The severe storm brings attraction and awe

Spirit calls for radical and subversive confession

Faith acting through the body

Openness and Humility

Let our behaviour lead us to openness and compassion

Relationships on a foundation of inclusion and service

Patterns and signs in the tradition for Life

Good Choices are inspired

Ancient blessing bearing fruit in Laudato Si

Laudato Si as the Earth is facing storms

Pope Francis Laudato Si and Providence

Laudata Si and how our eyes see Creation

Abba and our daily bread

Three actions which open our hearts

Change through generosity

The paradox of rejection requires kindness and generosity

Small acts are seeds for mysterious growth

Trust Truth and Clear Teaching

Love of parent and more for all

Spirit makes us aware of the direction we need to take

Law fulfilled by Spirit

Light of kindness, generosity and graciousness

The beauty of a humble and inspired approach to Scripture

Kindness and generosity and graciousness

The Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated in Rome by Pope Francis on Thursday past. This feast is moved to Sunday in many places in North America to involve more people than would be able to attend during a weekday. We were very fortunate to have celebrated this event with Pope Francis in Rome this year. When I read the account of our experience I can hardly believe we were really there. The action of Corpus Christi which is visible to the world is the procession of the Blessed Sacrament. Friar Jude Winkler links the account of the institution of the Eucharist from the Gospel of Mark to the tradition of cutting a Covenant, described in Exodus, which is traditionally sealed in blood as the mediating agent which brings life to the people of the Covenant by extinguishing sins. The Book of Hebrews proclaims Jesus as the mediator of the New Covenant with God. The body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist is the life for the Body of Christ which is present to the world in the participants in the Corpus Christi procession. The qualities of the people we encountered in the celebration in Rome were exemplified by our hosts from the Franciscan community there; kindness and generosity and graciousness (gentile e generoso e gentile). The development of men and women in the practice of kindness, generosity and graciousness to others leads to development of discipline and self sacrifice. The food for the practice of these virtues is a personal relationship with Jesus, enfleshed in the Eucharist, which resonates with the Spirit to nourish Love, forgiveness and service. Preparation of people by the Church for ordained service is a formation in loving service which will be the means whereby the aspirations of Pope Francis for a world living with kindness, generosity and grace can be supported by the Church.

Giving praise in our actions

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary complete the story of the relationship of God with Tobit, Tobiah and their family. Raphael, one of the Seven Angels of the Presence reminds us that God is too be praised for His work in our lives. We live in harmony with God by action which emulates His Love and compassion for us and others. This message is directed to the action of almsgiving as Jesus proclaims the great gift of the widow who is poor in spirit and who depends on Providence to sustain her. Pat Borchers reflects on the quality of giving which does not make itself known to others. One of the early discoveries of this trip was that in Pompeii there was recognition given to donors of material for construction of public baths. Our need to be recognized for our giving is deep within our ego. The people who have given of their time, talent and treasure in quite and generous ways to make our trip to Italy possible have the spirit of poverty and hospitality in great measure. Let us praise God for the good and generous people we have in our lives.

The Family of Christ celebrates

The texts for today, Friday, in the for the Memorial of Saint Boniface and the celebration last evening of Corpus Christi last night in Rome are both related to our journey in Italy and in life. The events of readings from the Book of Tobit tell of the joy which Tobit and Anna experience at the return of his son Tobiah with his wife Sarah who is welcomed joyously into the family by Tobit who has received new sight from God. The importance of family relationship is part of the discusion Jesus engages with the scribes in the Gospel from Mark where he identifies that the Messiah, who David was promised by God is the Son of God. We have reached the last day in Rome and we are anxious for the joy of being reunited with family. Maryanne Rouse suggests that Ignatian contemplation is an excellent approach to deepen our experience of homecoming through the Tobit story.The Gospel from Mark for the Feast of Corpus Christi relates the actions of Jesus as He brings into being the universal community which is the Body of Christ. His blood of the covenant both alludes to the ancient rite of Ex 24:4–8 and indicates the new community that the sacrifice of Jesus will bring into being. We joined tens of thousands of the family which Jesus brings into being in the Mass and Procession for Corpus Christi which was celebrated by Pope Francis in the area of San Giovanni in Rome. Tom Stegman S.J. recalls the family presentation he experience during this celebration in a small German Town. The catholic nature of the gathering last night was evident as, in the crowd, there were devout Roman Catholics who lovingly recited the prayers and sang with joy in chorus with the Vatican musicians. There were people with a family or cultural tie to Catholicism and as always in Rome, some of the cameras and selfie sticks were held by the tourists and curious. As the very long liturgy progressed, some received as much of the encounter as they needed and left with pictures of the Pope and questions about the joyfulness of the devout. When the tens of thousands joined in the Procession of the Blessed Sacrament about three kilometers through Rome to the Santa Maria Maggoire Basilica with candles lit, the life and joy in the Body of Christ filling the streets was witness to an invitation to follow Jesus in the on going joy of continuing to conquer the Eternal City with Love, inclusion, compassion and forgiveness. As the Pope presided over the ancient rites of Benediction and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Rome came to a stop and people rejoiced in their relationships with God.

