OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
The World is Holy . . . A Flower is Holy
The world is holy. We are holy. All life is holy. Daily prayers are delivered on the lips of breaking waves, the whisperings of grasses, the shimmering of leaves.
-Terry Tempest Williams
from Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer (anthology)
Hope in the Face of . . . Seeming Doom
The message of the Gospel is a message of Resurrection – of Easter. It does not deny darkness. It does not seek to cover-up Good Friday.
We are always pointed toward Hope – toward Easter.
In the words of the beloved Pope John the XXIII:
We feel we must disagree with those prophets of doom, who are always forecasting disaster, as though the end of the world were at hand. . . In the present order of things Divine Providence is leading is to a new order of human relations which, by our own efforts and even beyond our very expectations, are directed toward the fulfillment of God’s superior and inscrutable designs.
A Reminder to Turn Ourselves toward Gratitude
Thomas Merton in Thoughts in Solitude says it so well:
Every breath we draw is a gift of God’s love; every moment of existence is a grace.
Let Us Be Blessing
The more alert we become to the blessing that flows into us through everything we touch, the more our own touch will bring blessing.
-David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart
We Continue to Give Thanks
From Psalm 118
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
The joyful shout of victory
in the tents of the just.
We Give Thanks this Easter and Always
From Psalm 8 we read:
Give thanks to the LORD, for God is good,
for God’s mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Israel say,
“God’s mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say,
“God’s mercy endures forever.”
Peace Be with You
We hear Jesus say in Thursday’s reading from the Gospel of Luke:
The disciples of Jesus recounted what had taken place along the way,
and how they had come to recognize him in the breaking of bread.
While they were still speaking about this,
he stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace be with you.”
Jesus said it often, “Peace be with you.” He also often said, “Be not afraid.”
He faced death and came back from it, so clearly he know what he was talking about, and offers that same gift of peace that dwelt in him so deeply.
They Must have been Out-of-their-Minds with Excitment
When I went to Musée d’Orsa in Paris I noticed this wonderful painting of the Apostles Peter and John running to the tomb after Mary Magdalene had brought them the news of the Risen Christ. Their body language and expressions show anticipation, joy, and wonder. John wears a please-let-it-be-true look on his face. I was so taken by the picture, I just had to snap my camera.
When I think about how the disciples must have felt during their rolller-coaster-of-a-ride from the days leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion to the days after his resurrection, I can’t help but imagine that their nerves must have felt raw from the excitement of it all. We read on Wednesday about Jesus’ visit with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, as it is described in Luke, chapter 24.
Once Jesus had revealed himself to them – and then vanished, “they said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?’ So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the Eleven and those with them who were saying, ‘The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!’ Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
They must have been out-of-their-minds with excitement!
Easter Joy
The Psalms this week are full of Easter Joy! Tuesday’s is from Psalm 33.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia.
Upright is the word of the LORD,
and all God’s works are trustworthy.
God loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear God,
upon those who hope for God’s kindness,
To deliver them from death
and preserve them in spite of famine.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.
Alleluia.
Go Tell My Brothers
I’m playing catch up today after being on a Holy Week retreat, and don’t want to miss posting this wonderful reflection by Sister Sally Brady. Fortunately we have a number
of weeks to continue to proclaim the joyous message of Easter.
Easter Sunday
April 8, 2012
Acts 10: 34a, 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; John 20: 1-9
She (Mary Magdalene) saw that the stone had been moved away, so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple . . . And told them.
– John 20:1-2
As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to see k a ne w beginning . . . this r equire s a change of mind and heart . . . for we have much to learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth and wisdom.
– “The Way Forward” Preamble to the Earth Charter
We have come to our 500th Anniversary of Dominican preaching in the Western Hemisphere! How perfect is our Dominican 800th jubilee theme of “Women and Preaching,
in 2012, with the words Jesus spoke to Mary Magdalene: “Go, tell my brothers.” The Order’s “Patroness of Preachers” was the first messenger of Easter joy, and she did not hesitate to bring the message. She ran! If only our feet would be as swift to “go quickly” and make know this Jesus who is waiting to offer forgiveness to the world. It was after the seeing and believing that Peter, Mary and all Jesus’ followers realized that they were being “ordered to proclaim the resurrection, and to invite all people to repentance.”
As a world Order of Pr ach rs, it becomes our responsibility to continue proclaiming the deeper meaning of the resurrectionof Jesus, and not only experience a conversion of our own, but to call others to conversion, so that Gods light of truth can better be seen in our world, searching for the way.
Why does God desire that all people be invited to conversion? It brings us back to John the Baptist, the voice of God warning the people of an impending disaster and calling for a change of heart. We are all called to make an about-face and take a new path. A conversion of heart helps us begin to see and understand “The Way Forward” as those actions we take, or have taken, for others:
- Advocating on behalf of immigrant rights
- Speaking the truth in order to heal and support victims of trafficking
- Respecting all life, rejecting all that is death
- Calling our government to lead the way for global abolition of all weapons of mass destruction
- Protecting the Earth’s vitality, diversity, and beauty “as sacred trust”
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