Unity

St. Paul's convincing exhortation to the Phillipians, chapter 2:1-4, compliments the the lesson of Jesus about welcoming all, especially the poor, to our tables. (Cf. Lk 14:12-14).  "If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing.  Do nothing out of selfishnesss or out of vain glory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but also everyone for those of others." (Phil 2: 1-4).  "Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed will you be decades of their inability to repay you."  A unity of heart with and service to the "least favored" creates an atmosphere of unity and love in which we can make Jesus known and loved.   This is what it means to be truly Christian, truly Marist.
Bro. Rene

Too Late to Change?

For those of us who might be asking at this time of our lives, "Is it too late or can I still change?  Can I undo patterns that have dominated me most of my life, for example, my inbred pessimism or self-doubt?"  A look at the story of Zacchaeus in Luke19: 1-10) demonstrates that it's never too late.  Zacchaeus, although a son of Abraham, was well established as a despised tax collector, indeed, the chief tax collector and a man of wealth as a result of taking money for himself from the taxpayers. Hearing that Jesus was coming to Jericho, a desire to see him, perhaps at first from curiosity, led to something deeper.  So much did this desire grow, that he had to run ahead of the crowd and like a child, climb a sycamore tree to see him, for Luke tells us that he was short in stature. Then the turning point, he hears Jesus tell him to come down for he MUST stay with him at his house.  As Zacchaeus longed to see Jesus, he learns that Jesus longed to see him!  Confrontation from the murmuring crowd about a sinner welcoming the revered Jesus, moves Zacchaeus to promise to take drastic action: to give half his possessions to the poor and to pay those he cheated four times the amount.  What a change, and reinforced by the assurance from Jesus: "Today, salvation has come to this house." (Lk 19: 10).  How assuring for us who are asking the above questions:  seek him and you will find a Jesus who is seeking you.  With him as the focus of our desire to change, "salvation" (Jesus) will come to our house.
Bro. Rene

Totus Tuus

St. John Paul II, noted for his devotion to Mary, chose as his papal motto, Totus Tuus, (Totally Yours),  St, Louis de Montfort, centuries earlier, was also a proponent of totally entrusting his prayers and good works to the Virgin Mary.  Marist's proudly proclaim,  All to Jesus through Mary; all to Mary for Jesus.  We thus honor her not only as his Mother, but as his First Disciple who gave herself entirely to him. In becoming his Mother, but in following him all his life in a discipleship of faith, trust and total commitment.  She now leads the way for us to follow in her footsteps in that same faith, trust and commitment.  No matter what our place in life, we can imitate her faith, trust, humility and fidelity and, by our example, lead others to do the same.  It is time for "Mary's Way" to be adopted and spread to a generation who are in search for models to imitate and for connections to what (who)  makes life meaningful and satisfies their hunger and thirst for Truth. Mary is the door to Jesus and awaits our willingness to let her open it by giving ourselves totally to her.
Bro. Rene

God's Call

As we celebrate the feast of the two apostles, Simon Zealot and Jude, it reminds us that we too have been called, called above all to holiness, which entails the work of evangelization as it did for the Twelve and those who followed in their footsteps.  We don't have a clear picture of these apostles from the New Testament and writers who chronicled the early church, but evidently they brought the word of God to as far west as Lybiya and other countries bordering the Meditarranean and eventually suffered martyrdom.  Of course, when Jesus first called them, they had no idea what was in store for them, but taking it one day at a time, it all became clearer and grace made it possible to live out their call to the end.
So too with us; our call first came at Baptism then became clearer as we matured into adulthood and listened to the subsequent calls that have led us to where we are, in most cases, far afield from what we imagined as children or teenagers.  If we have continued to answer each call faithfully, we have been growing in holiness, even though we don't perceive it. By being living witnesses of the Gospel, we have even been evangelizing.   May we trust that having been called, we will be given the grace to fulfill that call.  May we help one another by our prayers and example to help bring our call to fruition.
Bro. Rene

A Message For Our Time

In one of my favorite passages from Paul's letters, today's first reading from Ephesians 6:10-20, he uses military terms to describe our battle against the tactics of the Devil. It would be good to read these 10 verses, but if a Bible is not handy, here is a paraphrase.  Paul first admonishes us to draw our strength from the Lord, not from ourselves or any weapons.  It is God who gives us the power, but realistically, we need to put on the armor of God with our loins girded in truth, our bodies protected by the breastplate of righteousness, and our feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace. We are to use faith as a shield, wear the helmet of salvation. And carry the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Armed with these tools, we need to pray at every opportunity and be on the watch with perseverance.  Let us support one another and pray for one another that we may have the courage to speak as we must in our time of confusion, anger, contradiction and desperation.  We must be the ones with the positive message, with the confidence to overthrow the naysayers and boldly proclaim the victory of Jesus over the powers of darkness: the same task Paul and the early Christians faced 2,000 years ago.
Bro. Rene

