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Fifth Sunday of Lent

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This story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is so familiar that I’m curious what I may need to hear this Lenten season.  I feel the anguish of the sisters and friends of the deceased as they watch their loved one struggle with a terminal illness, and then watch life drain out of him.  I can feel their frustration when Jesus does not come at their call.  They are hoping against all hope that he would get there in time to keep Lazarus from dying.

We wander into a scene of much confusion.  The two sisters of the dead man had sent word to Jesus that his friend, their brother, was ill. Jesus is said to have loved the three siblings: Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, but he delays responding with the haste we and they might have expected.  To the puzzlement all who were aware of the situation, it is two days later that Jesus finally declares that he will make the journey to Bethany.  Thomas says to his companions: “Let us go with him.”  And he warns that they must be prepared to die with Jesus.

This is the seventh and final sign in John’s gospel.  It appears that the crowd has overheard the exchange between Jesus and Lazarus’ siblings.  It seems obvious Jesus was a frequent “drop in” at their house.  They seem very comfortable with chiding Jesus, weeping in his presence and engaging in a verbal back and forth with him.

Jesus’ delay heightens the drama.  We know the end of the story, so we can recognize that the delay was deliberate.  Jesus had to wait until Lazarus had succumbed to his illness for Jesus to glorify His father through Lazarus’ resurrection.

Can’t you see Jesus?  He elicits from Martha a profession of faith, probably amid many nodding heads of the bystanders, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”  (Do you hear the “but” coming?)   Then she runs for Mary – why?  Perhaps she thinks that Mary’s special friendship with Jesus will win his favorable response to their request to “do something!”   Touched by Mary’s tears, Jesus wept!  Then there is a preview of what will happen in a short while: Jesus asks that they roll aside the stone – sign of resurrection.

Don’t you love what happens next?  Raising his eyes Jesus says “Thanks, Father, for hearing me.  I’ve tried with this crowd. I need a little help here – that they may believe that you sent me.”  Then he says in a loud voice: “Lazarus! Come out!”  When Lazarus appears at the mouth of the cave, his burial place, Jesus orders: “Untie him and let him go.”

All through Lent this is what Jesus has been doing for us and calling to us:  He says in a loud voice “Come out!  Be your true self!  Let me untie you, and let you go.  I know you, I love you! And, I know what you are capable of doing and who you can be.  I have a special niche carved out for you.  You are in the palm of my hand.  You have a unique role I have carved out for you to play in the work of creation.  If you stay in the cave of your selfishness and self-interests, hidden behind your mistaken concept of humility, reluctant to respond to the call of my poor ones, the job will not get done.  I need YOU to be my hands on this one.  You say you believe my words.  Now it is time for you to COME OUT.  Let me untie the binding cloths (this is something you can’t do yourself), uncover your face – and let the world see the person that has existed in the mind of God for all eternity.  Don’t worry about the stench from the “four days” you’ve lain in the tomb of resistance to my call.  I invite you again, COME OUT!”

 

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   Ezekiel 37: 37: 12-14       Second Reading:  Romans 8: 8-11
Gospel:   John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45
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Fourth Sunday of Lent

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Today in our country, there has been a glut of news and information that can wash us away if we are not careful.  Unfortunately, much of it is commentary disguised as factual news which can mislead well-intentioned people.  It is easy to become overly skeptical of anything we hear or simply become deaf to it – tune it out and live in a news-free bubble.  We become over-saturated, de-sensitized, numb to the sounds of guns that we invited into our family rooms.  We may close our ears to the sounds of violence and personally offensive language.  Or we might shut our eyes to distasteful ads while at the same time are not bothered by liturgical graphics of weapons of cruelty.  We may leave the room during the 7-minute commercial phase that brings previews depicting guns, cyber-crimes, fictionalized murders polluting our relaxation space.

It’s past time we created our own litany of care.  Call to mind caretakers, emergency workers, medical personnel… those who keep a death-watch for a loved one.  Pray for enlightenment for those who are frustrated because in their mental state they cannot recognize the seriousness of the world situation. Pray also for those who are burdened with an already existing anxiety disorder which is only compounded by the 24/7 cycle of dire news.  Pray for those who are isolated and lonely, secluded in small spaces.  Remember in gratitude those who check-in by phone with persons who live alone. Pray for those who are called to make decisions, often unpopular, for those under their care and persons who make poor decisions seemingly oblivious to the ripple effect of their choices.  Pray for those whose theme song is “I am special”.  Pray you never portray the attitude: “I don’t have to follow the rules of the RULE.”  Remember those who attitude projects “I don’t have to do what ‘they’ tell me.”  I am the exception.  I have God’s special protection.  Unusual circumstances call for unusual (some would say heroic) responses.

