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Yom Kippur 2011 begins tomorrow

Image: The Jewish Federation of San Antonio

Yom Kippur begins at sundown tomorrow, October 7, and is kept as a holy day through sundown on October 8.

This moving meditation is from Yom Kippur's Kol Nidre service and can be found in Gates of Repentance, the Union prayerbook for the Days of Awe by Chaim Stern, Central Conference of American Rabbis.

Birth is a beginning
And death a destination.
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
And youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
And ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion
And then, perhaps, to wisdom;
From weakness to strength
Or strength to weakness –
And, often, back again;
From health to sickness
And back, we pray, to health again;
From offense to forgiveness,
From loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude,
From pain to compassion,
And grief to understanding –
From fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat –
Until, looking backward or ahead,
We see that victory lies
Not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage,
A sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
And death a destination.
And life is a journey,
A sacred pilgrimage –
To life everlasting.

I'm pleased to link to Alden Solovy's page, To Bend Light for his collection of prayers for Yom Kippur.  I hope you will join me in offering Alden and his family a hearty Shalom as they celebrate these beautiful and important days of faith.

For everyone's moments of reflection and atonement, this beautiful setting of Kol Nidre for cello by Max Bruch will serve well. You might choose to listen to this music as background for reflecting on the prayer above or the prayers found on Alden's page.

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Steve Jobs / UPDATE

I never met this man whose work has had such a remarkable impact on my life, my ministry -- on all the ways I communicate with so many people.

Please join me in praying for Steve Jobs, for his family and friends and for all whose lives he touched.

UPDATE: For a fine commentary on Jobs' impact on the Catholic world, see Rocco's post here.


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Shine on, shine on, harvest moon...

H/T to SueB for the photo

The days grow shorter and I wish I could reach out and grab hold of summer's last, lingering traces...

But there's a beauty in this time as nature begins to paint the trees and shower leaves like a carpet underfoot...

And there's a glowing, growing harvest moon with beauty hard to resist even as she shines on summer's leaving and fall's knock upon the door...

Season after season the Lord walks us to the promise of yet another spring, with memories of springtimes gone but not forgotten in our hearts...

Walk with us now, Lord, and take our hand along the way...




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Word for the weekend: October 9

Some folks love weddings!  Other folks... well, not so much!

There's a wedding in this coming Sunday's gospel (Matthew) - and an invitation to a lavish feast in the day's first lesson, taken from Isaiah.

Lest you get caught without a wedding garment, check out the scriptures ahead of time and be prepared!  Bringing young ones to Mass with you?  Check here for hints on helping them prepare to hear the Word.

The first scripture this weekend describes a great feast and its menu but the greatest offering here is something much greater than a tasty dish!

The gospel tells the story of a wedding and who's invited, who shows up and who gets bounced.  Which category will you and I fall into?

The second reading offers some advice from Paul who claims he can "do all things..." How does he accomplish that?  Take a look at the text and find the source of Paul's power.


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I know that my Redeemer lives!

Freedom by Zenos Frudakis
16th and Vine Street
Philadelphia, PA

This sculpture takes my breath away even as it seems to breathe life into the one being freed...

What's sculpted here is not only the freedom of eternal life but also the freedom God desires for us every day of our lives, even at the corner of 16th and Vine in Philadelphia, PA!

Almost immediately upon seeing this I thought of this piece of music...




H/T to FaceBook friend WP


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Monday Morning Prayer - 163

Image: George Mendoza


Good morning, good God!

Two friends I've not seen for years
were here for Mass yesterday
and then a wonderful brunch afterwards...

Oh, Lord, what a great day!

Old memories, new stories, laughs and tears,
a conversation begun nearly 30 years ago,
picked up as though several decades out of touch
hadn't interrupted in the least...

It's like that with good friends, Lord...

No matter how long it's been
you pick up right where you left off,
drawing on love put in trust for another day,
when we'd be back together again,
like yesterday...

