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A different kind of prayer tonight... the power of flowers in jail

Many of my readers know that when I visit here in Georgetown, Colorado I join in a weekly prayer group led by my sister, Ruth, at the Clear Creek County Jail. My sister always brings along a small plastic container holding 3 or 4 blossoms (see above) which she sets in the middle of the table around which we gather.  Before we pray, Ruth always tells the men what the flowers are and invariably they pass the mini-arrangement around the table for a closer look.

Running a little late this past Thursday night we almost didn't bring any flowers - but at the last minute, my sister collected a few blooms from her front yard and then while we were waiting outside the facility for a deputy to let us in, I plucked a couple wildflowers growing at the jail's entrance and added them in.

 As the men walked into the room for prayer, we saw that there was a newcomer, a tall guy, solid build - and with long dreadlocks - I'll call him Jack. We welcomed Jack and as it happened, he took a seat near the flowers on the table. Just as we were ready to begin, Jack exclaimed - and he truly did exclaim: Are those real flowers? We said yes and he said, I haven't seen a flower in over a year - can I touch them? Then he took the small bottle in hand and carefully inspected each blossom, touching the petals oh-so-gently and sniffing the scent of something fresh, natural and beautiful.  Then Jack set the flowers down on the table - with the care one might use in handling something valuable, fragile and precious.

We can't take phones into the jail so I have no video - and my words here don't really do justice to the moment of awe and appreciation we all experienced through Jack on Thursday night.  But I wanted to post this, hoping to share with you - and invite you into - this holy moment...

Perhaps sometime today or tomorrow you might go outdoors and find something fresh, alive and beautiful and hold it gently in your hand.. and be grateful for what Jack taught us - and for what God has given us - in the simplest things of life...

In the photo at the top of the post is the small bottle my sister uses to bring flowers into the jail.  I want to share with you the partially hidden inscription: Learn from the way the wildflowers grow... Matthew 6:28

Simple Gifts

  composed by Elder Joseph Brackett 

`  performed by Yo Yo Ma and Alison Krauss  

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'Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free 

'Tis the gift to come down where you ought to be, 

And when we find ourselves in the place just right, 

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight. 

 

When true simplicity is gained, 

To bow and to bend we will not be ashamed, 

To turn, turn will be our delight, 

Till by turning, turning we come ’round right. 

 

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Does it matter whom you believe in? what you believe in? how you name God?

Above you'll find the audio for my homily this Sunday, based on these scriptures. (If the widget doesn't appear, click here!) And here's the text of my homily:

How often have you heard someone say,

“Well, it doesn't really matter what God you believe in… or how you name God… It doesn't really matter what you believe in - as long as you believe in something. See, I'm really spiritual, not religious.”

Ever heard people talk like that?

 

Well, all three scriptures today do highlight the universality of God. And of God's love and grace. 

 

• Isaiah reminded us that the Lord's house will be a house of prayer for all peoples. 

 

• St. Paul is clear that although his own people, the Jews have yet to accept the gospel - God's covenant with them, his chosen, is irrevocable. 

 

• And in the gospel, we find Jesus reaching beyond his own mission, his mission to the house of Israel, reaching out to a pagan woman whose plea is inspired, perhaps not so much by faith, as by personal desperation.

 

As ancient as these scriptures may be, they still speak to us today. In our own times, the universality of God's love and grace is accepted by many religions, faiths and denominations. In fact (and in addition) it's under the umbrella of the universality of God's love for us that many people gather - as they reject organized religion and its structures, its practices, its faith, beliefs, and demands.

 

How about us, about Catholics?

 

Some Catholics may be surprised to learn that while our Church claims to be the one true Church, we also firmly believe - and the catechism of the Catholic Church teaches this: 

 

• that God creates every person out of pure goodness, and he reaches out in all times and all places to those he loves.

 

• And that the human heart naturally desires God, because every human being is created by God and for God. 

 

• And that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was offered for the entirety of the human race. 

 

• And that since Christ died for all (and since all are, in fact, called to one and the same destiny, which is divine) we Catholics believe that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of becoming partakers - in a way known to God -partakers in the mystery of Jesus.

