Benedictine Sisters of FL

Holy Name Monastery
Founded 1889

Gospel

My yoke is easy and my burden is light

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This Gospel is the same as that proclaimed a few weeks ago on the feast of the Sacred Heart.  Jesus offers us again: “Come to me – and I will give you rest – my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Let me ask you: Have you ever owned a woolen turtle-neck sweater?  And, you’re wearing it for the first time?  You soon discover that when you turn your head the collar scratches your neck?  Wear it too long and you may develop itchy red welts.  It looks so warm and cozy in the catalog and now there’s nothing you can do.  Your work day is just beginning; you have an important meeting and you don’t have a change of tops with you.  You get some relief if you sit perfectly still, for you see, it’s only when we wrestle with a “yoke” that it chaffs your neck.

Too often our first impulse is to complain about all I don’t have or what isn’t going my way.  How wonderful life would be if only she would shape up.  Have you ever tried to run a three-legged race?  Then you know the give and take it requires to match strides.  But until you do, you can wind up rolling on the ground and struggling more than once to get up without each pulling the other down.

The burden of ungratefulness weighs heavy on our hearts.  When I focus on what irks me about situations or about people and, sadly, forget all the gifts the flow into my life, the chaffing of the rope tied to the gunny sack I’ve loaded on my back will choke me.  How quickly it lifts when I consider all that I DO have.  When we ease up and take God’s view, the tussle eases.  Remember, the yoke “chaffs” until we give up the control we don’t really have anyway.

Jesus saw examples of this everywhere he went.  We marvel at Jesus’ powers of observation!  How many times must he have gazed out on a field watching a pair of yoked oxen dragging along a heavy cart or trudging to keep pace with a farmer sowing the next crop?  He saw the tussle and the back and forth between the pair, only hurting themselves with the push and pull of the yoke until a smooth rhythm was set.  It behooves us to listen attentively to Jesus’ words.  To hear His invitation, ‘Come to me’ is always an open invitation.  At any time, but maybe especially at times like now, when we and our country really need the peace, rest, protection of God’s love.  We ask Jesus to come into our hearts and fill our lives with gifts that only God can give us.  Remind yourself, especially when life is challenging, that by declaring that “My yoke is easy” Jesus means that whatever God offers us is custom-made to perfectly and personally fit us at this time in our lives.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

Tuesday, July 11, we will celebrate the summer feast of St. Benedict in a special way.  Following the 10 a.m. Mass at the Abbey church, the Saint Leo University Student Affairs dept. are hosting the Sisters and Monks at a festive indoor BBQ lunch to mark the day. 

 

First Reading:  Zachariah 9:9-10         Second Reading:  Romans 8:9, 11-13
Gospel:   Matthew 11:25-30
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Sheep in the Midst of Wolves

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In this Gospel passage, we rejoin Jesus during the first year of His public ministry.  Jesus directs the disciples to keep their focus on God.  He reminds them that those who can harm the body do not have ultimate power; God does. Persecution and suffering may not be avoidable or prevented but Jesus’ reassures us that God is always and forever at our call to care for us and protect us.  He is using here a rabbinic argument technique which compares a light matter to a heavy one.  His idea here is to overcome fear and encourage the disciples, and us, to trust God.

We see in the gospels, how on the one hand, Jesus grants the disciples remarkable powers to heal the sick, exorcise demons, cleanse people with leprosy, even raise from the dead.  But at the same time, Jesus he warns the disciples they are to undertake their mission in complete vulnerability and dependence on God with an awareness that they go as “sheep in the midst of wolves.”

From the moment we are born, we know fear – we squall at the change in our environment.  The startle reflex is tested in a baby’s first well-baby check-up.   Separation anxiety develops by 6 months and may raise its ugly head later in life feelings of abandonment.  Over time we may grow to fear even those who are closest to us.

Jesus recognizes that fear may cause failure on our part.  Jesus’ disciples, and we, courageously leave the security of home and family to follow a dream.  Jesus is starkly realistic about the threats we will face and at the same time he builds the case for why we should not let fear win out or hinder our ministry.

Jesus offers us a life-time coverage insurance policy and he share with us how it will work.  “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I will put in a good word for you with my heavenly Father.  But woe to you who deny me before others; I will shake my had and tell my Father: I do not know this one.” (paraphrased)

The parting words of the Gospel selection leave us hanging with the feeling of the very fear Jesus seeks to dispel.  But with confidence we can pray the sentiments of the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 69): “I pray to you, O Lord, for the time of your favor. In your great kindness answer me with your constant help.  In your great mercy turn toward me.  See, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts be ever merry!”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

May you be safe from violent weather and blistering heat… stay hydrated… on fluid as well as the Word of God.