Doing God's Will Wholeheartedly

St. Paul speaks of obedience to the Ephesians: children obeying their parents, and slaves obeying their masters.  Slavery was an accepted practice at the time, and while distasteful to us, the analogy of the obedience of slaves to their masters as a model for service to Christ still applies to us.  The phrase which gives it added significance, "doing the will of God from the heart", (Eph 6:6), is the key to entering through the "narrow gate", which only few choose to do. (cf. Lk 13: 22-23).  Adhering to the will of Christ with a willing heart,  or wholeheartedly, as some translations have it, makes the difference.  Our model for this is, of course,  Mary, who accepted the invitation to Divine Motherhood, with a willing heart and gave herself wholeheartedly all her life, and continues that role today as Mother of the Church, as Our Good Mother.  Rather than look upon the laws and rules of the Church as tests of willpower and endurance, we might think of embracing them from our hearts as a means of achieving greater intimacy with our loving God.  We might even learn to embrace the will of an employer or manager from the heart,  our as spouses talk over our plans or ideas and then embrace them from the heart as a key to greater harmony in the workplace or the family.
Bro. Rene

The Growth of the Loaf

Note: after a long absence, Bro. Rene's Daily Bread will now appear as usual, thanks to help and instruction from Br. Sean Sammon.

When yeast is mixed with basic flour, water and a bit of sugar, kneaded and allowed to rise in a warm place, the mixture will double in size, if not triple. An amazing phenomenon to a first-time bread baker, but to a veteran, something expected and rarely disappointing.  There are days when the kneading, rolling and rising are exceptionally easy.  A lot depends on the mood and disposition of the baker:  when stressed, he or she tends to have to fight a dough which seems to have set up its own resistance. Other days, when the baker is peaceful and calm, the dough is supple and compliant and yields a large loaf of light, airy bread.
So it is with the "Kingdom of God" or the work of evangelization. When the evangelizer is at peace and in concert with God's will, the results grow beyond expectation; when under pressure or stress, the evangelizer finds limited success.  It's all God's work, but there is something to be said about the disposition of his intermediary.  If chosen for this task, (and we all are to varying degrees), the first step is to prepare for it by "relaxing in the Lord":  turning the job over to him and letting our hands be his instruments. It is then that God's work can be done most effectively without interference from us.
Bro.  Rene

Preach to All

Fittingly, today´s Gospel from Luke 10: 1-9, underscores Luke´s beautiful proclamation of Jesus' mission of healing to a vast collection of sinners, the ill, and the grieving.  He shows the compassionate, warm, understanding and loving side of Jesus who takes time to touch, be touched, and forgive.  We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Luke, the physician and artist, whose feast we celebrate today,  for this picture of a sensitive, very human Jesus and for details about is mother and birth that we don´t find in the other Gospels.  Knowing who Mary is, helps us to understand Jesus, and helps us as Marists to further appreciate who we are and what our mission is: to proclaim him to ALL, excluding no one,  by our sensitivity, warmth, presence, compassion, forgiveness and healing.  We teach about him by who we are and by our actions more than by our words.  St. Luke, thank you for helping us to see Jesus as approachable and compassionate, and help us to become more like him so that we may be effective witnesses and proclaimers.
Bro. Rene
Note:  tomorrow is "moving day" to Manziana...not sure if there will be time to post a slice of bread, or access to the internet until we "get settled."  Will try, but no promises...

Mary's Love

Note:  After a week of vain attempts to send a slice of daily bread, Eurika...in Rome, I have finally succeeded in typing without losing a word after hitting the space bar.  I don´t know what happened to my I Pad, but until I got "on board" with this PC, I have been frustrated and disappointed.  Let me now share my joy with you all.

Three days at Fatima overlapping the Vigil on October 12th and the International Mass on the 13th, assured me of Mary´s unending love for all of us.  The little Cove where Mary appeared in 1917 has become a splendid shrine dominated by an imposing basilica, an underground museum and series of chapels, a huge square,  and a second modern church seating 8,600.  The original chapel constructed after the apparitions is still there and the location of the bush on which Mary appeared is marked by a marble pillar on which stands the revered statue of Our Lady of Fatima with a crown in which the bullet that nearly killed St. John Paul II is encased.  Pilgrims pray on their knees, sing, an honor Mary´s request by praying the Rosary.  Whatever the village of Fatima was 99 years ago, it has now become a welcoming city with hotels, restaurants and religious goods stores to accommodate the thousands who come each year.  As at Lourdes and Medjugorje, the local economy has benefited from Mary´s presence and the faith of her followers.
But over and above these material things, her plea for prayer, penance and a more complete adherence to the teachings of Jesus and the loving compassion with which she has repeated her request over the centuries is the most compelling justification for Fatima and the other major centers of Marian devotion.  Her love for us is so great that she tries with loving patience to help us "get it."  Few have tried harder than Pope St. John Paul II and now Pope Francis.  May we, in the best way we can, begin today to put our faith into practice, live it publicly as well as privately and let the world know that our only help, hope and happiness are in God.
Bro. Rene

