The Surest Sign

Our readings for this Third Sunday of Easter are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041424.cfm).  The Third Sunday of Easter we are visiting the Mass of: 

• April 5, 2018 Noon

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The poems Fr Dennis referenced are:

• April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur, Noon Mass on April 15, 2018 Cycle B
• Room Service English Muffins by Kim Dower, Noon Mass on April 15, 2018 Cycle B

In 2018, we reflected on —

Easter is a time to delve into what the Resurrection means.

Jesus seems a bit different

Jesus needs help proving that he is not just a ghost — eating fish is a good counterpoint!

Jesus is more like a friend now than “teacher”

• He does not review / prove / or re-prove anything re the crucifixion and resurrection.
• He is more like a friend, and “we know this together.”
• Much of his time is spent hanging out with friends and having meals (no big miracles or healings akin to prior to the Crucifixion).

What are other ways you experience Jesus differently in the gospels pre- and post-Resurrection?

[rl — while it was just last week on the spiritual blog that we discussed the following poem; it was three years between uses by Fr Dennis!]

Today’s poems are April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur and Room Service English Muffins by Kim Dower.

• Easter was April 5, 1974 in 2015, and this was also the date that Hank Aaron set the homerun record.  (The latter doesn’t particularly fit the poem, but people have puzzled whether April 5, 1974 was a particular date of importance or simply the day the poem was written, making it important enough.)  ‘Tis a good poem, one of an older style of poetry with rhymes in couplets.
• The poem reminds D2 of the Resurrection with
  • the couplets of rocks twitching and blurring — “Was matter getting out of hand // And making free with natural law” 
  • a dreamy quality with, like the Resurrection, the unexpected ghostly appearances
  • the juxtaposition of the content of the poem is ordinary — flowers spring up in spring, the departure of winter” and the inherent extraordinariness of the happenings

In Room Service English Muffins by Kim Dower find the comfort in the disrupted routine and preferences during travel and movement.  That comfort and reassurance is like Jesus in the Resurrection — always with us.

Our image today was created by the late Fr Sieger Koder (1925-2015), a German priest, WWII veteran, smith, and artist.  He retired from active priestly pastoral duties in 1995, but continued his artistry until he passed in 2015.  A gift of another 20 years to us all.  The Europeans have created a number of books offering retreat-like meditations using his work.

The featured image today is his “The Meal,” from the Lenten veil Hope for the Excluded, 1996.

Our readings for this Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031724.cfm).

These are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the 8:30AM Mass on March 22, 2015 at St Mary Student Parish, Ann Arbor, MI.

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The poem Fr Dennis references in 2015 is:

Quarantine by Eavan Boland (22 Mar 2015 8:30AM)

In 2015, D2 reflected —

• At this point, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the season is becoming a bit more somber as we’re moving to Jesus’ passion and death, which prompts the questions:
  • What is most important to us / for us?
  • What are our decisions about?
• This time of Lent and these questions call us to think about how central God’s Love for us and for each other is.

The poem, Quarantine by Eavan Boland (now deceased), from the 2015 homily generated several reflections in Dennis, SJ —

• a somber tone to the poem
• describes the action of love rather than the words of love
• the husband / man offered an action of love (holding the woman’s feet to the last source of his body heat, his heart) in a time of what could only have been a dark abyss (see more below). 
• This is the sort of love we take into Holy Week, a love that recalls another’s humanity out of our own act of humanity when circumstances want to force despair and inhumanity, and then commingling our shared sense of humanity into the sacredness of Jesus Christ.  Giving ourselves totally in Love and to Love to say “Yes.”

For those unfamiliar with An Gorta Mor / The Great Famine of Eavan Boland’s poem, it and the echo famine of 1879, following two centuries of penal (anti-Gaelic, anti-Catholic) laws enacted by the British in Ireland, caused the massive decline of the Irish population from 8 million to 4 million in roughly 50 years — 2 million lost to starvation, and another 2 million lost to emigration, with families shattered. 

If you listen to “Thousands Are Crossing” on the Winter’s Crossing by James Galway and Phil Coulter, narrated by Liam Neeson, you’ll get a flavor of the sorrow.  An 1847 painting of An Gorta Mor, “The Irish Peasant Family Discovering the Blight of Their Store” by Daniel MacDonald, an Irishman, is one of the only known contemporaneous paintings to capture a family’s moment of despair during the Great Famine.

The Irish were relegated to growing potatoes to feed themselves, while the remaining crops were exported for British profit.  When the blight hit their potatoes, which could be harvested looking fine and then rot some time later, no policy or tax was changed to save the Irish from starvation during An Gorta Mor. 

Our featured image today is of the sculpture Kindred Spirits by Alex Pentek, composed of nine 20′ high stainless steel eagle feathers forming a bowl; this article further describes the art and surrounding culture of Kindred Spirits installed in Co. Cork.

Why?

