Reflection on the Readings for the 4th Sunday of Lent

“My son, my child, you are with me always and all I have is yours.”

We can never ever fathom this mystery of God’s unbounded love for us. He has given us everything. God who is love saying to each one of us:  “you are the recipient of my infinite love. I have sent my Son to live among you as one of yourselves; to die a most horrible death so that you might be with me forever --- if only you would listen and turn to him and accept our merciful and forgiving love.”

For me this morning’s readings at Mass help me to appreciate this tremendous gift. In the 1^st reading the Lord says to Joshua, “Today I have taken away the shame of Egypt from you.” Yes in this day of your baptism (remember it is always the eternal now within the Blessed Trinity) we too have been snatched away from the evil one and given a participation in the life of God Himself.

In the gospel the prodigal father, when his son repents of his sinful life, takes away the shame of his life of debauchery and the disgrace as a Jew of feeding pigs, so we in our turn as we draw close to Jesus and the Father are forgiven and clothed in the splendid robe of grace. Let us repeat over and over again, “it is all God’s work” for he has chosen us to be his very own by letting us live in Christ “who for our sake God the father made the sinless One Jesus into sin so that we might become the goodness of God.”

The responsorial psalm invites us, “taste and see that the Lord is good.” Blessed Julian of Norwich, the English mystic, in contemplating this mystery expresses it beautifully: “By His grace and help let us in spirit stand and gaze, eternally marvelling at the supreme, surpassing, single-minded, incalculable love that God in his goodness has for us. Then we can ask reverently of our lover whatever we will. For by nature our will wants God and the good will of God wants us. We shall never cease wanting and longing until we possess Him in fullness and joy. Then we shall have no further wants. Meanwhile His will is that we go on knowing and loving until we are perfected in heaven.”

16th April: Day of Prayer and Reflection - hosted jointly with the Franciscan sisters of the Renewal

We have another day planned with our Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal, as we have done in the past - for any young women who might be interested in learning a little more about who we and they (the CFRs) are.

We answer all kinds of questions, and you get to spend time in prayer and adoration with Jesus; the day will begin with Holy Mass - celebrated by one of our brothers.

Do get in touch if you think it might be a day for you; tell people you know who might find it helpful; we look forward to seeing everyone who comes; if the last day is anything to go by, it will be one to remember and be grateful for - full of grace!

To book a place please contact us at: siena3@eircom.net or
Franciscan Sisters at 041 - 9830441.
Overnight accommodation available – please complete the contact form on our website, here.

To give you an idea of what these days are like, here are some photos from the past:

Getting Ready

The night before.

A Dominican Talk

A Franciscan Talk

At Prayer

Clean Up

Relaxing at the end of the Day.

Happy Christmas

We wish all our readers many graces and blessings during the Christmas season.
Here we share with you a Christmas reflection

 

Christmas Homily

At the Office of Readings during the coming week we read:

Behold God the Father has sent down to earth as it were a bag filled with His Mercy; a bag to be rent open in the Passion so that our ransom which it concealed might be poured out; a small bag indeed, but full.  It is indeed a small child who is given to us, but in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.  (From a sermon by St Bernard).

 

We celebrate tonight God’s coming among us – not as a man of power but as a baby.  He could have chosen to come as a fully grown man but he comes as a vulnerable baby and what could be more helpless than a newborn baby? He could have chosen rich parents who would provide the maximum amount of comfort – but he chose Mary and Joseph, both poor in material things but with hearts wide open to receive all the love which this Baby wishes to bestow.  The Good News is first proclaimed to simple shepherds, the outcasts, those without status while “His own people did not receive Him” (John 1: )

In our yearly celebration of Christmas we remember his coming in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago and we look forward to his second coming and our going to him at the moment of death.  However there is a third coming which is as real and as important as the other two – the one for which we have prepared during the weeks of Advent - it is His coming to us in the grace of the Mystery which we celebrate.  Yes He comes to each of us personally and only desires an open heart ready to receive all that He wishes to give.  He was not ashamed to be born in a stable with the animals around – now He desires to come to the stable of our hearts, no matter how poor, sinful or miserable.  He stands at the door knocking, waiting for our ‘yes’ as he waited on Mary’s ‘yes’ - He needs our hearts to pray His prayer and radiate His love in our restless modern world.

