Laudato SI Week May 19 - 26, 2024

 

Laudato Si Week (May 19-26, 2024) Let's Celebrate Seeds of Hope

 

The 2023 Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum amplified the urgent call of Laudato Si’ to ecological conversion, to a “pilgrimage of reconciliation with the world that is our home.” The theme of Laudato Si’ Week 2024, Seeds of Hope, calls to mind the words of Meister Eckhart, "What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action." We invite you to a daily period of contemplative prayer during Laudato Si’ Week 2024, to a daily planting of the seeds of hope in the soil of contemplation. If you can, pray outside. Begin your prayer by becoming aware of your place in the communion of Creation. Press your feet into the ground. Become conscious of your breathing. Feel the sun or breeze on your skin. Listen for the voices of other creatures. When you feel centered, read the day’s quotes from Laudato Si’ or Laudate Deum and from the other authors. How do they relate to each other? Pick a word or phrase that calls to you. Let that word draw you into silence. Let the seed of hope sink into the soil of contemplation. What are you called to reap in the harvest of action? (These reflections for Laudato Si Week are courtesy of Office of Peace, Justice and the Integrity of Creation, Sisters of Charity of New York Office of Peace, Justice and Ecological Integrity, Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth) Pentecost Sunday, May 19   “Hence, “the creatures of this world no longer appear to us under merely natural guise because the risen One is mysteriously holding them to himself and directing them towards fullness as their end. The very flowers of the field and the birds which his human eyes contemplated and admired are now imbued with his radiant presence”. If “the universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely… there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face”. The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?” LD 65 “God is God as Spirit-Sophia, the mobile, pure, people-loving Spirit who pervades every wretched corner, wailing at the waste, releasing power that enables fresh starts. Her energy quickens the earth to life, her beauty shines in the stars, her strength breaks forth in every fragment of shalom and renewal…. From generation to generation, she enters into holy souls, and not so holy ones, to make them friends of God and prophets, thereby making human beings allies of God’s redeeming purpose. What we can say is this: Sophia-God dwells in the world at its center and at its edges, an active vitality crying out in labor, birthing the new creation. Fire, wind, water, and the color purple are her signs.”  Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ

Mother's Day Prayer

 

A Prayer in Gratitude for Our Mothers

Good and Gentle God,
we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women of theory who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth new life. You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.
Give them the strength to live and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly.
Give them the faithful support of husband, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children.
Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood. Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most. Amen.

• Author Unknown

Sixth Sunday of Easter

 

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another." (John 15: 9-17)

In today’s Gospel we see that faith in Christ is Christ gift to us. The key today is not simply following the commandments, turning around to see if Jesus is watching. It is more that that. John Shea once said, “if people grasp and understand themselves as link in the love chain from the Father to Jesus, from Jesus to them, and from them to one another, they will be moved from being anxious." Our society today is full of anxiety as we witness wars, dissension, racial conflicts, political storms, and a lack of compassion. This does not have to be a way of life; we can resist that because it's anti- resurrection. Being separated from others, from the form of always making sure that I come first, and that we can only think about everyone else or we're following our own bliss and not having a sense of the common good is preferred. We are invited to remember that the Risen Christ opened his arms wide and always desires that we remain in Him always.

May Christ dwell in our hearts through faith, that rooted and grounded in love, we may have the strength to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

 

Today’s Gospel always reminds me of a song I learned many years ago.  The song’s title was “Go Ye, Go Ye Into the World.” The lyrics as I remember them are:

Go ye, go ye into the world, and make disciples of all the nations.
Go ye, go ye into the world, and I will be with you there!

Go ye, go ye into the world, and take the gospel to all the people.
Go ye, go ye into the world, and I will be with you there!

Go ye, go ye into the world, and tell the story to all believers.
Go ye, go ye into the world, and I will be with you there!

Go ye now and tell the story to all believers.
Go ye now, and I will be with you there!

