Rogation Monday / Thirty-Seventh Day of Easter

Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth: We humbly pray that your gracious providence may give and preserve to our use the harvests of the land and of the seas, and may prosper all who labor to gather them, that we, who are constantly receiving good things from your hand, may always give you thanks; 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

What Kind of Person the Abbot Ought to Be

In his teaching
the Abbot should always follow the Apostle's formula:
"Reprove, entreat, rebuke" (2 Tim. 4:2);
threatening at one time and coaxing at another
as the occasion may require,
showing now the stern countenance of a master,
now the loving affection of a father.
That is to say,
it is the undisciplined and restless
whom he must reprove rather sharply;
it is the obedient, meek and patient
whom he must entreat to advance in virtue;
while as for the negligent and disdainful,
these we charge him to rebuke and correct.

And let him not shut his eyes to the faults of offenders;
but, since he has the authority,
let her cut out those faults by the roots
as soon as they begin to appear,
remembering the fate of Heli, the priest of Silo (1 Kings 2-4).
The well-disposed and those of good understanding
let him correct with verbal admonition the first and second time.
But bold, hard, proud and disobedient characters
he should curb at the very beginning of their ill-doing
by stripes and other bodily punishments,
knowing that it is written,
"the fool is not corrected with words" (Prov. 18:2; 29:19),
and again, "Beat your son with the rod,
and you will deliver his soul from death"(Prov. 23:13-14).

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

O God you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all thing, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; 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

What Kind of Person the Abbot Ought to Be

Let him make no distinction of persons in the monastery.
Let him not love one more than another,
unless it be one whom he finds better
in good works or in obedience.
Let him not advance one of noble birth
ahead of one who was formerly a slave,
unless there be some other reasonable ground for it.
But if the Abbot for just reason think fit to do so,
let him advance one of any rank whatever.
Otherwise let them keep their due places;
because, whether slaves or free, we are all one in Christ (Gal. 3:28)
and bear in equal burden of service
in the army of the same Lord.
For with God there is no respect of persons (Rom. 2:11).
Only for one reason are we preferred in His sight:
if we be found better than others in good works and humility.
Therefore let the Abbot show equal love to all
and impose the same discipline on all

A Place for Healing

If the church has any meaning at all in this new millennium it is because she remains a source of hope and healing in a world filled with chronic anxiety, fear and death. Here the people of God gather to renew their relationship with the Ground of their being, to seek the grace to rise above the greed and envy that are daily impediments to a holy life, to embrace a life of gratitude for all God has given us. I was so taken by this vision, over a decade ago, that I wanted the vestry to consider purchasing the old hospital so that we might use the brick when it came time for us to renovate the church and parish center, because it would symbolize the healing mission of our parish-church.

Today, I no longer think so much about the symbolism that those bricks would have stood for, but I think more about how we as a community might become a home for all those searching for a place of welcome in the midst of the storms of this life, and what we, as rector and people, must do to prepare ourselves spiritually and emotionally to be healers among the people with whom we live.

It seems to me that this healing vision was very much a part of the parish's self understanding years ago when it opened itself to the needs of the homeless, the poor, and the hungry and when, as a congregation, she embraced those living with AIDS/HIV. There was an awareness then, that somehow we have lost, of our need to be involved in the suffering of those around us. It is true that several members of the parish, on their own, outside the faith community, continue to be very involved in some of these ministries, but the conversation among the faithful has ceased.

How important is it for us to reawaken to the true needs of the world around us?

Mystagogia #5

May we appropriate the mystery of the Paschal Feast of our Lord's dying and rising that we may with resolve follow in the way that leads to eternal life; strengthen our faith, confirm our hope, quicken our hearts to see you in all things and above all things, guide us to salvation, to behold the glory of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Thirty-Fifth Day of Easter

Loving Father, through our rebirth in baptism you give us your life and promise immortality. By your unceasing care, guide our steps toward the life of glory 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

What Kind of Person the Abbot Ought to Be

Therefore, when anyone receives the name of Abbot,
he ought to govern his disciples with a twofold teaching.
That is to say,
he should show them all that is good and holy
by his deeds even more than by his words,
expounding the Lord's commandments in words
to the intelligent among his disciples,
but demonstrating the divine precepts by his actions
for those of harder hearts and ruder minds.
And whatever he has taught his disciples
to be contrary to God's law,
let him indicate by his example that it is not to be done,
lest, while preaching to others, he himself be found reprobate (1 Cor. 9:27),
and lest God one day say to him in his sin,
"Why do you declare My statutes
and profess My covenant with your lips,
whereas you hate discipline
and have cast My words behind you" (Ps. 49:16-17)?
And again,
"You were looking at the speck in your brother's eye,
and did not see the beam in your own" (Matt. 7:3).