Throughout the ages He is the One who takes the initiative in coming to us – He tells Moses that He is “well aware of the suffering of His people” and comes to rescue them.  He reveals Himself as “the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”  In his letter to Titus, St Paul reminds us that God our Father was not concerned with any righteous actions we ourselves might have done – it was for no reason except his own compassion that He saved us.  During this extraordinary Year of Mercy, no doubt, He “comes to assist us in our weakness” and (to quote Pope Francis) “His help consists in helping us to accept His presence and closeness to us.”  Day by day as we are touched by His compassion, He asks that we too become more generous and compassionate towards others.  We are called to be credible witnesses to the Mercy of our Father – professing it and living it as the core of the revelation of Jesus Christ. The challenge for us is: “will we open our hearts to receive all He wants to give us this Christmas? 

May Mary, the Mother of Mercy, who accompanied her Son from His birth in Bethlehem to His death on Calvary, watch over us and teach us to “discover the joy of God’s tenderness” and to be faithful to our mission as Dominican Nuns of perpetuating Dominic’s prayer for sinners and all the down-trodden, the afflicted and all the poor suffering people of our world.  May our celebration of this Christmas be a source of light and joy for the whole Church and our world.

 

O Emmanuel - 23rd December 2015

 

Our 7^th and final ‘O Antiphon’ tonight reads:

O Emmanuel, you are our king and judge,

                                       the one whom the peoples await and their Saviour.

                                       O come and save us, Lord our God.

 

The meaning of ‘Emmanuel’ is “God with us”. In a way it anticipates the nativity, the birth of our Lord, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, which we will celebrate, tomorrow night.

Knowing that God is with us gives us inner security, peace, joy, delight, hope – as St Paul says:

 “With God on our side, who can be against us” ( Rm 8 :31) and “ It is in him that we live and move and have our being” ( Acts 17:28).

Having been made in the image and likeness of God we have a natural capacity for God and the things of God. We experience a profound yearning for him, just as the prophets and people of the Old testament yearned, longed for and awaited the coming of the Messiah,  for the search for God and the desire to be in relationship with him is rooted in our human nature and the psalms testify to this so beautifully: 

“O God you are my God, for you I long

For you my soul is thirsting” (Psalm 62)

and 

“I say to the Lord, you are my God,

my happiness lies in you alone.”

and

“What else have I in Heaven but you,

apart from you I want nothing on earth”

It seems to me that this antiphon is prayed with great humility, teaching us about this great and difficult virtue. Humility is truth. In this antiphon the people recognise and acknowledge their inability to save themselves for they cry out for a Saviour. We, too, continue this cry for we also, are in constant need of the Lord’s grace to live the Christian life, -“cut off from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5)– the words of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel. This in fact is Good News for the Lord is more ready and willing to bestow on us this grace than we, in our innate pride, independence and individualism are prepared to ask for it.

This is portrayed by Pope Francis, in a recent address: he says:

“At Christmas God gives us all of Himself by giving his one and only Son, who is all his joy – Jesus – the gift of gifts – the undeserved gift that brings us salvation”

 

That final plea, “O come and save us, Lord our God”, sums up all the preceding petitions of the other O antiphons. It is a cry from the heart of the Church, and since the Church prays not only for herself but for the whole world, it is also a cry from the heart of all humanity. As we pray this antiphon in a few minutes we are called to pray it from the depths of our own hearts, in humility of spirit, in the name of all humanity and for all humanity- conscious as we are of the suffering in the world- in Syria, Iraq, Africa, the Holy Land, India, Pakistan and for the renewal of faith in our own country and in the home countries of all our sisters: England; Scotland; Malta; France; Belarus and Korea.

