Word made Flesh

Influences in our time and place

Seeing our true identity

Innocents and the Life of the Planet

Family works on holiness

Endure and engage greed

A Child who leads our change

Child of the Most High

Covenant continuously offered to us

Fortunes reverse and hope appears

A history of patterns which invite love

A visit and the body responds to Love

Forerunners to Divine action

The Dreamer and discernment

The line from Abraham and in David

Advent deeds and justice in Star Wars

Rebellion and hypocrisy

The third eye of Wisdom

Gaudete Sunday and steps for peace

Our Lady of Guadalupe challenges us to be present

Leading to peace

The agent of change guides us to transformation

Our way is challenged by His invitation to rest

Mercy and the gift of Mary

Forgiveness transcends

The mountains will fall to mercy and love

Healing in the community

Faith and insight that attracts

Action and Word drive change

Calling our enemies to the Life banquet

Isaiah and shalom experienced in Love

Call of Andrew reaches through time and space

Anxiety and consolation accompany our journey

Vigilance in prayer and peaceful action

Praise and our home under oppression

Hasten the end times strategy

Persevere and show the Sacred to the secular society

End Times and everyday experience

History repeats and God provides

The King of the Universe presents Truth

Mary and the Gift of Clever Mindedness

Thin Places and Sacred Spaces

Standing in the place of good people in Raqqa

Gift of faith used well

Mercy reaches out to those who offend

Spiritual struggle against assimilation continues

The end times influence action today

Paris terror and our needs in prayer

Looking for timeless Truth

Entangled with Wisdom

Remember our courageous

How to work with WIFM

Lateran Basilica and radiation of love

Giving all and stepping out of our time.

Friends external and within as our guide

Prudent and Spiritual

Irrational and foolish Lover

The mission is love in all circumstances

Loving service in the moment not philosophies of blame

Service which brings life

Revelation Journey From Rome to Rohr

A feast to focus on living by honouring the dead

Change of heart before laws

Prayer with believers to hear our name

Prayer and dialogue for peace

Seed of peace in non violent hope

Prepared for shame as step to life

Journey to service and peace

Using time to be fruitful

Tension between self service and love

Passion for service to the other

The pack advice for waiting and living well

The timeline expands through loving service

Decision to serve and voting choice

Sitting as servants in the Kingdom

Choosing to witness faith

See me and my justification

Sola and opened by contemplation and charity

Push beyond rules to experience mercy

Self serving lies lead away from life

Thanksgiving and Falling Upward

Difficult decisions for disciples

Focus on transcendent relationship today

The habits which bring drought

We persist and receive Spirit

Anger and the right and good treatment of enemies

Martha Mary and My way

Saint for all seasons

He invites those who suffer to be family

Reflection on Contemplation and Contrast in Assisi

Italy Contrasts Contemplation

An image which informs the contrast contemplation on Italy is one of a North American Church with all of the newness and up to the times design and social interaction as a child of the Churches of Italy. The child may need to go home and begin to think about and appropriate the features of the Parent Church which have provided insight into the transcendent and immanent nature of God for centuries of believers.

Assisi is earthy and the land, the smells and the atmosphere transmit a place which is in contrast to the hustle and bustle and time of the modern world. Timelessness is a sense which emanates from the environment.

The Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi and Basilica di Santa Chiara dominate the skyline of Assisi yet the little Church of Porziuncola in the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli speaks of the nature of Saint Francis and speaks of qualities of his life which have inspired millions.

Peacefulness is the ambiance of the land where the author of the “peace prayer” centered his vocation. Beauty in land, art and architecture nourishes an inner hunger for meaningful expression and interpretation of that which is ultimately uninterpretable.

The role of the body in our relationship with God has been under represented in the Church in North America. The interplay with the Sacred in Assisi is physical. Eyes, ears, nose and tongue take in the sensual experience. The feet and muscles respond to the hills. The body core perspires in the sun and feels real comfort and consolation within the places of worship, contemplation and adoration. Francis walked to encounter Christ in people, places, animals and nature. Our footsteps offer some opportunities to connect with the Saint who renounced self to serve God and others.

Angry returns blessing

Childlike trust and an angelic guide

Prayer and peace change lives

A decision which we are compelled to make

Signs of the Presence

Accept those who are outside with humility learned in family

Casting out demons of self serving actions

Our humane response is restricted by fear

Humane is a description of glory

Inspired by community and beauty

Gracious Providence humbly ministered

Brothers sisters and cousins include everyone

Many members as ministers of mercy

Humility and confession in service

Forgiven and called to serve

Simply look around for majesty

Mary shows a path to discernment of our role as disciples

Looking up for a reminder of Love

Serendipity which touches our experience is an invitation to fuller life

Named for grace, mercy and service

Tension and hypocrisy

Enemies are loved in mercy

Front Line service to the outcast

Mysterious Yes

Care trumps duty

Be Opened to hear and speak for the poor

The bells and smells invite full bodily participation

Our tradition is old and new

Shadows of our future journey may be discerned

Invitation to Come and See

Saving the earth is a spiritual action

Special are the downtrodden

Appearance hypocrisy and consequences

A table of consequences

The list of the consequence of our evil thoughts in Mark 7:21-23 varies in how it is expressed in different Bible translations. An interesting note is the translators show the most variation around sexual immorality, licentiousness and pride.

NIV	NAB	NRSV
	evil thoughts,
sexual immorality,	unchastity,	fornication,
theft,	theft,	theft,
murder,	murder,	murder,
adultery,	adultery,	adultery,
greed,	greed,	avarice,
malice,	malice,	wickedness,
deceit,	deceit,	deceit,
lewdness,	licentiousness,	licentiousness,
envy,	envy,	envy,
slander,	blasphemy,	slander,
arrogance	arrogance,	pride,
folly	folly.	folly.

Prepare and persevere

Consonance and dissonance guide our journey

The weightier matters need the Poet

Called to know our spiritual name

Chosen to Choose

Titles point to ways of humble service

Love for the migrant is our spiritual heritage

Rash promises and false pretense

The passages in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today offer a view of how commitment to follow the Way to the Kingdom requires serious action. In the Book of Judges we are given pause by Jephthah’s vow and its consequences. Friar Jude Winkler notes that we will need to decide that God is first in our lives even if that appears to put loved ones at a lower priority. Scripture scholar, Miles Van Pelt presents arguments for an interpretation of this event in Judges which are more in accord with references to the event in the Christian Testament and some rabbinic interpretation cited by the Jewish Encyclopedia. The Gospel from Matthew tells a parable where a wedding feast offered by a king is compared to the Kingdom of God. Our participation in this Kingdom requires a choice, in the words of Friar Jude, for us to dress the part. Laura Kauzlarich-Mizaur reflects on the major roadblocks identified in the Gospel to participating in the joyous celebration of the Kingdom of God. The selfie focus which puts our pride, ego and independence at the centre of our life experiences may lead to rash promises and false pretense as witness we show to others.

Envy and ego block mercy and love

Power and prosperity from a life perspective

Counter Cultural Commitment

Choosing Bread for Life

Not about Mary

Kolbe and Qumran show self sacrifice

Forgive and Live

The Roman Catholic Lectionary today chooses texts which remind us that our relationship with God is for our entire existence. The author of the Book of Joshua presents the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land as an echo of the Exodus from Egypt. This compilation of the history of the relationship of God and Israel was completed prior to the Babylonian exile. The Gospel relates the need to be forgiving without reserve. Friar Jude Winkler relates our inability to surrender to the call to forgive. Maryanne Rouse reminds mature Christians that we need to incorporate understanding, compassion and forgiveness in all our relationships with others.