Pray for all of us, pray for yourself – that we may be patient and forbearing with those who bear the cross of cognitive decline.  Slow your pace to match someone using a walker, hold the door open an extra minute, find the seatmate’s page in the prayer book.  In all ways treat each other, as Benedict says: as a vessel of the altar.  Anticipate the other’s need before she recognizes she can use an extra hand.  May we be graciously cooperative team players with an intact sense of humor.

Strive to live up to the ideals Benedict proposes:

  • Pursue what you consider better for the other.
  • Be the first to show respect to the other.
  • Be patient with each other.
  • Earnestly compete in obedience (even when it goes against the grain).

In all circumstances, may we prefer nothing whatever to the love of Christ.  May we together know Benedict’s promise of life in abundance. (RB 72).  But, as Sister Julia Marie Roy OSB, Benedictine Sister from Tulsa, says: “There is no precedent for us to follow.  For Benedictines, so mindful of tradition, that is a lot to try to process!”

The Gospel readings for these middle three weeks of Lent. Last week the Samaritan woman, today the curing of the blind man, and next week the raising of Lazarus, are proclaimed every year at the liturgies that feature Scrutinies for those in OCIA, (the Catholic Church’s process for welcoming new members).  They tell of a Jesus who offers us new life in him.  These are stories of a Savior who offers us living water, dispels the darkness of our blindness, and conquers the power of death.  They are not simply the plot and climax of good stories.  They tell the real truth.  This isn’t simply factual news.  It is the good news.  Jesus was and is real and the fact that he can heal us should not be disputed.  Too often too many people live lives of anxiety, desperation and despair, seemingly unaware that Jesus wants to help all of us bear our burdens.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   1  Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a      Second Reading:  Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel:   John 9:1-41
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Third Sunday of Lent

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The most startling aspect of this famous conversation is that it happened at all.  The woman herself alludes to the break from tradition when she asks Jesus: “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”  One may wonder: Was the woman embarrassed or ashamed? Or was she perhaps afraid of the moment when Jesus would expose her?”  She had quite a reputation.  She was no angel and had been married five times and was living with a man who wasn’t her husband.  Jesus doesn’t only converse with the woman.  He also asks to share her drinking vessel, making him unclean according to Jewish law.  The thing is, it doesn’t matter to Jesus. It must not have mattered to the Evangelist John either or he wouldn’t have included the story.

The Samaritan woman, like so many other female figures in the Bible, is only identified by her gender, her ethnicity, and her place in society.  One thing we know immediately is that this woman is an outcast, even from the other women in the area. She is traveling by herself, at noon, in the heat of the day. Something in her life has prevented her from being part of the in-crowd.  She has no friends among the women who come to the well in the cool of the day to share the news of the day.  She is treated like a leper.  This is the longest recorded conversation Jesus has with anyone. And it’s with someone who is the wrong gender, from the wrong place, and has lived the wrong life.

Don’t you love Jesus?  He’s out in the hot sun.  He’s thirsty.  He’s pondering how to get some water out of the well.  Then along comes a woman with a jug.  Maybe she reminds him of the many times his mother went to meet her friends at the town well.  This was a chore she reserved for herself – it was a time of camaraderie with the neighbor ladies.

Jesus is the one who begins the conversation with the woman. He doesn’t rush her. Slowly he stirs her interest.   To her relief he is not fresh with her. She does not feel intimidated.  But, imagine her reaction when this man, a stranger and a foreigner at that, asks her for a drink.  The water is the medium.  Without the water in the story would the woman have been out in the open alone at high noon?  Would a foreigner have approached her?  Would she have responded?  She’s been mistreated too often by men.  She’d had taken her share of abuse and wasn’t about to let this man take advantage of her.  She talks back to him.  And he takes mercy on her.  He offers her living water.  Maybe he means a flowing spring was nearby?  But, no, he changes gears and starts talking about her personal life.  This man is remarkable!  He must be a prophet. This woman may be wary, but she is bold.  She engages Jesus in a theological discussion. She is not about to let him just say things about her past and get away with it. She wants to talk more.  She recognizes that this man is a pretty special person.  He’s saying amazing things. Who could he be?

