As July begins/ we pray blessings for all who celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries/ and other days of remembrance. / We pray as well for the safety of vacationers,/ campers and summer travelers,/ We pray to the Lord. We pray for Pope Francis as he will travel to Colombia in September/ hoping to encourage that country transforming itself after fifty years of violence./ We pray to he Lord.
During July/ the Church contemplates the Precious Blood of Jesus./ We pray for those who need blood/ especially where supplies are inadequate./ For those who bleed in accidents,/ terrorist attacks,/ murders,/ domestic and gang violence./ We pray to the Lord.
Tuesday, July 4th/ is Independence Day./ We pray for the nation and its inner freedom from power-quest,/ bitter partisan divisions,/ waste and greed./ We pray to the Lord. The United States is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic./ We pray for those who produce and sell drugs./ We ask strength for those who work each day to live sober lives/ and blessings for those who help others to sobriety./ We pray to the Lord. For parents around the world,/ to protect,/ guide,/ support and make secure/ the children in their care./ We pray for children and young people who have been orphaned or abandoned,/ or who need to be rescued in impossible situations./ We pray to the Lord. Many people are suffering terrible heat these days;/ we pray for them./ We pray as well for those who fight summer fires/ who rescue others/ or who work in hospitals./ We pray to the Lord.
So they came to Jerusalem, and he went into the temple and began driving out those who bought and sold in the temple He upset the tables of the money-changers and the seats of the dealers in pigeons; and he would not allow anyone to use the temple court as a thoroughfare for carrying goods. Then he began to teach them, and said, 'Does not Scripture say, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations"? But you have made it a robbers' cave.' The chief priests and the doctors of the law heard of this and sought some means of making away with him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came he went out of the city. Mark 11:15-19
A rabbi told me that at the time of Jesus, Judaism had been corrupted. We get a window into that corrupted religion in these gospel verses. Jesus is angry. The temple is noisy, smelly and dirty with all these animals being sold for sacrifices. Who can pray? And since Jews couldn't use Roman coins, which bore Caesar's image, the money had to be exchanged for temple money. And we all know that when one currency is exchanged for another, someone is making money off the deal, leaving someone else cheated. Yes, Jesus is angry.
But there's still more to it. Listen to what God has to say through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah about the way religion can go.
Hear what Yahweh says, you rulers of Sodom;
listen to what our God teaches, you people of Gomorrah.
'What are your endless sacrifices to me?' says Yahweh.
'I am sick of burnt offerings of rams,
and the fat of calves.
I take no pleasure in the blood
of bulls and lambs and goats.
When you come and present yourselves before me,
who has asked you to trample through my courts?
Bring no more futile cereal offerings,
the smoke from them fills me with disgust.
New Moons, Sabbaths, assemblies - I cannot endure solemnity
combined with guilt.
Your New Moons and your meetings I utterly detest;
to me they are a burden I am tired of bearing.
When you stretch out your hands I turn my eyes away.
You many multiply your prayers, I shall not be listening.
Your hands are covered in blood,wash, make yourselves clean.
take your wrong-doing out of my sight.
Cease doing evil. Learn to do good,
search for justice, discipline the violent,
be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.'
Isaiah 1:10-17
This same rabbi told me that the temple was effectively a slaughter house. I like the photo up-top here, probably taken from a Jesus movie, because the sheep have been set free. I personally think by this action, Jesus evolves religion, putting an end to all the killing of animals: birds, sheep, lambs, goats and calves. In the Isaiah prophecy God is repulsed by all the temple blood-letting and burning, especially when offered by a people of unclean heart, guilty of violence, injustice, cruelty and indifference to the weak ones. The ancient priests were also paid to operate in the service of the Roman occupiers. It's a nasty scene and God won't have it. But of course, every religion needs to take regular stock of itself in this regard, religion so prone to commercialization, always selling something, raffling off something, even pricey high-end items - ironically, all in the name of the one who said, "Own nothing." We might read again the Isaiah verses above. They essentially say: You don't sing Sunday hymns while you militarize the planet. You don't burn incense and leave children without adequate health care. You don't light gilded candle sticks while the damaged war vetereans are left untended. We shouldn't doubt it: this Gospel is about us too.
Psalms are the sung poem-prayers of ancient Israel. Most of them were composed and used for communal worship, but some, like Psalm 139 are very personal to each of us. Click on the photo above to listen as I read the Psalm. Some reflections follow here.
