Tuesday, July 31, 2012

St. Ignatius of Loyola

The stories of some of the Olympic athletes and their conquest of physical and emotional obstacles to make it to the games and even to win medals, are inspiring, again reminding us that "where there's a will, there's a way."  A cannon ball to the leg set the gallant and fun-loving soldier, Ignatius, on a course that at first he found hard to accept, being confined to his bed, and then limited to his family castle.  His leg had to be broken and reset a second time, furthering his convelescence and forcing him out of boredom to pick up something to read.  It happened to be the Lives of the Saints, which began to fascinate him and eventually lead to a major conversion.  He asked himself, "What if I devoted all my talent and energy to the service of Christ as did Francis or Dominic?  He decided to do just that and the rest is history.  What seemed at first to be a curse turned out to be a blessing. and led him not to Olympic gold, but to the founding of the Society of Jesus which was a major factor in the Counter-Reformation, and still plays a profound role in education and service to the reign of God today, and to the crown of sainthood.  What if I asked myself that same question?  Where would it lead me?  Lord, show me the way you want me to live.
Bro. Rene

Monday, July 30, 2012

In Tune With Nature

In this morning's Gospel, Matt 13:31-35, Jesus uses two examples that everyone in his time would recognize:  the mustard seed and yeast. So tiny is the mustard seed that it became synonymous with anything small, such as Kleenex has become the ordinary word for facial tissue, be it Puff or Scott.
Before corner grocery stores or supermarkets, every family used yeast to make their daily bread. Jesus did not write high tech theology books, nor ramble in the abstract.  He drew lessons from the ordinary, the everyday, so that all could relate to them.  This is an enviable ability, and not beyond us, if we take our time to notice our surroundings and let them instruct us.
A week ago on a six and a half hour bus ride with legs cramped and a large, heavy briefcase on my lap, I had a lot of time to drink in the beauty of the Rwandan country side where people were diligently working in their neat plots in the valleys and even on the hillsides.   Women would swing their large hoes in a large arc over their heads and let the weight of the metal help it dig deeply into the soil.  People walked or rode bicycles on the side of the road in a safety zone provided for them.  A haze enveloped the hills giving them a slightly bluish tinge. Even in this dry season, green dominated, and people began their planting in anticipation of the rainy season coming up in September.  What a beautiful rhythm of man and nature, much like what Jesus observed in his time.  Can we in our urban or sub-urban settings see things with "country eyes" and find our rhythm with the little bits or nature still available to us, or with the wonders of technology that human intelligence has drawn forth from the basic elements God has given us in creation?  Can we make the link between creation and the Creator?  Something worthy to work on.
Bro. Rene

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Feeding The Hungry

The story of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes made such an impression on the followers of Jesus that all four evangelists recount it, but only in John's account is it Jesus who first thinks of the hunger the crowd, so sensitive and solicitous to our needs is he.  "Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?" (Jn 6: 5). John tells us that Jesus only asked this question as a test, for he already knew what he was going to do.  Philip, to whom the question was addressed, immediately turns to money as the solution, money they did not have.  But Jesus wants them to see things differently in a new light: that is, we all are "beggars" in the sense that all good things come from God; we of ourselves have nothing that we have not received from him. In view of this, we share his bounty, and by virtue of this, have no right to hoard for ourselves, but have every obligation to share what we have with others.  And so, the little boy with the five barley loaves and two fishes steps up, willing to share them with the five thousand, even though they are not very much for so many.  Jesus gives thanks and blesses the food, which is distributed. All eat their fill and 12 baskets of left over fragments are gathered up.  This remarkable sign is not only a foretaste of the miraculous gift of the Body and Blood of Jesus to be shared with many, but also a reminder to us to be willing to share whatever fragment of bread we have or piece of ourselves with those in need.  Lord, help me to remember that all I have comes from you; help me to be willing to share it with others.  Amen.
Bro, Rene

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Silk Worms and the Spiritual Life

A week ago one of the students I taught in Rwanda took me over a very bumpy road deep into "the country" to show me the almost completed silk farm he initiated.  It's part of a large cooperative that engages people for all of Rwanda.  What fascinated me was the simplicity of making silk.  Thousands of silkworms were busy eating away (doin' what comes naturally) at an abundance of mulberry bush leaves that were placed at their convenience on large trays.  In 45 days the worms would complete their cocoons, which are then harvested, cured, dried (by machine) and then placed  on a simple machine which pulls the thread out of the cocoon and turns it onto a spindle. The thread is then bundled into skeins and shipped to a silk mill, where as in the textile industry, the thead is woven into cloth,  which is dyed, rolled onto bolts and then given over to a clothing manufacturer where ties, dresses, shirts and even suits emerge.
These little worms are doing nothing different from what Mother Nature made them to do, but linked together with thousands of others worms and human ingenuity, they contribute to jobs, livelihoods, and clothing.  Little are they aware of the major contribution they are making to the well-being of so many humans.
Sometimes we think that our little contribution to society, our slow "progress" in the spiritual life is worth nothing.  We do not see the overall picture, but in light of the example of these silk worms, just by being who we are and doing what we were meant to do, we are in some way contributing to the building of the reign of God.  Thanks, Lord, for making it so simple!
Bro. Rene