The high point of the conversation is when Jesus reveals himself to her as the Messiah.  She dashes off to spread the news that one who calls himself the Messiah is right there in the center of their town!  Notice that she does not hurriedly fill her jug and dash off with it.   She does not grab Jesus by the hand and drag him around showing him off to the women who had shunned her.   She abandons her jug and her new-found friend to return to her town and lead others to this Jewish traveler she has fallen in love with over a cup of water.

She tells her story to the townspeople, even the part that Jesus knew she was a sinner.  She is not a show-off.  She knows she does not have all the answers.  She does not demand that they believe what she says about the stranger.  She lets her hearers arrive at their own conclusions about Jesus.  And they do: “This is indeed the Savior of the world.”

This one day Jesus shared time, a conversation, the gift of himself with her. This one day Jesus was the epitome of RADICAL HOSPITALITY.  And, notice that the woman did not just sit on the edge of the wall everyday waiting to see who might happen by.  She may have been lonely, but she did not sit with her skirts spread prettily around her hoping some northern visitors would drop in.  She did her woman’s work, her daily chore of getting water.  She did not run when strangers came.  She did not force herself or the town rules upon them.  When she recognized the potential for good for her village, she ran back and raised the cry: “Come and see” … Like her we can’t sit on the front door step and wait for potential to show up.  We have to step into scary places – like the village square at high noon.  Yes, some may take “pot shots” at us or ignore us.  They may know little about our community and think they know everything.  If we offer them “water,” one by one strangers may become friends.  If we reach a hand out in friendship, speak up when invited to parishes, join in village activities, our community will be the richer, our profile higher in the Google and Chrome search engine.

This woman’s story and her encounter with Jesus show us that grace, living water, radical hospitality are ready to refresh the parched earth and its peoples.  We spent the first 9 months of our existence in an environment surrounded by water; we were baptized in water and we are nourished daily by the Living Waters of the Eucharist.   Perhaps even more significant than the individuals in this story is imagining what this story might have meant to the community that was hearing it for the first time.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

First Reading:   Exodus 17:3-7       Second Reading:  Romans 5:1-2, 5-8
Gospel:   John 4:5-42
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Second Sunday of Lent

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“Jesus took Peter, James and his brother John off by themselves and led them up a high mountain.”

The Transfiguration story in Mark’s gospel appears just after Jesus has reminded the disciples: you who desire to save your life, must lose it.  Whoever loses your life for My sake, and the gospel – you will save your life.  And, says Jesus, I will not be ashamed of you when I come into the glory of my Father.   Then Jesus lets these remarks take root for six days before he sets off up the mountain with Peter, James and John.

Here Jesus is transfigured, glorified by God.  Is He telling Peter, James and John that He is not ashamed of them: Peter who will later deny even knowing Him, James and John, the Sons of Thunder, whose mama requested preferential seating for them in heaven?  They climbed the mountain with Jesus and witnessed His glory.

The story (I believe) calls each one of us to examine what mountain we must climb to see God’s glory.  We can apply the story to death or a near-death experience.  But, if we do that we miss the everyday mountains we must climb.  Call those mountains what you will, we must climb them to witness God’s glory: hurdles, challenges, enticing temptations, near occasions of sin, quirks of personality, Lenten resolutions, pet peeves…. Some days they are like a little pebble on our path, which we glibly kick aside. Or, they can be like a grain of sand inside your shoe – no bother when you are sitting still but the instant you start to move it quickly makes itself felt.   Other days, they are like boulders we can’t move with a backhoe.  Everyone’s mountain is different. But, to witness God’s glory, we must climb our “mountains”.

Once on the mountaintop, we must have eyes to see God’s glory.  We must stay alert, have the insight to know that we are at the top.  Our cooperation with God’s grace has brought us to a mountaintop.  The disciples could have missed Jesus’ transfiguration if they:

  • had been too busy taking in the view
  • were gloating over their status or talking about those left behind
  • were wondering about what was on the agenda for tomorrow
  • were wondering how long were they going to be up on this mountain anyway
  • were wondering if there would be time to finish what they had started when Jesus summoned them
  • were bickering over who was going to get use the walking stick going down the mountain
  • were asking themselves who provided the fish for supper last night and whose turn is it now?