This rte.ie article describes the kind of love we hear in Eavan Boland’s poem, except between groups of people.  The Choctaw and Cherokee nations, having recently endured the Trail of Tears and having lost nearly 1/4 of their remaining people, decided to raise money and donate (likely through the Quakers) towards the relief of the 1847 Irish Famine as one of their earliest acts of self-governance following their forced relocation by the United States government and dissolution of their native / original self-governance. 

This sacred giving was remembered by the Irish when the Covid-19 pandemic of this century struck.  While the Choctaw and Cherokee nations faced hardship during the pandemic, the Diné / Navajo people faced a public health disaster and the potential catastrophic loss of their families, elders, faith keepers, and language guides during a quarantine ranging across 140,000 people and 72,000 square miles.  A group of younger Navajo created a GoFundMe account when they realized the federal government would not be acting with the alacrity nor the volume of aid needed.  A simple look at the “remembrances” section of the GoFundMe page reveals the sacred link of Irish gratitude across centuries and thousands of miles.

Our readings for this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022524.cfm).

Again, these are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s poem from the 10AM Mass on February 25, 2018, an undated daily Mass homily on the Transfiguration, and the 8:30AM Mass on March 1, 2015.  

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The poems Fr Dennis references in 2018 & 2015 are:

Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel as sung by Paul Robeson (25 Feb 2018 10AM Mass)

Adirondack Moosehead by Jeffrey Harrison (1 Mar 2015 8:30AM)

In 2018, we reflected on —

• I only captured the one poem/lyrics, without notes at the time.  … 🙂 or they are “somewhere.”
• This spiritual is sung and choreographed in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations, an American classic in the dance repertoire.  I remember one year Transfiguration was observed during the week at a daily Mass (or a Transfiguration gospel reading was the reading of the day), and Dennis happened to be the celebrant. During the homily described his understanding, of course, some theological matters in the long tradition of theology but also how in his Jesuit time in New York City , he had the opportunity to see Alvin Ailey’s Revelations.  (It premiered in 1960 when Alvin Ailey was 29.  !!)
• What I remember is D2 offering that after seeing these luminous dancers of the soulful, rich music — he left feeling like he could dance like that, even as he knew he couldn’t!  He felt like he floated up the subway stairs and could have danced down the New York City streets back to the Jesuit residence. 
• That sense of Transfiguration always stuck with me — the feeling of the illumination of our souls which, if even for a moment, outshines the limitations of our bodies.
• Here’s a link to one of the “Daniel” scene performances in Alvin Ailey’s Revelations. It is at about 3:30 time of the full 1/2 hour-ish choreography — well worth watching!!

In 2015, D2 reflected —

It is good to remember in the Genesis reading of today that

• in the tribes around Israel at the time of Abraham, child sacrifice was common.
• it was used as an (extreme by our standards) expression of sacrificing the best or first fruits, animals, or other possessions (recalling that children, like women, have been considered “property” for much of the history of humanity) to gods or God.
• so, in that context, we can say that God, in this story and example, is very clearly saying “No.  This is what I am NOT calling you to do.”

Likewise, in the Transfiguration,

• Jesus and God reveal another side of themselves to us (after having long retired the flaming bushes and overwhelming Presence in favor of God-with-us humility) … which raises the issue
  • How do we (each and communally) know God?  And how do we allow for a change in how we know God?

This being surprised by God — can we accept and love a new facet of our Loving God?  In the poem, Adirondack Moosehead by Jeffrey Harrison, he takes on this notion of quiet presence and potential for change … and transfiguration.

• (rl adds colloquially — Dandelions can be a “weed” or even like a prophecy of nature on planned, manicured lawns.  Most deciduous trees surrender all their leaves as part of an eventual complete regeneration of the tree itself — one tree, completely different and constantly changing manifestation throughout the year.)

So some possible reflections for us are:  Who is God for the author of this poem?  Who and how for each of us?  Who is God to me now and how do I respond?  In what faith will I respond to the next turn in the road?

Lent is the “changing of the heart-mind” season, a metanoia.

Our image this is week is James B Janknegt’s Transfiguration oil painting from 2001.  I love it for this week because of its celebration and the dancing like poses of Moses and Elijah — very fitting for the Alvin Ailey Revelations reflection of Dennis Dillon, SJ!

Our readings for this Sunday, the First Sunday of Lent are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021824.cfm).

Again, these are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homily from the 10AM Mass on February 18, 2018 and his poem selection from February 22, 2015.  

