Trinity Sunday, Cycle B

Our readings for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity are here. 

These are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Masses of

  • May 27, 2018 5PM
  • May 31, 2015 10AM

_______

The poem Fr Dennis references this year is:

  • Grace Before Meals by John Shea, from The God Who Fell From Heaven on May 27, 2018 5PM
  • For My Son Reading Harry Potter by Michael Blumenthal on May 31, 2015 10AM

In 2018, we reflected on —

  • The Mass observance feels like a celebration of worshipping God for coming close to us, for “pitching God’s tent with us,” even as it is a liturgical “Solemnity.”
  • In the first reading from Deuteronomy of the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses proclaims the nature of God through this gift of land from One who helps the alien and the poor, forgives all debts, and thereby inspires and encourages all to do the same.
  • In the Christian Scripture, we feast on the unity of spirit, of Spirit, and through Spirit.  In the Jewish tradition, Pentecost means the harvest fifty days after planting.  The crop is ripe for harvest and for offering the first fruits to God, something only the wealthy can offer: a lot of grains and animals.  The sacrifices were made on fires, then forgiveness.  The licking, leaping flames are resonant as the Christian Scripture “tongues of fire” of Pentecost.
  • If we wade through the details of the readings and focus in on the mystery of the Trinity, we gain understanding.  If you know who you are — Beloved — you will act as you ought.  That’s also why we say “Our Father” rather than “My Father” or “Jesus’ Father.”  Through the second reading’s discussion of the Spirit of Adoption, we know we are.  But living in that Belovedness in our heart is the challenge for the moments of our days.
  • The spirit of Belovedness / service / giving is our call — service ourselves and our community as people for others.
  • John Shea’s poem (unavailable online) captures this beautifully:  Now by the favor of the festive God, there is no world but this table, no time but the moments between us.

In 2015, we reflected on —

  • That the Solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity and Corpus Christi always go together and always right after Pentecost.
  • This is interesting because they are very different from each other.
  • The Holy Trinity is abstract and relational.  Maybe it is best explained by a chord of music (à la St Ignatius), yet It is not.  Even today, the Holy Trinity is still an obscure mystery … at the very center of our faith!
  • The Holy Trinity is the mystery of family and relationship and of love — falling in love and/or those born to us.  While we can usually list reasons why we love someone, mostly we just end up shrugging our shoulders and declaring “I just do.”
  • The Holy Trinity teaches us we can believe in someone even if we don’t understand them; in the mystery we can still be a people of great belief and service to others.
  • The Holy Trinity teaches us living with a mystery.
  • Today’s poem, For My Son Reading Harry Potter by Michael Blumenthal, is a touching reflection of the love a parent has for both the protection of their child from the world as it is and the knowing their child must know it and be in it to live life.

Our featured image is the Chi Rho (Christ, the first two Greek letters of His Holy Name) page from the Book of Kells (ca. 8th century) and housed in the Library of Trinity College Dublin. I found this very high quality from the now defunct site of http://bishandmrsbish.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Pic0014.jpg. So, thank you, Mr. Bish and Mrs. Bish. It also indicated a google site, but I didn’t find a formal citation.

In my search for an available Celtic Trinity Knot, I settled on the Chi Rho page. It is a mesmerizing example of Christ in our World, created out of a variety of designs, including many three-parted ones. I couldn’t find a “Trinity Knot” on the page — but I’d be down the Chi Rho rabbithole looking for days on end. 🙂 And certainly Spirit filled the one who illuminated the page!

Like an icon (not metaphorical, but the literal religious object), this image is sacred as part of an illustrated manuscript of the four Christian gospels, along with some tables and prefaces. It also has the quality of drawing you in deeper and deeper by engaging dynamic movement of the eye in, across, and through the image. The Irish animation studio, Cartoon Saloon, in a European partnership, produced THE SECRET OF KELLS (2009), an animated story telling of the creation of this treasured work of God and art. Some of the animated sequences bring to life the meditative and dynamic quality of the image. Hélio Sá offered a video clip on Youtube from the film’s end that animates the experience.

Pentecost Sunday, Cycle B

Our readings for this Pentecost are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051924.cfm).  So for most of Eastertide (through Pentecost), the first reading will have been from the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel reading mostly from St John’s account.

These are my notes from Fr Dennis’ homily from the Mass of May 20, 2018 10AM.

