OPreach
Dominican Preaching through Word and Image
To Whom Am I Listening?
If I cannot listen to all of life, then any part that I do hear will be only partial or distorted. If I am listening only in chapel, if I am listening only to my peers, if I am listening only to my profession, if I am listening only to my routine, then I have cut out the poor, the children, the needy, the holy where it is calling me to be present.
– Joan Chittister from Alive Now! July/August 1994
Take Up Your Cross or the Cost of Discipleship
Today’s Gospel reading is from Mark 8
Jesus summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake
and that of the Gospel will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What could one give in exchange for his life?
The picture below is from a chapel in El Salvador, commemorating Archbishop Oscar Romero who offered his life for those he served. His words, “Si me matan, resucitare en el pueblo salvadoreno” – “If they kill me I will be resurrected among the Salvadoran people.”
Walking Humbly on the Earth
To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation. When we do it knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, destructively, it is a desecration.
– Wendell Berry
We Live in Hope
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 us 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.
– Pope John XXIII
All Life 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
-Talking to God: Portrait of a World at Prayer
How Will I Know the Right Time and Place?
From Saint Catherine of Siena, a Dominican Saint and Doctor of the Church
To the true servant of God every place is the right place and every time is the right time.
Perhaps . . . now is the time to open that door to which the Spirit has been beckoning you.
Do All for the Glory of God
Paul encourages us today in the First Letter to the Corinthians.
Brothers and sisters,
Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
Our Lady of Lourdes
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
In 1858 the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, near Lourdes in France, in the cavern called “de Massabielle.” Through this poor, fourteen-year-old girl, Mary calls on us to turn to God and change our lives. She has inspired in the Church a great love of prayer and good words, especially in the service of the poor and the sick.
Lourdes is a place of pilgrimage, healing, and faith. There have been 60 “recognized” miraculous cures as a result of a visit to the waters at Lourdes, although there are likely many, many more. The Church sees this as a continuation of Jesus’ healing miracles—now performed at the intercession of his mother. Some who visit Lourdes return home and experience in their bodies, many return with renewed faith.
While many believe the stories of the apparitions and miracles at Lourdes, there are many who do not. In the words that introduce the film Song of Bernadette: “For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”
La Voz de los sin Voz
From Mark 7 we read:
Jesus put his finger into the man’s ears . . . and said to him, “Ephphatha!” – that is, “Be opened!” – And immediately the man’s ears were opened, his speech impediment was removed, and he spoke plainly.
There are those in our world who need to be heard. There are those who need to be seen. Let us listen to them and speak on their behalf. Better yet, let us find a way for their voices to be heard.
This sign is displayed in the museum of Archbishop Romero in the University of Central America in El Salvador. Romero was la voz de los sin voz, and it cost him his life.
Wisdom Must Be Cultivated
We all know about the wisdom of Solomon, and how he asked God for this gift above all others. In yesterday’s reading we saw how his fame had spread to the Queen of Sheba, so great was his wisdom.
All that fame, renown, and acclaim must have gone to his head, for we read today, in 1 Kings 11, that he turned away from God and ended up displeasing the very One who had given him such a tremendous gift. Not a very smart move!
We are all given gifts and talents, and we must practice so as not to lose them.
Let us cultivate
wisdom,
kindness,
compassion,
generosity,
joy,
peace,
gentleness,
hope,
faith,
gratitude . . .
Please add to the list.
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