 

First Reading:  Jeremiah 20:10-13         Second Reading:  Romans 5:12-15
Gospel:   Matthew 10:26-33
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The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand

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“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few.”  I had a flash back memory when I began Lectio with this Gospel story.  The summer that I entered our community, the shoreline in Lake Jovita was slowing receding and leaving a stretch of sandy beach in its wake.  St. Augustine grass was quick to see a rich opportunity to spread its runners.  In contrast, S. Rosaria, our directress, was determined that the grass was not going to win conquerors’ rights.  Believe me, the harvest was ABUNDANT!  Guess who the few laborers would be!  It was summertime and as novices our schedules included, yes, a refreshing hour at the lake to look forward to.  We who were being introduced to the convent practice of silence could laugh aloud, splash each other with glee, and even swim far from the dock … of course, in pairs.  But you’ll remember this reverie started because Jesus is talking about laborers and S. Rosaria had in her charge a handful of young, able-bodied, noisy laborers.  You guessed it!  We were instructed to spend 15 minutes of our precious recreation hour pulling up the “mile-long” runners of root-bound St. Augustine grass.  It certainly has earned its nickname “buffalo grass.”

Jesus had a knack, didn’t He, for immersing His hearers right into their surroundings?  He uses examples that are staring them right in the face and in many cases that are familiar to us.  Reading this Gospel we can imagine row upon row of Florida strawberries, fields as far as the eye can see of native wildflowers. See, the farmers and immigrant fieldhands are up before the sun to do back-bending labor until sundown.  Greenhouses across the landscape give evidence to the growing appeal and popularity of aquaponic and hydroponic farming.  The citrus industry has been driven south of us and replaced with peach orchards and Christmas tree farms as well as development.  We pray for the same intentions of our decades-ago ancestors: send us rain at the right season for a rich harvest, keep plant-eating critters away from our share of the food crops, give us health and strong backs to cultivate our gardens and laden our tables with Your bounty.  And, those children trailing the adults and the big kids; bending low to the ground to drop in seeds one-by-one?  Bless them, O God, with the delightful experience of fostering fledging plants to full bloom, and the sense of pride in adding to the array on the dinner table.  And comfort them, we pray, when tears fall on their plates of fried pet chicken.

Then I recalled hearing, probably in 5th grade, the story of the Alabama farmer George Washington Carver, known as the “Father of the Peanut Industry.”  He developed more than 300 uses for peanuts from chili sauce to shampoo; shaving cream to glue and helped save agriculture in the South.  But with all the effort to cultivate an alternative valuable crop, the farmers lost sight of what this was doing to the soil’s contents.  Now they had to deal with the same problem, soil depletion, that had caused them to switch from cotton to peanuts.  Observing the agricultural practice of rotation of crops can teach us the production benefit of increased yields, improving the organic matter in the soil, thus disrupting the lifecycle of field pests and reducing the use of chemical pesticides.

So, how in creation is this applicable to the Gospel lesson?  Jesus says, “Go into the territory of the lost sheep….”  Cure drooping arms and dragging legs, raise from the dead, cleanse the diseased, drive out demons (crop pests).  And make an announcement: “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Do you think Jesus might have read farmers’ thoughts and observed their actions at the beginning of each growing season as they were gathering with all the farmhands, standing arms akimbo, eyeing the message that the sheep were sending with the evidence of their grazing patterns?  See how they self-select richer pasture land as the available harvest is depleted.  They follow a rotation of availability of crops moving from once fertile field on to one with the promise of richer pasture.

Again, how is this applicable today?  I think there is a timely vocation lesson tucked into the last sentence.  “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”  Our life is our message.  A spirit of hospitality costs nothing but goodwill.  It starts in the home, the community, between each other and spreads like water seeping into cracks, binding us to one another.  Contemplate what Jesus said: “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”  Listen to what is being sought in the dreams of others.  Where can you fill the gaps?  That’s how we “Cure the sick, pray for the dead and comfort mourners; drive out ill-will; raise drooping spirits and spread Jesus’ announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand!’ ”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

Please pray for calm weather and for peaceful recovery for the many people striving to recover from violent weather.

 

First Reading:   Exodus 19:2-6a         Second Reading:  Romans 5:6-11
Gospel:   Matthew 9:36-10:8

 

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Feast of Corpus Christi

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Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – at one time called Corpus Christi and originally celebrated on the Thursday, 10 days after Pentecost.  Some of us of a certain generation may remember huge Corpus Christi processions which brought the body of Christ into the streets around our parishes.  Many of the faithful would pay visits to three different churches to attend Benediction services.  Today we still bring the body of Christ into our streets because we are there.

