Monday Morning Offering: 183

Coffee in the Morning by George Mendoza


Good morning, good God!

I want, I pray to grow closer to you this Lent, Lord --
but then I remember that you are always beside me,
always before me, behind me, above and below me --
how much closer might I come
to One who is always so close to me?

And yet, I have ways, don’t I, Lord,
of distancing myself from you who made me,
you who live within my mind and heart and soul…

In the blink of an eye I can pretend
for a moment (or for days or weeks on end)
that I don't see you or that somehow
you’ve lost sight of me,
that I’ve slipped beyond your gaze…

Like a child blocking his ears
with small hands pressed hard,
I stop listening for you
and miss what your Spirit whispers:
my inattentive heart muffles the voice of your word
alive within me…

When my soul chills in selfishness,
my fingers grow numb
and I lose the warmth, the touch of your presence
pulsing in the wonders of the world around me,
in the people whose fingerprints are
warm upon my life…

I know so many ways
to take my leave of you,
to keep my distance,
to walk away from you,
the only One
who never leaves my side…

I want to grow closer to you this Lent, Lord,
and then I remember that you are always beside me,
always before me, behind me, above and below me…

How much closer might I come
to One who is always so close to me?

So, I offer you this morning my desire
to open wide my eyes:
to see you, Lord, in all who cross my path
and in all the circumstances of this day;
to see the way you guide my steps
and watch with care the path I walk;
to see how you never fail to keep me
as the apple of your eye…

I offer you this morning my desire
to open my mind and soul
to hear, Lord, every word you speak
from your heart to mine:
help me hear you in the scriptures,
in my thoughts and prayer,
in the words of others,
especially in the silence
and in every breath I take…

I offer you my hope
you'll thaw the chill of my self-interest
and let the warmth of your love melt
my fears, my worries, my guilt and shame,
that I might freely touch again
the truth and beauty of your presence
all around me,
morning, noon and night…

Draw me close to you, Lord,
especially when I look away and fail to see you,
when I avoid the quiet where I might hear you,
when I turn from grace where you might touch me…

Help me to find
what I trust is already the truth of my life:
that you are with me, Lord,
always beside me, always before me,
behind me, above and below me...

Draw me even closer to your side, Lord,
and never let me be parted from you…

Amen.


(Click here for an archive of Monday Morning Offerings)



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Praying 10 Minutes a Day: Second Week/Monday

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The local weekly includes a column, Voices of Faith, featuring articles on a rotating basis from leaders of faith communities in town.  This past week's entry came from Rev. Nick Morris-Kliment, Associate Rector at Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord, MA.

With Nick's permission I'm sharing his article here.  You might want to put your boots on before walking through it!  At the end of the piece Nick offers some good questions for us to take to our 10 minutes of prayer today.  As the title indicates, this might be a good exercise in keeping our prayer real!

KEEPING IT REAL

As the Christian season of Lent begins, my mind wanders to the blessed memory of Jeanne Kershaw, a beloved member of our parish who died not too many years ago.

Jeanne was one of my touchstones for how I was doing in the pulpit and in my ministry in general.

Jeanne’s mantra was, “Keep it real.” I always heard her imperative as a question: Was I addressing life as it really was? Or was I content to glide along the surface of things?

“Real” often can mean messy.

Most of us like our religion neat, however. Part of our attraction to faith is that it helps us keep order. It helps us to make meaning in the face of lives, both out in the world and within our souls, that can overwhelm, anger, and frighten us.

But Lent is about keeping it real. For those of us who make use of the rhythms of the Church year to deepen our faith, we have this annual opportunity to recommit ourselves to keeping our faith facing life as it really is, and learning to trust that Christ is waiting for us in the mess.

A vivid image of this truth comes from a book named A Season for the Spirit, by a former Anglican monk (yes, we have those) named Martin Smith.

Smith writes about an experience he had as a schoolboy interested in the local history of his birthplace in England.

The lore said the area was home to a holy spring that had been a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. Pilgrims came in search of healing from the waters there. Modern explorations had yielded not a trace of the place. Undeterred, the young Martin went to the area where tradition had placed the spring. Hours of searching in a tidy, picturesque spot produced no results. A hunch directed him toward a small herd of cows standing a short distance away, atop a fetid patch of mud. A few minutes of digging revealed a platform and wooden pipe out of which flowed pure, clear water.

For those so inclined during this season, we might ask ourselves:

Where is my mud patch? 

What do I need to dig up? 

Could I find a spring of living water deep within? 

Could God be waiting there to quench my thirst?

Buried within the mud patch of reality in our lives, the living God awaits us, to love us, and to prepare our hearts to love others.

- Rev. Nicholas Morris-Kliment

Are you new to "Praying 10 Minutes a Day in Lent" - or are you having trouble getting started?  The first installment offers some thoughts on getting started, as do the subsequent posts in the series.  So take a look and join us!