Love and the first Commandment

The text today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary tells of the marriage of Tobiah to Sarah. Eileen Wirth is inspired by this passage of the Hebrew Testament to encourage us to address our difficulties in life through prayer. In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus reminds the scribe who questions Him of the Shema prayer of Israel in which the faithful declare love for God with all their human faculties. As Jesus declares, this Love of God becomes Love of neighbour as we live to fulfill the will of God for our joy and peace. In the heat of summer like conditions in Rome, we set off on Wednesday morning to St Peters for the Papal Audience. The congestion on the public transit system on Wednesday mornings is one of the aggravations for native Romans as tens of thousands of pilgrims make their way to the Vatican. In our time, security forces have much influence over public events where tourists and pilgrims gather. We were unable to join the crowd which had asssembled near the entrance to the Basilica much earlier, but from our vantage point we could see the couples in wedding clothes who were receiving a special blessing from Papa Francesco. This resonance with the text from Tobit continued as we went for lunch in the Rome Ghetto an area in which Jews were locked by Papal Decree which began in the 16th Century. The contrasts in Rome continue to be salient points of our visit. Prayer in one of the ancient Churches during the heat of the day is a counterpoint to evidence of attitudes of separation between Roman and tourist, rich and poor and Christian and Jew.

We miss how our lives impact others

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary offer us a starting point to consider how our lives impact other people. The despair felt by Tobit and Sarah in the passage from the Hebrew Testament is accompanied by the misconception that our presence is not important or may even be disasterous for others. This can be a view which is ironically quite self centred as we place our despair at the centre of relationship with God and others. Steve Scholer comments on the effect of a habit of prayer on the battle against this troublesome state of mind. The Sadducees, who did not accept the idea of any life after death, query Jesus with an improbable scenario which involves the application of Jewish customs to ensure an heir to those who die. The response of Jesus resonates with the representation of Jesus as a philosopher which we have seen in Church art during our visit to Italy. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and emotional response which we experience are links to our continous relationship with the Divine which we can call prayer. This lifeline to the Transcendent is a active ingredient in the cure we often need for having a self centered vision of our life. The attempt to process all of life through the discipline of our intellect is as restricting to us as it was to the ability of the Sadducees to see the meaning in the texts to which Jesus refers in the Gospel today. The grace of being open to the big picture was demonstrated yesterday in two events from our trip. We visited the Roman Church which is the burial place of St Ignatius of Loyola where we found the place which honours this founder of the Society of Jesus which is sometimes assumed to be overly intellectual in their expressions of faith, to be very much in the tradition of the Roman Catholic churches we have visited which immerse us in the full emotional and traditional presentation of the story of the development of faith. The end of the day took us to the centre of ancient Rome atop a rebublican monument build to mark the unification of Italy. The obvious political intention to portray the new regime as heir to the power and glory of the ancient empire has created a excellent viewing platform for all of Rome. The location and size of this structure modified the view of the ancient Churches by the citizens who gather in the plaza of the people. One of the ironies of this city of contrasts is that the visibility of Churches and their contents is a great source of revenue for Romans and the government of Italy despite politcal action to attempt to make them less visible to the people.

States built on the hidden people need to know service.

The texts of the Roman Catholic Lectionary today inspire some reflection on the hidden persons who make the work of the state possible. The reflection of Angela Maynard on the Gospel from Mark invites us to consider the relationship between the Church, believers, and the State. Our trip to Rome and our guide from the Holy See have made it clear that the separation of Church and State is an ideal which has not been the reality for the 2000 years of Christianity. The commentary on this event from the Gospel of Matthew notes that they handed Him the Roman coin. This likely meant that they were users of the currency of the Roman Empire too. The passage from Tobit is a reminder that our assumptions about the nature of things, including the relationship between Church and State, are often the product of our own situations and may not reflect reality. The good guides who are in our lives provide touchstones to moderate our initial reactions. One example of the contrasts which we see in Rome was experienced yesterday as we visited some historic churches. One was built over a 1st century villa on a hill and the excavation showed frescoes of the pre Christian devotions of that time. The early Church met in this villa and obviously benefited from the alliance of its owner with the laws of the Roman State. The hidden people, like the blind Tobit, built the villas and palaces of Rome and they are with us today in a social political system which exploits and discards the poorest of the poor. We were quite fortunate to find the Roman Convent, near the old villa church, were nuns of the order founded by Mother Theresa live. We were invited to see where Mother Theresa lived when she visited Rome. The extremely humble cell in the convent which used to be a chicken coop for the Benedictan convent next door set the stage for the sister to explain the work her convent does with the homeless men of Rome. The State exercises the will of power and privilege. We are instructed by Jesus to bring the fruit of love, service, forgiveness and humility to our involvement with all people. We do this in one and one encounters and in efforts, which are political, to bring the actions of the State closer to serving the needs of those hidden persons upon which it rests.