Verse 1. God knows me in the details of my life...even my thoughts...not to catch me out like a spy or to make me blush, but that my existence matters to God. God is interested in how I'm doing, much as a good parent would a child who's perhaps been away from home for a time: "What have you been up to?" "What have you been thinking these days?" Some of us were taught that God is an irritable and suspicious super spy. It isn't like that at all.
Verse 2. God knows my life is a journey where I stop along the way because the trudging is often difficult and tiresome. God is acquainted with my ways: my strengths and weaknesses, my shortcomings and gifts - everything that characterizes me in and out.
Verse 3. God knows the words that come from my lips before I speak them. I'm thinking of the little cross we draw on our lips before the Gospel at Mass: That I would speak the words of Christ. We live in talkative times. There's little silence. A priest from Ukraine said, "Where there are many words, sin cannot be avoided."
Verse 4. "You lay your hand upon me." I'm always within God's reach. God's gesture seems to say, "This one is mine." What a lovely thought - God doesn't just have an eye on me, but a hand.
Verse 5. "This knowledge is wonderful." I can't comprehend it, but we might try. We know so much about diets, TV shows, movies, politics, games, sports, where to find the best places to eat or shop, but so little knowledge of how God is with each of us.
Verse 6. "Where can I go from your spirit?" Sometimes we try to hide from God. Remember in school, hiding behind another student, to avoid being called on by the teacher? I wonder if we're afraid God will call on us. What might God ask? Maybe God would ask me to be better informed about what's going on in God's world? Or God might ask me to do something for someone else, something I'd rather not have to do?
Verse 7. "If I go up to the heavens, you're there. If I go down to the grave, you're there." God keeps popping up. Sometimes it's very inconvenient. We might prefer to keep God confined to the the one hour (or less) of weekend Mass or keep God confined to the tabernacle or the time it takes to go around a rosary. Can God appear on the television screen during the news?
Verses 8 and 9. "Wings of the morning" - going off to the farthest east, where the dawn of each new day begins for me. God will lead me and keep a hand on me in the far and wide of my life. Can you name that for your own life? Indeed, God holds me the way the Mother of God holds the Divine Child in the icon.
Verses 10 and 11. ""Surely the darkness will cover me." But for many people the darkness is interior: the inner darkness of depression, the dark cynical attitude, the dark view of other people, the dark view of the future. Christianity is all about light. The Christopher motto is: "Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness." Is it possible to discover God even in the inner darkness?
Verses 12 through 14. These are splendid lines telling of how we are made. What amazing cameras now take photographs of the baby's development in the womb: the teeth are formed as little buds, how the child's face takes shape, even the appearance of finger prints. We watch not only the physical individuation but when the baby begins responding to sounds outside the mother's body.
I was on the New York City subways a lot in the 1970's when the metal wheels of the train against the metal track made the most god-awful sound. I remember seeing a young pregnant woman standing on the platform and when the screeching train approached the station she took the sides of her open overcoat and folded them across herself and her arms to hold the coat in place so to protect her developing child from the unnerving sound. She seemed to know how marvelously we are made.
And I must remember that we are all marvelously made - not just the people I like, or who are like me, or who believe the things we believe.
Verse 15: God has my development in his book. This isn't a list of my good deeds on one side of the page and my sins on the other - ready to whip out on judgment day, so God can decide whether to admit me to heaven or punish me. This is naive. Maybe the book is God's mind, delighting in you (me) in our individuality and the uniqueness for which God created each of us. "You are one of God's thoughts; you are one of God's heartbeats," Pope John Paul II told a group of students while visiting a very gray part of the world.
We need to remember this - God delighting in us! A lot of people hate themselves because someone has told them they're not acceptable: your color, nationality, legal status, sexual orientation, religion, family history, athletic ability, physical beauty, sexy-ness, intelligence - is wrong!
Verse 16. Here the psalmist pays God a compliment: "Your thoughts are great, God." This is why in an icon, Christ's head is large (especially the forehead) - because it is filled with divine thoughts.
"What imagination created the trillion, trillion galaxies?" the astronomer asked his colleagues. And what imagination created the nearly 18,000 different species of birds, each with its own structure and color, voice, nest type, egg design, habits and habitat. What imagination created "that"?
I never want to tire of these things - our minds so drawn to and filled with worrisome things, foolish things, petty, angry, resentful, obsessive things. I want my mind filled with the imagination of God, the loveliness of God, the attentive care of God.
And the final verses 22,23. "Search me out...know my heart...look well...lead me." We invite God into the interior place of our hearts from where (biblically speaking) our thoughts originate. Is the door wide open? "Search...know...look...lead me in ways everlasting." And for the Christian these words, "in the way that is everlasting," are the way of Christ-love. Father Alexander Men wonders aloud: Is it possible when I am going up an escalator or walking along the subway platform, do I look at and love all the people I see coming from the opposite direction? The "opposite" direction? Get it?
