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Post by Jim Pate on Feb 10, 2016 8:49:47 GMT -5
Reflection for Ash Wednesday
When I speak, let it be of blessing and gratitude;
let your glory within me shine out to the world!
Psalm 145:21
A Lenten Prayer
The Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you, Lord, in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.
I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.
I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are not times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.
Please, Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life that you have prepared for me. Amen.
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Post by Jim Pate on Feb 14, 2016 5:09:40 GMT -5
Reflection for First Sunday
O my God, in you I trust.
Psalm 25:2
Living Lent Attentively and Gently
Lent is the most important time of the year to nurture our inner life. It is the time during which we not only prepare ourselves to celebrate the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus, but also the death and resurrection that constantly takes place within us. Life is a continuing process of the death of the old and the familiar, and being reborn again into a new hope, a new trust, and a new love. The death and resurrection of Jesus therefore is not just an historical event that took place a long time ago, but an inner event that takes place in our heart when we are willing to be attentive to it.
Lent offers a beautiful opportunity to discover the mystery of Christ within us. It is a gentle but also demanding time. It is a time of solitude but also community, it is a time of listening to the voice within, but also a time of paying attention to other people's needs. It is a time to continuously make the passage to new inner life as well as to life with those around us.
When we live Lent attentively and gently, then Easter can truly be a celebration during which the full proclamation of the risen Christ will reverberate into the deepest place of our being.
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Post by Jim Pate on Feb 21, 2016 8:44:23 GMT -5
Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent
Be still and know that I am God! - Psalm 46:10
Discerning the Presence
The Gospels are filled with examples of God's presence in the word. Personally, I am always touched by the story of Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth. There he read from Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
for he has anointed me
to bring good news to the afflicted.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives,
sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.
(Luke 4:18-19)
After having read these words, Jesus said, "This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening." Suddenly, it becomes clear that the afflicted, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed are not people somewhere outside of the synagogue who, someday, will be liberated; they are the people who are listening. And it is in the listening that God becomes present and heals.
The Word of God is not a word to apply in our daily lives at some later date; it is a word to heal us through, and in, our listening here and now.
The questions therefore are: How does God come to me as I listen to the word? Where do I discern the healing hand of God touching me through the word? How are my sadness, my grief, and my mourning being transformed at this very moment? Do I sense the fire of God's love purifying my heart and giving me new life? These questions lead me to the sacrament of the word, the sacred place of God's real presence.
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Post by Jim Pate on Feb 28, 2016 7:08:38 GMT -5
Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent
Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart . . . (Joel 2:12)
Returning to Trust
In my own life I well know how hard it is for me to trust that I am loved, and to trust that the intimacy I most crave is there for me. I most often live as if I have to earn love, do something noteworthy, and then perhaps I might get something in return.
This attitude touches the whole question of what is called in the spiritual life, the "first love." Do I really believe that I am loved first, independent of what I do or what I accomplish? This is an important question because as long as I think that what I most need I have to earn, deserve and collect by hard work, I will never get what I most need and desire, which is a love that cannot be earned, but that is freely given.
Thus, my return is my willingness to renounce such thoughts and to choose to live more and more from my true identity as a cherished child of God.
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Post by Jim Pate on Mar 6, 2016 9:04:25 GMT -5
Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever.
Psalm 89:1
A Cry for Mercy
O Lord, this holy season of Lent is passing quickly. I entered into it with fear, but also with great expectations. I hoped for a great breakthrough, a powerful conversion, a real change of heart; I wanted Easter to be a day so full of light that not even a trace of darkness would be left in my soul.
But I know that you do not come to your people with thunder and lightning. Even St. Paul and St. Francis journeyed through much darkness before they could see your light. Let me be thankful for your gentle way. I know you are at work. I know you will not leave me alone. I know you are quickening me for Easter - but in a way fitting to my own history and my own temperament.
I pray that these last three weeks, in which you invite me to enter more fully into the mystery of your passion, will bring me a greater desire to follow you on the way that you create for me and to accept the cross that you give to me. Let me die to the desire to choose my own way and select my own desire. You do not want to make me a hero but a servant who loves you.
Be with me tomorrow and in the days to come, and let me experience your gentle presence. Amen.
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Post by Jim Pate on Mar 13, 2016 8:00:12 GMT -5
Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit. - Psalm 51:12
Unconditional Love
When we freely allow fear to dominate and change us, we live in misery far from our home of unconditional love.
Meanwhile Jesus, our example, says to the disciples and to us, "Don't be afraid. Perfect love casts out fear." He walked freely, lived freely, and carried on an intimate relationship with the One who sent him into the world.
Throughout the nights or early mornings Jesus spent time communing with the One who loved him. Among his last words he tells us, "As the Father has loved me, so I also love you. . . . If you keep my word, the Father and I will come to you and we will make our home in you. . . . I will send you my Spirit, who will dwell with you forever, and will remind you of all I have said to you."
Jesus came to convince us that Our Maker's love is pure gift, unearned and free. We are free to relate with the Source of all life or not. A great love embraces all the love that you and I have ever known, from father, mother, spouses, brothers, sisters, children, teachers, friends, partners, or counselors.
Welcoming unconditional love automatically makes us more like the Unconditional Lover. Divine love lasts forever.