For me this song summarizes today’s Gospel reading. Jesus says, It was not you who chose me but I who chose you, appointed you to go out and bear fruit that will remain.” This call is one we are invited to embrace daily. Sometimes life’s burdens get in the way and our faith falters. It is during these times that we are invited to dig deep within and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us, to strengthen us, and allow our faith to be expanded.  All of us are called to be disciples of Jesus who strive to live that great commandment that Jesus called us to.  May we always remind each other just how expansive the risen Christ really is and how much He desires that we remain in Him always.

 

Good Shepherd Sunday

 

Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

This Sunday we are reminded once again that our Lord’s love for each one of us is truly great and we are blessed. Our Lord and Good Shepherd is truly the One that we should be rejoicing about because by His love, He has shown us the sure path to eternal life.

That was why He, as our Good Shepherd, chose to come into our midst, so that we will not end up being lost forever. He has called us all by name, calling on all of us to embrace His love, mercy, and forgiveness. Our Lord and Good Shepherd wanted to show us that we are truly precious to Him. Through Him, we have been brought to the assurance of this new life and existence, reconciliation, and reunion with God.

This Sunday, we also celebrate Vocation Sunday, as we remember and especially pray for all those people who had answered God’s call to be priests, religious brothers, and sisters. However, we must not forget that each one of us as Christians also have our own unique vocations in life. Vocation in the Church is not just the vocation to priesthood or religious life only, as people who build up faithful Christian families, as well as all those who also give themselves into consecrated life to God, all in the service of God. Each one of these vocations are truly important, and we are hence reminded that as Christians we must be active in always living our Christian faith and life.

As Christians, we too should also be good role models and inspirations for one another, that we can truly live our lives and faith being just like Our Lord, the Good Shepherd. As Christians, we should help one another to come ever closer to God, and hence, we should live our lives worthily and in accordance with God’s will.  We should be the beacons of Christ’s light, hope, and truth to the whole world, in all of our actions and deeds, so that more and more people may come to believe in God through us. Let us all go forth in faith, and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to serve the Lord, now and always.

Third Sunday of Easter

 

Life is full of interruptions. It is full of beginnings and endings, successes, and failures. Jesus interrupts the life of the disciples today when He appeared and said, “Peace be with you!” In today's Gospel, the risen Jesus appears to His eleven disciples. He does not appear as a Platonic soul, a ghost, or a hallucination. Instead, He can be touched and seen, has flesh and bones, and can consume baked fish. Jesus appears and the disciples are once again changed.

Have you ever felt Jesus’ presence? Have you ever heard His voice speaking to your heart? Have you ever been changed because of an encounter with Jesus? Just as Jesus spoke the words of peace to His disciples, He does the same for us each and every day. Jesus desires for us to recognize Him in the breaking of the bread. Each day Jesus invites us to be people of peace, people of hope, people of love.

As we begin our day, we are busy focusing on many different ordinary tasks. Jesus invites us to refocus or thinking and embrace the gift that He promises us each day. Peace is what Jesus continually brings to us. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to bring us peace.

Right now, our world is anything but peaceful.  Let us listen to Jesus and embrace His invitation to start each day in peace. Let it infuse our hearts, our families, our homes, our workplaces. May we embrace Jesus’ invitation of peace and allow it to embody all that we do.

Divine Mercy Sunday

 

How many times have we said, “I will believe it when I see it!” Our gospel today reminds us of this statement as Thomas was not present when Jesus appeared to the disciples. Upon his return they tell him of Jesus’ appearance. Thomas is not able to believe at this time the truth of Jesus’ visit to the disciples. He needs to see and touch Jesus to have his faith restored.

Today’s gospel provides us with three images -- it is Easter Sunday night when Jesus comes into the midst of his friends offers them peace, forgiveness, divine mercy. The second is a week later when Jesus appears again and offers them peace and enables Thomas to believe. The third image is the divine mercy that Jesus gave the disciples after they had betrayed and denied Him.

The gospel author states that he, “Wrote it all down in hope that you would believe Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

Let us continue to live in the light and hope of this Easter Season. May we hear Jesus say to us, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”