November

LIVING WITH GRATITUDE AND HOPE

A decade ago, Robert Muller, former Assistant to the UN Secretary General, shared his dream for the new millennium: “I dream that on January 1, 2000, the whole world will stand still in prayer, awe and gratitude to God for the beautiful earth and for the miracle of human life." 

He went on to express hope that the young and old, rich and poor, Black and White, people from all beliefs and cultures would join hands, minds and hearts in one great celebration of life, that would be a celebration of gratitude and hope on a global scale. This vision is needed more than ever today

It is fitting to think deeply about gratitude in this season of Thanksgiving. As I think of the people who lived with gratitude and hope, some names come to my mind. St. Martin of Tours who lived in France in the fourth century is one of them. He was a conscientious objector, because he felt that bearing arms was incompatible with his faith. He became bishop, monk and miracle worker. He lived with a great sense of gratitude. “If everything is a gift, how can I not be grateful? Martin’s hope was in God, the giver of all gifts.

Another example is a 100 year old woman I met in Kentucky a long time ago. She lived in a one–room cottage with a dirt floor and walked a mile to the store to get needed supplies. When I visited her she started to name her blessings one by one – a beautiful sunrise, the strength of the mountains, her reasonably good health, a roof over her head and a long life. She saw everything as gift and never dwelt on her limited resources. Before I left, she asked her son to pick up his guitar and sing a song of thanksgiving. The glow on the woman’s face was more powerful than any sermon I had ever heard. Living with gratitude and hope was a way of life for her.

I could give many more examples of what it means to live with gratitude and hope. It is common in many cultures but often forgotten in our western world. Living with gratitude for even one day can make a difference. We have plenty of reasons to be grateful.

Be grateful for...

• the gift of life in all its forms: human, animal and plant and the Divine source of all life, linking all across time and place and cultures

• Our own personal  life- our heartbeats, our dreams, our hopes and potential

• Even though times are challenging for most, we have the promise of God’s unfailing presence in our lives through good times and challenging times.

Living with a sense of gratitude leads to hospitality and peace. It also enables us to live with compassion for those deprived of life’s basic resources. Along with gratitude, there needs to be a sense of justice, to reshape our social systems and structures so that noone is denied life or life-sustaining resources.

What are you most grateful for today? Think about specific and concrete ways to express your gratitude. And Happy Thanksgiving!

October

THE SINGER AND THE SONG

You sing,
of course you sing!
I can hear you;
but make sure
that your life sings
the same tune
as your mouth.

Sing with your voices.
Sing with your hearts.
Sing with your lips.
Sing with your lives.

The singer him/herself
is the song.

St. Augustine
Sermon 34

St. Francis of Assisi said: “It is no use walking anywhere to preach
unless our walking is our preaching.”

September ALL ARE CALLED TO LIVE PROPHETICALLY Brenda Walsh, OP In a recent issue of Interreligious Insight (April 2009) there was an article by Episcopal Priest, Fr. Benjamin Webb, who wrote about “Heschel, Poet and Prophet for all Creation.” Permission is granted to share some excerpts from the article. Interreligous Insight, 990Verda Lane, Lake Forest, Illinois 60045) Micah is a prophet who sounded a general alarm calling the nation to awaken to the social chaos created by the self-serving religious and political elites, and advocates religious reform and a return to justice and the common good. Micah is the defender of the oppressed and he accuses the leaders of neglecting justice and reducing prophecy to a sham. He tries to restore economic and social justice for his constituency. He also calls for religious reform and traces the problems to the decay of moral and spiritual moorings. Wendell Berry is linked to Micah, and is deeply concerned about our nation. Like Micah, he helps people see the patterns leading to the problems and the patterns to the solutions. He point out that Christianity and many other world religions see a need to take on a prophetic role on behalf of those we serve and to reshape the moral purposes of all the institutions through which we live. This renewal is needed if a moral society, economy and creation itself are to survive. Heschel was held up as a very relevant prophet for our day, especially to those seeking to recover the prophetic, contemplative and sacramental dimensions of life. Heschel said we create the world with the words we use to describe it. His path to God is through the scriptures which can penetrate and shape daily life. He said “The Bible is an answer to the question of how to sanctify life.” The prophet’s first experience must be one of intimacy with God. Prophecy is the voice of God that lends a voice to the plundered poor and call people to responsible stewardship and actions on behalf of justice. Faith communities need more than green congregations. They must also have right relationships and right actions on behalf of justice and social transformation. There are three points Heschel offers for our consideration, that are currently neglected and need to be restored: 1.The prophetic dimension continues to critique false religion and an unjust society and helps us understand and solve the problems we face. 2.Contemplative Dimension calls us to live and lead from within and to be led forth and not be swayed by our culture. 3. The Sacramental Dimension calls us to reverence all of life and live right with earth’s ecosystem. They are the best hope for a socially just and ecologically sustainable world. The call is to renew spiritually, biologically repair, ecologically restore and socially revitalize Question to Ponder In what way are we individually and as a community called to live prophetically?

August

Letting the Word of God Nourish You

(The summary of the document is printed with permission of St. Anthony’s Messenger, May 09 issue.  The full document is available at www.vatican.va. )

In October 08, 253 members of the World Synod of Bishops met in Rome to study the Word in the life and mission of the church. Others in attendance were some members of other denominations, six women Scripture scholars and 19 women auditors. The topic is very relevant today since the Word of God has assumed a renewed role in the life and worship of the Catholic Church. There is a renewed effort to make Scripture the heart and soul of spirituality and theology.