Laughing with God

Sometimes I think that it is only laughter which saves us. George MacDonald says, "It is the Heart that is not yet sure of its God that is afraid to laugh in His presence." If we are sure of our God we are free to laugh at ourselves. It's all part of what keeps us in proportion; we can best take ourselves seriously if we are free to laugh at ourselves, and to enjoy the laughter of God and his angels. As William Temple remarked, "It is a great mistake to think that God is chiefly interested in religion."

Madeline L' engle

The Thirty-Fourth Day of Easter

Lord, by this Easter Mystery prepare us for eternal life. May our celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection guide us to salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

What Kind of Person the Abbot Ought to Be

Let the Abbot always bear in mind
that at the dread Judgment of God
there will be an examination of these two matters:
his teaching and the obedience of his disciples.
And let the Abbot be sure
that any lack of profit
the master of the house may find in the sheep
will be laid to the blame of the shepherd.
On the other hand,
if the shepherd has bestowed all his pastoral diligence
on a restless, unruly flock
and tried every remedy for their unhealthy behavior,
then he will be acquitted at the Lord's Judgment
and may say to the Lord with the Prophet:
"I have not concealed Your justice within my heart;
Your truth and Your salvation I have declared" (Ps. 39:11).
"But they have despised and rejected me" (Is. 1:2; Ezech. 20:27).
And then finally let death itself, irresistible,
punish those disobedient sheep under his charge.

The Thirty-Third Day of Easter

Father, in your love you have brought us from evil to good and misery to happiness. Through your blessings give the courage of perseverance to those you have called and justified by 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

What Kind of Person the Abbot Ought to Be

An Abbot who is worthy to be over a monastery
should always remember what he is called,
and live up to the name of Superior.
For he is believed to hold the place of Christ in the monastery,
being called by a name of His,
which is taken from the words of the Apostle:
"You have received a Spirit of adoption ...,
by virtue of which we cry, 'Abba -- Father'" (Rom. 8:15)!

Therefore the Abbot ought not to teach or ordain or command
anything which is against the Lord's precepts;
on the contrary,
his commands and his teaching
should be a leaven of divine justice
kneaded into the minds of his disciples.

The Cross

As one enters the nave of the church the cross above the altar is visible with it horizontal beam extended in welcome to all who gather for worship. Throughout the days, weeks, and months the cross continues to invite all those within its view to experience the life-transforming gift of new life that has been offered to us through Jesus Christ.

The Feast of Gregory of Nazianzus

Almighty God, you have revealed to your Church your eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like your bishop Gregory of Nanzianzus, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for you live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.

The Rule of Saint Benedict

Chapter 1: On the Kinds of Monks

It is well known that there are four kinds of monks.
The first kind are the Cenobites:
those who live in monasteries
and serve under a rule and an Abbot.

The second kind are the Anchorites or Hermits:
those who,
no longer in the first fervor of their reformation,
but after long probation in a monastery,
having learned by the help of many brethren
how to fight against the devil,
go out well armed from the ranks of the community
to the solitary combat of the desert.
They are able now,
with no help save from God,
to fight single-handed against the vices of the flesh
and their own evil thoughts.

The third kind of monks, a detestable kind, are the Sarabaites.
These, not having been tested,
as gold in the furnace (Wis. 3:6),
by any rule or by the lessons of experience,
are as soft as lead.
In their works they still keep faith with the world,
so that their tonsure marks them as liars before God.
They live in twos or threes, or even singly,
without a shepherd,
in their own sheepfolds and not in the Lord's.
Their law is the desire for self-gratification:
whatever enters their mind or appeals to them,
that they call holy;
what they dislike, they regard as unlawful.

The fourth kind of monks are those called Gyrovagues.
These spend their whole lives tramping from province to province,
staying as guests in different monasteries
for three or four days at a time.
Always on the move, with no stability,
they indulge their own wills
and succumb to the allurements of gluttony,
and are in every way worse than the Sarabaites.
Of the miserable conduct of all such
it is better to be silent than to speak.

Passing these over, therefore,
let us proceed, with God's help,
to lay down a rule for the strongest kind of monks, the Cenobites.

What is Liberation Theology?

This week, Pope Benedict XVI, will be making his first pastoral visit to Latin America. He may be surprised to discover that Liberation Theology, a movement that he once called "a fundamental threat to the faith of the church," remains very much a live and a defiant force within the country. According to the New York Times (May 7, 2007) there are 80,000 "base communities and nearly one million "Bible circles" that discuss current eco-socio-political issues in the light of Holy Scripture. These gatherings conclude with the Lord's Prayer and a hymn:

In the land of mankind, conceived as a pyramid,
there are few at the top, and many at the bottom.
In the land of mankind, those at the top crush
those at the bottom.
Oh, people of the poor, people subject to domination,
what are you doing just standing there?
The world of mankind has to be changed,
so arise people, don't stand still.