You fill in the blanks…you know what it is that keeps you from seeing God’s glory.   Theses are the things that cause you to miss the “small miracles”, the “everyday transfigurations” in yourself, in one another, in nature.  And, gently remind yourself, that Jesus and the disciples also went back down the mountain.  We need to thank God when we get to the top.  But we can hardly stay there.  There are more mountains to climb.  While you are at the top, if only for an instant, witness the transfiguration.

Jesus did not become “more God” that day on the mountain.  I don’t think the change was so much in Jesus, as it was in the disciples.  They were ready.  They had climbed the mountain.   And their eyes were open to witness the miracle of the moment.  Miracles (transfigurations) are all around us IF we but have the eyes to see

  • the miracle of God’s graciousness when a person holds a door open for another
  • the miracle of God’s mercy when a mistake is not challenged
  • the miracle of God’s steadfastness when day after day we gather for communal exercises
  • the miracle of God’s humility when reconciliation occurs
  • the miracle of God’s humor when it rains on our picnics
  • the miracle of God’s artistry in the beauty of nature that surrounds us.

You can make your own litany of miracles.  God is already there, is here.   Jesus invites us up the mountain and leads the way.  We must open our eyes to witness the transfiguration.

 

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

Gospel:   Matthew 17:1-9

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First Sunday of Lent

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This weekend’s Gospel tells us that Jesus fasted 40 days and then the intense temptations began.  The first temptations were about food – then self; then, stones, the temple, Jesus’ immediate surrounding, and His community.  The final temptation was related to political power, the kingdom, and the whole world.

In the first temptation, the devil is trying to entice Jesus away from his mission so he can avoid suffering and death.  Aren’t we, too, sometimes tempted to turn aside from our Lenten mission?  When we are tired, hungry, and feeling drained of energy on many levels, it is then that the devil is grinning with glee at the prospect of getting us to throw in the towel on all our good resolutions. Beware the wiles of the devil – they are cunning. Jesus enjoyed good food, a good meal with friends.  Walking through fields of grain, he savored the wheat kernels. In Cana He supplied first rate wine. And He sent his disciples ahead to arrange for supper the night before He died.

In the second temptation, the devil insists that Jesus is entitled to divine safety and protection.  Whenever you are tempted to amaze people with grand ideas, remember Jesus’ reply: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

In the third temptation, the devil wants Jesus to compromise good by using the wrong means.  We, too, can be tempted to meet legitimate human needs using the wrong means.

In this Gospel story Jesus’ temptations occur at the outset of his ministry.  Some may say it was his first day on the job. He is confronted with three major enticements, but he outfoxed the devil and went on to win His crown.  You know the saying “Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”  Did you see the story about the deputy who landed his first job?  A local sheriff was looking for a deputy, and one of the applicants, who was not known to be the brightest academically, was called in for an interview. “Okay,” began the sheriff, “What is 1 and 1?” “Eleven,” came the reply. The sheriff thought to himself, “That’s not what I meant, but he’s right.” Then the sheriff asked, “What two days of the week start with the letter ‘T’?” “Today & tomorrow,” replied the applicant. The sheriff was again surprised by the answer, one that he had never thought of himself. “Now, listen carefully. Who killed Abraham Lincoln?” asked the sheriff. The jobseeker seemed a little surprised, then thought really hard for a minute and finally admitted, “I don’t know, Sir.” The sheriff replied, “Well, why don’t you go home and work on that one for a while?” The applicant left and wandered over to his pals who were waiting to hear the results of the interview. He greeted them with a cheery smile, “The job is mine! The interview went great!  First day on the job and I’m already working on a murder case!”

On Saturday, February 28, 2026 the Benedictine Sisters of Florida will celebrate the 137th anniversary of the day in 1889 that the “interview went great!”    The five founding Sisters from Pittsburgh, PA hit the floor running for their “first day on the job.”  And we’ve been running ever since.  The heritage of our Founders has been our inspiration for prayer, good works and life in community.  God bless them and all who have gone before us on their faith journeys: those as academy and prep school students; those who came and stayed awhile; those who discovered their life path elsewhere.  Blessed are those who spent their lives and went to their eternal reward as lifelong members in our community.

From the 2011 archives of Sister Roberta Bailey (revised 2026)

Attached Founders Day Prayer 2026

 

Prayer for Founders’ Day

137th Anniversary

February 28, 2026

Bavaria

To Elk County PA 1852

To Pittsburgh, PA 1870

To San Antonio, FL 1889

 

“Your work is written on the wings of time, it will be wafted to Heaven, where it is read with heavenly delight, and it will be transcribed on the chronicles of eternity.  May you be loved for your goodness; may you be assisted for your purpose, and may you be cheered on in your blessed mission.

