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Holy Name Monastery
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Lent

Lent – God’s Call

February 22, 2021 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

In the liturgical cycle of readings, this Gospel from Mark was originally only two verses – later the church added two more – but it is still one of the shortest Sunday readings.  It tells us only that, immediately after His baptism, Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil, for 40 days.  You’ll notice that Mark, unlike Luke and Matthew, does not outline for us the three temptations of Jesus.  He simply lets us know that the conflict between Jesus and Satan only begins in the desert.  The ultimate test will be in Jesus’ final hours on the cross.

We are now four days into our Lenten journey of 40 days.  We are reminded of Elijah who journeyed in a desert 40 days and nights, making his way to Mount Horeb as well as the Israelites who wandered in a desert for 40 years.  Benedict knew that deserts are an unavoidable part of life.  We have to pass through them – not get stuck in them. In the desert, we soon find out we are too weak to go it alone.  According to St. John Chrysostom: “The Spirit drags Jesus into the desert, since he wanted to draw the devil there – and Jesus gave occasion to him not only on account of his hunger but also on account of the place: for then most especially does the devil attack when he sees people isolated and by themselves.”  No wonder Benedict urges us not to be isolated in our Lenten journey: “the entire community during these days of Lent (together strives) to keep the manner of life most pure.”

We’ve heard the expression “practice makes perfect” so often that the meaning may have lost its impact on us.  Each year at the beginning of Lent we may feel like that skater or a musician who’s been laid up for a year without practice.  As Benedict says in Chapter 49 of the Rule, during Lent we are called to be the kind of person we should be every day.  Lent gives us a jump-start of courage to pick up the practices that will support the values we profess and hold dear.  The biggest temptation most of us have to face it to “give up” because we stumble.  What would you think if you dialed a wrong number and got this recording: I’m not available right now, but I do thank you for caring enough to call me.”  (How sweet!)  But, it continues: “I am making some changes in my life.  Please leave a message after the beep.  If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes.”

Thomas à Kempis, in the IMITATION OF CHRIST, says, “Often we do not know what we can stand, but temptation shows us what we are.  Above all, we must be especially alert against the beginnings of temptation, for the enemy is more easily conquered if refused admittance to the mind and is met beyond the threshold when it knocks…. A person, indeed, is not worthy of the sublime contemplation of God who has not been tried by some tribulation for the sake of God.  For temptation is usually the sign preceding the consolation that is to follow.”

Lent is God’s call to us to make God and Godly values the center of our life.  It is a time for honesty and stability.  A time for us to be close to God.  The desert of life, of Lent – like any desert – can be a vast expanse of sand and rock, punctuated by ragged hills, blistered by a relentless sun, a barren land in which little grows.  But, depending on our outlook, the space can be filled with mysterious unexpected experiences.  It can be a place not only of testing but of beauty where faith can grow.  Mirages give us false hope.  A welcome pool of water or a dripping cactus can reveal to us, in the blink of an eye, a reflection of what we really look like.  During Lent we are simply being asked to dare to be convinced that this is a wonderful opportunity to rediscover our true self-worth and the wonder of being the child of a loving God.  We are challenged not to focus on the storm clouds of COVID restrictions, chronic health conditions, what we DON’T have.  We do well to focus on all that we DO have: our faithful supporters, the friends who DO make contact, the companions who DO treat us gently, our God who, even with all the concerns and pleas that are raised for attention, remembers ME and loves ME with unfailing love.

Personal deserts are unavoidable, they’re part of life.  We need Christ and we need the ministry of others.  If for nothing else than to teach lessons of dependence.  We’ll never be as strong or wise as we’d like.  We need the grace of God in Christ.  We need the ministry of each other and all of God’s people to strengthen us by their prayerful support and good example that we, too, might take up our crosses and follow Jesus.  We pray that like that voice message said (I mentioned earlier), we do take the opportunity of Lent to make changes on our lives.  But unlike that voice message, may we never hear God’s voice and choose not to return the call.