 

I didn't make up any of that! It's all from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's official teaching!

 

So, does it not matter, does it make no difference who or what we believe in - as long as we believe in someone or something - is that so?

 

Well, to answer that question, we need to approach it from two vantage points. First (and this isn't always easy either) we need to try to see things from God's point of view. How does God see things?

 

• God is the creator of every human being and knows every human person, every human soul, intimately - even those who don't know or acknowledge God. 

 

• God has known every human being since before all time, and God has loved every human being ever born, or to be born, regardless of what they believe or don't believe - God loves them. 

 

• And God's love for each of us and for every one of us is eternally greater than whatever we believe - or don't believe.

 

• God is love.

 

And God's love for each of us is pure gift. A gift given out of God's desire to engage us, to engage you and me, to engage each one of us in a relationship of love. God wants to be, for each of us: our BFF.

 

It's precisely this movement of love on God's part - at God's initiation at God's invitation - it's this movement that even those who don't believe in God - they sense and intuit, because, as the Catechism says, the human heart naturally desires God's love because the human heart was created, made, by God, and for God.

 

It's God's love inviting each of us that draws us either: to believe in God -or- to gather under that umbrella with those who name themselves “spiritual but not religious.”

 

And it's that same gift of God's love - showered on and sensed and intuited by all - that moves us all, prompts us all, nudges us all, impels us all - to love one another. To be kind, caring, just, honest, forgiving, and generous to our neighbor. That comes naturally to us - because we were made by and for God. It's the universal gift of God's love that draws and leads humankind (and again, even naturally so) to build and structure a society founded on the expectations, the responsibilities, and the demands that rise from love of neighbor.

 

In fact, we Christians, we Catholics, say that such love is the law by which we are called to live. And with that statement, I've crossed over to the other vantage point from which we need to try to understand the universality of God's love and grace: he vantage point of the believer's perspective.

 

There are thousands of religions, spiritualities, faiths, and beliefs in the world. But I'm a Christian, and I'm speaking to other Christians.

 

So what do I believe?

 

• I believe in one God, the creator of all things and all people - all things visible and invisible, seen and unseen. 

 

• I believe that God created me, that God created you, that God created us out of love and for love. 

 

• That God made us to know, to share, to experience, and to find joy in his love for us. And to share that love with one another, as generously and as selflessly, as all that is divine has shared itself with all that is human. 

 

• And I believe that to pierce through and to heal all the ways our hearts are deaf, blind, and insensitive to God's love, God spoke a word, of love - his word of love - and he spoke it so powerfully that it became flesh, took our flesh and blood - in Jesus - precisely so that all might see and hear and touch that love that is seeking us always - the love of God. 

 

• So I believe, we believe, in Jesus, God's word of love made flesh… Jesus who preached the gospel of his father's merciful love… Jesus who suffered and died for us - on account of our failure to love each other… Jesus who rose from the dead so that we might have life, and love, and have it to the full, and have it forever.

 

The life of Jesus - the life message, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus - the life of Jesus is God's gift to the world. It's the gift of his love. And in that gift, and with that gift, come revelations, invitations, and expectations.

• Revelations of who God is, and of God's love for us.

• Invitations to share in that love, to bathe in the mercy God's love offers us.

• And expectations of how we, God's chosen and beloved, are to love God - by loving one another and the world in which we live.

 

In just a few moments, you'll be joining me in professing all this - these very same beliefs - when we pray, the Nicene Creed. And in the Creed, we're going to say, We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic Church. That's the Church born of the love, the gospel, the sacrifice, the heart, the desire, of Jesus.

 

While we believe that God's love is universal, that no human being lives outside or beyond God's loving and universal embrace - we also believe that in a unique, historical, physical, personal, and unrepeatable way, God revealed himself to the world in the mystery of Jesus - who calls us to live in a community of faith… in a communion of grace… in the people of the Church… loving each other as generously and selflessly as he loved us on the Cross.