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Post by Jim Pate on Mar 20, 2016 2:10:33 GMT -5
Week 6 – Week of March 20: The Meaning of the Resurrection
Scripture: Luke 22:14-23; Luke 23:1-49
Discussion & Activity:
This week – Holy Week – we are in the midst of remembering Jesus’ death. You may want to start the week reading the first passage from Luke; then read the second passage later in the week. The discussion centers around the final events of Jesus’ life, ending with his death on the cross. At the point the Scripture ends, it seems to be hopeless.
However, we do have an Easter symbol – the egg -- that reminds us that even when it looks as if there is no life, life is still there.
Hold an egg in your hand. Think about how there is life within the egg; but from the outside, we don’t always see it. Name other things that may look dead, but really hold new life. Think about plant bulbs or bare tree limbs.
While we remember Jesus’ death, we also prepare to celebrate his new life. After being so sad about Jesus’ death, we learn that he is alive; and this fills us with joy! Ask family members to tell of one thing about Easter that makes them happy. Ask them to say what makes them happy about Easter; then respond together by saying “Alleluia!”
Decorate Easter eggs together. We use eggs as a symbol of the new life we have because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Make a list of other things that help us remember new life.
Prayer:
God, as we remember Jesus’ last week, remind us that through bad times and good times, you are with us.
Help us notice the suffering in the world around us.
Help us find ways to offer the blessings of Easter to those in our community who are in need.
Don’t let us skip too quickly over the suffering just to get to the happiness of Easter. Remind us that you are there for us in both bad times and good times.
Amen.
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Post by Jim Pate on Mar 20, 2016 3:14:41 GMT -5
Reflection for Palm Sunday
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
Psalm 118:1
The Path of Waiting
Passion is a kind of waiting - waiting for what other people are going to do. Jesus went to Jerusalem to announce the good news to the people of that city. And Jesus knew that he was going to put a choice before them: Will you be my disciple, or will you be my executioner? There is no middle ground here. Jesus went to Jerusalem to put people in a situation where they had to say "Yes" or "No". That is the great drama of Jesus' passion: he had to wait for their response. What would they do? Betray him or follow him?
In a way, his agony is not simply the agony of approaching death. It is also the agony of being out of control and of having to wait. It is the agony of a God who depends on us to decide how to live out the divine presence among us. It is the agony of the God who, in a very mysterious way, allows us to decide how God will be God. Here we glimpse the mystery of God's incarnation. God became human not only to act among us but also to be the recipient of our responses.
. . . And that is the mystery of Jesus' love. Jesus in his passion is the one who waits for our response. Precisely in that waiting the intensity of his love and God's is revealed to us.
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Post by Jim Pate on Mar 23, 2016 2:27:59 GMT -5
Holy Wednesday
On the Wednesday before his death Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper. As they sat at the supper table, a woman named Mary anointed Jesus' head and feet with costly oil of spikenard. The disciples were indignant, asking why the oil was not instead sold and the money given to the poor. But Judas Iscariot wanted to keep the money for himself. Then Judas went to the Sanhedrin and offered to deliver Jesus to them in exchange for money. From this moment on, Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus.
In reference to Judas Iscariot's intent to betray Jesus, formed on Holy Wednesday, the day is sometimes called "Spy Wednesday". (The word spy, in obsolete usage, could mean "ambush, ambuscade, snare".)
Liturgy
Western Christianity
Although it is frequently celebrated on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, the Tenebrae is a liturgy that is often celebrated on this day. The word tenebrae comes from the Latin meaning darkness. In this service, all of the candles on the altar table are gradually extinguished until the sanctuary is in complete darkness. At the moment of darkness, a loud clash occurs symbolizing the death of Jesus. The 'strepitus', as it is known more probably symbolizes the earthquake that followed Jesus' death: "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent" Matthew 27:51.
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Post by Jim Pate on Mar 27, 2016 8:15:29 GMT -5
Reflection for Easter Sunday
This is the day the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24
Rays of Hope
Dear Lord, risen Lord, light of the world, to you be all praise and glory! This day, so full of your presence, your joy, your peace, is indeed your day.
I just returned from a walk through the dark woods. It was cool and windy, but everything spoke of you. Everything: the clouds, the trees, the wet grass, the valley with its distant lights, the sound of the wind. They all spoke of your resurrection; they all made me aware that everything is indeed good. In you all is created good, and by you all creation is renewed and brought to an even greater glory than it possessed at its beginning.
As I walked through the dark woods at the end of this day, full of intimate joy, I heard you call Mary Magdalene by her name and heard how you called from the shore of the lake to your friends to throw out their nets. I also saw you entering the closed room where your disciples were gathered in fear. I saw you appearing on the mountain and at the outskirts of the village. How intimate these events really are. They are like special favors to dear friends. They were not done to impress or overwhelm anyone, but simply to show that your love is stronger than death.
O Lord, I know now that it is in silence, in a quiet moment, in a forgotten corner that you will meet me, call me by name and speak to me a word of peace. It is in my stillest hour that you become the risen Lord to me.
Dear Lord, I am so grateful for all you have given me this past week. Stay with me in the days to come. Bless all who suffer in this world and bring peace to your people, whom you loved so much that you gave your life for them. Amen.
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