Next Sunday we will be commemorating the 132nd anniversary of the founding of Holy Name Convent from Pittsburgh, PA.  You can look for a snippet of our history as the reflection.  God bless our founding Sisters!  Their first home was “on loan”  space in a family home in San Antonio which is the township adjacent to Saint Leo, home of the current monastery.  The weather bureau archives reveal that it was 80 degrees in San Antonio, FL on the day of their arrive, February 28, 1889.  Stay tuned for the “rest of the story” next week.  

~Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB

Genesis 9:8-15   1 Peter 3:18-22   Mark 1:12-15

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: Benedict, Chapter 49, desert, Gospel of Mark, Jesus, Lent, Lent-God's Call, Lenten journey, Mark, The Rule, Thomas Kempis

Join Dr. Tim Gray for Daily Lenten Reflections

February 5, 2021 by Holy Name Monastery 1 Comment

February 17 is coming up quick!

 

This Lent, we invite you to journey with Dr. Tim Gray by signing up for Daily Lenten Reflections. Each day you will receive in your inbox a short video which features Dr. Gray commenting on the daily Mass readings, explaining the Scriptures, and providing you with concrete ideas on how to apply them to your life.

 

40 Days to

Grace and Glory

 

Sign up to watch

(click on the link above to watch )

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Filed Under: Events Tagged With: daily reflections, Dr. Time Gray, February 17, Lent, lent reflections, lenten relections, Reflections, tim gray

You Fill-in the Blanks

March 18, 2019 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

The story (I believe) calls each one of us to examine what mountain we must climb to see God’s glory.  I trust you have been using our assigned Lenten Lectio book.  So you are hearing daily about protection with a blue ribbon as you climb your Lenten mountain.  You can call the mountains whatever you will – it’s your personalize mount to climb: hurdles, challenges, enticing temptations, near occasions of sin, quirks of personality, Lenten resolutions, pet peeves….  Some days they are like just a little pebble on our path that we kick aside.  Other days, 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.”

When we reach the mountaintop, we must stay alert, have the insight to know that we are at the top.  The disciples could have missed Jesus’ transfiguration if they:

  • had been too busy taking in the view
  • gloating over their status or talking about those left behind
  • wondering about what was on the agenda for tomorrow
  • how long were they going to be up on this mountain anyway
  • would there be time to finish what they had started when Jesus summoned them
  • bickering over who was going to get to use the walking stick going down the mountain
  • and, who’s going to provide the fish for tonight’s supper?

You fill in the blanks…you know what it is that keeps you from seeing God’s glory.  What causes you to miss the “small miracles,” the “everyday transfigurations” in yourself, in each other, in nature.  We need to thank God when we get to the top of the mountain; but we can hardly stay there.  There are more mountains to climb.  While you are at the top, if only for an instant, don’t miss 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.  Transfigurations we sometimes call “miracles” are all around us IF we but have the eyes to see.

  • Miracle of God’s graciousness when a person holds a door open for another
  • Miracle of God’s loving-care when a chair is vacated to give another a seat
  • Miracle of God’s inclusion when we make space at table
  • Miracle of God’s mercy when a mistake is not challenged in public
  • Miracle of God’s hospitality when an open invitation is extended
  • Miracle of God’s steadfastness when day after day we gather for communal exercises
  • Miracle of God’s perseverance when we come through tough times – individually and as a community
  • Miracle of God’s humility when reconciliation occurs
  • Miracle of God’s generosity when we give from our need
  • Miracle of God’s compassion when an offer is extended before the other has to ask
  • Miracle of God’s humor when it rains on our picnics
  • Miracle of God’s artistry in the beauty of nature that surrounds us
  • And always, God, thank you for the miracle of tomorrow: the gift of a new sunrise, a new slate, a new beginning.

