Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

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Believing Can Bring Sight

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This week we begin the Third Week of Easter and the third MONTH of the war in Ukraine.  Thursday past was an International Day of Prayer for peace – very much needed in these times.  And, generally since 1955, when May 1  does not fall on a Sunday, we celebrate St. Joseph, the Worker.

Liturgically, each day since Easter we’ve heard post-Resurrection stories of personal encounters.  The Resurrected Christ has appeared to Mary and called her by name, visited the disciples and his mother Mary in the Upper Room to breathe peace upon them.

We’ve heard the story of how Jesus slipped in and out of the company of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  In John’s narrative Peter’s head was whirling at all that was going on.  It appears his message to the others was: “This is too much for me; I’m going to clear my head; I’ll be back later.  I’m going fishing!”  A few of the others jumped aboard.  At daybreak a very human Jesus appeared to these disciples who’d spent a night of non-productive fishing.  We know that Jesus must have known this but still he calls to them: “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” Then he suggests to them that they toss the nets on the other side of the boat.  And, lo and behold, the nets encircle 153 large fish!  No one dared ask him: “Who are you?”  To their astonishment, Jesus invites: “Come, have breakfast.”

By Saturday (a week ago) we step back to the day following the resurrection.  We meet up with Mary, faithful witness to the end and first to meet the Resurrected Christ.  She is on her unsuccessful mission to tell the companions of Jesus: “He is alive!”

Last Sunday the church made sure that we heard the message that Jesus came a second time to the group in the upper room.  Again, He came right through “locked doors.”  He greeted the fearful group: “Peace!”  And, turned to address Thomas to quiet his fear that the one the disciples claimed they had seen a week ago might be an imposter.  Nothing can keep Jesus away from those who have been his companions for 3 years.  Jesus has become comfortable enough with them to expose his vulnerability: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by.  Nevertheless, let it be as You, not I, would have it…. I thirst.  When tiredness overtakes him he sleeps in the boat until cries for help rouse him to alertness.

At that 2nd visit in the Upper Room Jesus praises those who do not seek proof.  On the other hand, neither does he condemn those who seek a sign.  He meets us where we are on our faith journey.  He does not condemn Thomas for wanting to see proof in the nail marks.  Instead, he offers living proof to help his unbelief.  “See my hands; put your finger here.”  And then He nurtures maturity in faith when he says: “Blessed are they who have not seen but have believed.”

Monday, this past week found us with the eleven off on our life’s mission having witnessed Jesus being taken up to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God.  There is an exchange with Nicodemus about the wind: from whence does it come, and where does it go?  Jesus gently tries to explain, “If I tell you of earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”  If only we understood that seeing may not be believing but believing can bring sight.

The lessons remembered by John continue.  “God does not ration the gifts of the Spirit; the Father gives everything to the Son.”  As evening grows long, the disciples went down to the sea.  It grew dark as they rested and rowed and drifted in the boat.  When, they were 3-4 miles from shore, one after the other perked up and pointed to a silhouette of a man who appeared to be walking on the water toward them a calming voice was heard: “It is I.  Do not be afraid.”  Those who are familiar with the voice of God will immediately recognize when Jesus speaks.

For today we hear a curious detail.  John relates that before Peter jumped from the boat into the sea, he grabbed his clothing “for he was lightly clad.”  He put on more clothes to jump into the water?  Isn’t that typical of what we tend to do?  We don’t want to leave anything behind even when it only adds weight to our journey.  What does Jesus tell us to do?  Not, grab all your belongings, we’re going on a journey of a lifetime.  Rather he says: “Feed my sheep; feed my lambs.   Follow me!”

What is your excess baggage?  What needs to be left behind?  We have to clear out old expectations if we are to have room to welcome new experiences.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

We’ve learned from the family of Shawnn Leach (our cook) who died at home on Thursday, April 21, that as an organ donor Shawnn’s “gift of life” benefited 25 individuals.   God bless them and God reward Shawnn with eternal rest and happiness!

 

First Reading: Acts 5:27-32; 40-41             Second Reading: Revelation 5:11-14
Gospel: John 21:1-19
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Your Reward Will Be Great In Heaven

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Trust me: your reward will be great in Heaven

 

For me this story in Luke is one of the most touching in recorded Scriptural history.  A poignant portrait of a very human Jesus.  The opening lines for me convey a wealth of meaning hard to capture in words.  “Jesus came down and stood on level ground.”  Humility personified!

