Month: March 2012

Eyes to See–Solemnity of the Annunciation Reflection

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see filename

see filename (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:35-38

 Today in the Church calendar we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, the day when the Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary she would bear a child and the child “will be called holy, the Son of God.”  This is the day that we celebrate the announcement of the in-breaking of God into our world, of God becoming human.

“Karl Rahner proposes that all reality is structured symbolically—signs of grace are to be found everywhere if one has ‘eyes to see’.”[1]  Because of God becoming one of us, this in-breaking of God in our world, is the way we not only see signs of grace, but become them as well.  If we have the “eyes to see” the reality of another person, to be fully present and in the moment with each person, then we can experience, like Mary, an in-breaking of God in our world, a sign of Grace to those we encounter.

Hospitality is one of the core elements of the Gospel. To be truly hospitable is to be open to the other in a way that the other person has an effect on your own life and practice. This is much more than the comfortable cup of tea, this is being fully present to those before me. When we take opportunities to see the moments we are in today as moment that God gives us as opportunities to break through in our world again, then we are truly becoming much more hospitable.

  • What are ways in which we can be more fully present to those before us?
  • How do we increase hospitality in our communties?
  • Where do we see today where God is trying to break into our reality, but he is waiting for us to have “eyes to see”?  Are we able to say “May it be done unto me according to your Word.”

[1] Mary Catherine Hilkert, Naming Grace: Preaching and the Sacramental Imagination (New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1996). 34

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Untie Him and Let Him Go– Reflection for the 5th Sunday of Lent

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Lazarus come forth

Lazarus come forth (Photo credit: Lawrence OP)


“Unite Him and Let Him Go!”
This week for the 5th Sunday of Lent, we hear from the Gospel of John. We hear again about Mary and Martha in Bethany and the raising of their brother Lazarus.  In this reading we hear Jesus being moved to tears, but we also witness a revelation of His power with the resurrection of Lazarus, a foreshadowing of His own resurrection.  So why this reading during Lent.  Lent is a time for us to re-examine those things that bind us and keep us from being like Martha who “go out to meet the Lord.”  Martha and Mary serve as great archetypes to witness the active and contemplative life.  In this story Mary stay behind and Martha goes out.  Martha again identifies with doing the work, so much so that her work brings her out to meet the Lord. Too often, we bind ourselves in our work that we fail to meet the Lord where we are and need moments to be reminded of the sanctification that can come from work.  We need to both be reflective and active with our work, so that we can unbind ourselves and go out to meet our Lord.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s work, The Divine Milieu, looks at the role of our activity in relationship toward union with God, followed by a reflection on those passive part of our lives and how these two parts of a human’s life is participatory in the Divine life.  For Teilhard de Chardin, “Our work appears to us, in the main, as a way of earning our daily bread. But its essential virtue is on a higher level; through it we complete in ourselves the subject of the divine union; and through it again we somehow make to grow in stature the divine term of the one with whom we are united, our Lord Jesus Christ.”[1] Teilhard later comments on how our work in various ways, which our daily work, is connected to the work of Jesus Christ.  In our work, Teilhard reminds us: “Never, at any time, ‘whether eating or drinking,’ consent to do anything without first of all realizing its significance and constructive value in Christo Jesu, and pursuing it with all your might.  This is not simply a commonplace precept for salvation: it is the very path to sanctity for each man according to his state and calling.”[2]

“Never do anything with first of all realizing its significance and constructive value in Christo Jesu.” This phrase reminds us that to unbind ourselves that our primary world view must engage in the sacramental, viewing all the world as a communication and revealing God’s presence to us.  When we can view all the world around us as communicating a Divine reality, then truly we will be called forth from our own tombs, untied and sent in the Resurrection.

[1]     Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Divine Milieu, trans., Bernard Wall, First Perennial Classics ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 2001). 27.

[2]     Ibid., 30-31.

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For the sleeping God may wake someday…Prayer & Lent

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Prayer

Prayer (Photo credit: Chris Yarzab)

“Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Romans 12:12

During the Season of Lent, we are invited each day to go deeper into Prayer.  Not only the prayer of words, but a prayer of presence and listening.  One that permeate our being, and changes lives.  Prayer is often comforting and healing, it can also be a powerful and compelling presence that leads us down unanticipated paths. The word prayer rises from the same Latin root as the word precarious. Author Annie Dilliard wrote about the dynamic, uncertain nature of prayer:

“It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense or the waking God may draw us out to where we can never return.”

Prayer can lead us out to precarious edges where God opens our hearts and transforms our lives in unexpected ways. Do we begin and end our days with prayer, do we begin our meetings with prayers. During Lent we are asked to see prayer as  the rhythm of life that sustained our communities that is marked by constant prayer. Prayer is essential dialogue for the path of transformation, healing and peace. If we are to go deeper this Lent, then prayer must continue to be a visible presence of our lives and our communities.

**How, when and where do I pray? Does my prayer include at least as much listening as talking? How can I incorporate prayer more visibly in my life?

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