What Are You Hearing?

The Word of God expressed is meant to be a dialogue between the one who proclaims and the hearer, and for the health of the Body it is always important to know if what is spoken is being properly heard.

The questions before any worshiping assembly are the following: Am I hearing what the preacher is intending to say? Did he mean to stir up the feelings that I experienced during the sermon? Did the personality of the preacher get expressed in the sermon? Where and how could the sermon be improved?

Such honest assessment between priest and people enables the preacher to strengthen his or her preaching skills; and provides an opportunity for the congregation to listen more deeply.

The Dignity of Every Human Being

When do social issues transcend party differences?

With the recent vote by the House of Representatives to extend "hate crime" protection to those who are victimized because of their sexual orientation, the ethical issues have become central even though congress has placed this issue on the table. The willingness to protect homosexuals must be embraced by all those who are followers of Christ. The issue is beyond debate and it would be a terrible thing for our country if such a new law would be vetoed along party lines!

Dr. James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was quoted in the New York Times, stating that such a law would "muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality." Such a comment from this radical Christian conservative raises questions about what constitutes the freedom of expression. All of us have a right to express our personal faith regarding what 'ought to be' within our culture and society; but none of us have the right to express ourselves in degrading, hostile, and violent acts. If we are truly people of faith, we will find a way to make sure that all the citizens of our country, and members of our churches, share in the same rights that all of us are entitled.

Let us pray that we will uphold the dignity of every human being.

An Anniversary of Infamy

Only days before my graduation from seminary the Ohio National Guard was ordered to disperse an anti-war demonstration on the campus of Kent State University. The soldiers suddenly open fire killing four students and wounding nine. To this day, the reason for the shooting is unknown.

The mid-sixties bore the pain of the assassination of the president and civil rights leader. The country was ablaze with racial bitterness and discord, and the Vietnam War was dividing the nation. The church found herself torn by the hostile response of her people as they turned against one another over the political and social issues of the time.

In what ways did these events change your life? What memories of this era remain with you? How did you experience God during these turbulent days in our history?

The Feast of Monnica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo

O Lord, through spiritual discipline you strengthened your servant Monnica to perservere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord, who will you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

Prologue

And the Lord, seeking his laborer
in the multitude to whom He thus cries out,
says again,
"Who is the one who will have life,
and desires to see good days" (Ps. 33:13)?
And if, hearing Him, you answer,
"I am the one,"
God says to you,
"If you will have true and everlasting life,
keep your tongue from evil
and your lips that they speak no guile.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek after peace and pursue it" (Ps. 33:14-15).
And when you have done these things,
My eyes shall be upon you
and My ears open to your prayers;
and before you call upon Me,
I will say to you,
'Behold, here I am'" (Ps. 33:16; Is. 65:24; 58:9).

Some Perplexity Remains!

The Gifts of God for the People of God:
Be what you see; Receive who you are!

Rumor confirms that there remains some perplexity over these words of Invitation to Holy Communion among several communicants of the parish. Saint Augustine of Hippo, writing in the fifth century, a wonderful treatise on the meaning of the Holy Eucharist, calling on all the baptized to recognize themselves in the sacred gift of our Lord's Body and Blood by saying "Receive what you are! Become what you receive." These words are now echoed as we prepare to come forward to receive our divine nurture every week.

The Two Wolves

My hope today is to equip you with a warning and commission that might be helpful as you set out on this journey, as you begin the next chapter of your lives. So I want to tell you a story. One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, fear, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other one is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”

The grandson thought about this for few minutes and then he looked up at his grandfather and asked: “Which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed. The one you feed.”

Taddled from God's Politics

A Simple Heart

Living God, you want us to have hearts that are completely simple, to the point that the complicated things in life do not bring us to a halt. Through the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the Risen Christ, you come to open a way for us, a way that is possible; on it we understand that you love us first, before we loved you.

Brother Roger of Taize

Practicing Resurrection

Wendell Berry's Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

Of everything ready made. Be afraid

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won’t compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion—put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way

you didn’t go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

The Twenty-Sixth Day of Easter

Lord God Almighty, for no merit on our part you have brought us out of death into life, out of sorrow into joy: Put no end to your gifts, fulfill your marvelous acts in us, and grant to us who have been justified by faith the strength to preserver in faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

Prologue

Let us arise, then, at last,
for the Scripture stirs us up, saying,
"Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. 13:11).
Let us open our eyes to the deifying light,
let us hear with attentive ears
the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us,
"Today if you hear His voice,
harden not your hearts" (Ps. 94:8).
And again,
"Whoever has ears to hear,
hear what the Spirit says to the churches" (Matt. 11-15; Apoc. 2:7).
And what does He say?
"Come, My children, listen to Me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. 33:12).
"Run while you have the light of life,
lest the darkness of death overtake you" (John 12:35).

