Daily Reflection

The daily reflections will resume on Wednesday of this week. Sorry for the inconvenience. Have to be honest. The stresses and strains of the end of a year and other parish concerns have come home to roost. I and trying to rebuild my strength.

Fr. Jordan

Saturday Reflection: May 17, 2008

OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! James, some would say, tells it like it is!

Our age has trained us in many new ways of learning and understanding. The computer chip and the communications satellites have opened unknown vistas for everyone. Together they have helped individuals around the world to become a community of quite critical individuals. Typing one incorrect key on the keyboard can produce results that damage or destroy hours of intense work. Events and cultural exchanges enter our lives each day through television and radio.

James, at the outset of the third chapter of his instruction to the Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem, must be addressing a serious problem in the community: the wagging tongue. His words seem fitting for our times as well. Is it not a true challenge to see where there is a line between good, helpful, constructive criticism and damaging, hurtful gossiping, guised as something good? Criticism seems to have left respect and admiration as little used ways of human interaction. Whether regarding matters of race, education, religion, family life and on and on, the wagging tongue has resulted in hurt to many ... even to the point in our most recent week: an adult, posing as a teenage boy, viciously attacks a young girl on the Internet ... and ultimately brings about the young lady's suicide.

It may be very easy to point fingers at politicians and truly "sick" individuals. But each of us should consider what we say about others. James offers an interesting picture: a large ship, he notes, even one driven by strong, storm winds, is "steered by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot's inclination wishes." Then he applies the picture to the lives of his hearers. "In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions." The next sentence amplifies his message: "Consider how small a fire can set a huge forest ablaze. The tongue is also a fire."

This is much to take to one's heart. One question, though. What comes from my mouth? "From the same mouth come curses and blessings." Which is the winner?

We are called to grieve our losses. It seems paradoxical,

but healing and dancing begin with

looking squarely

at what causes the pain.

(Henri Nouwen)

What A Lady! Irena Sendler

Doesn't she warm your hearts? This is the photo of an extraordinary woman who was buried yesterday in her native Warsaw, Poland. But what made here different from other senior citizens in the late 90s? Well, quite a significant difference! Irena was a Catholic Social worker who saved 2500 children from the Nazi death march. Putting the little ones in suitcases and other boxes, Irena put them in their transportation boxes to freedom. Irena herself was serious injured by Nazi soldiers who had orders to exterminate this lady who did not like being called a hero. Fortunately another person convinced the soldier not to kill her but simply to physically assault her which he did, leaving her with both legs and arms broken. Check the Whispers In the Loggia link to read much more about this woman who was nominated last year for the Nobel Peace Prize. A tribute to this Catholic social worker was that at her burial prayers were offered by a Rabbi. This lady surely made real the message of James' words in today's liturgy's first reading. She did not live by faith alone. Her life of faith rested on the underpinnings of good works and service. She surely might be someone we can offer prayers to for her inspiration in our own efforts to help others.

Friday Reflection: May 16, 2008

Today's first reading continues our journey through the letter of James. The verses today focus upon a topic that was a point of controversy in the early 16th century between the Church and Martin Luther. The argument for salvation, the Church has always taught, is presented in two phrases: "faith alone" or "faith with works" or in a simple sentence from James: "See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone."

The challenge for us is to be certain our faith is combined with works of service. This is a case of both having your cake and eating it too. For once they go together, the caking and enjoying it! We'd never know how good Grandma's cakes are unless we eat them. And if we don't eat them, we'd never know what it is that people call a cake.

We cannot have a living faith without our willingness to demonstrate that true faith involves both works and service. To live a life opting for one over the other might be like choosing Jesus the preacher without accepting the Crucifixion. Or, progressing, what is the value of the Crucifixion without the Resurrection?

For just as a body without spirit is dead,

so also faith without works id dead. (James 2:26)

Thursday Reflection: May 15, 2008

Hospitality. How do we treat or welcome others? This is the question James' letter puts before us today. There is a truly challenging sentence for most Americans.