It's like that with good friends, Lord
and so it's like that with you...

You're my oldest friend, Lord:
you loved me before I knew you,
before I was,
and you love me even when I act
as if we never met..

You hold sure every memory of our friendship,
especially when it might seem
I've just about forgotten you...

You cherish all our good times and forgive the times
when I've been less than faithful to you...

When I come back to you,
you're ready to pick up right where we left off,
ready to heal the breach my distance
put between us,
though never for a moment did you ever leave my side...

You rejoice in my return, Lord,
no matter how long I've been away
and you never tire of being with me,
of being there for me...

What a joy for me yesterday, Lord,
to see my friends across your table, to pray
and share with them your Word,
your grace, your presence...


Just as it's my joy, Lord, every week,
to meet you at your table, to speak to you in prayer,
to be nourished by your Word, graced by your mercy
and welcomed into the peace of your presence...

I offer you my praise and thanks, Lord,
for the friendship I have with you
and for your faithfulness to me
in good times and in bad...

I offer you my heart made joyful by all the friends
whose lives I've shared, whose hearts I know
because once, years ago, our faith brought us to you
and thus to one another...

Let me never forget your faithfulness, Lord,
let sin and shame never keep me
from your embrace
ever beckoning and drawing me
to return to you and to your love...

Make me a faithful friend to others, Lord,
to those whose paths crossed mine so many years ago
and to new friends whose paths will cross mine
today and all this week...

Amen.


(Click here for an archive of Monday Morning Offerings)



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Whatcha' been thinkin' about?

Image: Sansonespot

Homilly for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Scriptures for today's Mass

Audio for homily

Whatcha’ been thinkin’ about?

What thoughts have kept you awake at night as you try to fall asleep?

What thoughts have been renting space in the attic of your mind?
in the closets of your heart? in the corners of your soul?

Whatcha’ been thinking’ about when you’re alone in the car?
While you’re grocery shopping?
When someone’s talking to you but you’re not really listening?

Whatcha’ been thinkin’ about
since you walked into church this morning?
What were you thinking about as the scriptures were being proclaimed?

It’s amazing where mind and memory can take us
whether we’re sitting still, alone, or even when we’re very busy.

Very often, no one but the Lord knows what we’re thinking about…

Our thoughts often take us to our worries, our problems,
our disappointments and hurt, our fears and anxieties…
past failures, worries about tomorrow...

Of course we need to ponder what troubles us,
to think about and pray over our problems.
That’s often the way we find healing, forgiveness and growth.
But sometimes
our thoughts can become so deeply rooted in our difficulties,
that we begin to think there’s no way out of them.

Regardless of where our thoughts may have wandered
during this Mass,
we need to consider what St. Paul asked us to ponder today.

Actually, Paul told us what to think about!

He wrote,
Think about these things.
Think about whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious…
if there is anything worthy of praise,
thing about these things…
and then the God of peace will be with you…

Of course, the God of peace is with us in our troubled thoughts as well,
but if we live only in our troubles,
we may begin to imagine, even to believe, that’s all there is.

If we think only about, look only at our problems,
our troubles may be all we find.

St. Paul is offering us something much more than that.

• Regardless of how I might have been hurt by lies and injustice,
I also have things true and honorable to ponder in my own life,
in the lives of those around me and in my faith.
I may need to search those things out and think on them:
they’re theyre -- and they’re there for me… and there for you…

• In spite of how soiled might be my own life
or the world around me, there is the purity of true beauty to enjoy,
the innocence of children to wonder at,
the glory of nature all around me;
and the diverse loveliness of all the human beings
whose paths cross mine, day after day.

And there is the purity and beauty of God
whose hands reach out to take mine,
whose arms never fail to embrace and hold me.

I may need to look up, out of my problems, to experience all this,
but it’s there, and it’s there for each one of us…

• I may stumble and fall and make a complete mess of my life
and yet I have the graciousness of God to reflect on:
the Lord, ever ready to forgive, to help me up,
to help me begin again to walk with him.