With fond love, M. Alegunda

Saint Mary, Elk County, PA  @1870

 

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

110th Anniversary Morning Praise and Eucharist

Homily March 1, 1999…by Sister Roberta Bailey, O.S.B.

Revised for 137th Anniversary 2026

 

If we are selective, we can choose strands in today’s readings which fit our occasion of anniversary. In the first reading and the psalm we heard: “Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you…Help us, O God our savior, because of the glory of your name…we, your people and the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever…” In the Gospel reading Jesus gives us an admonition that will never go out of style, and one we profess to enflesh our mission: “Be compassionate, as God is compassionate.” In the Prayer Over the Gifts you will hear Father say: “May the grace of this mystery prevent us from becoming absorbed in material things,”

Thus, the “great work” continues…the work begun by our founding sisters 110 years ago today. At the outset of Lent we prayed that we may “begin with God’s inspiration, continue with the help of divine grace, and reach perfection under God’s guidance…” This seems to have been the attitude and prayers of our founding sisters. A powerful mindset! What is begun in God’s name with God’s blessing will be nurtured and cultivated by God and finally reach perfection under the benevolence of divine providence.

In 1989 we took as our Centennial slogan “Recall the Past; Embrace the Future.” We can continue that theme in the celebration of our 110th anniversary. In recalling the past, we honor the memory of all the people who lived it those who endured the hardships and lived through the challenges brought about by the poverty of many sharing little, fewness of members to do much work, homesickness and distance from loved ones, longing for things as they used to be, world wars, the Great Depression, deaths at a young age, changes in society, changes in the church and changes in the interpretation of Benedictinism.

To honor “mothers” we strive to learn and relearn, tell and retell their stories we are uplifted by the inspiration (and hilarity) of everyday pleasures, of the ways people learned to survive the nonsense of the “letter of the law,” the simple things that occasioned a celebration.

We preserve the stories because we want never to forget that the opportunities we have today were not simply lavished upon us. They were purchased at the great price of travel from home; cold, cracked work-worn knuckles; study by the light of midnight oil; stomachs that ached with hunger; raking, hoeing and manuring groves and gardens – saving, scrimping and salvaging.

What firm faith and incredible courage our founding sisters must have had! The records in the Pittsburgh archives remind us that these young sisters were clearly told if the venture did not work they were not to return to Pennsylvania. An examination of the papers shows us that of the five women who signed their severance papers on the evening of February 22, one never made it to Florida. However, one of the sisters who served as a witness, must have decided overnight to join the mission band – she is named in the group of five founders.

Imagine what daring it took to venture south into Indian territory! These were ordinary women just like us. They were Benedictine women with a dream and a mission. Above all they were motivated by the love of God and a strong desire to spread the Good News. In 1889 Rome considered the church in America “missionary territory.” In relative terms, the slaves had only recently been freed. Had our sisters ever seen a black person in their northern neighborhood? Surely not an Indian. And most assuredly not an alligator!

There is some evidence that the pioneer band traveled from Allegheny Country to the Benedictine house in Covington, Kentucky – then southward by train which would have deposited them in south Georgia or north Florida. It seems safe to me to guess that someone from San Antonio would have met the sisters at the train to bring them in wagons or on horseback down along what is now Hwy 19 and 41 – parts of the Seminole trail. Perhaps they met cattle droves bringing their herds to Tampa or Punta Gorda. By the time they reached San Antonio, traveling through the Florida wilderness – in February probably not too many mosquitoes but surely they’d have heard or seen black bears and panthers, “strange birds, and had run across a snake or two. On Thursday, February 28, I bet they breathed a sigh of relief to at last be among people they may not have personally known but whose northern cultural practices and manners, whose speech patterns were similar to their own.

The next day, March 1, being Friday and most probably a Lenten Friday, would have been a black fast day. They would have partaken of very little, if any, breakfast. They’d have prayed the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin. And as we known from the annals: “the great work was begun.” Perhaps they had a main meal of fish, fresh caught from Lake Jovita. Evening came, and morning came, the second day.