______

In 2018, Fr Dennis kept it real, simple, and direct.

At the time, it did not feel particularly Easter-y as the news was filled with Aaron Schlossberg (who ranted loud and racist comments to Spanish-speaking workers in a restaurant), Anthony Weiner (former member of the U.S. Congress, sexted to a minor and later convicted), and more.  D2 noted that having such behavior seemingly fill the news can be disheartening.

He also had us read Option B of the Second Reading, Gal 5:16-25.  It talks about the works of the flesh that are sinful, but also the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, and more.

Fr Dennis offered that forgiveness is not a call to passivity.  Peacefulness is the fight for justice; it is our foundation.  Forgiveness and peacefulness are dynamic, not static or passive.

And that is a nice thought in the year 2024 when so much seems amuck (again or still).

*****

For our image this week, I stumbled across a Danish fresco in the Cathedral of Aarhus in Aarhus, Denmark.  It is a fresco of Pentecost with the tongues of fire descending on the twelve apostles … and one title indicates Mary of Magdala but, gospel-wise, Mary the Mother of God and the Church.  She is the one with light hair and no beard.  🙂

Seems to fit with the Roman Catholic Church’s observance on the Monday after Pentecost of Mary, Mother of the Church.

The image was part of a “free download,” but it did not seem the same as other free downloads.  The attribution is asked to be ID 85709227 © Stig AlenA?s | Dreamstime.com

Ascension Sunday, Cycle B

Our readings for this Ascension Sunday are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051224.cfm).  So for most of Eastertide (through Pentecost), the first reading will have been from the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel reading mostly from St John’s account. Note that today’s gospel is from the primary Cycle B gospel, the Gospel according to Saint Mark.

Again, these are the poem, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Mass of: 

  • May 13, 2018 10AM

______

The poem Fr Dennis references is:

In 2018, we reflected on —

something wonderful, I’m sure — but I must have missed that Mass.  No notes!  So the following are my reflections from the scripture, and the poem he selected.

***********

The Mary Oliver poem captures one of the truths of our faith with “Every morning the world is created.”

The second reading(s) have language about all things beneath His feet, so He is the head of the church (Second Reading Option A) and “What does ‘he ascended’ on high mean except that he also descended into the lower regions of the earth? // The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.” (Second Reading Option B).

These scripture lines resonate with God’s reach, expanse, and presence across and through what we consider “opposites.”

The second half of the Mary Oliver poem captures this sense of how Creation encompasses us.

“If it is your nature // to be happy // you will swim away along the soft trails //
for hours, your imagination // alighting everywhere.
….
And if your spirit // carries within it //
the thorn // that is heavier than lead — // if it’s all you can do // to keep on trudging
… //
there is still // somewhere deep within you // a beast shouting that the earth //
is exactly what it [your body/your created self] wanted
…
whether or not // you have ever dared to be happy, //
whether or not // you have ever dared to pray.”

From his Cycle C homily, D2 had offered Ascension as a day to rejoice for Jesus!  His work is finished, and he’s going home AND being with us eternally, just not in the same way as he was in his human-divine life on Earth.

So whether you are starting today from a place of contentment or carrying a “thorn heavier than lead,” get out into Creation today and revel in the joy and happiness of our friend and Ascended Savior, and let him keep you in contentment, companion you as you are in His joy, and/or lift you up.

***********

If you’re working all day and can’t get outside to see the daytime wonders of Creation, look out tonight … just about anywhere on the planet it seems!  This article in space.com has a wonderful selection from images all over the world of a major solar event that reached the Earth yesterday and again tonight (Saturday), at least.  Solar events are categorized, and we are experiencing a G5 event (on a scale from G1 to G5). 

One of the largest solar flares ever is creating an enormous range of night sky colors and shapes.  The aurora borealis and aurora australis seem to have all kinds of hot pinks, oranges, raging purples, bright greens in sheets, flares, ribbons, and more.  The above linked article has photos from throughout the world.

I’ve included a photo taken by Sanka Vidanagama / AFP in South Carolina. Even living in the north, I can count on one hand the times I’ve witnessed the northern lights (living in Michigan and its green-giving cloudy skies doesn’t help!). 🙂 So I found myself delighted that so many who might rarely have even the opportunity to do so are having the northern (or southern) lights delivered direct to their door, so to speak.

