Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

disciples

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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Lord, where are you going?

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Here (in this Gospel) we see Jesus troubled with the knowledge of who is about to betray him.  It is more troubling when you realize that Jesus truly did know who would betray him.  We may say: “I know what she’s thinking; I know why she did that.”  But, we don’t really – we’re second-guessing or assigning a motive based on our own behavior.”  Yet still knowing full well Judas’ heart and what would happen when they stepped into the garden after supper – watch what Jesus does.  He announces the imminent betrayal, and then proceeds to feed the betrayer:  “When he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot.”  With the flavor of the morsel still in his mouth, Judas leaves to do his dirty work.  The narrator adds, “… and it was night” – the deed is done under the cover of darkness.  In this dark moment Jesus says: “Now is the Son of Man glorified.”  He speaks of being glorified and focuses on preparing his disciples for what is to come.

Not included in the text for tomorrow, but in John’s Gospel, the conversation continues, with Peter asking, “Lord, where are you going?”  Jesus responds, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward”.  Peter argues, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now?  I will lay down my life for you.”  But Jesus knows before the sun comes up, that Peter – one of his closest companions – will deny him three times.  Yet his parting words to his disciples focus not on blame for their failures.  He assures them that although he will no longer be physically present with them, they will not be alone.  He reminds them of their need for community.  “Love one another,” He counsels, “as I have loved you.”

Seems to me this is what Benedict means in RB 72 …  “Show pure love to each other…. don’t pursue self-interests… rather seek to anticipate what is better for someone else …. supporting each other with the greatest patience.”

Jesus demonstrates the kind of love he preaches.  He shows no partiality.  He does the same for the one who laid his head on Jesus breast as he does for the disciples who will fail him miserably.  Jesus washes and feeds Judas who will betray him, Peter who will deny him, and all the rest who will fail to stand by him in his hour of greatest need.  The love that Jesus demonstrates is not based on any earned merit or reciprocity.  He asks only that we freely love others in the same way He loves us.

It could not be any clearer!  Jesus to telling us it’s not by our knowledge of the church law, liturgical rites, the catechism, or even by our sense of morality, our ministerial service, attendance at funerals or obeying driver safety rules; not by my formation experience, nor by how I was brought up; it doesn’t depend on how neat or clean we keep our personal spaces, our table manners,  or whether we practice an exercise routine.  Simply put: (as the hymn says) “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  We won’t be tested, evaluated or judge by any measure other than this: Have our actions and interactions been loving – has our manner of living exuded love… at all times: not just when there are guests, or we are sporting a Benedictine Sisters logo shirt, or we think others are watching or that we may be overheard.

It comes down to a choice.  Like Judas, we’ve seen the evidence – we’ve witnessed Jesus’ miracles in the Scriptures and in our own life-time.  Along with other Christ-followers we’ve read and pondered and puzzled over Jesus radical teachings.  We’ve been there in spirit with the Marys who sat at the feet of Jesus absorbing his words.  We’ve stumbled and been raised up by the same Lord whose teaching we chose to ignore, disregard or just never delved into to.  We’ve followed others’ lead when we knew full well the ugliness of gossip, tittle-tattle and unacceptable language or jokes.  We forgot Jesus and our guardian angels were in the same room with us … and heard and saw it all.  We may have snubbed the prompting of the Spirit.  But, that still small voice will keep pestering us until we pay heed.  [Persistence must be one of the Spirit’s major virtues…]

As Benedict says in the Prologue, “The labor of obedience will bring you back to God from whom you have drifted.”  Ever noticed how a stick thrown into a body of water seems to flounder until it is grabbed by the drift forcing it in a particular direction.  It just can’t continue for very long going in circles or struggling against the current.  That’s you and me …  searching for a direction …  striving to give up self-will …  awed by all we’ve witnessed of God’s goodness.  Now, roused from sleep and equipped with good zeal and a determination to prefer nothing whatever to Christ, we are ready – we’re perked up and prepared to heed Benedict’s first word:  LISTEN!

At Noon Prayer earlier this week God spoke to us from long before Jesus walked this earth – long before he endured disappointment and betrayal and death.  To this day God promises:  “I will never take back my love; my faithfulness will not fail.  I will never break my covenant or go back on my promise.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress

 

5th Sunday of Easter (May 19, 2019)
First Reading Acts 14: 21-27 Second Reading   Revelation 21:1-5a
Gospel John 13: 31-33a, 34-15
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Leadership through Service

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This lesson we just heard from Mark is interesting in that it differs from how Matthew related it.  Maybe it tells us something about the two evangelists.  In Matthew’s version of the story, it was the mother of James and John, who asks Jesus to give her sons positions of importance in the coming Kingdom.  Matthew must have thought that it was unbecoming for an apostle to make such a bold request.  Mark, however, appears to be more honest.  He wants us to understand that the disciples were very ordinary people.

