – and the more they try to conform on the outside to what supposed to come from inside, the worse off they get.

 

What defiles a person are the unclean things that originate from within a person, not those that come to us from without. What defiles a person is not what it is we eat, nor who it is that we eat with, rather it is our anger, our pride, our jealousy, pride and superiority that forgets Benedict’s lesson “obedience is a blessing to be shown to all.”

 

Our acts of goodness and love arise from within when we allow God to do good within us.  Our gentleness, our faithfulness, our kindness grow not according to our attempts to keep some law or directive about how we should act … how to be faithful, kind or gentle …  but rather they grow out of the word that is implanted within our hearts and minds by God – by meditating on what it is that God has done for us – and is doing for us – when we practice an attitude of gratitude.

 

But, this can occur only if we welcome the Word, ponder the Word, let it take root in us and then allow it to prompt us to action.   It is God who makes us holy.  For our part it requires perseverance in the journey.  As Joan Chittister writes in this week’s eblast: “The gift of perseverance in the journey to wholeness is the treasure trove of the human spirit. Sanctity, like everything else in life, is not an event. It is a process of coming to know the clay of the self and then shaping it into a thing of beauty. This thing called union with God, sanctity, holiness, is not a matter of going through religious hoops. It is a matter of winning the contest with the self that leads us to the best in us. Becoming holy is not an attempt to become someone else. It is about becoming the fullness of ourselves.”

 

Back to the 6-year-old’s query:  Are you ready to be brain-washed?

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21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

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jeopardyImagine you are playing in a game of Jeopardy.  The category is “Who Said This?”  And, the clue is, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”  You are unfamiliar with Scriptures so you make a guess: “Someone’s mother? The moderator of Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?  St. Benedict?”     You’d be partly right.  Your mother probably told you more than once, “It’s good for you or it builds character.”  And, St. Benedict did say “… we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome.”

 

But this is Jesus.   Jesus offers no comfort, no wiggle room and no grading on the curve.  He offers us a choice:  “This saying is hard; do you want to leave?”   

 

We used to have a superior, who will remain unnamed, who minced no words.  She’d calmly say: “If you like, you can pack you little black bag and go home.”  It got to be a way of making light of a situation to repeat her words.  Or, because we read the Martyrology (for the newer people, the Lives of the Saints) for supper table reading, we would slough it off with, “Oh, well, I’ll just put it in my martyrology!”  That got two of us is trouble when a newer member believed us and reported to the superior that that we were writing our own martyrology!”

 

Will you walk away?  The choice is ours each day, every hour:  Accept the grace of the moment or turn our backs on it.  Each person must make her own judgment about who Jesus is and determine the way of life that she will follow.  We get the same invitation but each person must respond to the grace of God in her own unique way.   When truth is revealed to us, there are only two possible reactions to it: It can be received, or it can be rejected.  

 

Jesus never panders to his would-be followers. He neither strokes the fickle nor pampers the undecided. He fully knows that the way he offers is a most difficult path – this saying is hard – costing the disciple everything,  He is willing for the one in front of him to walk-away, literally, should they so choose.  What tremendous trust binds Him to his beloved!   He holds us in his hands, but without grasping.

 

It used to be part of the ritual just prior to the liturgy for the final vow ceremony, that the abbot would take the scholastic aside and question her in private: Are you sure you are  doing this of your free will?  No one coerced you or promised you anything if you make vows?  It was a little late, perhaps but it was the moment of truth.  This is Jesus asking: Will you, too, leave me?

 

Imagine how Jesus must have felt when the reaction of some was: “This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?”  And, they walk away.  Not just down another path to the truth – but away, they leave him and his way!
What is more astounding in today’s Scripture is Peter’s memorable immediate and fiercely honest reply: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”  In other words:  “Walk away? How can we walk away? What do you mean? Where else can we go? We’ve nowhere left; we’ve given up everything! We’ve burned all our bridges!”

 

It’s the teaching, not the words of Jesus that are HARD. The words are not difficult to understand, but the meaning is hard for some people to comprehend.  A young man from the city was visiting a dude ranch and wanted to appear as if he was used to the surroundings. So he went out walking with one of the hired hands. Going through the barnyard, the visitor tried starting a conversation: “Say, look at that big bunch of buffaloes.” The hired hand replied, “Not ‘bunch’ but ‘herd.’” “Heard what?” “Herd of buffaloes.” “Sure, I’ve heard of buffalo. There’s a big bunch of ‘me right over there.”

 

No, the words aren’t hard.  The teaching is – hard on our pride, hard on way of life, hard on our ego.

 

This definition of a Christian fits here: “A Christian really is one who cannot walk away.”  Parents worry when their teenagers and young adults seem to walk away from their faith.  But very often, it’s more like they’ve taken a holiday.  A personal crisis or break in a relationship or a family tragedy has them calling out for God’s help.  The foundation was firm.  How many young parents return to the church of their childhood when they have children to be baptized?  A Christian is one who cannot walk away!

 

The liturgies this week have prepared us well for this weekend’s Scripture.  The Gospel verse on Thursday, “If today you hear his voice” with the hymn “Here I am Lord.”  Noon Prayer on Tuesday “You have solemnly declared ‘With my chosen I have made a covenant. Of this I am sure – that your love lasts forever.”  The Gospel of the missing wedding garment, the day-laborers who earned a day’s pay for an hour’s work, hearing the disciples question “Who then can be saved?” and Peter’s direct gut-wrenching question: we’ve given up everything to follow you.  What’s in it for us?”