A scientist in the linked article above offered that even if you yourself are not seeing the colors, take a photo with a high quality phone camera or the like — the cameras are often better at capturing the twilight and dark sky colors than the human eye.

I love that a very big “we” are receiving “night lights” throughout the world (with sympathy for the workers having to repair some of the at-risk infrastructure).  I’m also grateful God is giving us, particularly on the North American continent, so many awe-inducing things to share (a total eclipse, night lights, cicadas, …) this spring at a time when we’re struggling to see our common humanity, to see the shared Divinity Jesus sacrificed so much to give us.

And so I “dare to pray” across day and night, earth and sky, heaven and hell in faith that our God is waiting to Love us in every place, every time, every moment.

Sixth Sunday of Easter Sunday, Cycle B

Our readings for this Sixth Sunday of Easter are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050524.cfm).  So for most of Eastertide (through Pentecost), the first reading will have been from the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel reading mostly from St John’s account.

Again, these are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Masses of: 

  • May 6, 2018 10AM
  • May 10, 2015 5PM

There is a brief cameo from Fr Eric Sundrup, SJ, in 2015 as well.

______

The poems/texts Fr Dennis & Fr Eric reference are:

  • An excerpt from God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut, 10AM Mass, May 6, 2018 Cycle B
  • An excerpt from The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis, 5PM Mass, May 10, 2015 Cycle B
  • Widows by Louise Gluck from Ararat (Ecco Press), 5PM Mass, May 10, 2015 Cycle B

In 2018, we reflected on —

The Sixth Sunday of Easter is more about how Jesus Christ lives in the world now.  Jesus Christ is present as Love.  When we reach Ascension, it is about the fulfillment of unity in sending and returning Jesus.

In the first reading, the Holy Spirit met all the Gentiles, as well as the circumcised Jewish people (presumably the women, too).  It’s almost as if Jesus Christ were there before the church.

Our Baptismal rite is a formal, concrete expression of entry into the church but birth itself marks the kiddo as a child of God, a sign of hope.

He offered the following excerpt from a Kurt Vonnegut story — a crazy or holy baptismal rite from the novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. 

“Hello, babies.  Welcome to Earth.  It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  It’s round and wet and crowded.  On the outside, babies, you’ve got a hundred years here.  There’s only one rule that I know of, babies.  ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.'”

The gospel is the message:  Love one another as I have loved you.

In 2015, we reflected on —

Love as what binds us together:  the theme of today’s readings.

In the first reading, Peter starts from the position that God is God for the Jews only, but then he sees how the Holy Spirit is at work in the Gentiles and responds “Can anyone withhold …?”

We always need to remember

  • who is lovable (everyone),
  • how we love (vulnerably), and
  • how we share (openheartedly and openhandedly)

This is an all sustaining love, one that holds us up and endures, this is the Love of God that can sometimes be hard to understand.

As a prelude to the poem, D2 mentioned that with his parents and family, every Monday was a card game.  Neighbors and friends were included, too, but the family was the mainstay.  Pinochle, canasta, and so on.  So … unsurprisingly, D2’s vision of heaven includes card games.  What he remembers most is card games as a form of sharing, like a meal.

The poem Widows captures that spirit … and the Gospel of Poverty and Love: 

… that’s what you want, that’s the object:  in the end,
the one who has nothing wins.

We need to leave this world without anything except love, the love that has sustained us through easy and/or hard times and lives.

Be inspired by and be grateful for and be the people who pass this love on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~*****~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fr Eric Sundrup, SJ cameo from 8:30AM 5/10/15 Mother’s Day:  We hear this commandment of “Love one another, as I have loved you” — and become complacent as it feels too familiar, too Disney-esque at times.  However, if you love and are truly vulnerable, … you get stomped on. Wall Street is “too big” to let fail, but Food Stamps are on the chopping block.  It isn’t that we love God, it’s that we were first Loved by God.  As C.S. Lewis noted:

To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements.  Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.  To love is to be vulnerable.  — C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

God died trying to love and be vulnerable, and it didn’t stop with his death, death didn’t end God’s Love.  So let’s try to die trying — die a little, die a lot.  If you do this, you will actually live.

