In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
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Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
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Welcome
During these uncertain times when there does not seem to be any hope for change, slipping into passivity becomes an option. As our community reflects on the life and times of our beloved teacher from Nazareth, it is a wonder that the stories that began as an oral tradition have continued for centuries long after his earthly death. We follow in the steps of the early disciples who gathered, shared Eucharistic meals, and prayed together as was their Jewish custom. They courageously broke away from the world view of a top-down patriarchal oppressive society to become an evolving brotherhood and sisterhood of equals. Circumventing what continues to appear impossible we find ourselves in a period of transition that has existed for thousands of years sparked by a commitment to pursue what makes life worthwhile. We are emboldened with courage on this perilous journey together because we believe in the very last message from Jesus shared in the final verse of gospel story-teller Matthew, “I am with you always, to the end of the ages.”
A Reading from Joan Chittister: Commitment to what makes life worthwhile
Everyone is defeated some time. Many simply quit the fray. But the really strong, the really committed, do not. They decide whether the mountain is worth the climb. And if it is, no amount of wind can force them from the face of it. They endure the hard climb to finish what they began.
It is endurance that provides the will not to give up. It is not about being too stubborn to give up on the impossible. Endurance is about having heart enough to keep on trying to do the possible, even if it is unattainable. For example, we nurse the dying through years of disability. We begin projects for the poor even when they don’t begin to make a dent in the problem of poverty. We hold on against opposition for the sake of a heart-felt principle we believe in. Those who endure seek to do what is deeply important to them, no matter how difficult it may be.
The problem is that it is often hard to tell the difference between endurance and denial, which is a necessary distinction to make. We are in denial when we fail to accept the fact that what we want to have happen, depends on more than what we as individuals have to offer. When we do not have the agreement of others that are needed to see a thing through, but cling to the idea anyway, that is denial. If we do not have the basic musical abilities it takes to play the piano, no amount of music lessons will make up for a lack of natural rhythm.
Endurance, then, does not mean “success.” It means being willing to cope with what is, until something else begins. It means being open to the possibility that some things will stay the way they are, perhaps indefinitely. Endurance demands that I bear what I must and still be what I can, in tribute to those things that make a life worth living. Endurance is not misery, not martyrdom, not spiritual masochism. Endurance means that I intend to survive the worst, singing as I go along despite forces devoted to destruction.
It also means soul searching - that I must resist the comfort of passivity and be open to becoming something new. This is the gift woven through the sacrament of commitment, not to be wasted on denial, on stubbornness, or on posturing. Like the early Christians, we do what we do, not because we are sure to succeed at it, but because it brings out something good in us that nothing else can touch.
A Reading from a Cherokee Elder: Joyce Sequichie Hifler
Passivity is the habitual comfort of a familiar place that keeps us where we are – even if we are not happy there. The hurt of leaving something we have grown accustomed to makes it more difficult. It takes time to adjust. But once an adjustment is made, we could never go back. The ache for the old and familiar no longer has the pull it once had. Like the delicate tendrils of an ivy clinging tenaciously, each sensitive feeling must be loosened and detached before we begin to feel at home. Until we lose the world we once knew, we cannot fully adjust to a new one. It is a slow unravelling of old ways of thinking and doing. But one day we can look back without regret and wonder why it took so long when being free and joyfully alive is so good.
Prayer of Intention:
“It is when we immerse ourselves in something big enough or
beautiful enough to consume us beyond the moment and forever that we find the
unreachable limits of human happiness.” Joan Chittister
May my spirit fill the world with beauty and wonder. Let it be so, All: Let it be so.
May my mind seek truth about my strengths with humility. Let it be so, All:
Let it be so.
May my imagination overcome despair and
suffering by recognizing possibilities. Let it be so, All: Let it be so.
May my heart be open to God’s presence within me, so I may serve for the
well-being of myself and others. Let it be so, All: Let it be so.
May my soul rejoice in the light that glimmers in the present moment. Let it be
so, All: Let it be so.
— Adapted from Mary Lou Kownacki, Distributed by
Pax Christi, USA
We invite you to share your intentions on this day.
For these and all intentions held in our hearts, let
it be so.
A Scripture Reading 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
There are varieties of gifts, service, and activities but the same Spirit who empowers them all in everyone …To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good … to one the utterance of wisdom, to another the utterance of knowledge, to another faith, to another gifts of healing, to another the working of miracles … All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit.
Closing Song: Be a Light by Thomas Rhett (lyrics),
Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott Reba McEntire
References
Hifler,
J. S. (1992). A Cherokee Feast of
Days: Daily Meditations. Council Oaks Books.
Chittister, Joan (2023,
Jan 23). Commitment to what makes life worthwhile
—from Scarred By Struggle, Transformed by
Hope, by Joan Chittister (Eerdmans)
https://joanchittister.org/articles/commitment-what-makes-life-worthwhile
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