Seeking Signs

The desire for a "sign" resides in all of us.  We seek a sign in making a career choice, answering a call to the priesthood or religious life, or even who to vote for.  The people who heard Jesus and saw his healings also asked for a sign, exasperating him who was present right before their eyes.  Humans can be "blind",  I can be blind and miss the obvious. Thank God that he is patient with us and from time to time does give us a sign that seems to pop up from the nowhere, or from the obvious.
Today I leave for Fatima, where I've never been, and then go to  Manziana, Italy, where I visited briefly in 1999, and this Scripture verse just "happened to pop up" this morning:   "I will lead the blind on their journey;/ by paths unknown, I will guide them./ I will turn their darkness into light before them,/ and make crooked ways straight. These things I do for them,/ and I will not forsake them." (Is 42:16).  These words were written 700 years before Christ, yet they apply to me TODAY and to what lies ahead on this Sabbatical!  God's love is always present and, knowing us intimately, gives us a boost now and then to reassure us that he's with us.
You will all be in my prayers and I will try to send a daily slice of bread.
Bro. Rene 

Praise and Gratitude

From our youth we have been taught to "say thank you."  If the message has "stuck" it is a way of life.  It's amazing, however, to read in today's Gospel of the Ten lepers, of the ingratitude of the Nine.
St. Bernard has some rather harsh words to describe the lack of gratitude:  "Ingratitude is the enemy of our souls, the annihilation of our merits, the scattering of our virtues, the loss of our benefactions  Ingratitude is a burning wind, drying up the fountain of piety, the dew of mercy.  Nothing so displeases God, especially the children of grace, For ingratitude obstructs the pats of grace, and where there is ingratitude grace no longer finds access and has not place." Wow!
Yet, the one leper, having had a physical healing, an amazing experience in itself, as anyone who has been healed through medicine or prayer (or both) can attest, first glorifies God and then says thank you to Jesus.  Praise comes first, then thanks.  He acknowledged the power of God, the grace of God even before concentrating on his own healing.  He teaches us the true place of gratitude, as the occasion to acknowledge and praise God.
Bro. Rene

The Power of the Rosary

While Christians were fighting the Turks at Lepanto in 1571, St. Peter's Square was filled with people praying the Rosary.  The Turks were defeated and the Pope instituted the Feast of Our Lady of Victory, attributing the victory to Mary's intercession.   A few years later, the feast was changed to Our Lady of the Rosary and has become a universal commemoration to honor Mary and Jesus through the repetition of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be and meditation on the life of Jesus and Mary.  What a combo!  Mother and Son before us, in our hearts and on our lips for as long as it takes to pray the five decades.
Mary's presence continues in our world through various apparitions and she always recommends the Rosary.  At Fatima 99 years ago, on the 13th of this month, Mary appeared for the last time, wowing (even scaring) the 79,000 people gathered there with the "Miracle of the Sun"...when it seemed that the sun was dancing and  plunging to the earth.  Her message of praying the Rosary has been perpetuated with some degree of success, but evidently, we need to put her request into action more faithfully.  Our days are so busy that we find if hard to set aside 15-20 minutes for this powerful prayer.  A look at today's world should be motivation enough for us to MAKE time for it
Bro. Rene
Note:  As providence would have it, I will be in Fatima on October 13th this year, and you can be sure I'll be praying for all of you.      

This slice somehow ended in "draft" and I just noticed it this morning... Naturally, it was meant for October 7th...Sorry!   

Pondering in Faith

Again we look at Mary's Way and find Jesus praising his mother for hearing the Word and observing it. (Lk 11:28).  She accepted the Word when Gabriel announced God's plan/invitation to her, and as she raised the child, watched him grow into manhood, then leave to work his mission, she accepted.  Perhaps there were many questions going through her mind, but she learned to live without the answers, pondering all in faith.
How many times do we look for answers, not having yet learned to live without them?  May Mary's example penetrate our hearts and free us to find peace in accepting God's invitations, plans, and the diverse paths he asks us to follow.  As Mary did, we will find all converges in HIM.  Blessed then will we be.
Bro. Rene

Ask and Believe

Note, because I'm using a borrowed laptop, I used up a lot of time trying to "get in."  Please forgive this thin slice today.  Persistence has yielded at least this much.