Mark also gives us some insight into the character of James and John.  They may have been lowly fishermen but they certainly were not shy about taking this opportunity to look out for their future.  Like the other disciples, they believed in Jesus.  They were confident of his leadership – they just wanted be sure they were included.  They wanted to ride on his coat tails.  We all have seen that … people who are impressed with titles – who want to be buddy-buddy with the boss just because she has the title and they think she has the power.  Jesus did have the power but He wanted to impress upon the two brothers the price they’d have to pay for the privilege they wanted …  the service they’d have be prepared to render.

Jesus’ response to James and John reveals what He means when he speaks of greatness.  His definition is inevitably linked to service.  That which makes a person great is not their ability to rule over others.  Rather, it is the ability to invest one’s self for the welfare of others.  In a world where most people want to put as little as is possible into life and to get out as much as possible, our Lord speaks of a better way.

Jesus calls us to that “better way” today.  Only when we are willing to put more into life than we take out – to put service to others in a place of honor-only then, Jesus tells us, are we worthy to be called his followers.

The author Sue Monk Kidd says in her memoirs: we humans need stories almost as much as we need the air to breath.  Jesus often began: Sit down, let me tell you a story.  So, listen now to a new story with the same meaning as the gospel we just heard.

Once upon a time (that tells you it’s going to be a pretend story or a fable)… Well, once upon a time, in a far-off country, a king had twin sons.  One was strong and handsome.  The other was intelligent and wise.  As the ruler aged, everyone speculated about which son would be the king’s successor – the strong son or the wise son.

In this land, the sign of kingship was a royal ring.  Just before the king died, he had a copy of the royal ring made and presented one ring to each of his twin sons.  The chief advisors to the king asked him, “How shall we know which son wears the authentic royal ring?”

“You shall know,” answered the king, “because the chosen one will reveal his right to rule by his self-giving service to our people.”

[Richard Carl Hoefler, Insights, October 1988]

Sitting down, Jesus called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading   Isaiah 53:10-11             Second Reading   Hebrews 4:14-16    
Gospel Reading  Mark 10:35-45 (shorter form Mark 10:42-45)
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Are You a Stumbling Block?

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Last week we heard Jesus chastise his disciples for their arguing about who was the greatest in the group.  Today they take offense because they perceive a stranger’s action as a direct threat to their exclusive calling by Jesus.  Their attitude is clear: “you have no right; He gave us that job.”   They guard what they feel is their gift and they’re not about to share it.   Envy and jealousy raises its ugly head.

It seems 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 or classmates.  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 even applies the trait to God, and St. Paul says he experiences “a godly jealousy.”  We sing of it in our hymnody: “Our God is a jealous God.” And, here in this Gospel we hear the disciples grousing (Benedict called it “murmuring”) “How come they’re trying to use the gift you gave to us?”

So far they’ve missed the point of Jesus teaching about true discipleship.  That it’s how we relate to each other especially our interactions with the little ones and the least ones.  Jesus has shown by example that true disciples are to “forbid not the little ones to approach” and warned that true followers are not to “cause little ones to stumble.”

He’s been saying that who is included in the Kingdom is not within our authority, it’s not even within our concern!  Who is included in the Kingdom belongs alone to God.  Jesus makes it quite clear: whoever is not against us, is for us.  I think that’s why I struggle, and I know it really rankles with some, when an announcement is made at Mass about who can and cannot receive communion.

In this instance, Jesus in fact, 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.  How are you getting in the way of the gospel?  Are you a stumbling block?”

We get a clear message that finger-pointing will not get us far with Jesus.   While the disciples are eager to bring judgment on the outsider who is acting in Jesus’ name, Jesus himself wants the disciples to pay attention instead to their own behavior.  Jesus couldn’t be more clear with his vivid example: a dire image of drowning to get his point across.  Better to drown (be thrown into the sea with a millstone around one’s neck) than do harm to “these little ones.”

He warns us that scrupulosity about others behavior or a judgement about their motivation can distract us so that we do harm and cause others to stumble.  Sometimes, even our best intentions to reprove others can have unintended consequences.  Jesus turns the focus back to our own behaviors, the ways we speak and reflect an image of Gospel living.  How authentic is it?

This gospel challenges us as individuals, and as community, to a self-examination.  What are the stumbling-blocks, the mind-fields we scatter before others that often unwittingly impedes the spread of the Good News?

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
First Reading Numbers 11:25-29           Second Reading James 5:1-6
Gospel Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48
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