Our reading of the Bible requires a serious study and prayerful reflection. Scripture describes how Jesus fits into God’s plan for our world and how we need to live our daily lives. He call is to study, hear and live the Word of God and put it into practice each day of our lives. The document is focused on four aspects of the Word.

THE VOICE OF THE WORD: REVELATION
God created humans, men and women, in the Divine image. The call is to enter into a close and intimate relationship with God. The Divine is present in every human event, in our personal relationships and in all of creation. God’s creative, effective and saving Word is the source of our existence, history and redemption. Our faith is not just centered on a book, but on Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh. The Spirit of God continues to lead us in discovering and living the Truth, and also enables the church to understand, interpret and bear witness to the Word of God.

THE FACE OF THE WORD: JESUS CHRIST
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is the Jesus who walked the roads of Nazareth, speaks the language and reflects the culture of his time and place. We need an understanding of and the ability to do historical and literary analysis. Otherwise we may fall into fundamentalism. The Bible is not just a document of the past. It is a living Word that permeates our lives and the lives of the church and society and all of creation. “It is an encounter with an event and person and gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Pope Benedict XV1.

THE HOUSE OF THE WORD: THE CHURCH
Luke identifies four pillars of the church: remaining faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the breaking of the bread, prayer and to the community. (Acts: 2:42)
The church was founded on Peter and the apostles and today, the leaders and members are the church. The church is called to preach and catechize and deepen our understanding of the Word of God and the call to be a follower of Jesus – to be a Word-Bearer and Word-Proclaimer. All of these require study, prayer and interpretation of the Word in order to provide spiritual nourishment for the hearers. Prayer, individually and communally is very important to building up the church. Ecumenical and biblical prayer is encouraged.  The liturgy of the Word and Eucharist are so closely connected to each other that they are one single act of worship. The Church’s Fourth Pillar is Christian love. Jesus said that “his brothers and sisters are those who hear the Word of God and put it into practice.” This means bringing justice and love to life in our time and place. A good Christian life is a lesson about the Word of God. We preach by the witness of our lives.

THE ROADS OF THE WORD; MISSION
We are all called to take the Word of God along all the roads of life and join with others in their search for justice, truth and peace. In today’s world, we need to be technologically and culturally prepared to preach the Word in a variety of ways – through radio, internet, online messages, podcasts and other technology. The family is the first place where we meet the word of God. Parents are the first preachers of the faith.

Many people today feel at a loss and are looking for a word of hope. Christians announce God’s word of hope by sharing themselves with the poor and suffering. We are called to offer living witness to the kingdom of truth and life, of holiness and grace, of justice, love and peace. “As we struggle in ourselves and in our world, to recognize the power of the cross, we begin to appreciate how every act of justice, every spark of beauty, every word of truth can gradually wear away the crust of evil.” (Closing homily)
In our frail efforts, we have the assurance of the Spirit that we will never walk alone.
Scripture opens a path of beauty to reach and understand God. PS. 47:7

At the conclusion of the meeting, there was a universal call: “Brother and sisters of the whole world, let us receive this invitation. Let us approach the table of God’s word and live, not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Then we can provide food for a hurting and hungry world.

Some questions to ponder:
How do we respond to the document on the Word?
How do we ensure that our ministries are rooted in the Word?
Are we individually and as a community formed by the Word for Mission and Ministry?
What price am I willing to pay to be a Word-Bearer and Word-Proclaimer?

July

(Based on a talk given by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, at a preaching conference.
Used with permission. It can apply to preachers and listeners of the Word.)

How do we look for words to preach today? When Moses encountered God in the wilderness, he had little confidence in himself: “They won’t believe me when I tell them The One who makes everything promised to be with me and teach me everything.” How do we encounter God on Holy Ground? Where is our Holy Ground? Where is our Burning Bush? How do we begin? Some of our readers have experienced the age of the typewriter. Today, in an electronic age, we must find something relevant to this era and illuminating to offer. We must let ourselves be found by the Word looking for us. The Word will find us when we open our hearts to it.

Moses met the God of his ancestors. His people had forgotten the promise. In a sense, they had religious amnesia. They had lost the sense of God’s promise to their ancestors.

Often today, parents don’t know how to transmit that promise to their children. It is a challenge to share the promise of God in a world of instant communication, AIDS, war and violence. Yet, our God is a God of hope and promise through struggle as well as serenity.

How do we move from a theology of being to a theology of grace? We are not just preaching mundane facts; we are sharing an explosive genetic event. Do wonderful things happen when we preach? Our preaching should turn our world upside down. We are challenged to share the astonishment of scriptural events. In the story of the Pharisee and the Publican, the people were scandalized by the response of Jesus. People are not scandalized today because the story has become so familiar. We must retain the ability to be astonished at the happenings of grace.

How does grace empower you when you preach? Share that empowerment. Share the struggle, the resistance, the doubt. Be like Moses and give voice to your astonishment. He was inspired by the Word.

Find your own voice. Often your struggle becomes the doorway to new life. We live in a society of private property, but the Word is not our private property. Jesus places his Words in our hands and hearts and he charges us to share that Word. He offers a different kind of power than the power we know today – of rich over poor, of domination and war. We need to liberate ourselves from the false promises of our culture. We need a reawakening of hope – a hope that we can leave the Egypt of our time and reach the Promise that is God.

Grace is happening in the church even though it is often polarized. We need to create a welcoming space where all belong. We must invite people into the church of God’s hope and promise for all. As Dominicans and preachers, we can only find the Word when we enter the journey. Go into Egypt. Expand your mind and heart. Learn from other people’s words. Dare to be vulnerable. Then our words will have authority, which comes from the happening of grace, of gift, of vulnerability, of hope.