Today’s image is from an Our History in Photos website — I didn’t find the author, (?”I_am_mountain”?) and mentioned the images are lightly edited. This one came up for a search on images of playing canasta! In Nova Scotia. So it seemed a good match for the Widows poem. 🙂

Fifth Sunday of Easter Sunday, Cycle B

Our readings for this Fifth Sunday of Easter are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm).  Again, these are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homily from the Mass of: 

  • May 3, 2015 10AM

There is a brief cameo from a Fr Joe Wagner, SJ, homily as well.

______

The poems Fr Dennis referenced are:

In 2015, we reflected on —

This is one of the I AM gospel passages of Jesus.  Recall in the Hebrew Scriptures when Moses is called to lead the people, he is unexcited about this change of direction.  He tries to convince God otherwise (I stutter; my brother, Aaron, is the real deal; and so on).  If you send me (Moses) — who should I say sent me so they’ll listen?  

“Tell them I AM WHO AM sent you. [Alternative Translation: The I AM sent you.]”

So in today’s gospel, John 15:1 (“I am the true vine …”), Jesus is very consciously echoing God’s conversation of yore, and in so doing, identifying himself closely with God.

The vine is also an important metaphor as vines are/were close to the people’s lives.  It also captures and reaffirms that growing and cultivation are part of our relationship with God.

A brief cameo from Fr Joe Wagner, SJ who offered:  We owes so much of our Christian Theology to Saul / Paul, the person who first viciously persecuted Christians through imprisonment and more, and then, after his God moment, is on the doorstep of the new Christian communities, purportedly converted and requesting to be let in.  Can people change?  If our answer is “no,” this isn’t just pessimistic, it is a kind of “no” to God’s Grace.

In his homily, Fr Dennis used both of the following poems.  In April Prayer — Stuart Kestenbaum writes about spring and growth; an easy match to our season, Easter season, and the gospel’s vine metaphor.  He switches to the pledge drive metaphor for imagery of connectedness, participation, and spark of growth.

In From the Garden by Anne Sexton, she notes how “We talk too much. …” to consider the lilies of the field!  When we fill every moment with talk, it becomes more difficult to rest in life itself, rest in the I AM.

D2 thought our best gesture is at Communion when we place our hands out simultaneously in the offering of ourselves and anticipation of receiving.  It is a putting away of words so that we may fully abide in the I AM.

As someone listening, this image would linger with me, and soon enough I’m focusing inward and outward with my heart in my hands waiting for the Host and my best friend.  It’s hard for me to convey how his homilies helped me believe in a living Loving Love who only desired closeness with me … and everyone around me, equally and uniquely.  Communion then became the beautiful fusion or manifestation of the sacred secular that we hope it to be, so we dismiss to the world with Jesus inside us and ready to help. … even in the growth and change I was trying to avoid!

Fourth Sunday of Easter Sunday, Cycle B

Our readings for this Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday, are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042124.cfm).  So for most of Eastertide (through Pentecost), the first reading will be from the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel reading mostly from St John’s account.

Again, these are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from the Mass of: 

  • April 26, 2018 Noon

There is a brief cameo from Fr Eric Sundrup, SJ, as well.

______

The poem Fr Dennis referenced is:

In 2018, we reflected on —

The Fourth Sunday of Easter generally being Good Shepherd Sunday, with the Good Shepherd epitomized by God in David, as leader and person.  It’s pretty clear a good shepherd doesn’t have to be perfect in that case!

Today’s poem is I Meet My Grandmother in Italy by Katrina Vandenberg.  D2, in his reading, that in this poem the grandmother is God:  I’ll take for my granddaughter all // the plants you have with yellow flowers, // … She said,  Take them // all; you need to have a happy life.

  • It is the giving that is the mark of God, the Good Shepherd, and a good shepherd
  • The laughter
  • The kindness

rl — in my 8-day silent retreat of 2023, the bulk of the reflection was on the Good Shepherd, the qualities from a mix of Christian and Hebrew scriptures.  Those five qualities are faithfulness, tenderness, diligence, wisdom, and integrity.  They seem to match the grandma in the poem, too.  🙂

Padre Eric Sundrup, SJ, at the 5PM Mass on April 26, 2015 offered that the Good Shepherd is on the margin, the outskirts, not held up in esteem.  His classic quote: Clue #1 you are not on the right path is if you think God hates all the same people you do.  🙂  !  At the Papal Chrism Mass of 2015, Pope Francis encouraged the priests to smell like sheep, be with their flocks.  And, Fr Eric being Eric — reminded us of Yoda’s wisdom of “Do or do not. There is no try.”  Don’t hold back in your desire and efforts to be with The Good Shepherd or a good shepherd (or being a good shepherd!).  Listen, and you’ll be taken to the margins, where Christ is closest to all those around you.