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Do you need a transfiguration?

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Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent

(Scriptures for today's Mass)

Audio for homily

 
Who needs a transfiguration?
Not a transfusion but a transfiguration?

Although in some ways, a transfiguration might be
just the kind of transfusion you and I need!

Would any one of us turn down an offer
to go up to a mountaintop to spend some time with Jesus?

Isn’t there something happening (or not happening)
in your life and in mine that would draw us up a mountain
if we knew we could sit down at the top and talk to the Lord
and tell him our troubles and ask him a few questions?

As members of a Church sometimes tripping over itself
to survive shifting demographics and shrinking numbers
while still grieving the abuse of its own children,
who wouldn’t want to go on a hike and have a talk with Jesus,
just to make sure he’s still with us?

In a nation increasingly known more by its acrimonious divisions
than the E pluribus unum found in its motto,
who wouldn’t be grateful for the close company of Jesus,
our refuge and shelter from bitter judgment and resentment?

In a world where it seems we’re often expected to climb sheer walls
without a safety line,
who wouldn’t want Jesus as a guide to help negotiate
the heights, the ravines and the crevices of life’s landscape?

We could all use a transfiguration and -
as unique, miraculous and dazzling as the scene in the gospel is -
I don’t believe it’s beyond our grasp.

The story begins with Jesus taking his friends away by themselves.

Well, you can be sure there’s not a morning, noon or night
when Jesus doesn’t invite you, doesn’t invite me,
to stop; to put aside my work;
to take a deep breath (or 4 or 5 deep breaths…);
to step outside the day-to-day; to walk with him;
to get away from it all; to sit with him, to settle down;
to let things go quiet, inside and out…
to be still… and to know that he is there… with me…
because that’s where he always is and always wants to be...

How Jesus might reveal himself to you, to me, in such a moment
might be less dazzling than in the gospel scene
but we can be sure he does invite us to such a time and place,
to be with him in the quiet and in the stillness
precisely so that we can come to see him more clearly,
to love him more dearly,
and to follow him more nearly…

The Lord wants very much to be more than just an acquaintance of ours,
more than just an occasional friend we go to
-- when we need something.

In the gospel story, Peter is terrified about what’s happening
and we, ourselves, might fear being still in God’s presence
because we think there’s something we need to do,
something we're supposed to do,
maybe something we don’t understand or know how to do.

But in prayer, most of the work is God’s work.

The question of what I need to do in prayer is simple:
will I invite, will I welcome God
to do what he wants to do in my life?
to speak what he wants to speak in my heart?
to help me understand what he wants me to know?
to heal and shape me to be the person he made me to be?
to forgive me so that I might be more free in his presence?

Jesus brought Peter, James and John up the mountain
to get to know him better.
Morning, noon and night, Jesus invites you and me to do the same.
He invites us to bring with us whatever burdens and troubles us
and he’s more than willing to help us carry what weighs us down.

He invites and takes us aside from the day-to-day
precisely to refresh our faith and trust in him
especially when people and things around us lead us to doubt.

He knows it’s not always easy for us
to step off the merry-go-rounds of our lives
to sit and be still with him --
but he is patient and understanding
and waits for us to catch our breath…

He calls us to hike up the mountains of our lives with him
because from all eternity he has known each one of us, by name,
and wants each one of us
to see him more clearly, to love him more dearly,
to follow him more nearly… day by day by day…

Lent is a season set aside for just this kind of getting-away-with-Jesus.
Through fasting that leads us to prayer
and through prayer that leads us to serve the poor,
the Lord draws close to us and invites us to draw closer to him.

In the whole week there is no moment of greater intimacy with Christ
than when we take a seat at his table here,
listen to his voice in the scripture
and share in the sacrifice and sacrament
of his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.

And on the other six days of the week, day by day,
he calls us aside to walk with him, to sit with him,
to be still in his presence and to love him more dearly,
day by day…

Day by day, day by day,
O, dear Lord, three things I pray:
to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly,
follow thee more nearly, day by day! 



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Praying 10 Minutes a Day: Second Week/Sunday

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What have been the peak experiences of your life?  the top-of-the mountain moments of peace and contentment and joy?

Did some of those moments last a long time?  And some for just a minute or two?

How was God a part of those moments?  Did you, have you, thanked God for those times?

Where do you find yourself on your journey on this Second Sunday of Lent?

Are you at the base of the mountain, ambling back and forth, trying to decide whether or not to begin the climb?

Have you begun the ascent, looking up and ahead but sometimes looking down and being frightened?  Are you focusing on where you want to get to?

Have there already been short moments of peace, contentment and joy as you spend time wanting to grow closer to God this Lent?  Have there been moments in your daily 10 minutes of prayer when you found yourself in God's presence?  near his side?  in his company?

