Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

apostles

Ever brought to your knees?

by Leave a Comment

This Gospel reports two stories of healing.  One story tells us about a father’s great love for his dying daughter.  The other story, the one I have chosen to focus on, tells us about a desperate woman who risks much in a courageous act of faith to seek healing from Jesus.  This woman has lost everything to find a cure to a condition that has separated her from the community.  We women can commiserate with her.  We may have memories of “those days” or know someone who understood why some referred to a woman’s “gift of God” as “the curse of Eve.”

This woman’s is a true story, not one of Jesus parables.  This woman had suffered from bleeding for 12 long years.  Whether this hemorrhaging was constant or irregular, it caused the woman much suffering, and with the loss of blood much weakness as well.  She also suffered a great deal at the hands of the many doctors she consulted for a cure.  Not only didn’t she get better, she actually got worse.  In addition, she didn’t have good health insurance so now she was broke and wasn’t eligible for food stamps.

We need to realize, too, that this woman would have been quite isolated:  lonely, shunned and shamefully treated because she was considered ceremonially unclean under the Law of Moses.  She could never perform the rituals that would have reconnected her with society.

What a suffering!  Broke.  Required to live as unclean, in isolation and shame.  She had very little hope for a better future.

I have to tell you, earlier in the week I had gotten this far in putting thoughts on paper when God literally dropped a reflection on this Scriptural episode into my lap …  the book I’m reading here in chapel by Basil Pennington, fell open to a chapter entitled “Who Touched Me.”   Here is an adapted summary of Pennington’s reflection.

Jesus was setting out for the house of Jariaus where he had promised to see the desperate man’s daughter.  He and his apostles are being knocked about from every side.  Suddenly Jesus stops and asks: “Who touched me?”

Peter in his usual obtuse way responds: How can you ask, who touched me?  Everyone is touching us.  Everybody is pushing us about.

 On our part (says Pennington) The increase of media and people contact – the over-scheduled day, the relentless demands on our time – almost necessarily means a decrease in spiritual contact, unless all our contact is grounded in contemplation and the operation of the gifts of the Spirit that are set free to work in our lives by contemplative prayer.

 We do not need to go out and about to find meaning.  It is all here within.  And when we go out, we find the same Reality.  Whether within or without, it fills us with presence, joy, and completeness.  Grounded in prayer, we can truly touch the lives of others and be touched by them. (Basil Pennington)

So, it seems to me, the final fact in the woman’s story – remember it’s a true story – is Jesus’ affirmation of her faith and daring.  Jesus knew she had touched him and his power had healed her.  The woman knew what had happened.  The power of the miracle dropped her to her knees.  The response of Jesus is so encouraging.  He calls her “daughter” affirming that she is very precious to him.  He reminds her: your faith has healed you.”  Many others that day touched Jesus, jostled him, shoved him but only this one woman touched Jesus with faith.  Finally Jesus tells her: Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

What incident in your life brought you to your knees knowing that you were healed … and more than that, assured that you are loved?

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading  Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24     Second Reading 2 Corinthians 8:7,9,13-15
Gospel Mark 5:21-43 ( shorter form, Mark 5:21-24,35b-43)

 

Continue Reading

What if …

by Leave a Comment

Pentecost  2018

This weekend, for the Solemnity of Pentecost, between the Vigil Mass and the “During the Day” Mass there are eleven (11) selections for readings.

We’re all familiar with the Pentecost story.  The Apostles, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, had locked themselves in an upstairs room.  They were frightened by all that had happened, anxious and terrified that at any minute the authorities would come crashing through the door.  Looking back on the mystery of Pentecost, Paul wrote to his followers exhortations to live by the Spirit.  He reminds them “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord’, except by the Holy Spirit.”  He tries to unravel the mystery in terms they can relate to.  He speaks of gifts of the Spirit, forms of service, different workings, and the fruits of the Spirit.  He explains how those who are filled with the Spirit will conduct themselves and what vices they will refrain from.

In this reflection I’ll circle through the readings from the Letters of Paul to the Galatians, the Romans and the Corinthians.  I wonder what would Paul say to us today?  I suspect he would say much the same things he wrote to his audience of his time.  He might personalize it a bit to highlight the gifts present particular body of people he was addressing  – gifts that manifest the Spirit for the edification and benefit to the community.

He might say: You do know that to all of you, and each of you is given the gift of faithfulness to prayer, stability to each other and an endeavor for life-long learning.  To one may be given the aptitude of expressing psalmody in musical settings; to another the skills to lift the notes off the page in song and to another the gift of prayer in poetry.  To one is given the gift of sensitivity to the needs of the poor and to others the gift of touching the heart of the weary.  One may have the gift of never knowing a stranger, and another the flair and daring to entertain the community with her ability to emcee a party.  To one is given the gift of calligraphy and to another the proficiency and insight to write icons.   To one is given the gift of fingers that dance across the keyboard and to another a green thumb that provides food for the table; to a gardener the knack that raises flowers from the dirt and another the gift of arranging bouquets that inspire prayer.  To some there is given a volunteer’s heart with a seamstress skill or a caterer’s aptitude.  You are witness to a woman’s response to begin a journey in community and you are daily graced to witness each other’s perseverance in a life-long commitment to community and a combined effort to feed the hungers of the people of God.