And the next line speaks volumes, too.  Jesus’ eyes roved over the crowd.  Who is He looking for?  Watch him.  Like a loving parent, a faithful friend, he spies his disciples.  And, begins to remind them: “Blessed are you!”  He reminds me of an elder, saying to a grown child or a grandchild, “It’s going to be OK.  Someday your luck will change.  That boy will wake up and realize what a catch he’s let go.  You’ll realize how lucky you are.  You may hungry for a special relationship today.  I can promise you, you will be satisfied.”  The words of Psalm 30 console us: “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.”

Then, lest we become complacent, Jesus reminds us that this world is passing with all that is in it.  You who are filled today, you who have a sufficiency today, will be hungry tomorrow.  Those who pat you on the back today, may speak behind your back and denounce you tomorrow.  They who laugh today will be among those who weep tomorrow.

Luke shares the lessons he’s learned from those who personally spent time in Jesus’ company.  They’d learned from him the know-how of turning negativity to learning opportunities.  Sounds like Jesus was a “when life gives you lemons make lemonade” kind of person.  His close friends had witnessed Jesus special regard for people who suffer and feel out of the loop of belonging.

As Jesus spoke to the crowd that day each must have wondered: Is he talking about me?  To me?  Am I too settled in my comfortable niche?  Why do I feel like squirming at this words?  How differently He expresses His Father’s love for all people.  Wealth isn’t really an overflowing abundance of money and things!  Real wealth is believing that your reward will be found in delayed satisfaction.  Today, Jesus says, Rejoice and leap for joy; your ancestors went through the same trials you experience.  Different characters; same stories.  Trust me: your reward will be great in Heaven.

~ Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

First Reading:  Jeremiah 17:5-8     Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20
Gospel:  Luke 17:20-26
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“Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way.”

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Last week we heard Jesus chastise his disciples for their arguing about who should be next in the line of succession.  Today they take offense because they perceive a stranger as a direct threat to their exclusive calling.  Their attitude is clear: “You have no right; He gave us that job.”  Envy and jealousy raises its ugly head.

We are witnessing how Jesus deals with this ages-old human condition.  We saw it first in the story of Cain and Abel.  In our own lives we may have been victim or culprit of it with our siblings, classmates, spouses or friends.  St. Benedict guards against inroads of it in describing the “Qualities of the Abbot” in the “Tools of Good Works” and the “Steps of Humility,” the distribution of labor and his directives about property and gifts.  The psalmist applies the trait to God, and St. Paul says he experiences “a godly jealousy.”  We sing of in it the hymnody: “Our God is a jealous God.”  And, here in this Gospel we hear the disciples grousing (Benedict calls it “murmuring”) – “How come they are trying to use the gift you gave to us?”

So far the disciples have missed the point of Jesus teaching.  It’s about true discipleship; how we relate to each other.  Jesus warns us that true followers are not to “cause little ones to stumble.”  He’s been saying all along that who will be included in the Kingdom is not within our authority, it’s not even within our concern!  Jesus makes it quite clear – whoever is not against us, is for us.

In this instance, Jesus immediately turns the tables on the disciples.  He warns them that they are the ones in danger of doing harm.  It’s as though Jesus says, “The problem is not those folks, guys.  Don’t worry about them; they are not the problem.  Rather, look at yourselves.  Are you a stumbling block?”  His message is clear – finger-pointing will get us nowhere with Jesus.  Jesus couldn’t be more clear with his vivid example of drowning to get his point across.  “Better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around your neck than to do harm to “these little ones.”

Jesus warns us that scrupulosity about others’ behavior, or a judgment about their motivation (especially without all the facts) can cause us to stumble.  He is trying to help us understand that no one is an exception to His teaching.  We can’t say: “That doesn’t apply to me; I don’t have to listen to what He is saying.  And, anyway, I’ll be forgiven.”  The old axiom holds true, “What’s sauce for the goose, is good for the gander.”

Our Creator knows we have been endowed with the capacity to make comparisons, weigh pros and cons, and draw conclusions that seem to just “pop into our heads.”  Jesus is warning us to be on guard about being “judgmental” – milking and waxing self-assigned motivations to others.  We can spread faulty conclusions built on our limited perceptions.  Jesus cautions us to turn the focus back to our own behavior.  Jesus challenges us to a self-examination.  How authentic is our way of thinking and acting?  Do we spend more time judging another’s behavior and spreading ill-will than we do in Lectio looking at our part in the cultivation of evil in the world?  What are the stumbling-blocks, the mind-fields we scatter that unwittingly impedes the spread of the Good News?  This gospel incident is a story of commitment.  The people to whom Jesus is talking are his own disciples – people who have agreed and want to follow him.  The metaphor explains just how serious sin really is.  Jesus is asking, “Just who do you believe?  Do you believe in me?  Whose ways do you imitate?”

