Isaiah’s Punch

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abstinence, fasting, homeless, hunger, Isaiah, Lent, oppressed, poor, response, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

In a contest of people who “tell it like it is,” the Prophet Isaiah would always (it seems to me) win hands down! The words “fast and abstinence” had great meaning when I was a child who always knew that there were rules about eating during Lent. We understood that our two smaller meals – usually breakfast and lunch – could not equal, or at least not be larger when put together, than our main meal and we worked hard at making sure of that. And there was also the question of dessert…when to have it and when to pass it up. This was serious business and whether we knew Isaiah or not, we knew that God meant business.

I doubt we ever heard the scathing criticism in Chapter 58 of Isaiah’s prophecy that we read today. He speaks for God in his estimation of the people’s fasting, saying: Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. …Is this the manner of fasting I wish? Had we been truly awake when we heard the next part, we might have wondered if God was speaking to us or if it was some mean taskmaster! But listen and see if you can find yourself in this kind of attitude and action. Did we ever wonder whether the practice of controlling our eating had anything to do with our consciousness during the rest the rest of our day?

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own…

Things seem much more dire now when there are so many hungry and poor people in our midst, more homeless and oppressed people…What do we do for them? Do we notice? How do we help? How is it that our light can shine in response to such great need? All God asks is our best. What is that for you?

Love for the Little Ones

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children, exclusion, love, poor, Pope Francis, refugees, Sisters of St. Joseph, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

As we turn the page of our calendars to February, we find in the middle the feast of St. Valentine. I will probably have more to say about this saint then; (his feast has become more of a “Hallmark holiday”). Today, however, there is a striking reminder from Pope Francis about how our love can be shown throughout this month and beyond. I found it in the monthly e-news from our province of the Sisters of St. Joseph and will make it a “hallmark” of my spiritual practices for February. Won’t you join me?

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my Heavenly Father” (MT 18:10). It is not just about migrants: it is a question about seeing that no one is excluded. Today’s world is increasingly becoming more elitist and cruel toward the excluded. Developing countries continue to be drained of their best natural and human resources for the benefit of a few privileged markets. Wars only affect some regions of the world, yet weapons of war are produced and sold in other regions which are then unwilling to take in the refugees produced by these conflicts. Those who pay the price are always the little ones, the poor, the most vulnerable, who are prevented from sitting at the table and are left with the “crumbs” of the banquet. (cf. LK 16: 19-21)”

Beware the Touch of God

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beggar, Congregation of St. Anne of Providence, poor, saint, St. Joan of the Cross, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Here’s a cautionary tale for those of us who encounter people with signs begging at traffic lights or on streets of our big cities – or anywhere at all… The lesson is to beware of the poor who might touch your heart and change your life.

A relatively “new saint” in the Christian tradition is Saint Joan of the Cross, who lived in France from 1666 to 1736. Joan worked in her family business in Anjou, taking over the small shop of her parents after their death. She was known as a greedy and insensitive shop owner, especially toward the beggars who often came to her shop seeking help. One day, however, a strange woman who claimed she was “on intimate terms with God” had such an effect on Joan that she became a new person, caring for needy children. Eventually, she closed the family business to dedicate herself to good works and ultimately to found a religious community of women: the Congregation of St. Anne of Providence. By the time of her death she had founded 12 religious houses, hospices and schools. Pope John Paul II canonized her in 1982. (franciscanmedia.org)

St. Lawrence

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alms, courage, martyr, poor, selflessness, St. Lawrence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasure

When I went to high school, my first homeroom teacher was Sister Lawrence Joseph. I was used to the masculine names of religious Sisters; in those days most of the more prestigious saints were men. Sister Lawrence wasn’t the best math teacher I ever had but I always remembered that her feast day was August 10th – the feast on the liturgical calendar of Saint Lawrence, Martyr – because of the way legend says he lived and died.

Lawrence was a deacon in the Church at Rome during the third century, the time when Christians were still being persecuted for their faith. As such, he was in the inner circle of the Pope so that when the Pope was assassinated, he knew it was likely that he would be next. As deacon of the Roman church, Lawrence had the responsibility for the material goods of the Church and the distribution of alms to the poor. He had been giving all the money on hand to the poor and even selling sacred vessels of the altar to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he demanded that Lawrence bring all the treasure of the Church to him, “rendering to Caesar what was due.” Lawrence was given three days to assemble all the riches of the Church. When the prefect arrived, Lawrence had gathered all the poor, blind, lame maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed people and said to the prefect, “These are the treasure of the Church.”