Returning to the long weeks of liturgical green/ we ask to grow in personal goodness,/ and that our worship would green and grow out of a clean heart./ We pray to the Lord.
Summer Solstice was observed this week;/ the longest day and the shortest night./ We pray that our spiritual lives would be lived in the full light of mercy,/ inclusion,/ compassion and justice./ We pray to the Lord.
Strengthen and comfort those who live in fear and gloom everyday:/ fear of terrorism,/ corruption,/ power abuse,/ wars,/ job loss and family disintegration./ We pray to the Lord.
The United States is suffering an epidemic of drug abuse claiming countless lives./ We pray for a new national sobriety/ and the blessing of every effort to restore the nation to inner freedom./ We pray to the Lord.
We are being quickly reduced by new depths of nastiness,/ non-cooperation and wasteful partisanship./ We ask for a national restoration of all that is best in us./ We pray to the Lord.
Bless the sick and those who care for them/ mindful of medical staff which is overworked and paid unfairly./ We pray with grateful hearts for those who help around the world where terrorism kills and destroys./ We pray to the Lord.
We pray for the turning of hearts to those who die unwanted,/ untended,/ unseen,/ or by the wars and terrorist violence which claim so many lives today./ We pray to the Lord.
This Mother of God reminds me of the woman who returning home at night says to the sitter, "I'll just look in on the children." She goes beyond the door and up to each bed. What is she looking for? That the child is not agitated, wet, anxious, cold, uncovered, fevered, in need of a touch or whispered word.
It's all an invitation to prayer. Mary's eyes are wide-awake here, totally open to me as she enters my own shadowed, inner room. Her mouth is small; no idle word, saying only what I will need to hear.
Mother of God, who looks in on her child, in my dis-ease and frustration, spiritual hunger and thirst, fear of uselessness and failure, yet eager to begin again. Mother of God, who looks in on her child, where I feel an impending collapse, where patience is tried and often short, where I fear I have stopped growing. Mother of God, who looks in on her child, here unmasked, between the rock and the hard place, going under. Mother of God, who looks in on her child, restless in my complaint, on the brink of tears, in the darkness of my mind. Mother of God, who looks in on her child, in my foolish distractions, blanketed by indecision, poor choices, resentments and fatigue. Mother of God, who looks in on her child, in the hurt of unhealed wounds, fears un-addressed, the energy drain of pride and stubbornness, the un-knowing - even of my self. Mother of God, who looks in on her child, in my soul-room, on the edge of my bed, speak the re-assuring word, Everything will be alright. Father Stephen P. Morris
Click on the icon above to hear Divna Ljubojevic and a few members of her Melodi Choir sing Blessed is the Man. It is very beautiful. Here is an English translation.
Blessed is the man, who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice in Him with trembling. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Salvation is of the Lord; and Thy blesssing is upon Thy people. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirt, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, glory to Thee, O God!
In the first line: man. Of course, it means human - every human person.
Serve the Lord with fear. This doesn't mean to be afraid of God, but that I would fear anything that could take me from God, or cause me to lose the Holy Spirit.
Taking refuge in God. To hide in God against the soul-dangers. Some prayers to the Mother of God speak of our flying to her.
The word alleluia. It almost sounds like babbling or an infant's sound. It's a good word when ordinary language fails us before God. It is said that alleluia is the one angel-word we're privy to.
On this Feast of Corpus Christi/ we remember that Jesus chose to stay with us as food./ We pray for those who have inadequate food - especially children./ And for the privileged world to stop wasting food./ We pray to the Lord.
We pray blessings for fathers around the world,/ and ask for strengthening where their parenting is especially difficult/ or where they fail their chidlren./ We pray too for those who graduate this month./ We pray to the Lord.
We pray for the safety of summer travelers and vacationers./ We ask for these months to be a time of restoration and renewal,/ mindful of those who get no time away/ or who suffer in the heat./ We pray to the Lord.
Tuesday was the feast of St. Anthony of Padua - patron of lost things./ We ask Anthony to help us find Jesus where we have lost him to bitterness or distracting fears./ And for the Church/ where it loses its Christ-center in defensiveness,/ exclusion and power./ We pray to the Lord.
We pray for the conversion of hearts where there is injustice,/ indifference,/ lies and cover-ups./ And may we find Christ this week in some surprising new way./ We pray to the Lord.