 

All these strands come together tomorrow when Jesus asks us: Do you also want to leave?  Firm in faith, we answer with Peter:  To whom can we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

 

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16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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16th sundayHere in Mark we see an example of the kind of tension that exists in the life of every committed Christian.  On the one hand, there is the need to draw away to a quiet place and to recharge our batteries, to regenerate our spiritual energy.  At the same time, there are constant demands on our commitment to serve. We want to respond generously where there is real need.  But, how do we know what is a ‘real need’ and what is just another’s whim or our own desire to be in demand.

To be in touch with the difference calls for a life immersed in discernment.  There are times when, no matter how weary we feel, we know we should say ‘Yes’. There are other times when, in spite of the criticism it may generate, we know ought to say ‘No’. There are human limits to the quality of service we can give.  In the life of Jesus, we see him at times leaving the people, in spite of their demands, and going away to pray.  This kind of rest is not laziness or irresponsibility.  This is the Sabbath rest our retreat director called us to.

Last weekend the apostles were sent out two-by-two. Today, they are re-gathering two-by-two.  They had had exhilarating, but exhausting, experiences. For the first time they had been on their own without Jesus.  They had preached, casted out demons, anointed the sick, and called people to respond to God’ message.   Now Jesus invited them to “come away to a deserted place all by themselves and rest a while.”  Notice there are four parts to the invitation:  “Come away – to a deserted place – all by yourself – and rest a while.”  Each phrase means something on its own, but none stands alone … we have to accept the whole package.

We are reminded that we must be on guard not to make busy-ness a badge of honor.  That blinks an implicit message:  I’m worthwhile because I’m so busy.  I’m always tired equals “I’m important”.  Busy-ness is not a badge of honor!  On the contrary, it is the mark of a life way out of balance.  It is NOT Benedictine!

It’s good to keep in mind about the idea of busyness that one person’s “work or drudgery” may be another’s “leisure or pleasure-filled activity.”  That I enjoy ironing may seem very strange to those who bless the one who invented wash-n-wear fabric.  Kneading bread may be a spiritual experience for you but your friend may find it stressful and just something she HAS to do to put bread on the table.  Pulling weeds may offer one a chance to commune with God and nature and to another it’s just a hot, sweaty job she was told to do.  Yes, it’s true one person’s pleasure is another’s pain.  So, be slow to judge “she’s always so busy” – she might be using her hands to free her mind to get touch with the Spirit.

Jesus said: “Come away.”  He did not say “Go away.”  His is an invitation to a communal experience.   It’s “coming away” to be with Jesus.  What a beautiful words …  Come away and rest … an invitation to step out of all the bustle and activity of life.  Rest … a chance to slow down, to change the pace.  If we don’t rest, we won’t be able to take care of others. If we don’t slow down, we will be of no use to anyone, especially God.

As Jesus listened to each of the two-by-two teams give their reports, he was moved by their tender stories of healing children, inspiring people, and boldly witnessing to Jesus. But the Lord must have also seen fatigue in their faces and so, in a gracious moment of concern, Jesus said to them: Come away for a while and rest. I know a place close by ~ just across the lake ~ a deserted place, a bit of wilderness.  Jesus made no suggestion that their ministry of witness and compassion was over but he offered them a respite from busyness.  They got into a boat and headed off for the first Christian retreat.

And you know what greeted them!  Mark says, over 5000 figured out where the boat was going and got there ahead of them.  You can probably imagine how the disciple felt when they saw that waiting crowd.  They had had visions of having a little quiet time with Jesus.    And, now, my, oh, my you’ve got to be kidding!  Can’t we have any break?  Or, maybe that wasn’t their reaction.  Maybe they saw the same thing Jesus saw: sheep without a shepherd.  It was clear that the needs of the people called for a positive response.  Like Jesus, their Shepherd, the disciples’ hearts were moved to pity – to reach out, setting personal wishes aside in deference to the needs of others.

To be sure, there is weariness in ministry.  We know this is true, but weariness is no excuse to quit, and weariness is no excuse to back-off and let others pick up the torch. Like a runner or a swimmer, we need to catch our second breath and snuff out the rising murmur: “I’ve done my part; I’ve served my time – it’s someone else’s turn!”  Somehow we must discover Jesus’ compassion for the crowd within our own heart.

It’s just not as easy as it sounds.  Sometimes life just gets too serious…too busy…and too complicated. We don’t mean for it to happen, but we wake up one morning to discover the fun has slipped away.

Several years ago a health study determined there are 3 main reasons people can’t cope with the demands in their lives:   They live in the past.   They have a low self-esteem.  They can’t laugh at themselves.

In fact, the study indicated that we need approximately 12 laughs a day to stay healthy! Yes, life throws us curve balls just when we least expect it (like being paged to a guest just when we finally got a chance to zone out for a few minutes).  To stay sane we need to sit back and enjoy a good laugh.  So here’s your laugh-vacation for today.

Not long ago a lady I know sent flowers to her friend who had opened a new restaurant. When she arrived at the grand opening, she looked for the flowers. Imagine her consternation when she found them, and saw that, in her haste in placing the order, she had sent a white wreath that said, “May you rest in peace.” She panicked, of course, and called the florist who said, “Honey, I’m not worried about you because as we speak, there’s a lady being buried across town who got a dozen roses that said, ‘Good luck in your new location!’”

 

                                                                                                               Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB
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