I may need to forgive myself my own failings and that may be difficult,
but the forgiving mercy of God is always within my reach,
just there…

• My troubles might wear me down, harden my heart and burn me out
but the gift of God’s love is always before me, behind me, within me,
and more than worthy of my praise and gratitude.

In a world of lies and corruption,
of injustices, of coarse and immodest sham,
gifts of excellence will need to be sought out, found and treasured.

Like the vineyards in today’s scriptures,
such gifts will need tender care and nurturing
if we hope to be sustained by them.

St. Paul also told us today, “Have no anxiety at all…”

If that seems impossible, as it often seems to me,
then find in your day, in your week, in your heart
a small vineyard of what is good and true,
what is pure and beautiful, what is praiseworthy:
find that small vineyard and visit there often…

And bring your troubles there with you
for the One who tends the vineyard wants to prune away
what might weaken and waste our spirit.

The vineyard the Lord tends in our hearts
is the vineyard he asks us, his people,
to nurture and tend in the world around us.

Come to that vineyard in your heart -- as you came here today.
Certainly we all came here with our own troubles,
but we also came
- to ponder a word that is true
- to drink in what is gracious and beautiful in our prayer
and to offer thanks for what is worthy of our praise;
- to find the peace of God
that surpasses all our troubles and all our understanding.

We came to this vineyard of people at prayer
where the Lord welcomes us to his table
to share the harvest he brought in
through the gift of his love for us on the Cross.

Come to this table, then, and receive the sacrament
that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

Something about this video dovetails beautifully with the message of St. Paul in today's passage from Philippians.  If you're having trouble finding that vineyard of the Lord's presence in your heart, spend some time with the beauty and message of this presentation...

(H/T to JC)




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Seven years of loving

We tend to wait for multiples of 5 years to name special anniversaries, but here's notice of a 7th anniversary very deserving of our attention.

A friend I've not seen in many years but with whom I'm connected on FaceBook, posted this today, his wedding anniversary:

Today Ive been married for seven years to the most amazing woman I have ever known. I love you my sweet angel. Thank you for giving me a reason to turn it all around so long ago. For showing me something I never thought I would see. True love. Thank you for being a wonderful mother to our children and for loving me even on the days you didn't want to or the days I didn't deserve it. I love you very much and am so glad we are on this journey together. Through the ups and downs you are there. Marriage is not easy, sometimes near impossible, but that's what makes it so special. That we share a love that is unbreakable, forgiving, and most of all, genuine. I love you my soul mate. And I look forward to many more years of being married to my best friend.

I'm going to print this out and share it with engaged couples as I prepare them to celebrate the sacrament of marriage.  I rejoice in my friend's marriage and especially so because he speaks so clearly of:

how sometimes everything needs to be turned around...
those difficult days when loving seems impossible...
love that spans and survives all the ups and downs...
a relationship that's not easy and sometimes near impossible...
what truly makes marriage so special...
the need for forgiveness...

Join me in praying for many more happy, forgiving, unbreakable, loving years for M and R on their journey together!


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Here's how it's going...

I began this blog on July 18, 2007 with a post titled, Let's see how this goes...

3,315 posts later, the SiteMeter on the sidebar has recorded this page's 500,000th hit.

I find great satisfaction and joy in this venture and I'm grateful for all of you who visit here so often.

In the greater blogosphere these stats aren't remarkable but I never dreamed this blog would last this long or come this far.  It's a good lesson for me (perhaps for you, too) of what a difference taking one step in a new direction can make in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.

Your readership has made a great difference in my life and ministry and for that I thank you.  If visiting here has made a positive difference for you, I'd be grateful if you'd share a link to this page with others who might also benefit from it.

My thanks to Rocco, Deacon Greg and Phil who often link to this page, generously drawing new readers my way!

So, with 500,000 down, let's see how it goes from here...



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