Still love Mr. David Zinn’s “Thinking of Ewe” image, but that being said,

our featured image is “The Good Shepherd” by the late Fr Sieger Koder (1925-2015).  He was 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.

Third Sunday of Easter Sunday Cycle B

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

______

The poems Fr Dennis referenced are:

In 2018, we reflected on —

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

Jesus seems a bit different

 Before the ResurrectionAfter the Resurrection
Offering a greeting of Peace / Shalom, as recorded in any of the gospel accountsRare, if it is ever mentioned at all, even though this, accompanied by outstretched or extended arms, was a standard greeting of the dayIn almost every appearance mentioned, Jesus offers this greeting, as if to say “It’s okay.  Calm down” to a group of friends who had utterly abandoned him.

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.

Second Sunday of Easter Sunday Cycle B

Allelujah!! Allelujah!! He is Risen!!  (Enjoy! — it’s the last one as we end the Octave of Easter — back to regular “Thanks be to God!” and no “Allelujah!”s at the dismissal next Sunday.)

Our readings for this Second Sunday of Easter, also known as the Sunday of Divine Mercy, are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040724.cfm).  So for most of Eastertide (through Pentecost), the first reading will be from the Acts of the Apostles, and the gospel reading mostly from St John’s account.

Again, these are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from two different Cycle B years.  The Second Sunday of Easters we are visiting are the Masses of: 

  • April 8, 2018 Noon
  • April 12, 2015 5PM

______

The poems Fr Dennis referenced are:

In 2018, we reflected on —

Easter is about

  • what Resurrection means for Jesus
  • what Resurrection means for us
  • in other words, how do we hold Resurrection and death together?

Consider that during the Holy Week liturgies

  • in the Paschal sacrifice and creed we avow that Jesus “died and rose.”
  • the silences at the end of the Palm Sunday and Good Friday (and eventually, Holy Thursday, after the Sacrament is transferred to the Altar of Repose) liturgies are to show that none of the Holy Week masses are finished, are complete UNTIL our Easter Vigil in which from the darkness of the world in the beginning before God through the Light of the Sacrament and new people joining the church …
  • death and resurrection occur
    • the suffering of death, and
    • the suffering fulfilled in his Resurrection
  • we know this (that the suffering is fulfilled in his Resurrection) because God’s Mercy fulfills all this, because of the blood and water of Jesus poured out for us and creating the Church

As a reflection, we may want to think about some of God’s Mercies to me / us when we sing out God’s glory in the Gloria or psalm or hymns.  We might reflect on our close calls, when we were spared by God’s Mercy, as children of a God who is constantly saving us in Mercy, and in so doing, asks us to offer the same … or at least offer mercy.

Jeff Comer’s poem is a wonderful witness of how we have all been spared by very close margins.  Mercy comes close even (and most especially) in real serious danger.  Consider the parable of the Good Samaritan, when perhaps another 1/2 hour the traveler would be dead … or one of the blows had landed inches closer resulting in a fatal blow … or the innkeeper wouldn’t do business with a Samaritan or a near death traveler.

In 2015, we reflected on —

“This is the day that the Lord has made (15:30 to 18:00 in the video),” as we just sung in the psalm … and so is all of Easter!

The reading from Acts is clear that, when we are of one heart and mind, we share our physical belongings and needs, too.

  • People are selling everything they own and pooling their money so they can live in community and in common to pray and serve together.
  • The passage helps show that people can be blown open in Love and faith to live in a new way, like the gospel and Thomas’ exclamation from his soul — “My Lord and My God!!”

The gospel offers the grace of being able to identify with Thomas, as we struggle with our doubts and resentments and more.  However, … the most important actor in the gospel isn’t Thomas, …  it’s Jesus!  🙂  Jesus is the heart and soul of the gospel.