The fury of the prefect was known by the cruelty of the kind of death Lawrence was to die and the heroism of the saint was sealed by his response. The prefect had a large gridiron prepared with hot coals beneath it and Lawrence’s body placed on it. After he had suffered the pain for a long time, legend says, the saint made his famous cheerful remark, “It is well-done. Turn me over.” (http://www.franciscanmedia.com) Lawrence was said to be 33 years old at the time of his death.

In a moment of such violence in our own country and such courage seen in the lives of many young people speaking out and caring for their elders, St. Lawrence shines as an example of selflessness and ingenuity. Let our prayer today be for the end of senseless cruelty and a willingness to stand for those most in need of our courage and care.

A Little Latin Lesson

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Cor meum dabo, heart, I give my heart, Latin, poor, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I am now convinced of the truth that one can find almost anything on the internet. I woke up this morning with a chant from a wisdom school in my head. I had learned and sung it first about ten years ago and then renewed my preference for it last month in Tucson. This morning, however, I could only bring back two of the three lines! I thought that if I waited and hummed it every once in awhile it would all come back. (That is a technique that is often successful.) After two hours of wakefulness, I only had one word of the short third, so I gave up and typed the first two lines into my Google search with a prompt of “third line…?” and presto! it appeared – not only the line but the whole chant with music and (dangerously) several different third line translations! To my relief, the one I wanted was there: Cor meum dabo. (It just now took me three tries to override the corrections of my computer which really wants to speak English instead of Latin!)

Much of my love of Latin came from respect for my high school teacher, Sister Thomas Aquinas, and the happy memories of the eight of us who persevered through four years of the subject because of her as well as for the subject, the basis for my love of language in general. But I digress…

Here is what I found: Ego sum pauper. Nihil habeo. Cor meum dabo. I am poor. I have nothing. I give my heart.

I’m thinking of making that my everyday morning offering – sung, of course. In Latin definitely. The magic of music can make a simple statement so much more, even when it is enough in itself. (Go to “Ego sum pauper” on the internet to hear the tune – and don’t bother with the amazing number of different things that pop up! Just trust the man who is conducting a choir or (hopefully) the second option that is just a flute in a kind of “follow the bouncing ball” without the ball.) If you need the phonetics to be able to sing it, let me know. I’m happy to oblige.

Rich and Poor

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happiness, letting go, Mark, Meister Eckhart, poor, rich, spirituality, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, willingness

The longer I live the deeper and broader the interpretations of “the rich young man” story (MK 10) become. My experiences – most recently of Peru – convince me that if we are thinking in terms of financial wealth we are only scratching the surface of possible meanings. (How can all those poor people seem so happy?) While it is true that money cannot buy happiness, it can provide food and other necessities of life. At the same time, it’s easy to see that money can complicate life significantly.

Leaving finances aside, I look at the complications in my life and how much more likely spiritual growth would be if I could only become simpler: in my desires, in my outlook, in my judgments…in my life. Looking at life from a perspective of fullness rather than lack and from the spirituality of subtraction and/or detachment that Meister Eckhart preached allows the freedom that would seem to be the end of seeking for the rich young man and for us.

If only we could let what holds us back fall off of us like the water in a morning shower or the fluffy snow that I easily brushed off my car last week in order to clear my way toward home. Letting go can be such a freeing gesture of only we open our hands and our hearts to the willingness that brings us to God’s heart. It’s all about practice and it can start at any moment. A thought, a gesture – maybe even giving away a smile to someone who irks us – could be enough to start a process that might last a lifetime. Who knows?

Guadalupe

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asylum, Aztec, Blessed Mother, distress, Juan Diego, love, migrants, Our Lady of Guadalupe, poor, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This evening the Sophia Center for Spirituality is sponsoring a prayer service in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Patroness of the Americas. (see details at http://www.thesophiacenterforspirituality.org) In this endeavor we recognize the appearances of Mary to St. Juan Diego, a poor native of a small village near Mexico City in the 16th century. Disbelief of Juan’s experience by church officials to whom Juan was directed led to amazement when he opened his cape to reveal a gift from “the Lady” – an abundance of roses. In addition was the image of Mary imprinted on the cape which has endured intact since 1531 and has been venerated by millions of people. Mary had appeared as an Aztec woman as a reminder of the need to accept all people, especially at that time, the poor indigenous population being treated cruelly by the conquering Spaniards.

On this day we gather to pray for the native peoples of Central America who still suffer and are in danger in their own countries and so turn to the United States to find safety. As I write, there are thousands of migrants at our southern border who have walked hundreds of miles seeking asylum. While immigration is a complex issue for our country at this moment in time, this feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe reminds us of God’s preferential option for the poor. Mary reached out to Juan Diego in a simple gesture of love. Must we not do the same for her children in distress? Won’t you join us today in prayer?