"Listen, my dear brothers (and sisters): it was those whoa re poor according to the world that God chose, to be rich in faith, and to be the heirs to the kingdom which he promised to those who love him" (2:5).

Most of us, if we are honest, are not poor. Most 0f us live with so much more than we ever need. Isn't moving from one home to another proof? More often than our hearts, our desires, are taken over by the ways of our culture, our society. How often does a feeling of "I need that" express more what I would "like to have" than actual need?

We might consider a man, woman or child who is truly in need. Walk the streets of a downtown or center city. There, without fail, the poor are present to us. How does their presence impact you --- even if they do not shake a cup or hold up a sign that asks for your help? Do you see a sister or brother in need? Or, is there a feeling of distrust, disgust or annoyance that grabs your heart and mind?

If you were to come upon a successful CEO, a respectable media or film personality, would you be more open to exchanging a few words? If it were a John McCain, a Hillary Clinton or a Barack Obama, wouldn't you like to have a camera available? Yet, time and again, Jesus called us to the most challenging human activity: love one another, love your neighbor as yourself.

One particular experience that reveals how genuine our live is for others is demonstrated by how we dine together, where the head of the household and the guest(s) are seated. Often the dining table has the traditional "head of the table." That speaks of separation from all of the others seated at the table except for those immediately to the right or left of the "head."

Dining with two Church leaders, I came to a new understanding of genuine hospitality --- the sign of respect for guests and others at the table. The "head" never sat at the traditional "head of the table position. Rather each of these leaders would always sit in a middle position along one side of the table, reserving the position directly opposite for the guest. After a first experience of this seating arrangement, it was clear that the host was allowing others at the table to become more directly involved with both the host and the guest. The guest was offered an equal place at the table with the host. Both were able to speak with all the others at the table equally.

Surely this is not a theological teaching here. Nonetheless it shows the reality of welcome and hospitality that is portrayed in every picture of Jesus with his disciples at the Last Supper. Perhaps that is why the round table makes a dinner so much more meaningful. No partiality is shown. No distinction of presumed "greatness" is shown. At the table we learn we are one.

Let Fr. Nouwen's reflection conclude these thoughts:

Instead of making us feel that we are better,

more precious or valuable

than others,

our awareness of being chosen

opens our eyes

to the chosenness

of others.

Apologies for there being no reflection yesterday. It was "one of those days." Enuf sed!

Tuesday Reflection: May 13, 2008

YOU, TOO, ARE GOD'S BELOVED

We continue the journey through the NT Letter of James. The Wikipedia entry on James, while not particularly noteworthy as food for prayer, does offer some historical insight into who the writer(s) of the letter may have been.

In today's first liturgical reading there is the invitation to consider two realities: temptation and desires. Again we should recall that James is trying to teach the Christian Jewish community in Jerusalem the message Jesus had taught his apostles and disciples.

Who among us does not feel the attack of temptation? Who does not have to deal with desires that are not good for us ... and there is more than moral issues we have to confront today? There are many temptation and desires that populate our days, each day in fact. James' writing encourages his audience to preserve in temptation. Whoever is strong enough to resist is blessed, whoever is "proven" will wear "the crown of life."

James is direct. Temptation does not come from God: "he tempts no one." We cannot blame our failure on God's failure to help us. The truth of the matter is that temptation is the product of our own desires' needs to be fulfilled. Sometimes the desires "conceive and bring forth sin." God would have us be "a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" rather than damage us with sin and the death of our souls.

Fr. Henri Nouwen often stressed that our vocation is to be the "Beloved" of our God. Once we accept that particular vocation for ourselves, once we truly believe that we are the Beloved of God, "We are are faced with the call to become who we are." That is what some philosophers and theologians name the terminus ad quem: the goal of our spiritual journey. So, we overcome the desires, the temptations when we try to become God's Beloved --- when we open ourselves to letting our awareness of God's love for us become a part of all we do, of all we say, and of all we think. And this is no easy task! Fr. Nouwen believed that "the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self-rejection."

