March Twenty-Twenty

As I look over this month's pictures, I know everyone's world has turned upside down and has gotten smaller and smaller in terms of the people we are seeing on a daily basis. But we are grateful for the ways we are finding hope and encouragement each day. May these images and words below bring you a taste of that encouragement today and a break from exhausting news feeds.   

Come, Lord, lift us up into your presence and peace in the coming days.... 

"Lent is a time to quit running, to let ourselves be caught and embraced in love, like a sheep with safe pasture, like a traveler offered rich and unexpected food. Our life is not willed by God to be an endless anxiety. It is, rather, meant to be an embrace, but that entails being caught by God." 

– Walter Brueggemann, Threat of Life: Sermons on Pain, Power, and Weakness   

(This quote certainly highlights the parallels between the quarantine and Lent.) 

"But first do this now or soon.

Turn off your screens. Step away from daily tasks. Sit down. Be still. Listen. Yes you will fidget and worry. That is okay. Stay there a little longer, where God is waiting for you.

Notice your breathing. Feel your body. Be present to each moment, as best you can. Give up trying, thinking, and planning. And give yourself over to this great Mystery of Love which lives beyond words in silence. This is a love, which longs to be with you and be known by you. Allow the flowing Love and Mercy of God move through you.  Surrender to your Beloved, who is beyond your knowing and to the peace that passes your understanding. Here. Right here in this sacred moment of your infinitely precious life is all you will ever need." 

- Loretta Ross 

"It’s not the circumstances that create joy. It’s you. " 

“… we all experience sadness, we all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that the suffering in our lives and in the world will ever end. I want to share with you my faith and my understanding that this suffering can be transformed and redeemed. There is no such thing as a totally hopeless case. Our God is an expert at dealing with chaos, with brokenness, with all the worst that we can imagine. God created order out of disorder, cosmos out of chaos, and God can do so always, can do so now--in our personal lives and in our lives as nations, globally. ... Indeed, God is transforming the world now--through us--because God loves us.”

― Desmond Tutu

For One Who is Exhausted, A Blessing

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic, time takes on the strain until it breaks;

Then all the unattended stress falls in on the mind like an endless, increasing weight.

The light in the mind becomes dim. Things you could take in your stride before now become laborsome events of will. Weariness invades your spirit. Gravity begins falling inside you, dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out. And you are marooned on unsure ground.

Something within you has closed down; and you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time. The desire that drove you has relinquished.

There is nothing else to do now but rest and patiently learn to receive the self

You have forsaken in the race of days.  At first your thinking will darken and sadness take over like listless weather. The flow of unwept tears will frighten you. You have traveled too fast over false ground;

Now your soul has come to take you back. Take refuge in your senses, open up to all the small miracles you rushed through. Become inclined to watch the way of rain when it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight, taking time to open the well of color that fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone until its calmness can claim you. Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit. Learn to linger around someone of ease who feels they have all the time in the world.  Gradually, you will return to yourself, having learned a new respect for your heart

and the joy that dwells far within slow time. -John Donahue 

Dear God, these uncertain times reveal truth that always been—we are finite. As current events force us to examine our mortality, may we ask the question, “how then shall we live?” Give us eyes to see and ears to hear. Let us respond to the needs around us in the most compassionate way.

If our skills are needed, may we serve tirelessly.

If isolation is called for, meet us in our loneliness.

If the pandemic seems never ending, give us patience.

Remind us that we are never alone, that you are always with us.

In the name of the one who will never leave us nor forsake us,

Amen.

-Mark Cook 

Open my eyes, that I may see

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready my God, Thy will to see,

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

–Clara H. Scott, hymn lyrics, 1895

"This virus is like a mirror - showing us our fears, our anger, our frustrations, but also our humanity, our kindness to others, our ability to reach out to others in love and solidarity. Perhaps the next few weeks will be difficult as we all distance ourselves physically from one another and I will miss hugging you all….I encourage you to continue your meditation practice. Every moment asking, "What is this?" - bringing yourself into that space of openness and calm acceptance of what is right in front of you…." -Rebecca Otte

Love in the Time of Corona 

It was inevitable: the scent of a bitter

bloom rising, opening, reminding u.s.

Au contraire, you are not gods.

Who shall be found still standing in

fields of green once this virulent

spring has wrung its dreadly course?

For starters, he who hath clean hands,

stayeth home, and toucheth not her face.

Yet this we do know: little will be as it

was before. Little, that is, but love.

-John Blase 

Lockdown

by Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness. 

Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other

across the empty squares,

keeping their windows open

so that those who are alone

may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know

is busy spreading fliers with her number

through the neighbourhood

So that the elders may have someone to call on.

Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

are preparing to welcome

and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way

All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

The birds are singing again

The sky is clearing,

Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able

to touch across the empty square,

Sing.

Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM

March 13th 2020