For those who are chronically sick,/ pained or weak./ For those who care for the sick,/ the immigrant and the needy./ For the recovery of those who were injured in the Virginia attack this week/ and blessings for all who came to rescue and help./ We pray to the Lord.
Here we have zoomed in on the blessing hand of Jesus in a 19th century Russian icon. Beginning with his little finger and moving around to the thumb, Jesus' fingers spell out IC XC, the Greek initials for his name: Jesus Christ. Below the picture is a nighttime prayer, asking for Christ's blessing hand to extend over the whole world. Of course, we may make adjustments and use the prayer at any time. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over my family, my friends, my neighbors, the little ones born this night and those who will die. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over the world's children, over the troubled, the plotters of evil deeds, the terrorized, the war torn and those in flight,
Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over the world's leaders, the homes where there is violence, the rooms where lies originate, where blood-money is given and received, over the prisoners and those who are hiding. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over the Pope of Rome, the bishops, the priests and deacons, the monks and nuns, the young families, the families in trouble and those who are away from their dear ones. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over all the land, the air and the water, the plants and animals, the polluted places and the exploited environment. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over the sleepless, those in hospitals and by sickbeds, those who work through the night, those in pain, panic, sorrow, or who are ground up by addictions, those who have no place to rest. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over those who are angry, raging, agitated, carrying old grudges and unhealed inner wounds, who are spiritually unsettled, feeling unbalanced, loaded down with disappointment. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over those who have no joy, no gratitude, whose patience is gone, who have lost hope, who long for some comfort, who live in inner darkness. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over the peacemakers and the problem solvers, those who do the works of mercy, the rescuers, the helpers and the healers. Your blessing hand, O Christ our God, over me, who hopes to have served you today, and who with a repentant heart now asks for the gift of sleep, that I might rise up tomorrow in peace, in gratitude and joy. Amen Father Stephen P. Morris
This early 14th century image of the Virgin Mary by Duccio di Buoninsegna is titled: Madonna and Child with Six Angels. It is lovely, isn't it? The Mother of God looks out at us, while the Divine Child looks to his mother. He holds onto her veil tightly with his right hand while reaching for his Mother's hand with the other. Six admiring angels look down on the scene while leaning over the edge of heaven. In a series of comments off of other posts this week, some of us have talked about prayer and the world's problems. I acknowledge that we are powerless before most of it: terrorism in Europe, the great divide we find ourselves in here, the threats to the global climate, corruption in leadership, the militarization of our planet, the refugee crisis... Saint Francis said, "I can't do everything, but I can do something." I have a friend whose husband is in a nursing home which she visits daily. Much of the day she spends stopping in on the other residents along the corridor and doing what she can to lighten the load for the over-burdened staff. The family dog comes along, delighting everyone. "I can't do everything, but I can do something." As for the rest? My prayer-holding heart can bring before heaven the whole human family which inhabits this weary planet. Here is a prayer to the Mother of God titled: Having No Other Help. The prayer acknowledges our ultimate powerlessness and limitation. I like prayers that "feel" something. Buoninsegna's interfacing Mary seems to invite this prayer. Does the prayer effect any change? That's not really for me to know. For me, it is enough to offer the prayer and to leave the rest to God.
On Trinity Sunday,/ we celebrate the inner life of God which is relational and familial./ We ask to be healed of partisan,/ nationalist,/ isolationist,/ selfish thinking./ Restore our belief in the common good./ We pray to the Lord.
We pray for those whose work benefits us in any way./ For those who help to keep us safe and well./ We pray to the Lord.
For the world where it is mired in conflict./ That we would respect the deep dignity of each human person./ That our way of life might be marked by creative non-violence./ We pray to the Lord.
Give us insight and the resolve to heal our savage world./ We ask for world leaders to be honest,/ well-intentioned,/ measured and just./ We pray to the Lord.
For the children who live in danger,/ where there is war,/ domestic violence or poverty./ For the strengthening of those who are parents./ For orphans and the children who have special needs./ We pray to the Lord.
We pray for those who are corrupted:/ murderers,/ exploiters,/ drug and sex traffickers,/ politicians who have stopped serving the people,/ hustlers,/ abusers and liars./ Bless our efforts to make the world a kinder place./ We pray to the Lord.
Tuesday was the 73rd anniversary of D-Day,/ remembering the amphibious landing of allied forces on the Beaches of Normandy./ We pray for the many thousands who died that day./ For the mourners,/ the wounded and those who were lost and never found./ We pray to the Lord.