Jon Sobrino, S.J. in Christology at the Crossroads (1978) states that "we live in the presence of so much death. there is the reality of definitive, physical death and of the death that people experience in the toils of oppression, injustice, and sinfulness. Any consideration of God that ignores such a basic datum of life is idealistic, if not downright alienating. .... Liberation theology must ... ask itself in what sense suffering and death can be a mode of being for God. People in Latin America, however, seem to feel almost automatically what Dietrick Bonhoeffer expressed in intuitive, poetic terms: 'Only a God who suffers can save us.' ... If God really is present in the cross of Jesus, then he is there first and foremost as someone contradicting the world and all that we consider to be true and good."

At the heart of Liberation theology is the pastoral care of the poor - helping to empower them in the midst of wealthy land owners. It supports pensions and worker's rights under the Brazilian labor code; it fights against other social problems, like the lack of sanitation.

The Roman hierarchy has never endorsed this movement. It has sought to dismantle it. And yet it remains very much alive. Martyrs mark the land including Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador and Sister Dorothy Mae Stang, an American, shot to death in February 2005 in the Brazilian Amazon.

Though this this theological movement has gone underground in recent years it remains a strong force of change in a world of degradation and oppression of the poor.

What do you think is the link, if any, between politics and faith?

Practicing Wisdom

+ Erik H. Erikson committed his life to understanding the various stages within the life cycle. In the eighth and final stage of human life, Dr. Erikson, understood the importance of ego-integrity overcoming despair. If a person achieves 'enough' ego integrity throughout his lifetime, then one's approaching illness and death will be accompanied by the virtue of wisdom. Yet, as the recent article in the New York Times (May 6, 2007), researchers in the field of psychology have yet to fully define "wisdom."

Gerhard von Rad, a biblical scholar, writing in Wisdom in Israel, states "No one would be able to live even for a single day without incurring appreciable harm if he could not be guided by wide practical experience. .... By and large man creates the experiences which expects and for which, on the basis of the idea which he has formed of the world, he is ready. Experience presupposes a prior knowledge of myself; indeed it can become experience only if I can fit it into the existing context of my understanding of myself and of the world. Thus it can even be that man misses possible experiences offered to him, that he lacks the capacity to register them, because he is incapable of fitting them into the limits of his understanding."

The New York Times article concludes that Wisdom remains elusive and thus may only be understood through a variety of concepts. Here is a summary of those characteristics that are found in the wise: The uncanny ability to remain calm in the midst of crises, ability to cope with adversity and regulate emotion; being content with one's own life; being humble; to examine an event from multiple perspectives; to step outside oneself and understand another point of view; having compassion toward others; ability to remain positive in the face of adversity; appreciating the fragility of life.

William James in The Principles of Psychology (1890) observes that "the art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." Such maturity takes a lifetime, and needs to be practiced now. In the Hebrew Scriptures, wisdom, chochmah, is the interweaving of the heart and mind in judging, reflecting, and deciding.

I remember times when I visited with two widows in a nursing home in the early 1990s. They both faced the same physical infirmities: confined to a wheelchair, needing assistance with the smallest things, etc. When I would visit one of them she would spent her time complaining about her life and situation. I would try to make her feel better, but she continued to point to all that was gone in her life. When I visited the other widow, she was filled with joy and thanksgiving, she was grateful for the life she had lived, for her children and grandchildren who she was so proud of, and all her friends who were still living. I usually had very little to say, for in her I saw the light that shines in the midst of darkness. It is this widow who had practiced wisdom her whole life, and in her presence I became her disciple.

The Feast of Dame Julian of Norwich

Lord God, in your compassion you granted to the Lady Julian many revelations of your nurturing and sustaining love: Move our hearts, like hers, to see you above all things, for in giving us yourself you give us all; throiugh 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

And so we are going to establish
a school for the service of the Lord.
In founding it we hope to introduce nothing harsh or burdensome.
But if a certain strictness results from the dictates of equity
for the amendment of vices or the preservation of charity,
do not be at once dismayed and fly from the way of salvation,
whose entrance cannot but be narrow (Matt. 7:14).
For as we advance in the religious life and in faith,
our hearts expand
and we run the way of God's commandments
with unspeakable sweetness of love (Ps. 118:32).
Thus, never departing from His school,
but persevering in the monastery according to His teaching
until death,
we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13)
and deserve to have a share also in His kingdom.