We were created so that God can pour out blessings upon us, and through us.  In gratitude, we owe it to God, and to others, to pass on the good news of the great inheritance that is ours.

So how goes it with you?  Does your practice of faith, your living of Benedict’s Rule challenge others?  Ages ago Isaiah said, and St. Paul repeated, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”  [Isaiah 55:8; Ephesians 3:20]  Benedict offers the same life guideline in RB Chapter 4:20, the Tools of Good Words: “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way.”

This week we do well to ask ourselves (refraining from pointing a finger at anyone else – exposing three fingers pointing smack dab back at self, right where the blame belongs): Do my ways invite others to join the church, the community?  Does my attitude give others the benefit of the doubt; the attitude that I wish others’ granted me?  What do I do or say that may cause seekers or guests or volunteers to step away, give up on the idea of ever coming again or supporting the community, put off joining RCIA or considering a call to religious life?  What could I, what could we, do differently?   Ponder the closing sentences of the first reading, words attributed to Moses: “Would that all people of the Lord were prophets!  Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all.”  [Numbers 11:29]

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

Let us join in prayer for a swift, peaceful, and just resolve for persons fleeing their home countries.  So many levels of conflict and confusion may make us feel helpless … but we believe firmly that for God ALL THINGS are possible.  And we learned that God is depending upon His creatures to do their part.   This morning in his homily our chaplain noted: “Each of us is one of us.”    Helen Keller is quoted: “I am only one; but still I am one.  I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.  I will not refuse to do the something I can do.” (Helen Keller)    Something to think about – what IS my part?

  Heartful gratitude to those who contributed to our collection for the people of Haiti devastated by earthquake damage.  With your generosity, and the Sisters contributions from their personal monthly allowances, plus a “round-it-up” donation from our community funds, we will be sending $2000 to the St. Luke Foundation – a direct services agency headquartered in Miami, FL

God bless!

 

First Reading:   Numbers 11:25-29             Second Reading:  James 5:1-6
Gospel:   Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48
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What Were You Arguing About on the Way?

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Jesus and his disciples have entered a private home where they’re welcomed by their hostess.  They’re settled comfortably on cushions on the floor.  All is quiet until Jesus asks: “What were you talking about out there on the road?”  He knew exactly what they were discussing: who’s next in the line of succession?  They are like children who don’t want to tell their parents what they’ve been talking about.  Jesus doesn’t push for an answer.  He won’t humiliate or embarrass them.  Instead, He beckons forward a child.  Why a child?  Well, a child can’t make you more important in the eyes of the world.  However, a child can teach you much about ministry!

The disciples probably recalled the incident when they started to shoo the children away.  Jesus had chided them saying: “Let the children come to me.”  I suspect Jesus is so comfortable with children because of their innocence, uncluttered faith, and their often startling way of exposing the bold truth; saying it just like it is.  Jesus sees the inherent worth and value in everyone and, therefore, welcomes children just as they are.  It is not a detached encounter that Jesus has with the child.  He makes the child an active participant in his lesson.  He took the child, he placed the child among them, and he put his arms around the child.  In fact, this child, whom society deemed as lacking in worth, was of so much value to Jesus that he moved the child from the margins to the center.  Living on the margins, children can be forgotten, ignored and left to figure out the mysteries of life on their own.  You’ve heard the quote “it takes a village to raise a child.”  It’s true – it is in the center of life that children can receive the love, support, and encouragement they need to thrive and grow to become productive, good-hearted, trustworthy, faithful citizens.

Children growing up today in our country are in precarious, fragile, and dangerous places.  They have music, popular culture, technology, violence and sexuality sown into the fabric of their lives in ways that to date are unparalleled.  There is perpetual, uncontrolled text messaging and exposure to other social media, Nintendo, Wiis, X-boxes, CDs and peer pressure to participate in dangerous activity.  Today, maybe more than ever, children are abused, snatched, neglected (or the opposite over-protected by “helicopter” parents) or labeled with an alphabet of disorders (ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, dysgraphia) and hastily placed on medication without proper diagnosis.

There are latch-key kids, under-fed, lonely, ignored children and many are victims of inadequate health care.  Now, more than ever, vulnerable children need to be embraced by the church just as Jesus embraced children.  If the church leaves out children, it is leaving out a face of God.  If policy-makers leave out children, they place their own future in jeopardy – forgetting who it is that is going to be caring (or not) for them in their sunset years.