O come and save us, Lord our God.

O Rex Gentium - 22nd December 2015

 

“O King and treasure of the nations,

the cornerstone that makes the two into one;

Come

and save man whom you fashioned from dust.”

 

We heard this morning from the Prophet Isaiah (during the Office of Readings) the following:

Thus says the LORD God:

“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

Kings shall be your foster-fathers and their queens your nursing mothers.

With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet.

Then you will know that I am the LORD: those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”

(Is 49:22-23)

It is difficult – never having shaken hands with one – to know what qualities one might expect a king to have – so that he might be approachable and command a certain allegiance and loyalty. 

Kindness, perhaps? … and Knowledge? 

Insight, maybe also Inspiration;

Nobility;

Graciousness.

We all come into the world in the same way, whether we be high or low; kings or paupers – and in only a very short while now, we will celebrate the great day of JESUS’ birth, and it won’t be immediately obvious what He is – a king or a pauper?  Or both?

Do we have eyes to see?

Our “O” antiphon this evening speaks of JESUS as “the cornerstone that makes the two into one,” and it was these particular words “makes the two into one” which made the more perplexing impression: what two? … and two what?

As with many of the “O” antiphons, it is very possible to give free reign to one’s imagination and set out on an adventure whose destination is unknown.  Mine took me rather mundanely to the second creation account in Genesis.

When, on waking from the sleep during which God fashioned Eve out of Adam, Adam beheld her and cried,

            “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh …”         (Gen 2:23)

Out of two … one.

And the very next verse re-unites them: God re-unites them:

            “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one …”                                                                        (Gen 2:24)

 

Our completion lies outside of ourselves: our wholeness and integrity is not something man can achieve independently of others, but we seem to be living through a period of what will eventually be history, where this truth makes little sense and is unwelcome.

Yet JESUS has come: born for us.

And we who have been blessed with faith and eyes to recognise – with Mary and Joseph; the angels and shepherds; and the kings who “with their faces to the ground .. bow down .. and lick the dust of [his] feet” – eyes to see that He is our King: we, even we now, all these years and ages later, we know the truth.

We are one in Him, Who unites men and women, kings and paupers.  He is utterly attractive, irresistible.  His words are powerful, challenging and hard, yet true. 

 

We must be the ears of the world: ears for those who are lost yet searching; ears for those who do not even know how lost they are; ears for ourselves that we may earnestly seek and long for Him, more and more.  He is our King; and He is our brother – approachable: Kind; Insightful; Noble; Gracious.  He knows our needs and so our prayer will lift us up to Him; by it He will transform us, make us alike even unto God our Father.

 

As on that day so long ago when the shepherds and kings beheld the helpless Child, and knew that He upon Whom they gazed was indeed the Saviour of the world, the King – yet must wait in patience for Him to grow in wisdom and strength – so let us, with Mary, wait … and know that we “shall not be put to shame” (Is 49:23).

 

“Come and save man whom you fashioned from dust.”

 

“O Rising Sun - 21st December 2015

“O Rising sun, You are the splendor of eternal light, and the sun of justice.

O come and enlighten those who sit in darkness, those who dwell in the shadow of death.

Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus, come”

                

What can be a better metaphor or image to depict the reality of salvation given by God to human beings than light and darkness? Even without going deep into the metaphysics of light by Grosseteste, Or the reflections on light by St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure or other theologians and philosophers, or without further specific analysis of light as knowledge, truth, goodness, life, etc., we immediately grasp the meaning of this text. We are very familiar with the word and image of “light” throughout Old Testament and New Testament and numerous sacred religious arts to describe the saving power and act of God from our death, sin, and suffering. 

You are probably familiar with the famous painting of Caravaggio “the calling of St Matthew”. The beam of light from Jesus shone towards Matthew who was sitting at the table in the darkness when Jesus called him.  How about “The Light of the World” by William Holman Hunt? In this painting, Jesus is holding a lamp in one of his hands and knocks on the door with the other hand, but interestingly there is no doorknob on the door, which means that the door can be opened only by the person inside the door.  I interpret that the light, grace, and redemption are brought by Jesus Christi in person, but still our cooperation is necessary to receive them.   