Called, Formed, Involved?

Go forth into the world .....

As disciples of Christ, participants in the paschal mystery of our Lord's dying and rising through faith; as hearers and doers of the word of God; as bearers of grace, as partakers of our Lord's body and blood; having received the forgiveness of sins, formed in the Body of Christ, the Church, made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven; and empowered by the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Baptism, we are called to live no longer for ourselves alone but for and on behalf of the world.

How do we live out our identity as Christians? What are the ways in which we are living a life of service and gratitude for all we have been given? Do we understand ourself as individuals, or as belonging to a living organism, larger than ourself, that involves us in works of mercy and grace?

The greatest gift you can receive is giving to others.

The Feast of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

Uphold your Church, O God of truth, as you upheld your servant Athanasius, to maintain and proclaim boldly the catholic faith against all opposition, trusting solely in the grace of your eternal Word, who took upon himself our humanity that we might share his divinity; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict (Beginning)

Prologue

I S T E N carefully, my child,
to your master's precepts,
and incline the ear of your heart (Prov. 4:20).
Receive willingly and carry out effectively
your loving father's advice,
that by the labor of obedience
you may return to Him
from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

To you, therefore, my words are now addressed,
whoever you may be,
who are renouncing your own will
to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King,
and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.

And first of all,
whatever good work you begin to do,
beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it,
that He who has now deigned to count us among His children
may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds.
For we must always so serve Him
with the good things He has given us,
that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children,
nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions,
deliver us to everlasting punishment
as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.

A Poem: lifted into light

the sun shone
through the window
whitening the sheets
as she laid
in her bed
having now been
moved out
of ICU;

her mother was
with her
she said she
was looking forward
to going home this
weekend;

eagerly she anticipates
her wellness,
grateful to be live
she asked for
a prayer.

The Lost Vision

I had no religion. I was taken to church weekly as a child, and at school attended chapel daily, but, as though in compensation, form the time I went to my public school I was excused church in the holidays. The view implicit in my education was that the basic narrative of Christianity had long been exposed as a myth, and that opinion was now divided as to whether its ethical teaching was of present value, a division in which the main weight went against it; religion was a hobby which some people professed and others did not; at the best it was slightly ornamental, at the worst it was the province of "complexes" and "inhibitions" -- catchwords of the decade - and of the intolerance, hypocrisy, and sheer stupidity attributed to it for centuries. No one has ever suggested to me that these quaint observances expressed a coherent, philosophic system and intransigeant historical claims; nor, had they done so, would I have been much interested.

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited

Rarely Heard! (Revised)

At one time, we engaged in great conversations around the issues of poverty. At the heart of those discussions were our concerns for the homeless and those who lived in substandard housing; those who suffered from HIV/AIDS; and the hungry. These conversations involved us in Habitat for Humanity, the AIDS Ministry, a weekly communal meal at the parish, and a food pantry. Those conversations have now moved outside this faith community.

Why now are we silent? Why have we forgotten the poor? Why now aren't we filling every moment with conversation about what needs to be done in our day and time? Why have we allowed apathy and the status quo sneak into our faith vision?

How do we awaken from our indifference? How do we reclaim our discipleship? What are the ways in which we may support one another in our ministries? What is the true focus of our lives?

The Feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles

Almighty God, who gave to your apostles Philip and James grace and strength to bear witness to the truth: Grant that we, being mindful of their victory of faith, may glorify in life and death the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns and with you and the Holy Spirit, one god, now and for ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict, Chapter 73

On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule

Now we have written this Rule
in order that by its observance in monasteries
we may show that we have attained some degree of virtue
and the rudiments of the religious life.

But for those who would hasten to the perfection of that life
there are the teaching of the holy Fathers,
the observance of which leads to the height of perfection.
For what page or what utterance
of the divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments
is not a most unerring rule for human life?
Or what book of the holy Catholic Fathers
does not loudly proclaim
how we may come by a straight course to our Creator?
Then the Conferences and the Institutes
and the Lives of the Fathers,
as also the Rule of our holy Father Basil --
what else are they but tools of virtue
for right-living and obedient monks?
But for us who are lazy and ill-living and negligent
they are a source of shame and confusion.

Whoever you are, therefore,
who are hastening to the heavenly homeland,
fulfill with the help of Christ
this minimum Rule which we have written for beginners;
and then at length under God's protection
you will attain to the loftier heights of doctrine and virtue
which we have mentioned above.

Twenty-Third Day of Easter

Almighty God, you show the light of your truth to those who are in error, to the intent that they may return to the way of righteousness: Grant to those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.