Did you, have you, thanked God for those times?

For Peter, James and John in today's gospel, the mountaintop experience was over almost as quickly as it had begun.  It seems that as soon as Peter made a move to capture the moment ("Let's put up three tents here!"), the cloud came, the voice spoke and the vision was over.  Perhaps the mountaintop moments last only as long as we give ourselves to them, for as long as we are willing to free-fall into the arms of God...

Take some of these questions and your reflections on them to your 10 minutes of prayer today...  Imagine the mountain and where you are on the journey...  Imagine Jesus as your trusted and experienced guide...  Follow him and trust where he leads you...  On the way up the mountain, sit down the Lord and spend some quiet time in his presence...  You needn't be at the peak to know the peace, the contentment and the joy of being with him...  Sit with the Lord in silence... let him hear the prayer beating in your heart...  listen for his voice, his heart...  be still... and know that God is with you...


Are you new to "Praying 10 Minutes a Day in Lent" - or are you having trouble getting started?  The first installment offers some thoughts on getting started, as do the subsequent posts in the series.  So take a look and join us!


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Compline

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H/T to FB friend JMcG for linking to this "Patrick Compline" from the Nothumbria Community.  Compline is night prayer in the liturgy of the hours.  The Compline prayer below and those for each night of the week (at the link) are not from the church's liturgy but are beautiful prayers with which to end the day.

The Patrick Compline is the one suggested for Saturday nights.


+

In the name of the King of life;
in the name of the Christ of love;
in the name of the Holy Spirit:
the Triune of my strength.

I love you, O Lord my strength.
The Lord is my rock,
my fortress and my deliverer.
My God is my rock
in whom I take refuge.

I will praise the Lord who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.

I have set the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be shaken.

I am placing my soul and my body
under Thy guarding this night, O Christ.
May Thy cross this night be shielding me.

Into Your hands I commit my spirit;
redeem me, O Lord, the God of Truth.

The God of life with guarding hold you;
the loving Christ with guarding fold you;
the Holy Spirit, guarding, mould you;
each night of life to aid, enfold you;
each day and night of life uphold you.

May God shield me;
may God fill me;
may God keep me;
may God watch me;
may God bring me this night
to the nearness of His love.

The peace of the Father of joy,
the peace of the Christ of hope,
the peace of the Spirit of grace,

the peace of all peace
be mine this night
+
in the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.


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Praying 10 Minutes a Day: First Week/Saturday

Image: Conception Abbey

I'll repost this litany on each Saturday of Lent.  

Which of the names or titles for Mary in this Litany captures your mind's and heart's attention?  I think the one that grabs me this week is, "Queen of painful meetings..."  Especially in the the last days and hours of Jesus' life, Mary encountered her Son's pain and her own Mother's pain in seeing his...  My ministry often brings me to meeting with others who share their pain...

Which name or title for Mary in the Litany captures your minds' and heart's attention?

Bring that name and how it reaches you to your 10 minutes of prayer today...

Sit in silence with the Lord, and with his Mother... Be still and know that he is with you...   Be still and know that she is with you...

In this season of Lent when we contemplate the suffering and death of Jesus, let us to draw close to his Mother, Mary, whose own suffering and witness of her Son's passion was more than we can imagine.

As she stood by her Son in his suffering, so does she stand with us in our own hours of need...

A Marianist Litany to Mary

Holy Mary,  
pray for us!
Mother of God,
Mother of our redemption,
Mother of a lost child,
Mother of comfort and understanding,
Mother who shares our joys,
Mother who endures our sorrows,
Mother whose heart was pierced by a sword,
Mother most merciful,

Woman responsive to God's word,
pray for us!
Woman willing to believe the impossible,
Woman who rejoices in her lowliness,
Woman with an undivided heart,
Woman of perfect freedom,
Woman wrapped in mystery,
Woman moved by the Spirit,
Woman champion of the poor and lowly,
Woman graced by a husband's love,
Woman widowed by a husband's death,
Woman at the cross,
Woman patient and waiting,
Woman clothed with the sun,

Queen of the fullness of times,
pray for us!
Queen of beauty unalloyed,
Queen of integrity,
Queen of painful meetings,
Queen of all our heart's treasure,
Queen of our destiny,
Queen of peace, 

Mary, you are mother and virgin, 
wife and widow, 
peasant and queen,
blessed for all time. 

We need the comfort of your prayers. 
Remember us always to our Father through your Son, Jesus Christ, 
who is our Lord for ever and ever. 
Amen. 

- Rev. Joseph H. Lackner, S.M.



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Climbing mountains with the Lord...

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This weekend's gospel is about mountain climbing and what happens when you make it to the top - and what happens on the way back down.  (And there's a mountain in the day's first scripture, too!)

For a sneak preview of this Sunday's scriptures, take a look at this earlier post.