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

Reflection By Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
Mark 9: 2-10   [Vigil of the Second Sunday in Lent  3.16.19]

 

 

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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: climb, God, Jesus, Lent, Miracle, Mountain, Transfiguration

First Sunday of Lent 2018

February 20, 2018 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

In the liturgical cycle of readings, this Gospel from Mark was originally only 2 verses – later the church added 2 verses – but it is still the one of the shortest Sunday readings.  It tells us only that Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit immediately after his baptism to be tempted by the devil for 40 days.  Why do the evangelists make a point of 40 days?  You know that: it recalls the 40 years that the Israelites wandered in the desert.  And remember the prophet Elijah journeyed in a desert for 40 days and nights, making his way to Mt. Horeb.  Some say that 40 is simply a symbolic number.  Even if it is, Jesus chose to follow that symbolism as a lesson to us.  We set aside 40 days for our season of Lent, to travel through a wilderness of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer.

According to St. Benedict the purpose of Lent is to purify our way of life and to wash away negligences of the past, to make reparation for what we have done or failed to do.   He names five practices to help change our hearts

  • refuse to indulge in evil habits,
  • devote yourself to prayer,
  • holy reading,
  • compunction of heart and
  • self-denial.

We’ve heard the expression “practice makes perfect” so often that the full meaning may have lost its impact on us.  But consider the Olympic skater who has to forego serious practice for close to a year due to an injury.  Then only last month found out he would be in the Olympic competition.  In two rounds he fumbled, fell – he received a creditable score but did not do his personal best.  Until the third round, the fourth round … then he shone!

Each year at the beginning of Lent we may feel like that skater.  We’re not doing our personal best.  Lent gives us a “third round.”  As Benedict says in Chapter 49, during Lent we are called to be the kind of person we should be every day.  Lent gives us a jump-start of courage to pick up the practices that will support the values we profess to believe in.  The biggest temptation most of us have to face is to “give up” because we stumble, maybe fall – like that skater we may have to put a hand on the floor once in a while to balance ourselves.  The only way  to rise to the challenge of Easter is to persevere … in doing what we know is right, in being faithful to what we’ve promised God, in heeding that first word in the Rule – “listen” – and in loving others as God loves them, and us.

This evening at the close of prayer we will ask God’s blessing on our attempts to be what we were created to be.  We promise to pray for each other and ask God’s gift of strength and courage to persevere in our Lenten resolutions.

 

BLESSING RITE (for resolutions papers)

Aware that Lent is not merely a time of atoning for sins but a time of preparation.  We prepare throughout Lent to become at Easter what we were once baptized into: Christ’s own body.  We will practice habits which will break us open, let God in, and train us to love like Christ.

Therefore, our loving God, we come before you at this time in our lives to bring, praise – a plea – and a promise – that we will gently remind ourselves that (all) “Lent is a process of rending our hearts, filling the broken places with God’s love, and fearlessly loving as Christ loved.

We place before you, O God, our sincere promises to use your grace to become the people You call us to be.  Trusting in your all-powerful goodness, we dare to ask:

  • L) Give us renewed fervor to be faithful to our commitments. AMEN
  • L) Help us to be compassionate and supportive to one another.  AMEN
  • L) Bless our efforts to make a good Lent.  AMEN
  • L) And support us to be faithful to our Lenten resolutions.  AMEN
 ~by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
Genesis 9:8-15         1 Peter 3:18-22         Mark 1:12-15
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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily, Prayer Tagged With: 40 days, Christ, desert, Lent, Mark

Thoughts on Lent

February 14, 2018 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

This year on February 14th our liturgical “stars” will be in a strange alignment!  Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday coincide!  No one set out to plan it that way but now it’s ours to figure out how to combine the spirit of “heart” day and the penitential spirit of the beginning of Lent.  On second thought, maybe it’s not so strange.  But it is curious.  Lent calls us to a change of heart and Valentine’s Day brings gifts of flowers, chocolate and little candy hearts with expressions of love printed on them.  I suspect that Mardi Gras festivities, too, will have generous servings of Valentine’s sentiments and Ash Wednesday will still have the aroma of Valentine’s chocolates.  Then, six weeks down the road, guess what?  Easter Sunday coincides with April’s Fools Day – and that’s no joke!  The coincidence of dates reminds of to be “fools for Christ.”