A little history about the feast:  In the 13th century, a Belgian nun named Juliana had a recurring dream of a brilliant full moon coming down to earth but with a black spot on it. Christ interpreted it for her in that the moon represented the calendar year of the church with all of its wonderful festivals, but the black spot showed that there was something missing, an occasion to remember the institution by Christ at the Lord’s Supper – the institution of the Eucharist. As fortune would have it, she had a friend in the Bishop of Liege.  He believed her vision and he subsequently became Pope Urban IV. As a result, the feast of Corpus Christi was first celebrated in 1264 with hymns and prayers written by Thomas Aquinas.  Such an awesome gift deserves its own feast!

This crowd that Jesus is speaking to in the Gospel had made a pilgrimage to see him instead of going to Jerusalem for the celebration of Passover.   It would have been easier to go to the nearby city, but something was drawing them to the great teacher.  Walking was their mode of transportation, and the distances were often across rough terrain or long detours around lakes.  Jesus and his apostles may have rowed across the lake but not all his followers found a ferry.  And in case you’re intrigued with numbers, someone has calculated that Jesus in his 3-year public ministry could have walked over 900 miles.

Meanwhile, the crowd wanted to take Jesus by force and make him their king.  In other words, Jesus is speaking to a crowd that has felt the pangs of deep longing for something much more than physical hunger.  They had glimpsed the possibilities of true satisfaction in Jesus. But they have misplaced the object of their yearning on “king,” when Jesus wants them to see that their true longing is for “living bread”. Today, our Gospel writer, John, wants us to see that our real longing is not for things that pass away but for things that endure, for an imperishable Light.  But, remember when Jesus is speaking it is before the Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.   Not even His closest apostles could have realized the full significance of His words.   Abbot Primate Notker Wolf has written “In times of individualism we need new ways to build a modern consciousness of community which revolves around the Eucharist as the central celebration of faith.”

The bottom line is that people are scrambling like crazy to find a diet that is right for them. And there is a such diet we hear too little about.  It’s the diet presented in today’s gospel.  Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” And He gives us His word that people on His program “will never hunger or thirst again!” This is an extravagant claim!  But Jesus can deliver on what he promises!

~Sister Roberta Basiley, OSB

 

First Reading: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16    Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:16-18
Gospel Reading: John 6:51-58
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He Knows Us Each By Name

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Pastor and author Tony Campolo loved to tell the story of a particular census taker who went to the home of a rather poor family in the mountains of West Virginia to collect information.  When he asked the mother how many dependents she had, she began, “Well, there is Rosie, and the twins Billy and Betsy, there’s Susie, Harry, and Jeffrey.  There’s Johnny, and Harvey, and our dog, Willie.”  “No, ma’am, that’s not necessary. I only need the humans.”  “Ah,” she said.  “Well, there is Rosie, and the twins Billy and Betsy, and Susie”…At this the exasperated man said, “No, ma’am, you don’t seem to understand.  I don’t need their names; I just need the numbers.”  To which the confused woman threw up her arms and spoke slowly and plainly: “Sir, YOU don’t understand.  I don’t know their numbers.  I only know them by name.”

The two brief parables we have in this Gospel reveal Jesus as our unique means to salvation.  Jesus is our Good Shepherd.  He is the “sheep gate,” the gateway to eternal life; the selfless, caring “shepherd” who provides protection and life itself.  And, He knows us each by name!  Although there may be several flocks sharing the same sheepfold, when a shepherd walks up to the gate and calls out names, each one of the sheep will instantly recognize the voice of their own shepherd.  When Jesus calls His sheep will instinctively follow.  They will ignore the voice of every other  shepherd other than their own.  We will hear many voices competing for attention, but there is a special note to the voice of Jesus that demands our immediate and full attention.

Hopefully we are like that because daily we make time and space in our lives to stay in touch with our Good Shepherd.  Experience has taught us how to spot what is in harmony with the teachings of our Shepherd and what contradicts it.  We won’t be led astray by the voice of riffraff, half-truths, or so-called sugarcoated false miracle-solutions to problems that can only be addressed with honest assessment of root causes, genuine compassion, and “across the aisle” collaboration.