There's no better way to prepare for Sunday worship than to spend some time with the Word you'll hear proclaimed and preached in the liturgy.

Here's a video of Sufjan Stevens' song, Transfiguration, with visuals supplied by a variety of artists.

When he took the three disciples
to the mountainside to pray,
his countenance was modified, his clothing was aflame.
Two men appeared: Moses and Elijah came;
they were at his side.
The prophecy, the legislation spoke of whenever he would die.

Then there came a word
of what he should accomplish on the day.
Then Peter spoke, to make of them a tabernacle place.
A cloud appeared in glory as an accolade.
They fell on the ground.
A voice arrived, the voice of God,
the face of God, covered in a cloud.

What he said to them,
the voice of God: the most beloved son.
Consider what he says to you, consider what's to come.
The prophecy was put to death,
was put to death, and so will the Son.
And keep your word, disguise the vision till the time has come.

Lost in the cloud, a voice: Have no fear! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of man! Turn your ear!
Lost in the cloud, a voice: Lamb of God! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of man! Son of God!

- Sufjan Stevens

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Stations of the Cross on the Fridays of Lent

(I'll be reposting this each Friday in Lent)

The Stations of the Cross is an ancient devotion in the Catholic Church. Here's a brief history of the Stations which includes a comparison of the customary 14 stations (those found on the walls of most churches and chapels) and a newer version which came to us from John Paul II and was used for the first time in Rome on Good Friday 1991.

You might want to check your parish schedule to see if the Stations of the Cross are being prayed in your church.

Here's a link to several presentations of the Stations for your prayer at home, online.

The video below offers another opportunity to pray the Stations of the Cross at home, online. It's only 6 minutes long but of course one could pause the video at each station and pray for a longer time.





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Praying 10 Minutes a Day: First Week/Friday

Image source: Communio

In Lent we prepare to remember the suffering and death of Jesus, preparing to celebrate his resurrection.  From the moment he was conceived in Mary's womb, the heart of Jesus beat for us in love, compassion and mercy until that same heart stopped when he sacrificed everything that we might have life and have it to the full.  Even now, the heart of the Risen Jesus beats for us and will for all eternity.

The first Friday of every month is a day on which Catholics have a custom of praying to the Heart of Jesus.

For your 10 minutes of Lenten prayer today, spend some time with this beautiful Litany of the Sacred Heart.

In the first section of the litany, you might ponder which attributes of Jesus' heart are the ones you need the most right now in your life...

In the next seven sections of the litany are a number of titles or names for the Heart of Jesus: which of these names reaches out to your heart and its needs today?

In the next to the last section are phrases that speak of Christ's love for us, especially in his suffering and death:  how might those phrases have Lenten meaning for you this year?

And in the last section, we pray to love as the Heart of Jesus has taught us to love...

Find your place for prayer...  sit in the silence... be still... and know that the Heart of Jesus is with you...


Let us pray...

Litany of the Sacred Heart

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

So loving
So humble
So gentle
So compassionate
So faithful
So wise
So patient
So steadfast
So tender
So spacious

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

God’s joy
God’s shalom
Harp of the Trinity
Wingbeat of the Spirit
Breath of God
Five-petaled rose

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Womb of justice
Birthplace of peace
Our dearest hope
Longing of our lives

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Freely flowing fountain
Spring of grace
Freshet of forgiveness
Merciful river
Mystical dew

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Warmth of our hearts
Transforming fire
Cosmic furnace
Enflamer of hearts

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Heart of evolution
Beginning and ending
Center of all

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Garden of virtues
Mystical dew
Table and food

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Our refuge
Our shelter
Our comfort
Our rest
Our welcoming breast

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Wounded by love
Pierced by our cruelty
Broken by our hardness
Mystic winepress
Poured out as gift

Heart of Jesus, hear our prayer!

Have mercy, gracious heart,
Give us gratefulness
Teach us tenderness
Let us learn to love.

Hear our prayer!

- Wendy Wright

Let us pray...

Lord of all our hearts,
open wide your Heart of mercy
and refresh us in this season of Lent
with the peace that flows from the font of your love.
Gracious Lord,
hear and answer our prayer.
Amen.


Are you new to "Praying 10 Minutes a Day in Lent" - or are you having trouble getting started?  The first installment offers some thoughts on getting started, as do the subsequent posts in the series.  So take a look and join us!


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Cardinal Dolan on HHS mandate

"We'd sure rather be partnering than punching!"

Cardinal Timothy Dolan (Archbishop of New York and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) blogs at The Gospel in the Digital Age.

His post for March 1 is a lengthy update and commentary on the issue of religious freedom and the recent mandate of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

I encourage you to read Cardinal Dolan's post in full.  While it's addressed in particular to the people of the Archdiocese of New York, its message is for all Americans.


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