Friday, July 27, 2012

Penitential Fridays

Soon after the end of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, our American Bishops voted to allow Catholics to choose the type of penance they would observe on Fridays.  For centuries, abstinence from meat had been obligatory, and it was taken for granted that Friday Fare would be fish, eggs, cheese, pasta or some sort of vegetarian meal (even before the veggie craze became popular). That this was a choice might have missed the headlines, and most Catholics took it as a lifting of the ban and something else to discard, as was the sometimes misinformed spirit of the post-Vatican II era.  Some families continued the practice of meatless Fridays as a means of at least to some degree uniting their hearts with the heart of Jesus who on Good Friday emtpied himself to the point of death on the cross to show his love for us by atoning for our sins against God our Father. By doing nothing special on Fridays we distance ourselves from this great act of love.
In the context of returning love for love, we might enter again into the spirit of  penitential  Fridays by some sort of act of charity such as volunteering on Fridays at a local soup kitchen, visiting  a retirement home, or making a spiritual communion with Jesus, if we can't get to Mass, dropping into a perpetual adoration chapel,  or making some sort of dietary sacrifice...yes, perhaps going meatless.  All of this, not by obligation but by choice to take that extra step to show our love, and to grow in our love for Jesus, who held back nothing in order to gift  us with his  loves and the freedom that comes with loving and being loved.
Bro. Rene

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Family Matters

Due to a very slow and tempromental computer, I was not able to post this on Thursday, but thought that this second attempt would be applicable on any day.

As we celebrate the Memorial of Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary and grandparents of Jesus, we might reflect on the qualities that gave Mary her faith and bold willingness to accept what must have seemed the wildest challenge ever: to become the Mother of God.  Perhaps not knowing the full implications of this invitation at first, she would have known that she'd have to announce a pregnancy prior to wedlock to her parents as well as to Joseph.  We know of his consternation and sleeplessness nights at this news, and can only imagine what these pious parents went through. Faith in God's boundless love eventually bound them all together in acceptance and mutual support.  Family mattered, and this family matter, as difficult at it might have been to accept, did not destroy but brought family even closer.  Family structure was strong and capable of keeping on course no matter how fierce the winds of challenge blew.
To be part of such a family is a real blesssing, a gift.  If our families share in even some of the strength of Anne and Joachim's, then there is much for which to offer thanks, and if not, much for which to pray.
Bro. Rene

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

On The Receiving End

Back from Burundi and Rwanda (8 hours on a bus Monday, all day Tuesday on planes) and surprisingly alert and renewed: totally on the opposite end of the dead battery in my car.  For a month I was on the receiving end of God's love and beauty manifested to me through the love of my former students, the beauty of these two countries, and the fruits of prayer and generosity that overtime have wrought miracles in the lives of these students, the efforts of the Marist Brothers and in the remarkable, yes, even astounding recovery of these countries after genocide and bloody civil wars. It will take me months to process the wonders I beheld and the gifts I received.  It was like being on a 30 day retreat with my former students as my directors.  "Rest!"  "Eat!" were their commands; time for prayer abounded in days whose hours were spent in a much different sequence than my ordinary routine.  In Burundi, after a good breakfast, the next meal could come anywhere between noon and 3:00, and the final meal seemed always to fall at 11:30 pm, just before bed.  I never knew what was  "on the agenda"  for the day, never mind the next tomorrow...but it always worked out better than any plan.  In these countries the culture fosters family, relationships and time for one another.  Greeting people everywhere as if they were the only people you wanted to see that day, was one of the most important and touching aspects of it. Time, for a change, was not only sufficient, but abundant, integral to the day, and not a luxury. How these things nourish the soul and remind us that this is how God wants us to live...assured of his care, free from worry or constraint, open and ready to receive.  Because my life is so hectic, when I boarded the plane on June 26, I knew only two things:  I was landing in Bujumbura, Burundi on June 28th and going to a wedding on July 14th.  How I was getting here and there, whom I was going to see, all fell into place in a manner that surpassed anything I could have planned. I pray that we may all learn to cherish and live being on the receiving end.  It's God's way, his gift to us.
Bro. Rene