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Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
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.
Our God is with Us
From today’s Responsorial Psalm 46:
There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,
the holy dwelling of the Most High.
God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;
God will help it at the break of dawn.
The City of God is often called Zion. I am sure that those who named the National Park we know as Zion here in the US, could only imagine that such beauty had to be worthy of being called Zion, the City of God. Let us remember that wherever we are, God is, and that it, too, is the City of God, and therefore beautiful.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Finding God in the Interruptions
Surely this doesn’t happen to you.
Imagine being in the middle of an engrossing project, one that needs to be finished within the hour/day/week. And along comes a person/phone call/incident that interrupts this all-important (truly) task. It’s not hard for me to imagine myself grumbling and complaining at that point about the interruption, whether it’s a thing or a person. Probably that’s never happened to you.
A friend of mine (Kathleen Bryant, RSC) sent me this quote today. I think I’ll post it everywhere I can see it, so that the next time the interruptions come along I can receive them with grace. They probably wear the face of God.
If you haven’t already adopted a Lenten practice by now (we’re in the 3rd week of Lent), this would be a good one. I think I’ll add it for the remaining 3 weeks.
Interruptions
Even though you have a lot of work to do
If you think of it as wonderful
And if you feel it as wonderful
It will transform into energy of
Joy and fire
Instead of becoming a burden.
– Tulku Thondup Rinpoche
Loving Our Neighbor . . . the Immigrant
Friday’s Gospel reading is from Matthew 12:28-34
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding,
with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding, he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
I wonder how well we demonstrate our love for God by our love for our neighbor . . .
- After visiting with some of the people of Tijuana, and witnessing their poverty. . .
- After conversations with people who had grown up in the U.S., only to be deported as an adult, even though they knew no one in Mexico . . .
- After remembering the words of Exodus 22:21 . . .
You must not mistreat or oppress foreigners in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.
God bless the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Peace, and all those who support them, in caring for their neighbors and our neighbors. May we learn to be truly neighbor through our trade and immigration policies, and may we learn compassion and not react to the “stranger” in a mean-spirited manner because of our fear and lack of understanding. May the Spirit help us to “enlarge the place of our tent” (Isaiah 54:2) and make room in our hearts and our lives for others who are different from us. Could this be a way for us to be transformed this Lent?
Serving the Little Ones
Students from Dominican University in San Rafael traveled to Tijuana, Mexico for a service trip. It was a wonderful experience for all involved. The students exhibited generosity, joy, and a wonderful spirit. One of the places the students enjoyed most was Casa de Cuna, where young children stay for the day or week while their mothers are working. This wonderful work was founded, and is still staffed, by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Mexico.
Living in Harmony through Loving God
Today I share a few words from the Dominican scholar St. Thomas Aquinas.
First we need to know
with the same God.
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