During fall last year, about 18 secondary-school girls visited the monastery and had a conversation with the novitiate about Catholicism and our contemplative life. A lot of good questions were asked and one particular question seized my attention because it touches the fundamental aspect of our lives.  If I rephrase it, the question was, what is the sign that our religion can give in this suffering world?  If I read the meaning further, there are so many sufferings in the world, what are the signs that we can give to the world that God saved us and is with us?  What difference does Jesus make, like the title of the book by Sheed?  How do we bear witness as we are supposed to do?  

I could have given answers in many different directions, but I gave an answer like following that can be universally understood by everybody. Suffering is mystery. We still don’t know why. But then, I gave an example of one poignant prayer that was found beside the body of a dead child in the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. Some of you might remember it because I introduced it during office of reading on St. Edith Stein’s feast day. The prayer is like this:

“O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we have bought thanks to this suffering; our comradeship, our loyalty, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this, and when they come to judgment, let all the fruits which we have borne be their forgiveness."

And I said to them that I believe that this is the supreme free human act of love and faith and hope which can be granted through grace by God. That is one of the signs that God has saved humanity and is with us. If one can pray with this highest human nobility, and with such faith, hope, and love, under the extremely cruel, miserable and inhuman condition of Auschwitz, I am sure that this is a victory of humanity due to grace given by God.

Today I want to add a little bit more related to the O antiphon and the girl’s question.  What I would like to share is my reflection on the light of Christ shed on suffering, which delivers us from the darkness, even though there are still sufferings in our everyday life and in our world.

But, before doing that, I would like to introduce some terms first. St. John Paul II gave his reflection on redemption and said that redemption is victory given as a task to man. He then described the 3 ways or stages- purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways- to follow Jesus.  I would like to adopt these 3 terms - purgative, illuminative, and unitive – to my reflection on suffering since I believe that these terms are also very adequate for what I try to say.

Jesus didn’t come simply to get rid of sufferings. He enlightens our attitude towards our sufferings. The sufferings can be caused by our individual sins or faults. In that case, we suffer in a purgative way, which purifies us. It is painful, but eventually it reminds us of where we are, can help us repent and turn toward God.  In the case of suffering that is caused by others’ faults and sins or by the events beyond our control such as unknown or terminal illnesses or death of our beloved, we suffer in an illuminative way which helps us develop our virtues and grow in holiness. We can offer them up for others in union with Christ. Actually, I know one prayer group of people with chronic illnesses in Chicago area, and their mission is to offer their sufferings for the world (they didn’t want to waste their sufferings). The sufferings that we decide to bear willingly and freely for others’ sake purely, that is unitive suffering like St Maximilian Kolbe since that is the purest act of love which is most closely united with God (even though we still offer illuminative suffering in union with God).

Of course, we don’t purposefully seek the sufferings to suffer. Actually we try to minimize and prevent the sufferings as much as possible.  What I would like to say is that we don’t just sit and suffer in the darkness helplessly anymore, like people without hope. Due to Christ, suffering became an active tool that we can use for purification, sanctification for us and for others, when the sufferings occur.  We Catholics share the merits of others-communion of saints, but also share the sufferings of others as we are one body. The light of Christ makes us to look at sufferings in our daily lives and in the world differently now with new perspective, therefore bear and embrace them with hope, faith, and love, and courage, and therefore are capable to pray like one that I read previously.

Before Edith Stein was converted to Catholicism, she had experience of the strength of the Christian faith which influenced her much. One of them was his friend’s death and she was surprised by the acceptance of this death by his wife with faith. That was the moment to receive the light of Christ for her. She wrote later. "This was my first encounter with the Cross and the divine power it imparts to those who bear it ... it was the moment when my unbelief collapsed and Christ began to shine his light on me - Christ in the mystery of the Cross."  I believe that this is the one of the lights that Christ brought us and one of the lights that we Catholics must hold for the world.