In the spirit of Ash Wednesday’s repeated refrain: “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return” let us ponder how we might turn from simply being creatures of “dust” to being creature of love.  If we pick up the Scriptures each day of Lent we will quickly realize that the Good Book is filled with expressions of love: God’s call to us is to be open and ready to change so that our love, and our loving ways, may increase.

We can’t prescribe for another HOW to go about being more loving … Oh, we may think we could if they’d let us.  But, loving comes from inside out.  It comes from God who IS love.  We can SHOW each other what love looks like.

Let us always meet each other with a smile, for a smile is the beginning of love. (Mother Teresa)

~Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
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Filed Under: Blog, Front Page, Homily Tagged With: Ash Wednesday, God, Lent, love, Smile, Valentine's Day

2017 Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 27, 2017 by Holy Name Monastery Leave a Comment

First Reading   1 Samuel 16:1b,6-7,10-13a   Second Reading   Ephesians 5:8-14
Gospel John 9:1-41 (shorter form: John 9:1,6-9,13-17,34-38)

 

Today’s headline above the fold … and TV scrolling Breaking News:

It’s a Miracle! Man Born Blind Can Now See!

Earlier today a man, blind from birth, encountered the man they call Jesus of Nazareth and apparently now he can see! It was Jesus who stopped and spoke to the man, rubbed clay on his eyes, and then instructed him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. Like magic, the blind man then could suddenly see! Of course, some of the authorities spoke out in dismay since this so-called healing took place on the Sabbath. Even his parents had very little to comment out of fear of repercussions. However, what’s the bottom line? Man born blind now can see!

Fake news for sure!  Like my mother always said, “If a story is too good to be true, it probably is.” There are just so many fake news stories nowadays it can be very difficult knowing truth from fiction. We need to be very careful.

I don’t blame those Pharisees for being overly cautious. Someone spreading such news could have really upset things to the point of creating chaos. But of course, everyone is drawn to sensationalism.

There is an overwhelming flood of news and information that can wash us away if we are not careful. Unfortunately, much of it is commentary disguised as factual news coverage. Then there is the phenomenon of fake news stories that so often mislead well-intentioned people. With all this inundating us, it is easy to become overly skeptical of anything we hear, or even simply deaf to all news, fake or real.

Of course, once you cut away all the junk you can find truth out there. In living out our faith, we are dependent on knowing truth. Yet too often we act like the facts of our faith story are up for debate. We begin to see the account of Jesus in the Gospels as just another series of tales like they were written for a grocery store aisle magazine.

The story of the healing of the blind man tells of an encounter with Jesus that leads to freedom and healing. Jesus was and is real and the fact that he can heal us should be undisputed. But too often we live our lives in desperation and despair, seemingly unaware that we can take our burdens to Jesus. We act like the Bible story is just a nice tale to be told at church and not one that exists to change our lives.

My fear is that too many Christians hear the stories of Jesus but they don’t listen to them. When we hear something we take in sound and physically react. When we really listen we internalize what we hear and then form a real opinion that can motivate us for a response. Indeed, in our world we are lacking a good bit of response to the Gospel.

These Gospel readings of the three weeks in which we find ourselves, from the Samaritan woman at the well to the raising of Lazarus, are proclaimed every year at the liturgies that feature Scrutinies for those in RCIA. They are meant to truly form and change the person who listens to them. They tell of a Jesus who offers us new life in him. Our Savior offers living water, dispels the darkness, and conquers the power of death. These are not simply the climaxes to good stories. This is real truth.

The Son of God is alive and well and we are all called to testify to that truth with our lives. We must step out of the shadows and be bold in our testimony. We must proclaim to a world in dire need that Jesus is Lord. We must take seriously the call to evangelize all who can hear and to spread the good news to the ends of the earth.

After all, it isn’t fake news. It isn’t alternate facts.   It isn’t even simply factual news. It is the GOOD news.

Borrowed mainly from LPI Reflection by Tracy Earl Welliver
Reflection by Sister Roberta Bailey, OSB, Prioress
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Filed Under: Blog, Homily Tagged With: 4th Sunday, blind man, Fake News, Jesus, Lent, Nazareth

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