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The poems Fr Dennis references in 2018 & 2015 are:

Evening on the Lawn by Gary Soto (18 Feb 2018 10AM Mass)

Small Boy by Norman MacCaig (22 Feb 2015 8:30AM, Noon, or 9PM Mass)

In 2018, we reflected on —

• How the readings are a review of our basic call to be Christians — our covenants (God with us), our being claimed by God through Baptism, and our responsibility to confront our temptations.
• 1st Reading (Genesis) Water! is a reference to Baptism (our RCIA / OCIA elect), a long tradition back to Noah, a one-sided covenant, a gracious guarantee as God promises Noah and all his descendants … but note that they don’t have any obligation to God in this covenant.
  • On a summer retreat I (rl) encountered my temptation of cynicism with this passage, as I wiseacred to myself that “Yeah, God didn’t promise we wouldn’t destroy ourselves …”  That is not who God is — not Lawyer God who specifies that burning up was not the part of that covenant; not Cynical God; not Human God (think STAR TREK IV) not any of those human frailties — but Love Loving.  We don’t know God, but I can remember this covenant (between God, humans, and ALL living creatures) and push back against my temptation to give up.
• Back to D2 — The Sign of the Cross at the start of Mass is a remembrance of God’s promise in our Baptism; God leads us through the floods of our lives — great and small.
• The Gospel — the first time D2 has thought of this time in the desert more squarely in the context of the vision quests, like the indigenous tribes across the globe.  The time in the desert is a journey to see who we are now and who we are meant to be.
• Maybe Jesus, particularly in Mark’s version of the Time in the Desert, is a vision quest by Jesus to understand what “you are my Beloved Son” means, to find out what it meant.  The journey and meditation certainly marks a transition in his life and ministry.
• In essence, that’s what we’re all doing as Christians, ever since our creation and Baptismal grace.  We are in the desert, trying to find out which spirits we are pulled by.
• College can be a desert!   🙂  Trying to figure out who you are and who you are meant to be.  Jesus finds out that John the Baptist is arrested and to be killed; that’s when he announces his professional life.   (fyi — St Mary’s is officially Saint Mary Student Parish and is a parish dedicated by the bishop to serve the University of Michigan Catholic community and hosts the Newman Center, so there were a fair portion of young people present.)
• Evening on the Lawn by Gary Soto describes a pivotal moment in a young man’s life when his gifts have him perceive this wondrous image of nature, an isolated roiling cloud seemingly gobbling up stars, and he calls his mother and stepfather to join him.  They don’t share the moment with him, though they come outside and indicate mild puzzlement or irritation that their routine was interrupted.  It is a pivotal moment of individuation for him (and all others) when the “home of our youth [is] struck by lightning.”  This felt like Jesus reconciling his new sense of identity:  devotion to the faith, his authenticity, and the faith traditions.  All of us are called and must do this devotion to the faith and the authenticity created inside us.

In 2015, D2 used (I must have missed the Mass / homily) —

• Norman MacCaig’s poem, Small Boy, as a simple reflection on the practices and challenges of Lent:  we practice simple things every day but we are really “practicing for the future” and our greatest challenge is to “unclench [our grasp] and let them go.”

The Sunday readings were particularly meaningful for me this year.  I made my bucket list trip to visit the overwintering monarch butterflies in the central mountains of Mexico, about 3-ish hours west of CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico aka Mexico City).  I stayed closer to the southern edge of the monarch sanctuaries / reserves at Cerro Pelón Butterfly B&B (triple thumbs up!!), and they could take us out the back door to the Cerro Pelón Reserve or drive us in their comfy van to the other main reserves (El Rosario and Sierra Chincua) or any other place the monarch colonies were (literally) hanging out.  These monarchs born last August through October in the United States and Canada made the (up to) 3500 mile journey back to these areas in Mexico, form colonies to conserve body energy and protect each other, and are just now mating, and they will begin the northward migration laying the eggs for the first generation in northern Mexico or the southern United States.  It is the third or even fifth generation, never having seen or been to the mountain reserves in Mexico, who will overwinter there arriving between late October and mid-November.

When we visited the monarch colony in Sierra Chincua, it was very quiet being early in the season (late November) and during the work week.  I went with the 1/2 hour-ish ride being led on horseback up and up towards 10,000 feet, followed by a 20-ish minute hike to the colony.  I prayed a bit in this peaceful, quietly joyful place.  Grateful to be here, so very grateful for the Moreño familia whose business model for their B&B made this possible for me.  We had 30 minutes with the colony, and then went around the corner of the trail and sat down for our delicious packed lunch — a Meal as Communion if there ever was one!  As the clouds lifted a bit, the butterflies became more active — a “gentle explosion” of 100s rather than the 1000s you sometimes see images of.  Still — in the silence of no traffic, no human voices, no other noises whatsoever, all we could hear was the flapping whirr of monarch butterfly wings.  Unbelievable!  And then the rainbow came out.

My prayer had been that God not let us mess up and destroy these butterflies and their migration (the latter of which is headed towards extinction because of the decrease in number of butterflies).  I wiped away tears at the renewal of the covenant “between me [God] and you and every living creature with you” that we will not be destroyed (Gen 9:8-15).  So that is today’s image …

As one friend quipped — the only thing missing is the unicorn!  But deep mysticism in a cynical world does feel magical.  No unicorn needed.  🙂

The covenant is a good reminder that we never enter our journeys alone — God is with us, angels minister us, and the Trinity in our friends and communities shine brightly if we let them (sometimes the vulnerability that invites the shining is the hardest choice for us).