The following famous quote in the book “The little prince” by Antoine de St Exupery, echoes this reality. “What makes the desert beautiful is that it hides, somewhere, a well.”  We can say that too. What makes our life, even though full of sufferings, beautiful is that we live the reality that there is our God who entered into human history in the midst of our sufferings and death in order to bring us back to life with Him, and His light shine on us to make it possible to realize and discover this reality in our daily lives, and grow in this reality.  This reality is our well. Jesus Christ is our light and our hope.

O key of David - 20th December 2015

O key of David and sceptre of Israel, what you open no else can close again; what you close no one can open. O come to lead the captive from prison; free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Jesus in his own body has opened the door to salvation. He is the door. He is the way into the Kingdom, into the very heart of the Trinity. “I am the door ; if anyone enters through Me , he will be saved.”

It would be difficult to reflect upon this antiphon this advent, without making a connection to the Jubilee Year and the significance of the Holy Door of Mercy being opened in every diocese in the world. Pope Francis in various homilies has this to say: “As Christians we are called to cross the threshold of the door of mercy. We are asked to welcome and experience God’s love which recreates, transforms and renews life. From this experience we must go out and be instruments of mercy. God is anxious to be merciful and to welcome everyone into the tender embrace of reconciliation and forgiveness. “

A major aspect of the Holy Year throughout history has been that of a pilgrimage to Rome to make reparation for sin and to renew the conversion of one’s life. As in today’s antiphon the prayer of the pilgrim, and each of us are pilgrims, could be ‘ O come to lead the captive from prison, free those who live in darkness and the shadow of death.’  Show us your mercy O lord, remember your Holy Covenant sealed in the blood of your Son on the Cross .

A very important symbolic act performed by each pilgrim has been to pass through the Holy Door.  Pope St. John Paul 11 said,  at the opening of the last jubilee that the “Holy Door evokes the passage from sin to grace which every Christian is called to accomplish.” He continues, “Jesus said   ‘I am the door’, in order to make it clear that no one can come to the father except through him. He alone is the saviour sent by the Father. He alone is the way, the only way that opens wide the entrance into life of communion with God. To Him alone can the words of the psalm be applied in full truth: “this is the door of the Lord where the just may enter”

So the symbolism of passing through the holy Door into the basilica or Church is to pass from this world into the presence of God. It is to freely decide to cross the threshold, leaving behind the kingdom of this world and all that holds us captive so as to enter into the new life of grace of the kingdom of God.

Our hearts are made for God. Within each one of us there is a sense of incompleteness and only God can make us whole.   Especially in our times, people do not realise that God is the answer to the extraordinary restlessness they feel. They are aware thar nothing satisfies them. The more they have the more they realise that this is not what they are looking for. Their hearts ache for they know not what. But we know, we know that our restless longings are genuine, our sense of incompleteness is real and that only God can satisfy our deepest longings. In this year of Mercy, this time of overflowing grace, let us get excited about bringing others to the fount that God may quench their thirst. Let us unite with Jesus longing ,his hope, his thirst, his welcome.  It was said of Dominic that his desire for the salvation of others was such that it kept him awake nights. The brethren could hear him in the quiet, crying out in anguish ‘Lord have mercy on your people , what will become of sinners’. Let us join him. Let us become so captivated by Jesus that we are willing to make a hole in the roof to bring those in need of forgiveness into Jesus presence. Let us be like Mary whose intercession in the upper room caused Jesus to come in, even through locked doors.

 God wishes to show mercy to the world. His servants are the answer. God wishes to show mercy through us, to free those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.  ‘To love and forgive are the concrete visible signs that faith has transformed our hearts and they enable us to express in our selves the very life of God’( Pope Francis). It is in and through us that God now enters our world. We are the face of his mercy. Let us enter into the heart of Jesus that He might enter into the heart of our world.