Paul speaks again: “There is diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

“But, what if,” you may ask, “I haven’t found my gift yet.  Or my gift seems to be changing over the years?”  Listen to the voice in your heart: “My child, you always have the gift of prayer …  that doesn’t change … the expression of prayer, the words you use, the method you practice are all conversation with God, spoken or unspoken.”  Remember the old Chinese proverb: “A Bird Does Not Sing Because It Has an Answer.  It Sings Because It Has a Song.”  Fr. Ed Lamp recently shared this message inspired by a poster with that saying that he saw in a family’s home in Merida.  He wrote:

When it comes to living our lives, we seem to always be looking for a purpose – a reason for everything, and a reason to do anything.  We seek fulfillment through love, and our family, through jobs and careers, and through our friends and hobbies.  We’re desperate to have a purpose and to understand the meaning of all of it – the meaning of life.  Why are we here and why do we do what we do?

But what if you let go of the idea that everything needs a purpose?  What if you let go of all the “musts” for a moment, just to be present right here and now?  What if you decided to sing, just to sing, but not necessarily because you have an answer?

Because I’m not so sure that we really need an answer, if we can find a way to just enjoy where we are at this moment.  Isn’t it enough to just be alive, and to be here, experiencing the full beauty and wonder of life?

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer, but because it has a song.”  It sings simply because it wants to, and to share something beautiful with its surroundings.  And what other purpose do we humans really have, other than to be alive and enjoy the moment that we are in, making ourselves and the people around us happy; doing what comes naturally to us, and to just live in the present and enjoy the beauty of life.

So try to release the stress of finding a purpose.  You are living your purpose right now.  …Singing a song with your life for no special purpose …  just “because” you have a song – a part in the grand harmony of the miracle of Pentecost – They were filled with Holy Spirit and began to sing in different voices, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim the mighty acts of God.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

Continue Reading

Ascension of our Lord

by Leave a Comment

So when is the last time you “grabbed the devil by the tail?”  Or sought a big rock to dash your unruly thoughts against?  Uttered something in a language you never studied?  Or, like happened to St. Benedict, had a goblet crack down rim to stem and spill out its poisoned contents?  After all we live at HOLY NAME monastery and the evangelist Mark quotes Jesus telling us these will be our signs if we are baptized and believe in the holy name!  And, on top of that we have the command to: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.”

A little over-whelming, right?  But we best take this message to heart all the while assured by the words that follow in the Gospel: Jesus took his seat at the right hand of God, but they (meaning we) went forth and preached EVERYWHERE, while the Lord worked with them.”

Praise God the full brunt of the message does not fall on us alone.  But we must take seriously our commitment to shoulder our share of the burden to spread the Good News to all with whom we come into contact.  We express this in a variety of ways in multiple community documents:  in our PHILOSOPHY statement, our MISSION statement, or VISION statement, our CORPORATE COMMITMENT and our CORE VALUES.  We recognize and acknowledge our responsibility to harken to Jesus’ call personally and to contribute to its fulfillment in the context of our Benedictine vocation.

There is an ancient beautiful story about the ascension of Jesus into heaven.  When the grand welcome ceremony was over, the angel Gabriel quietly approached Jesus and shared some doubts.  “I know that only very few in Palestine are aware of the great work of human salvation you have accomplished through your suffering, death and resurrection. But the whole world should know and appreciate it and become your disciples, acknowledging you as their Lord and Savior.  What is your plan of action?”  Jesus answered, “I have told all my apostles to tell other people about me and preach my message through their lives. That’s all.” “Suppose they don’t do that,” Gabriel responded. “What’s your Plan B?” Jesus replied, “I have no other plan; I am counting on them.”  That fanciful story reminds us that Jesus is counting on each one of us to make him known, loved and accepted by others around us.

Perhaps what this means can best be illustrated within another story…

A man was stumbling along in a desert, thirsty and with little hope of survival.  All he had was a one small disposable bottle of water.  When it was gone, he knew that certain death lie in store for him.  But, wonder of wonders, as he topped the next dune, he saw what he took to be an old decrepit shed.  He dragged himself on this elbows over to it, hoping he might find some source of water.

Ah, thank God, there was a pump outside the shack.  Frantically, the man pumped the handle.  Nothing happened.  Then his eyes fell on a crude hand-lettered sign that read: “This pump must be primed to work.”  His dreams of survival seemed dashed.

He held up what was left of the bottle of water, rolled it across his cheek, cuddled it, kissed it and prayed for faith.  Then he acted.  He primed the pump with all the water he had.  He closed his eyes and pumped the handle.  Wonder of wonders out came streams of fresh, cool water!  He was saved because he gave of all he had.  (Based on a story in Unity Magazine November 1986.)

Pope Benedict XV expresses well the attitude and necessity of self-giving: “My deep personal sharing in the needs and sufferings of others becomes a sharing of my very self with them….  I must give to others not only something that is my own, but my very self, I must be personally present in my gift.”

Like the man who sacrificed his last drop of water on the rusty, frozen well we step out in faith with no plan B in mind.  In the words of a hymn made popular several years ago by the Medical Mission Sisters: “Give it all we’ve got!”

God loves a cheerful giver, give it all you’ve got.

He loves to hear you laughing when you’re in an awkward spot.

When the odds add up against you,

It’s time to stop and sing:  Praise God, to praise Him is a joyous thing!

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading  Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11                             Second Reading  Ephesians 1:17-23 or Ephesians 4:1-13 (shorter form: Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13)
Gospel Reading  Mark 16:15-20
Continue Reading