 

We Catholic Christians believe all of this is God's gift to us in Jesus who lives even now among us in the presence and the power of his Spirit. And that gift, the gift of knowing, sharing in, experiencing, finding joy, and naming God's love in Jesus, is a gift beyond compare, an unparalleled gift from God, who desires to reveal himself to us, who desires to be one with us in love.

 

It's in the light of what we've been given, what we've heard, and what we've received - that we who follow Jesus in the community of the Church can never say, can never say: It doesn't matter who you believe in. It doesn't matter what you believe in. It doesn't matter how you name your god.

 

It does matter if you're religious as well as spiritual.

 

We who know Jesus cannot say that -  so much more than that is our belief. 

 

• I'm talking about the belief that you turn to for help when you're in trouble. In grief. You're suffering loss and despair.

 

• The belief in which you find mercy, forgiveness, joy, and peace. 

 

• The belief that moves your hearts on Christmas Eve and Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, and even on some occasional Saturday afternoons. 

 

• The belief that gathered us here together today.

 

• The belief for which many of our brothers and sisters, to this day, are being persecuted and even martyred around the world. 

 

• The belief that leads us to hunger for, and to find at this table, the bread and cup of the last supper - the presence of Jesus among us in the Eucharist.

 

This is the mystery of faith. This is the mystery of our faith. And so for us, it does truly matter who we believe in, what we believe in - and how we name our God who loves us and who calls and invites us - and the whole of humanity - to partake in the love of Jesus: the word of God, spoken in love, made flesh - in whom we are saved and redeemed.

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NIGHT PRAYER: Saturday 8/15

We live in a harsh world, Lord, 

    a rough and tumble, coarse

    and often unforgiving place 

where humankind and nature, too, 

    make dangerous 

    the streets we walk,  

    the cities where we live

and our global village 

    where we've yet to find the way 

    to live in peace,

    united as one family,

    reconciled,

    healed

    and faithful to your word... 

 

Power-hungry greed and lust 

lay waste the land 

and claim the lives of many:

    especially the innocent, 

    the young, the frail, 

    the refugee, the immigrant, 

    the poor...

 

For our pleasure, for a dollar, 

for convenience, for a vote 

we betray the human dignity 

    bestowed on every soul

    by you, O Lord, our Maker,

    our loving, gracious God... 

 

We long for, plead and pray for 

that balance, that sweet justice, 

meant to keep us all alive:

    flourishing and growing,

    beautiful and fruitful 

    in your  garden,

    ever green... 

 

And so it is we turn tonight,

we turn our hearts to Mary:

    gentle woman, quiet light,

    morning star, so strong and bright 

    gentle mother, peaceful dove,

    seat of wisdom, 

    heart of love... 

O Mary, mother, sister,

give us just the grace we need:

    to become God's faithful children,

    making peace with one another, 

    kind and gentle with our neighbors,

    with the world we call our home... 

 

Gentle Mother, peaceful dove,

    teach us wisdom,teach us love... 

 

Protect us, Lord while we're awake

    and watch over us while we sleep

that awake, we might keep watch with you

    and asleep, rest in your peace...

Amen.  

 

Hail Mary: Gentle Woman

    by Carey Landry

performed by the Daughters of Saint Paul 

 

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Hail Mary, full of grace,
The Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women
And blest is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners now
And at the hour of death.
Amen.

Gentle woman, quiet light,
Morning star, so strong, so bright.
Gentle mother, peaceful dove,
Teach us wisdom, teach us love.

You were chosen by the Father,

You were chosen for the Son,

You were chosen from all women

and for woman, shining one...

Blessed are you among women,

blest in turn all women, too,

blessed they with peaceful spirits

blessed they with gentle hearts...

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Pause for Prayer: Saturday, August 15

     The Assumption of Bertha Huber by Marcia Sandmeyer Wilson

 

Reminder: Today is the Feast of the Assumption but because it falls on a Saturday, the obligation to attend Mass today is lifted. More info here.) 

 

This morning's post doesn't include a prayer text but does offer four stories: Bertha's Story, The Assumption Story, Margaret's Story and Our Story...  Let these stories be "prayer starters" for your day...

