Michael Jackson, self acceptance and God's forgiving love

Last night at supper at our Motherhouse dining room I sat with a group of sisters who were wondering about all the Michael Jackson hype. It is a little much but his music did accompany us for four decades. I recall all the kids with whom I worked in the 80's moonwalking and wearing those red Michael Jackson jackets and skinny black pants.

I admit I watched one of the many programs about his life and all I can think of is the poor thing! He was proof that all the money, talent and fame in the world does not make one happy.
The semi-news program I watched detailed the number of plastic surgeries the guy had and I couldn't help thinking, what a waste of money, time and energy! To be so focused on yourself, your looks, your needs and wants makes you a prisoner of yourself. Too bad.

Well all that is over for him and now he is in the hands of our God who fills all our needs.
Now he knows that true beauty has nothing to do with looks, money, fame etc.
I hope he's at peace. Thanks for the music.

Blessed Trinity

When I entered the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity I was most interested in the part of our Community name that spoke of being a Missionary and a Servant. The Most Blessed Trinity ... not so much.
In 12 years of Catholic school I learned the basics and more, so of course I knew about the Trinity. Catholics begin and end prayers with the sign of the Cross and the words,"In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I also had to memorize the Baltimore Catechism which had this to say about the Trinity:
"In God there are three Divine Persons, really distinct, and equal in all things-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father is God and the first Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Son is God and the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The Holy Ghost is God and the third Person of the Blessed Trinity.
The Blessed Trinity is one God in three Divine Persons. The three Divine Persons are one and the same God, having one and the same Divine nature.
All very true today and always but what difference does it make?

For me the Trinity is at the center of all good actions of all that is good in humans today.
Pope Benedict XVI sums it up:
Thus we see the "God of relation", thus in the final instance we see "creative Love. Everything comes from love, tends towards love and moves impelled by love, though naturally with differing degrees of awareness and

"The strongest proof that we are made in the image and likeness of the Trinity is this: only love can make us happy, because we live in relation to others, we live to love and to be loved. Using an analogy taken from biology
we could say that the human beings carry in heir 'genomes' the profound traces of the Trinity, of God-Love", the Holy Father concluded.

Come Holy Spirit

In 1913 our religious family, the Missionary Cenacle Family, began a perpetual novena to the Holy Spirit. To this day there are always two or three groups of our sisters, our lay groups, or brothers and priests praying the Novena. During the nine days before Pentacost Sunday we all pray the Novena.

We offer the Novena for the following intentions:

• for the spread of devotion to the Most Blessed Trinity, in a particular way to the Holy Spirit
• for the spread of the knowledge of and devotion to the mystery of the Incarnation and all the mysteries of our Lord Jesus
• to exalt in the holy name of Jesus
• to console the heart of Jesus
• for priests
• for the success of the Ecumenical movement and for the coming of the reign of God among all God's people.
  

Here's a link to the Novena prayers:
http://mcenacle.org/mcfnovenas.htm

Risen

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb,
fearful yet overjoyed,
and ran to announce the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them.
They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage.
Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid.
Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee,
and there they will see me."

While they were going, some of the guard went into the city
and told the chief priests all that had happened.
The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel;
then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers,
telling them, "You are to say,
'His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.'
And if this gets to the ears of the governor,
we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day. Mt 28:8-15

If you were not risen,
Lord Christ, to whom would we go
to discover a radiance
of the face of God?

If you were not risen,
we would not be together
seeking your communion.
We would not find in your presence
forgiveness,
wellspring of a new beginning.

If you were not risen,
where would we draw the energy
for following you
right to the end of our existence,
for choosing you again and anew?

Brother Roger of Taize

Lent, fasting and my neighbor

Here it is Lent; a time to deepen in our relationship with God.

I'm thinking more prayer, more quiet time to read scripture and meditate on it. Great!
Of course when you meditate on a passage like that of today's reading from Isaiah
it kind of ruins the concept of a nice, peaceful, meditative Lent that in which I can focus on me and God. Once again God pulls me out of myself.

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! Isaiah 58

Self sufficient in Christ

But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. 1 Timothy 6:9

How 'wicked' sad I am to hear and read of the Wal-mart worker, Jdimytai "Jimmy" Damour, being trampled to death by a mob of folks pushing to get into the store to buy stuff.

In my checkered Catholic sister career as a teacher, parish and youth minister and social worker, etc. I've seen people in great need for food, clothes and shelter and those who have enough but have this great deep want for? What? More of whatever it is that other folks have. They are not content with their life.
I don't call them savages as some have. I don't believe that any of those folks wanted to kill Mr. Damour for a Wal-mart special. In fact they were probably pushed forward by the great crowd behind them. I wonder about the many motives of the individuals in that crowd. Why did they go out at that 'unGodly' hour to stand out in the cold and wait to get in to buy some thing?

I know I want stuff too. I have the use of things. As a Catholic Sister I don't own things, but I have the use of them for my ministry. So the Community buys me a car, clothes, books, a laptop and printer, etc. Guess what? I want the latest, most powerful laptop going, but I don't get it because we tend to go practical, not the best but something good and hopefully durable.
Some of us are using Windows 95 machines.
If someone were to give me the machine of my dreams I'd be thrilled for the moment. It's enjoyable to have the latest thing, the coolest Ipod or smartphone or widescreen TV.

Does it make me or anyone happier, better, more cool? No.
I think the wants people are trying to fill have nothing to do with possessing things, with being able to give cool gifts. I believe we are trying to fill up a hole within us that no material object will fill. For me I know the One who fills my wants and needs is Jesus Christ, the Lord.
How I wish more people could know this. I am praying this Advent be more than just a season of shopping but a season of hope for the coming of Christ within us EVERYDAY.
I pray we can be like St. Paul who said:

Not that I say this because of need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I find myself, to be self-sufficient.

I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need.

I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. Philippians, 4,11

The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church

The Catholic Church just had a synod of Bishops on the topic of Scripture. The Synod sent out a letter on Oct. 24th which can be accessed here: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20081024_message-synod_en.html
There will be a letter called an Apostolic Exhortation from Pope Benedict sometime soon.

While I always try to read and pay attention to letters, exhortations, encyclicals and the like from Rome (it's part of what I'm committed to as a vowed religious) I'm especially interested in this topic. Reading the Bible as a young women of 22, rekindled my faith in God and changed me from a "Sunday Mass Catholic" to a practicing Catholic every day.

Four central points concerning the Word of God were highlighted:

1. The divine Voice. in Creation, in history
2. The Face: Jesus Christ
3. The Home of the divine word, that is to say the Church, which, as Saint Luke suggested
(Acts 2:42), is supported by four ideal columns.
teaching
the breaking of the bread
prayer
brotherly communion
4. The road the Word of God walks upon
The Word of God must run through the world’s streets which today are also those of computer, television and virtual communication.

Here's a piece of what the Synod had to say in their Oct. 24th letter:

Dear brothers and sisters, guard the Bible in your houses, fully read, study and understand its pages, transform them into prayer and witness of life, listen to it with love and faith in the liturgy. Create the silence to effectively hear the Word of the Lord and hold a silence after the listening, because it will continue to dwell, live and speak to you. Make it resound at the beginning of your day so that God will have the first word and let it echo in you in the evenings so that the last word will be God’s.