Now here we are at day 40,178 in the 110th year of our history! And the GREAT WORK goes on. As long as there are gaps between our ideals and our reality, there will always be great work to be done. Our founding sisters, and the women who followed them into community, knew that they probably would not live to see all the changes they promoted. We face challenges our foremothers could not have imagined. Our “daughters” will face challenges unimaginable to us. This is part of Florida Benedictine women’s experience – we strive to be better, to be compassionate and caring; to keep faith with our founding ideals and to enflesh them into a reality worthy of those who will inherit what we build today.

And, since this new day is already upon us…and we must be about the great work that awaits us…

Let us simply pray these words from the psalms: “Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you…we, your people will give thanks to you forever.”

 

 

 

First Reading:   Genesis 2:7-9; 3:1-7        Second Reading:  Romans 5:12-19
Gospel:  Matthew 4:1-11
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Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Are you a person of integrity? Can people take you at your word? If you can answer, I am, then folks know that your ‘Yes’ means ‘Yes,’ and our ‘No,’ means ‘No.’

Jesus makes it clear that our yes is enough to satisfy a binding requirement. It’s the same with a vow – a vow doesn’t need an oath. If we do not mean it, if we hold on to “except when” or “unless” or “until it’s not working or it doesn’t fulfill me – then I’m out of here’ – that’s perjury, a false oath.  We vow with “no strings attached.”

As vowed Benedictines what do we do to insure we are truly life-long learners – committed to a perpetual pursuit of growth in the monastic way of life?  What do we do to increase our familiarity with the Rule of Benedict?  How deeply do we delve into Scripture to realize new, fuller meaning of God’s Word?  What do I hear today that somehow I never heard before?

Do we strive to enlarge the understanding of our vows?  If instance, the application of our vow of obedience?  Has our observance of obedience matured beyond a childish fear of a parent finding out we took an extra cookie? Or a beginner’s strict adherence to every regulation to please the novice director?  Do I worry that the whole community is watching me that day and night?  What does obedience mean to us?  What is legitimate authority?  In a spirit of mutual obedience do we conscientiously seek input from each other?  Do I give a request serious consideration or was my “Yes, Sister” simply pro forma?  Do I give a half-hearted acquiescence to a request as merely a suggestion?  Or was that a call of the Spirit in my life to follow or not as I choose? How distressing it can be to have someone say “yes” –  pretend she’s going to obey – but then never perform the deed or show by her every comment to others and her body language that she detests the suggestion or group decision?

What if the group makes a decision I don’t like – do I have any obligation to follow it if I voted against it?    Here’s the authentic test question: how closely does our behavior mirror Benedict’s “deference to one another?”  To keep our “yes” a “yes” takes much prayer, honest introspection, willingness to open our hearts to new meanings and a spirit of grounded integrity.  Otherwise, our vows, a couple’s marriage bonds, are not worth the piece of paper they are written on.

This is where our vow of stability comes into play.  With our vow we are publicly professing responsibility to work on fidelity to our covenant with God and our commitment to one another.  That takes an awareness of what is going on inside of ourselves, and a responsibility for how we might be contributing to the building up or destruction of a bond into which we’ve entered.  Remember: if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

In this Gospel reading Jesus is talking about a lifetime pursuit of a way of living, in which our integrity isn’t just a matter of external conformity, but an internal way of life.  There’s that sticky vow of conversion of life.  This calls for strength and integrity, an inner discipline, an awareness of and acknowledgement of what makes us tick.  Our words should simply be our bond, and mean what we say.

When we say yes, you should speak it with enough conviction that there’s no doubt. When you say no, mean it.  If you sometimes say yes with your lips when your heart is thinking NO WAY!  People will pick up on that.  When in my heart I say NO, but my lips say yes…that’s deceit, it’s a lie.   My tongue speaks what my heart isn’t feeling. I’m lying to myself and to another person.  If I solemnly say “I promise I’m telling you the truth,” does that mean that sometimes I’m not telling the truth?

One of the angels in the Book of Revelation tells us: I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!  But because you are neither, I am going to spit you out of my mouth! “

Ultimately our relationships with other people are inseparable from our relationship to God; and it is the love of God that binds all in all.  It is God’s love that teaches us about relatedness, about truth, about personal integrity.  Heed Jesus’ words: Let your YES be YES and your NO be NO!

 

From the archives of S Roberta Bailey, O.S.B.

Ideas gleaned from a variety of sources

 

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

 

 

First Reading:   Sirach 15:15-20         Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 2:6-10
Gospel:   Matthew 5:17-37
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