  • Jesus is speaking to all of us 2,000 years later when he offers that “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
  • We believe and see Jesus in the events of our lives, the people around us, in the world around us, and, in those most blessed and rare of moments, inside ourselves.
  • (rl — interjecting a brief cameo from Bob Scullin, SJ’s homily at the Spanish Mass) that with the greeting of “Shalom [Peace]” the hands of the greeter are lifted wide in greeting, not unlike a partial extension on a cross.  This means that Jesus’ wounds are visible to his friends when the sleeves of his garment drop, and they identify him.  More importantly, with the visible wounds and Jesus’ physical presence and greeting, they can, Allelujah!  Allegria!, see he isn’t angry with them, see he is real.  In fact, Jesus is the face of God’s Divine Mercy / Miserecordia.
  • Again, Jesus is the focus.  Not Thomas, not us, not me.

Today’s poem is April 5, 1974 by Richard Wilbur.

  • Easter was April 5, 1974 this year.
  • The line in which Wilbur writes “a set mind, blessed by doubt, // Relaxes into mother-wit.”  “Mother-wit” meaning “good sense.”
  • “Flowers, I said, will come of it.”  The passage offers the grace of being at ease in a sudden confirmation of common sense — yes, I do know what is happening … and hope (flowers) follow this kind of awakening.

Doubts can lead to new insights and new life; we just need to keep growing in and through our doubts in confidence in the presence of the Spirit in our lives.

[Hoping for permission for what I think is a wonderful image by an amazing artist.]

Don’t think it’s happening — but I loved “Thinking of Ewe” by David Zinn, an Ann Arborean and international street / chalk artist of inimitable creativity.

Not ba-a-a-ad for all us sheep hoping to get Home, don’t you think? 🙂 Creation concreted over, and the white alyssum still find their way through … and flowers have come of it. And a sheep.

Easter Sunday Cycle B

Allelujah!!  Allelujah!! He is Risen!!

This is a re-publish with edits for the 2015 and 2018 Cycle B with a new image and a little new text, but here is the link sharing all of the ABC readings and poems and my notes from the Fr Dennis’ Easter homilies of yesteryear. It seems more Easterly to provide a bounty of poems!

Our readings for this Sunday, Easter, the Resurrection of the Lord are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/033124.cfm).  The readings are ABC, meaning they are used every Easter Sunday when the Mass of the Day is celebrated (cf. the usual Sunday readings which tend to use one of the synoptic gospels (Saints Mark, Matt, and Luke throughout each of the liturgical years Cycle A, B, and C). 

Again, these are the poems, my notes, and interpretations of Fr Dennis’ homilies from a couple years.  The Easters we are visiting are: 

  • April 1, 2018 Cycle B
  • 8:30 Mass on April 5, 2015 Cycle B

______

The poems Fr Dennis referenced are:

The following are notes from the earlier Easter celebrations — in 2018 I was often serving at other St Mary’s liturgies during the day and didn’t always get to hear the homilies associated with the poems and notes!

The 2018 essay by Margaret Renkl is her journey of faith in and out and in of the Catholic Church, but she practically begs for us to read Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front.

In 2015, we reflected on —

That Easter Sunday Mass is a bit of a letdown from the Vigil and other Triduum masses, a bit quieter and less detailed exaltation. But, in some ways, more easily joyful.

  • It’s interesting to note that compared to his public ministry of healings and miracles prior to the Passion, Jesus “doesn’t do much” after the Resurrection.  He could have done fantastic things.  But other than the fish catch of 153 fish after a night of empty nets, there are no miracles.  Even that is not on a par with those miracles before the crucifixion or the resurrection itself.
  • It seems that all he wants to do is eat with his friends.  He seems quite content to be ordinary.
  • So … we’re going to rise, but we want to cherish what is happening all around us — food, eating, breathing, living.
  • Breathing — the miracle and depth of it in any given moment.  The Hoarfrost and Fog poem by Barton Sutter captures this beautifully.  Perhaps imagine that first breath again for Jesus once Resurrected.
  • We are all born again when we realize we have a God who became human so God could see things from our point of view; and he died and rose so that we could learn God’s point of view, i.e., God’s Love for us.

The image today is of the atrium in our parish in which we honor Our Lady of Guadalupe.  Though we are officially Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception, we have a strong devotion to Nuestra Señora, the Mother of the Americas — as we are a multi-generational and international parish.  We are also ministered by Jesuits.  Over the years we have grown in our understanding of Ignatian Spirituality, the spiritual practices and techniques witnessed and recorded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola.