James' teaching is to bring his audience to know the love of God, to understand Nouwen's "sacred voice that calls us the Beloved." This is his firstfruits that he invites his audience to become. It is the invitation that is ours today and every day. Know you are the Beloved of God!

Monday Reflection: May 12, 2008

The Letter of James: one of the written witnesses to the faith and life of the early Church will be the verses of the liturgy's first reading for the next two weeks. A point of history is in order. The person who composed the letter, albeit attributed to "James," is not the apostle James. The writer James identifies himself in the first sentence: "a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is it. The letter is a didactic presentation to the Jewish people everywhere from the apparent spiritual leader of the Jewish Christian community living in Jerusalem.

From the outset James encourages and exhorts: seek wisdom, persevere and be strong in faith. Clearly servant James wishes to instill a genuine foundation in the hearts and minds of his audience. Can we not see in James' beginning words how he hopes the Christian community will live in the love of God? Surely he wants God's people to live in the love of God. There is a wonderful quote attributed to Simone Weil in the May Magnificat for today's reflection.

"It is not by the way a man talks about God, but by the way he talks about things of the world that best shows whether his soul has passed through the fire of the love of God."

Is this not an excellent insight for modern society to chew on! Perhaps a question might be: Is this not the attachment we have to God and the graces we have from the Holy Spirit that enables us to see with wisdom the ways that "things of the world" can detach us from truly understanding our God?

Perhaps we can recall an insight that was so strong in the final years of the life of Fr. Henri Nouwen. In seven words he speaks volumes to contemporary people seeking to know themselves, their God and to live in wisdom: the heart is more important than the mind.

St. Bernard, famous abbot, wrote that "There are three ways for wisdom or prudence to abound for you: if you confess your sins, if you give thanks and praise, and if your speech is edifying." Therein lies the challenge for us today!

Pentecost Day: May 11, 2008

God has sent into your hearts the Spirit of his love.

The Ascension command of Jesus to go, teach and baptize was a moment when he conferred the power of giving new life in God. These words are from St. Irenaeus, a second century writer.

He reminds his writers and hearers who were on various journeys of life that God "had promised through the (words) of the prophets that ... he would pour out his Spirit" upon them. Furthermore, he taught that "when the Son of God became Son of Man, the Spirit also descended upon him, becoming accustomed in this way to dwelling with the human race, to living in men (and women) and to inhabiting God's creation .... The Spirit accomplished the Father's will in men (and women) who had grown old in sin, and gave them new life in Christ."

He also reminded us that St. Luke taught "that the Spirit came down on the disciples at Pentecost ... with power to open the gates of all nations and to make known to them the new covenant." In his writings he uses the image of water to describe the Holy Spirit. Without water dough fails to become bread; without water trees produce no fruit.

These past five days you have read some of the insights from the earliest writings about the Holy Spirit. Hopefully these words have helped you renew in your hearts a stronger awareness of the power, the dynamism that God has given in the gift of the Spirit.

Perhaps the challenges we confront in our lives, in our society, in our world are a sign to us that we need to renew the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God does not fail in continuing the gifts of the Holy Spirit for us. As many of the early writers commented: the gift of the Spirit is an unending gift to those who are open to receiving it. On this Pentecost Day might we not ask ourselves about our own devotion, our own reliance upon the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day encounters with the world around us.

Friday Reflection: May 9, 2008

Another "great" of our early Church to address the "mission" of the Holy Spirit is St. Cyril of Alexandria (Egypt). The brief "life" is worth the reading time! He is well known in patristic circles for opposing Nestorius who claimed that Mary could not be the mother of Jesus because he was divine and not human. A commonly used "title" of Mary, theotokos, meaning God-bearer, could not be attributed to her. Cyril also wrote a treatise on the Holy Spirit.

