OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
We Hold onto the Promise in Hope
On the 5th Thursday of Lent we read from today’s passage from Genesis 17 of God’s faithfulness
I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.”
We hold onto this promise in these last weeks of Lent.
We hold onto this promise in the times of dryness.
We hold onto this promise in hope.
Sister Adele gave the name Counterpoint Images to her particular technique of creating the photo montage (long before there was even a thought of Photoshop). These counterpoint images showed the genuine relationship between the juxtaposed elements. And it is the authenticity of this relationship which underlies the integrity of her montages – the final image presenting a living, organic, coherent whole.
The Truth Will Set Us Free
Today’s Gospel reading from John, chapter 8 includes:
Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Loving God’s Creation
I remember reading Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov when I was in high school. If there were quotes like this in Dostoevsky’s books, I missed them entirely. Of course I was 18, and likely not looking in the same way. It is wonderful to read them now!
Love all that has been created by God, both the whole and every grain of sand. “
Love every leaf and every ray of light.
Love the beasts and the birds, love the plants, love every separate fragment.
If you love each separate fragment,
you will understand the mystery of the whole resting in God.
– Fyodor Dostoevsky
She Announced the Good News
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation. Our Lenten reflection has been prepared by Sister Cathy Murray, OP., and she recalls the lovely presence and passing of Sister Anna Louise LaVoy, often remembered as Sister Ignatius (and lovingly as gracious Ignatius).
In the first reading today, we see that Ahaz responded to God’s great offer of giving any sign – NO MATTER HOW GREAT OR HOW MOMENTOUS – by spiritualizing his decision not to follow God’s advice. “Oh, I would never want to tempt God by asking for a sign.” God’s will for Ahaz was very clear, but the path of God’s will for Ahaz required great courage and great risk. God was asking him to neither surrender to Israel nor to align with the Assyrians for protection.
We contrast Ahaz with Mary, a young woman born in an obscure village. She experienced God’s intervention in her life through an encounter with an angel. There was no guile with Mary. She had the presence of mind in the midst of this divine experience to dialogue with the angel.
As I write this Lenten reflection, I am sitting alongside our sister Anna Louise as she is dying. Anna Louise is one who answered many annunciations in her life. She lived without guile and was genuine and wholehearted in her response to God. Anna Louise loved so many sisters in our congregation and so deeply. She saw and celebrated the good and the best in others. She delighted in God and the wonders of creation. She lived the presence of Christ within her and her Christ-bearing joy was contagious. At 93 years old, she faced many changes in religious life and church; yet she had the presence of mind and freedom with God to dialogue about those changes and trust where God was leading religious life and church. The Good News was announced to her and she lived it lovingly, beautifully and justly.
She announced the Good News, in her very being, that God is with us.
This reflection can also be found on the website of the Dominican Preachers for the Western Region.
. . . And One More Thing about Gratitude
Though the Busy Person’s Retreat on “Going Gratitudinal” may be completed, we are never finished with the opportunities for gratefulness. May the readings, reflections, and thoughtful questions over the last few days assist us in continuing to cultivate a grateful heart.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
And in the words of Richard Rohr, OFM, “Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, praising God until we ourselves are a constant act of praise.
Going Gratitudinal – Part 5
Today’s “Gratitudinal” Scripture passage is from Ephesians 1:16:
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.
Rabbi Harold Kushner challenges us: “Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted–a paved road or a washing machine? If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.”
What are the ordinary things in my life that I take for granted?
Who are the people I take for granted?
Can I, by expressing my gratitude, transform them to something or someone far beyond ordinary?
Going Gratitudinal – Part 4
Today’s “Gratitudinal” Scripture passage is from Philippians 4:12-13:
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
We find exhortations to grateful living outside our Christian tradition. Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Bahai faith said, “A thankful person is thankful under all circumstances. A complaining soul complains even if he lives in paradise.”
Do your prayers include expressions of gratitude—even in those times when you feel a desperate need for God’s action and intervention? What is the overall makeup of your prayers?
Taken on retreat at St. Rita Abbey, in Sonoita, Arizona. This is an abbey of Cistercian nuns.
Going Gratitudinal – Part 3
Today’s “Grateful” Scripture passage is from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
We are reminded by Denis Waitely, “I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.”
What was the last difficult circumstance you thanked God for?
Going Gratitudinal – Part 2
Today’s “Grateful” Scripture reading is from Psalm 118:28-29:
You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.
Give thanks to the LORD, for God is good;
God’s love endures forever.
Elie Wiesel tells us, “When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”
Where does gratitude rank on your list of required qualities?
Going Gratitudinal
Going Gratitudinal. That’s the theme of this week’s Busy Person’s Retreat at Dominican University in San Rafael. Our sisters meet with students, faculty, and staff members this week, to pray and share reflections on a selection of readings. We thought that focusing on gratitude would be helpful during this latter part of the Lenten season.
Please feel free to join us online at our Dominican Sisters’ website. And over the next few days I will post a “gratitudinal” thought for the readers of this blog. After all, the Dominican mystic Meister Eckart said, “If the only prayer you say is thank you, that is enough.” I’m sure the same thing goes for preaching as for praying.
Please share something for which you are grateful.
OPreach 