Grumpy? No Worries!

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Christianity, grace, listen, poor, saints, spiritual needs, St. Vincent de Paul, temperament, tender, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, touch the heart, willingness

There’s hope for all of us! I was just reading a synopsis of St. Vincent de Paul’s life (1580 – 1660), one of the most well known saints of Christianity for his care for the poor. Vincent, the account says, “had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life,” but had been changed by the deathbed confession of a dying servant that “opened his eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry in France.” There’s lots of evidence of his good works, commonly known, but it was a small paragraph toward the end of the account that gave me pause – and actually made me smile.

Most remarkably, it notes, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person – even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man, very sensitive to the needs of others. 

What is it that is able to touch the heart – or the will – to soften us in such a way: the plight of others? attention to our own blessings? However it happens, it seems we ought to believe it is possible for all of us to be touched by grace and to decide for God. Perhaps it all might start, as it did for Vincent, with a willingness to listen to someone in need – and maybe the offer of a smile to invite the conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

St. Jeanne Jugan, Mother Marie of the Cross

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care, elderly, faith, hidden life, Jesus, Mother Marie of the Cross, poor, Sr. Jeanne Jugan, The Little Sisters of the Poor, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

The name Jeanne Jugan did not strike a chord of recognition in me, nor did the title Mother Marie of the Cross (Mere Marie de la Croix). I have, however, known since early adulthood of the work of The Little Sisters of the Poor, who had an established house not more than a few miles from my own Motherhouse outside of Albany, New York where I lived. We speak sometimes of “the hidden life” of Jesus – the years during his youth and young adulthood about which we have little or no information. It seems that St. Jeanne, as well as the Sisters who have come after her, lived most of her life in that manner while doing extraordinary work for the elderly poor. (see Saint of the Day at www.franciscanmedia.org)

It began organically, as good works often do, when she was 15 or 16 years old, serving as a kitchen maid for a family who cared for their elderly poor neighbors. Later, as a nurse and a member of a third order group (lay associate of religious women), Jeanne’s work with the poor elderly drew others to her so that by 1839 they began welcoming permanent guests into their home. Ten years later they had six houses staffed by members of her association, by then known as The Little Sisters of the Poor. When Jeanne died on August 30, 1879, the year that Pope Leo XIII gave final approval to the constitutions of the Little Sisters, there were 2,400 members caring for the elderly and infirm. Today the Sisters work in 30 countries, living in the manner of their founder who once said, “With the eye of faith, we must see Jesus in our old people, for they are God’s mouthpiece.”

Today, as the Church celebrates St. Jeanne, it seems fitting to reflect on those elderly persons in our lives who have mirrored God to us, to pray especially for those who are underserved in our society and to remember with gratitude those who dedicate their lives to the care of the aged in our midst and beyond. May all be blessed!

 

 

 

 

 

A Cheerful Giver

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generosity, poor, St. Lawrence, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, treasures

As one who is not overly enamored of the workings of internet technology, I must admit that I appreciate my findings more and more when I go surfing in the morning. Today I typed in the word generosity and found a lovely short paragraph from the University of Notre Dame that expresses what I think is inherent in all the lectionary readings for this date, celebrating the feast of St. Lawrence.

Generosity also involves giving to others not simply anything in abundance but rather giving those things that are good for others. Generosity always intends to enhance the true well-being of those to whom it gives.

The legends surrounding the life and death of St. Lawrence bear witness to this truth. Lawrence was a deacon in Rome in the third century serving Pope Sixtus II in a time of great persecution. Knowing he was likely to be arrested and martyred for his faith – as was the Pope – Lawrence, who was charged with responsibility for the material goods of the Church, began distributing all the money and selling even the sacred vessels to give to the poor. When the Roman official heard of this, he ordered Lawrence to bring him all the treasures of the Church saying that the emperor needed them to maintain the military forces. Lawrence agreed and gathered all the poor and infirm, orphans and widows…all the poor in any way, and lined them up. When the government official arrived to claim the riches, Lawrence said, “These are the treasures of the Church.”

That story calls me to consider what I see as “treasure” and how generous I am in my living. Whether we are materially rich or poor we all have gifts to give. Where do your gifts lie? Are you willing to open your hands and your heart to others in need? Are you willing to receive the generosity of others? The readings suggest, as does a song of long ago, that “God loves a cheerful giver.” May we all know the joys of generosity!