He taught that after the earthly life of Jesus was completed, there remained a challenge for humankind: "To become sharers in the divine nature of the Word" was a goal to be achieved. Transformation -- putting off the old and putting on the new -- into a life that pleased the Father was possible "only by sharing in the life of the Holy Spirit.

Cyril believed it was "fitting" that only after Jesus had departed that the Holy Spirit could descend upon those who believed in Jesus. After his Ascension, he would be united to his followers through the Holy Spirit. Jesus would continue "to dwell in our hearts through faith." Jesus, related to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives, would strengthen us to be able to pray "Abba, Father." This gift of the Spirit was to be the power that enabled us "to grow in holiness" and to have strength to be invincible when challenges by sin and other kinds of enemies.

Cyril writes that the Old and New Testaments present examples "that the Spirit changes those in whom he come to dwell. His presence in our lives transforms us "to live a completely new kind of life." Cyril cites the transformation of Saul into the ardent follower of Jesus, Paul. This new man should be a living proof to us "that the Spirit changes those in whom he come to dwell and alters the whole pattern of their lives.... With the spirit within them it is quite natural for .... cowards to become men of great courage." Cyril suggests that this happened to the disciples of Jesus. The gift of this power could, as Jesus said, only take place if he returned to heave, God's "time appointed for the descent of the Holy Spirit."

For us today in our daily challenges to live our faith and to give the Good News of our redemption to others, it is the gift of the Holy Spirit and our regular prayer to him and our willingness to accept him into our lives that we have one of the tools needed to help sanctify our world and the work that we seek to accomplish. No doubt, being born again in the Holy Spirit can be frightening. When we pray, "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful," we are without doubt inviting God through the Holy Spirit to transform us.

Send forth your Spirit, light of radiant joy,

to take possession of our hearts.

Photo: Logo of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Belmont, MI.

Thursday Reflection: May 8, 2008

The Vatican II Council Father produced a dogmatic constitution, Lumen Gentium. In this document we can learn how the modern Church views the mission of the Holy Spirit in #4 and #12.

How did the Father and Jesus determine to sanctify the Church once Jesus had fulfilled the divine plan entrusted to him? How would those who walked with Jesus and those who learned about the Father and Jesus from that first community of believers continue to have a way to them? The answer? Through the "spirit of life, the fountain of water welling up to give eternal life. Through him the Father gives life to men ... dead because of sin, until he raises up their mortal bodies."

The Spirit is within us both in our Church and our hearts. It is the power, the work of the Spirit to advance the Church "into all truth and gives it unity in communion and in service." It is this road to the truth that our Church builds its unity because of the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This in mind the Council Fathers state clearly and boldly "The whole company of the faithful, who have an anointing by the Holy Spirit, cannot err in faith." The faithful show this "distinctive characteristic ... in the supernatural instinct of faith (Latin sensus fidei) of the whole people when, from the bishops to the most ordinary lay person among the faithful, they display a universal agreement on matters of faith and morals." This is one of the most significant statements of the Council. The final clause seems to put forward a genuine challenge from the Holy Spirit to a monolithic, authoritative Council.

It is the "instinct of faith" that is enlivened by the Spirit of truth. It is this Spirit of truth that demands openness and genuine humility especially from those charged with the "protection" of our faith. With this instinct the people of God "hold indefectibly to the faith once delivered to the saints penetrate it more deeply by means of right judgment, and apply it more perfectly in their lives. They do all this under the guidance of the sacred teaching office [understand here of the Church]: by faithful obedience to it they receive, not the word of men but in truth the word of God."

These words make clear the serious obligation we have to hear, to know where the Spirit leads the Church, leads the faithful. These words proclaim boldly the obligation all members of the Church -- from the first of the bishops, the Pope, to any other members of the Church -- to be open to the movements of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit speaks and leads those ordained as well as those who make up the faithful body of believers. What a challenge to any pride or sinfulness that prevents an open heart and mind to the movements of the Spirit within us.