In his latest book (Coenobium) the Cistercian monk, Michael Casey, writes this: “Each of us is called to hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches, and to us.  We who live in community have the advantage of not only having personal designated times for prayer and lectio – anyone can set a self-made schedule.  We’ve also made a free commitment to each other to gather as a community and to do personal lectio to enrich and enhance our personal and our communal prayer.”  Participation in the Liturgy of the Hours begins (in Casey’s words) “when one sets aside whatever he or she is doing, puts the computer (tablet or TV) to sleep” and stands up ready to move, thus, creating a receptive space for whatever the coming liturgy will offer.  Casey continues, “arriving late or out of breath can be a sign of willful disorganization, passive aggression, or spiritual upheaval.”  [But, remember also what Benedict says in RB 43: “Better late than never!”]  Lectio divina and Liturgy of the Hours are not intended simply as an exercise to give monastics something to do to keep them out of mischief.  The primary purpose is to reconnect the pipeline to the spiritual world to sustain the person to live a life according to God.  Our Shepherd assures us that He knows every single sheep by name!  He’ll never come to the threshold and call out: “Hey you!”  And, we will each recognize His voice.  He has promised: “I know my sheep and my sheep know me!”

A man in Australia was arrested and charged with stealing a sheep.  But he claimed emphatically that it was one of his own that had been missing for many days.  When the case went to court, the judge was puzzled, not knowing how to decide the matter.  At last, he asked that the sheep be brought into the courtroom.  Then he ordered the plaintiff to step outside and call the animal.  The sheep made no response except to raise its head and look frightened.  The judge then instructed the defendant to go to the courtyard and call the sheep.  When the accused man began to make his distinctive call, the sheep bounded toward the door.  It was obvious that he recognized the familiar voice of his master.  “His sheep knows him,” said the judge.  “Case dismissed!”

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

First Reading:  Acts 2:14, 36-41         Second Reading:  1 Peter 2:20-25
Gospel:   John 10:1-10
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Unity Week

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The three readings we have this weekend are, I believe, they present an example of a woven piece of God’s mysterious message-giving.  It creates a colorful piece with threads that weave the way from Isaiah, through the Letter to the Corinthians, into the Gospel of John, laced with verses from the Responsorial Psalm 40.

From Isaiah we hear: “I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.”  Then Paul tells us who the “you” is: “You who are called to be holy with all who call upon the name of Jesus.”  Now slip in a line from Psalm 40: “Sacrifice or offerings you wish not, but ears open to obedience you gave me.”  This leads us right into the Gospel and a declaration of obedience to listening.  Here John the Baptist speak: “I did not know him (that is, when Jesus came to the River Jordan for baptism) “I saw the Spirit and the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, “On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one…”  Then slide back to Psalm 40 “To do your will, O my God, (to be obedient) is my delight.”  Obedience is the psalmist’s delight – John’s, Jesus’ and ours.

This week Wednesday, we will begin the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with the 2023 theme: “Do Good; Seek Justice” (Isaiah 1:17)   The theme is captured in the Gospel reading the presence by the two groups who were present at Jesus’ baptism at the River Jordan: the followers of John and of Jesus in combination with the presence of our Triune God (the voice of the Father, Jesus in the Jordan, and the hovering Spirit in the form of a dove).  The week of prayer for Christian Unity has a 100-year history in which Christians around the world pray for the fulfillment of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper “that they all may be one .”

A question: How did John (the evangelist) come to know so many intimate details about John the Baptist’s encounter with Jesus at the Jordan?  It is generally assumed that the disciple James and his younger brother John were among the followers of the Baptist.   It is likely this is how they, along with Peter and Andrew, first met Jesus.  John was the only one of Christ’s original disciples who lived into old age and the only one who was not martyred for his faith.  He can tell the story of Jesus from an old man’s perspective, wisdom and vision that is a gift of the elderly…. pondering the essentials, sifting out the riff raff of gossip, suppositions and guess work [or, spicing up the stories with borrowed memories and supposed tidbits.]

As we in community know so well, stories are a gift given by older members to newer members.  The elders are the torch bearers, the younger folk the keepers of the torch.  It is they who are responsible to coax the sparks to keep the flame burning.  Our future will be enriched by those who keenly listen and preserve the traditional word-of-mouth stories.  This is what enriches our present by helping us better understand the past and the people who gave shape to our present.  Stories of the “good old days” may get “old” but consider what we’d miss if John and the other evangelists had kept secret their experiences with Jesus.

In today’s world, much like the days of early Christianity, people are facing crises of migration, prejudice, violence and indifference. How can we show “unusual kindness” that is a witness to God’s loving providence for all people? When we invite people to “come and see” they are looking for more than a tour of our monastery building and a list of volunteer ministries. Our spirit of hospitality will have a ripple effect (positive or negative) that makes visible (or not) Jesus’ love in today’s world. We pray that we and all peoples of diverse backgrounds, cultures and religions, are enlightened to accept each other with open hands and hearts and that world peace will prevail in our lifetime.

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

 

 

First Reading:   Isaiah 49:3, 5-6         Second Reading:  1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Gospel:   John 1:29-34
 
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