Not everything goes the way we want or plan, but repetition, trial, persistence prevail.  That's why Jesus advises us to ask with faith, and it shall be given to us.  Our heavenly Father will not refuse our constant knocking.   "For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks, finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Lk 11: 11). 
Bro. Rene

As We Forgive

St. Luke's "short form" of the Lord's Prayer pushes us into forgiving those who have trespassed against us with the words, "forgive us our sins, /for we forgive everyone  in debt to us." (Lk 11: 4).  Do we?  We'd like to, we've tried to, and are still trying, but it's too risky an assumption unless we really take this statement and absorb it into the depths of our hearts and pray it from there.  Just looking at offenses we have suffered, can we say that we've truly forgiven those who caused us hurt or insult, or who have ignored us?  Grudges are long lasting and easier to carry than to release and dissolve.  This one line, perhaps the most difficult in the prayer, deserves our scrutiny and sincere effort to put into practice.  God help us do to so.
Bro. Rene

Everybody Loves Francis

People still speak fondly of the TV sitcom, Everybody Loves Raymond, but even more fondly remembered by Catholics and non-Catholics alike is St. Francis of Assisi.  His simplicity, his childlike dependence on God, his love for everyone, his peaceful soul continue to inspire all, so much so that even our Pope has taken his name and his example as the model for his papacy.  Animals will be blessed in parishes today in imitation of the love Francis had for them,  and a few weeks ago, leaders of several world religions met in Assisi to pray for peace.  The Franciscans are the largest group of religious in the world and have always included lay people in their Third Order or more recently,  Lay Franciscans.
The appeal of Francis is his desire and effort to live the Gospel literally, an ideal which has set the bar too high to be lived as such today.  Mitigations of his Rule occurred even during his life time, and several reforms have occurred over the centuries as attempts to return to that ideal have led to the Capuchins, and more recently, the Franciscans of the Renewal, and the Primitive Franciscans.  This last group lives as close to the style of St. Francis as possible in our day.
For most of us who love Francis, living his spirit of detachment from things, roles, positions, locations,  focusing on the beauty of all of creation, and with child-like simplicity embracing all people, help us to live his spirit.  St. Francis, pray for us.
Bro. Rene

Not Too Busy To Stop

The Good Samaritan, traveling between Jerusalem and Jericho, where two other travelers, a priest and a Levite, had also passed the wounded victim left bleeding on the roadside, interrupted his trip to cleanse the wounds of the victim, take him to an inn, spend the night there and then stop back on his return, demonstrates what it means to be a good neighbor.  He adapted his plans to help a complete stranger, and has left a lasting example of compassion and mercy.  Besides not being bothered by the ethnicity of the victim, he treated him as his own family, trustingly cast aside his "schedule" for the day to help, not just token help, but  help that demanded more than just money, but his precious time.
I would guess that not many of us are willing to go as far as this Samaritan did; he set the bar very high, perhaps too high, but has left us an example and model for which we need to strive if we are going to keep the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Good Samaritan, help me to be as generous and selfless as you when I come across an unexpected situation that demands my care and my time.
Bro. Rene

Increase Our Faith

The simple request of the apostles, "Increase our faith," (Lk 17:5) must be  our prayer too.  If they, who were with him daily, heard his word and saw his actions, needed more faith, how much more we!  Digressions make their way into our faith-lives;  distractions, busyness, doubts, depressions and discouragements attack us daily.  We need Jesus to keep our faith firm, to help us embrace the cross, to help us embrace the mission to a world that needs faith as much as it did in his time.  Let us repeat this prayer often; let it come from the heart; let it lead us to a deeper relationship with Jesus and a firmer commitment to the baptism which made us children of God and sharers in the mission of Jesus. Lord, increase MY faith!   
Bro Rene

Childlike Simplicity

We celebrate the memorial of the ever-popular St. Therese of the Child Jesus, whose "little way" has made sanctity accessible to all since the publication of her autobiography, The Story of A Soul, in a limited edition aimed at other Carmelites in 1898, year after her death. It made such an impact that further editions appeared and won the hearts of readers around the world.  Its simplicity, honesty and beauty are still captivating today and St. Therese remains not only one of the most popular saints, but she has been declared a Doctor of the Church (1997) and her message is more relevant than ever.  Her spirituality is based on being childlike, on being transparent, unselfish, fearless, loving and loveable, as opposed to being childish, pouting, or self-centered.  She bore the criticism and annoyances and even intolerance of some of the members of her community as well as her physical suffering from tuberculosis with patience and in union with the suffering of Jesus for the sake of others.  She corresponded with missionaries and offered her sufferings for them.  She looked for nothing extraordinary, but just lived with  the ordinary day-to-day aggravations that are part of the human condition, and accepted and embraced them as the path to sanctity and union with Jesus. Her motto, taken from St. John of the Cross, "Love is repaid by love alone." sums up her life perfectly and poses a challenge for us.
Bro. Rene