In the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, there are roughly four “Weeks” of spiritual journey, not seven day weeks literally, but four main periods of interior, spiritual movement.  The “Fourth Week” is the section of spiritual journey in which someone walks with Jesus during the Resurrection.  He offers a reflection, acknowledging that Scripture does not say this, but surely the first person Jesus must have visited once resurrected was his mother.

From Joseph Tetlow, SJ’s guide to the Exercises, he prompts the retreatant, the person reflecting on this exercise, to consider how

  • he came to her
  • what they said to each other, what did they do, and imagine them sharing with you their respective experiences of the moment
  • how did Jesus console his mother, who surely must have been heartbroken and traumatized by what she saw happen to her son?  how do we nowadays console surviving family members lost to state violence and terrorism?
  • how did Jesus, Lord Savior of the Universe, manifest his divinity to his Mom, who knew him from his first moment as fully human.
  • rl only — did they celebrate? how so?

Palm Sunday Cycle B

Our readings for Palm Sunday are here. (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032424.cfm).

These are my notes and interpretations of Fr Dennis Dillon SJ’s homilies from the March 25, 2018 Mass at Noon and March 29, 2015 at St Mary Student Parish, Ann Arbor, MI.

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The poem and reading Fr Dennis references are:

On Turning Ten by Billy Collins (25 Mar 2018 Noon)

Excerpt from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, pp 29 (“When I was around ten years old, …”) – 34 “… and hummed ‘ Glory, glory, hallelujah, when I lay my burden down.'”) (29 Mar 2015)

In 2018, D2 reflected —

While it is Palm Sunday and the entrance starts so promising, it feels Good Friday-ish because of the reading of the Passion.  We hear this reading of the Passion again on Good Friday. But it seems a short time of celebration, even as we must admit Jesus probably knew the entrance was not an enduring celebration of his ministry or himself.

In the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, the spiritual movements of our soul towards God are captured by “Weeks.”

  • The First Week is God’s Love for us and only then do we consider the sinful quality of ourselves and the world, the system of sin.  These reflections inevitably, at some point, lead us to the conclusion:   We need a Savior! 
  • The Second Week is when our spiritual reflection focuses on the Savior, and we walk with Jesus in his public ministry.
  • The Third Week of the Spiritual Exercises is the Passion and Death of our Savior.  We don’t focus so much on our guilt and shame (or even our own grief) because then we are not focused on Jesus.  We do so because the details of his death and ongoing throes leading up to the Passion demonstrate he is human and we feel emotional attachment to him. 

He seems mostly human in his Passion despite being able to have done something about it as God, but he consciously and conscientiously goes through this for Love.

He is bloody, he is human.  There are two times we read of Jesus bleeding.

  • The first is his ritual circumcision, and the bleeding is implied.  This blood alone would have been enough for the sacrifice.
  • The second is the Crucifixion, in which he pours out his blood.  He suffers emotionally, socially, and physically in such a way that individuals suffering in all ways might know they are not alone.  We are never alone in our sorrows or our joys.

Billy Collins’ poem touches on, perhaps, what Jesus as human might have had to face (as his time neared), and we certainly do.  It seems only yesterday I used to believe there was nothing under my skin but light. //  If you cut me I could shine. // But now … I bleed.

In the Jesuit mother ship in Rome, The Church of the Gesù, the apse generally has a painting of the Circumcision, and then a statue of the Sacred Heart is rolled out around that day’s observance.  And, of course, the Altar Crucifix is present.

In 2015, D2 read and reflected on the excerpt from Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings autobiography.  The excerpt is when Maya Angelou’s Momma endures in Christ the mockery and attempted dehumanization of some poor white children of the area through violations of basic decency, manners to our elders, and more — all unbound from morality because of the children’s concept of race and God.

It remains one of my favorite Palm Sunday observances to this day — to have such a vivid reminder that the Passion and Crucifixion is all too alive in this time, still, for some of us.  Our parish does a shared reading of the Passion — the Celebrant and two lay readers.  The two lay readers that 2015 Palm Sunday happened to be student-parishioners, vibrant young women, and richly graced in their African-American identities.  I can’t remember the particulars anymore, but my heart is singing, “Glory, glory, hallelujah, when I laid my burden down …”

Our image is a repeat, The Last Supper by Sieger Koder. Which face are you drawn to?