Jesus is talking about welcoming the one who is beyond the circle, one who needs a welcome.  So, here’s the question Jesus is asking us: Who are the people without power or status in our society?  Do we serve them willingly?  At the deepest level, Jesus’ idea of service 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.  Service is about absorbing the sufferings of our world by sharing our life – our time, our resources and our gifts.  It’s building-up the other so that she or he in turn is enabled to be Christ to others.

Jesus asked his disciples: “What were you arguing about on the road?”  Every time we travel with Jesus we 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.  Will you be a silent one?  Or will you speak out on behalf of the needy ones?  The ones Benedict is referring to in RB 72, when he advises: “Anticipate one another in honor, not following what you consider useful for yourself, but rather what benefits the other.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

First Reading:   Wisdom 2:12,17-20            Second Reading:  James 3:16—4:3
Gospel:   Mark 9:30-37
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Holy Thursday

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After the meal, Jesus took off his outer garments, tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and dry them.     [John 13:4-5]

 “That’s all it takes: Serve others.  Yet we resist.  We are lazy, too busy or too caught up in our own world and interests.  Jesus shows us the example.  Wash the feet of others.  You don’t have to take it literally, but you do have to serve others.  Better yet, serve someone who can’t repay you.  Hold the door, let someone go first, clean up after someone.  Just find a way to serve.”    (Fr. Thomas J. Connery)

 

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Jesus assures: Let not your hearts not be troubled – I am the way, the truth and the life.

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(Gospel) Sound familiar?  We’ve heard portions of it now three days in a row …  The Church wants to be sure we get the message: “Let not your hearts be troubled.”  This conversation between Jesus and his disciples (and with us) is a profoundly comforting message in the face of pandemic days – days of fear of contagion and possible death.  But, it is more than that – it has everything to do with our lives at any time – not only the here and now.

To put the setting into context … the scene is Jesus’ last meal with his special friends on the eve before His death.  He has washed the disciples’ feet and explained the meaning of the gesture.  He has foretold his betrayal by one among them, and that one has slipped out into the night.  Jesus has shared that he will be with them only a little while longer.  He is going and they cannot come.  He has also foretold Peter’s imminent denial.

No wonder they are troubled.  Their beloved teacher has announced that He is leaving them and one of their own has turned against them.  And Peter, who has served as their leader and spokesperson, is about to falter in his loyalty.  The ground is shifting beneath their feet.

Jesus responds to their anxiety: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in me.”  He assures them that he is not abandoning them.  The good news is he is going to

His Father’s house which is also their destination.  Because there are many dwellings in his Father’s house, He’s going to prepare a place for them, so that they will be with him and dwell with him.

Then, poor literal Thomas – he wants the GPS route to this place Jesus is going.  (Jesus, knowing Thomas, could have seen this coming.)  He reminds all of them (and us): “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”

This is a promise.  Assuring us there is no need to panic or to look for a secret map out of the land of COVID or to expect a view “from the balcony” for vision of what the new “normal” will be.  “If you know me, you will know my Father.”  And, “From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Then it’s Philip’s turn.  He is not quite convinced.  “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  Jesus’ sounds a bit exasperated: “Philip, have I been with you all this time and you still do not know me?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

This was the whole of Jesus’ mission – his life’s work.  For the past three years He had labored to reveal who God is.  If we want to know who God is, we need look no further than Jesus.  All the words that Jesus has spoken come from God and show us who God is.

Jesus’ message in this Gospel passage has everything to do with our life here and now.  “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

This is where Jesus’ promise becomes a little hard to swallow.  Greater works than healing the blind and raising the dead?  And you will do whatever we ask in your name?  How can that be true?

Perhaps the problem is that in hearing these promises, we expect to do these greater works in the same way that Jesus did them.  What Jesus is promising is that He will be with us through the power of the Spirit, to work in and through us to accomplish HIS purposes in the world.  He is not promising that this will necessarily happen in visible, spectacular ways.  He’s saying that wherever there is healing, reconciliation, life-giving deeds –  this is the work of God – Jesus’ presence in our midst.

Jesus makes known to us the heart of God, and he has shared and entrusted His sacred mission of “making God known” to all in “our realm of influence.”

“The Lord is trustworthy in all His works.  Upright is the word of the Lord!   See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who hope in his kindness.” (Psalm 33 adapted)  “You are a chosen race, a royal people, a holy nation, a people of God’s own.  (Second Reading 1 Peter 2: 9)

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading: Acts 6:1-7                Second Reading 1 Peter 2:4-9
Gospel John 14:1-12
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