 

Bertha's Story

This is the 19th year I've posted this delightful painting on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. I offer this not out of any irreverence or even playfulness but rather to help us understand what happened in Mary's life and how this relates to ours. About this piece, the artists, Marcia Sandmeyer Wilson writes:

"This 16x20 oil painting is called The Assumption of Bertha Huber. It is the third version I have done of this theme. Miss Huber was godmother to my three children. She died at age 87 in August, 1975 and I told the children I would paint what it 'really' looked like.

"Miss Huber was from Munich so I know she was expecting nice blond angels waiting for her in heaven...

"At the bottom of the painting is supposed to be me and the three children weeping for her at the nursing home where she had expired just moments before our arrival. It was a very good nursing home, by the way, named Calvary, in the Bronx."

Painting in the folk art style, Wilson has given us a folk art appreciation of the Assumption. The word comes from the Latin assumere which means to take to one's self. 

 

The Assumption Story 

The feast of the Assumption celebrates the Lord's taking to himself his beloved Mother, the Mother of us all, who, the Church has taught from early times, was assumed into heaven body and soul lest her body, which bore the Christ into the world, should undergo any corruption.

We pray that one day the Lord will take us to himself at the time of our passing from this life to life forever with God: one day the hands reaching down in Wilson's painting will reach out for you and me. No, we will not be assumed body and soul: this mortal coil of ours will undergo the inevitable corruption of nature. Yet one day, we pray and hope, the Lord will waken each of us to glory and our souls will be reunited with our bodies in a glorified state, the beauty of which we cannot yet imagine. 

Margaret's Story
I remember being called, some years ago, to visit and pray with a woman who was dying. Margaret was only a few weeks shy of her 103rd birthday! I saw her only hours before her death and yet she was as sharp as a tack, greeting me by name, thanking me for coming to see her, and joining wholeheartedly in the prayers I offered with her and for her.

But there were moments during my visit when Margaret seemed distracted from our conversation, straining to see something above her that I couldn't see. And several times she turned her head, as if to listen more closely to a voice I could not hear...   I don't know, but I would not be surprised if this beautiful woman was attending to the faces of all the saints, all of her loved ones in heaven, of Mary, and of the Lord himself as he prepared to take her to himself...

 

Our Story 

There’s a prayer that comes at the end of a Catholic funeral mass and it gives beautiful expression to this faith and hope of ours. I'll use Margaret as the name for the deceased here...

 

Trusting in God,

we have prayed together for Margaret

and now we come to the last farewell.

 

There is sadness in parting,

but we take comfort in the hope

that one day we shall see Margaret again

and enjoy her friendship.

 

Although we may leave here in sorrow,

the mercy of God

will gather us together again

in the joy of his kingdom.

 

Therefore let us console one another

in our faith in Christ Jesus.

 

That's good news!  We shall indeed see and know and love one another in heaven!  The mercy of God will gather us together again with those who have gone before us!

 

But we don’t even have to wait until heaven to have communion with those who have gone before us: with Mary, the mother of Jesus and of us all; and with our loved ones whom the Lord has taken to himself.

 

Each time we approach the altar, we have a taste and a sip of that eternal banquet which awaits us in the Lord’s kingdom and which, we hope and pray, those who have gone before us are already enjoying.

  

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Is today a holy day of obligation?

 

In addition to every Sunday, the dioceses of the United States observe 6 holy days of obligation every year.  If January 1, August 15 or November 1 fall on a Saturday or Monday, the day's feast is celebrated but the obligation to attend Mass that day is lifted.  This weekend, the feast of the Assumption (August 15) falls on a Saturday so it will not be a day of obligation.

 

January 1:  

    Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

 

40 days after Easter 

   or the Seventh Sunday of Easter 

(as determined by the local ecclesiastical province

   - follow the link for an interesting view of things!) 

    Solemnity of he Ascension of the Lord 

August 15:  

    Solemnity of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary

 

November 1:  

    Solemnity of All Saints

 

December 8: 

    Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

 

December 25: 

    The Nativity of the Lord 

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