On the following day, after they had left Bethany, he felt hungry, and, noticing in the distance a fig-tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. But when he came there he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season for figs. He said to the tree, 'May no one ever again eat fruit from you!' And his disciples were listening. Mark 11: 12-14
Early next morning, as they passed by, they saw that the fig-tree had withered from the roots up; and Peter, recalling what had happened, said to him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig-tree which you cursed has withered.' Jesus answered them, 'Have faith in God. I tell you this; if anyone says to this mountain, "Be lifted from your place and hurled into the sea", and has no inward doubts, but believes that what he says is happening, it will be done for him. I tell you, then, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you have a grievance against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you the wrongs you have done. Mark 11:20-25
This is a photo of the Moreton Bay Fig Tree in Balboa Park, California. It is an apt image to convey the symbolic meaning of the fig-tree for first century Judaism: a sign of the end time when God's Kingdom-Rule will be finally realized. Indeed, like this fig-tree, God's Rule will be fully stretched and expanded.
Looking back even further, the fig-tree was thought to be the tree of forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. And why not? When Adam and Eve were expelled from that Garden they made their first clothes by sewing fig leaves together (Genesis 3:7).
At the same time God told Adam and Eve: now you've spoiled everything and the very ground you walk on will only grow thorns and thistles (Genesis 3:18).But later the Prophet Isaiah tells us that God reversed that curse and made the land once again productive and lovely.
"Cypress will grow instead of thorns, myrtle instead of nettles. And this will be fame for Yahweh, an eternal monument never to be effaced." Isaiah 55:13
There are indications that when Jesus "cursed" the fig tree he had this kind of reversal in mind. Most bible translations read that Jesus cursed the tree saying, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." But some translators say a better translation is, "May no one eat fruit from you again until the end of this age." The word until suggests the curse will be reversed. And if we are familiar with the mind of Jesus, we can see this reversal making sense.
Peter said to Jesus, "Master, the fig tree you cursed has withered." The response of Jesus is revealing, "Have faith in God," which might suggest the story isn't over, but there is more to come. Notice too the word withered reminds us of the Gospel account where Jesus healed the man with the withered hand (Mark 3:1-6). Same word. It is the very nature of Jesus to heal. So Jesus is telling Peter in effect: Have faith, believe that the fig-tree, like the sickly man, will be restored.
And following the story line faithfully, we see Jesus tying the idea of restoration to forgiveness. Forgiving people is like this withered tree which will be restored. Indeed, a few verses later, Jesus refers to the fig-tree in all its spring glory. A Kingdom person is a forgiving person.
Learn a lesson from the fig-tree. When its tender shoots appear and are breaking into leaf, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see all this happpening, you may know that the end is near, at the very door. Mark 13:28
This native field flower is called Mouse-ear Hawkweed. It is not to be confused with dandelion. We can't see it here, but the plant gets its name from the mouse-eared shape of the leaves which hug the ground. A resilient plant, Hawkweed spreads rapidly by both runners and seeds and may well look like this again just a few days after the lawn mower comes through.
These are troubling days in many ways. And it is important to find the little remedies for what ails us lest we become cynical and morbid. An expanse of Mouse-ear Hawkweed might cheer one up and restore a sense of hope.
Here's a bible proverb which might encourage us in this regard. I'd add beauty to the little list of things to "bind around our necks."
Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart,
so you will find favor and good repute
in the sight of God and others. Proverbs 3:3,4 I'm thinking too of Edith Piaf's song Avec ce soleil (with this sun): To drink in life with little sips under the magnificent sky Each day invites us to "drink in life withlittle sips"
On the Feast of Pentecost/ we pray for the Church and its unity./ We ask for the Church to be a bold witness to Jesus-Risen/ a victor over indifference,/ fear, / pessimism and alienation./ We pray to the Lord.
On the Feast of Pentecost/ we pray for all the human family/ mistaken and often lost in exhaustion and fear./ And for the healing of emotional and spiritual wounds in our own families./ We pray to the Lord.
On the Feast of Pentecost/ we pray for those who will be Confirmed this year./ We ask the Spirit of Jesus to build them up in faith,/ prayer,/ and an eagerness to serve./ We pray to the Lord.
On the Feast of Pentecost we pray for the safety of summer travelers/ and for those who this month celebrate birthdays,/ anniversaries and other days of remembrance./ We pray to the Lord.
On the Feast of Pentecost/ we intercede for the sick and those who care for them/ asking blessings for all who hope for the healing of body, mind or spirit./ We pray to the Lord.
On the Feast of Pentecost/ we remember those places around the world where is great suffering:/ wars,/ natural disaster,/ oppression and poverty./ That the world of prosperity might rush to lift the weak ones./ We pray to the Lord.
