Music High Five For The Weekend

Have a great weekend everyone. The Gospel on Sunday is about the Rich Man and my choice is a response in a Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby biddy biddy bum sort of way.

If I Were  a Rich Man from Fiddler on The Roof


 It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow.

The Best Things in Life  Are Free

Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries 

Brother Can You Spare a Dime : Tom Waits


Why Worry:  Dire Straits


The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry
When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

More reflections for Gospel Sunday 18th Week Ordinary Time

My first post on this was here but I posted early this week so missed out on a thoughtful article on this Sunday's gospel on the Rich man  with an intriguing title Coats, Cold Words and Chamberpots ! by Joseph A.Komonchak from dot Commonweal .

Below is an extract of the introduction and you can read the whole article here 

The comments section is interesting too.

"I have always heard ascribed to Peter Maurin the dictum: “The coat that hangs in your closet belongs to the poor.” 

The London Catholic Worker website echoes it: “Houses of hospitality are centres for learning to do the acts of love, so that the poor can receive what is, in justice, theirs, the second coat in our closet, the spare room in our home, a place at our table. 

Anything beyond what we immediately need belongs to those who go without.”

But now I wonder whether Peter Maurin was echoing a paragraph of St. Basil the Great’s homily on next Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 12: 13-21); 

Basil represented a common view of the Fathers well summed up by the Venerable Bede: The reason the Lord reproved the man who tore down his barns in order to build bigger ones was not that he cultivated the earth and collected its fruits into his barns, but that he did not divide with the poor what went beyond his needs–in which case he wouldn’t need larger barns–but instead built larger barns in which to keep them for himself. ..............................

Abba , Father, You are the Potter, We are the Clay

The Potter and the Clay All the Mass readings for today are here 

 

Reading 1

Jer 18:1-6

This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
Rise up, be off to the potter's house;
there I will give you my message.
I went down to the potter's house and there he was,
working at the wheel.

Whenever the object of clay which he was making
turned out badly in his hand,
he tried again,
making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased.
Then the word of the LORD came to me:
Can I not do to you, house of Israel,
as this potter has done? says the LORD.
Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

Given the state of all of us "cracked pots ", God has his work cut out .

But it's good to know we are in safe creative hands and my moans and questions too are dealt with and I am firmly put in my place !!

"You turn things upside down, as if the Potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, "He did not make me"? Can the pot say of the Potter, "He knows nothing"?" -- Isaiah 29:16 (NIV)

"But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, "Why did You make me like this?" Does not the Potter have the right to make the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?" -- Romans 9:20-21 (NIV)

Image source

Doors and Prayer Part Four

Some doors open slowly !! 

( See previous posts for Parts 1, 2 and 3 on Prayer and Doors)

Most of the guidance for people who want to go through the doors to prayer mention the key step "  Be attentive. "

Paying  attention would seem to be a easy task  but reality contradicts this presumption. If anything, listening becomes ever more challenging because of the clamour and burdens of our hurried days.

The lack of true attentiveness is a cultural problem. 

Numerous scriptural passages encourage us to listen:

God said to Job, " Listen to me; be silent and I will teach you wisdom."

In the Book of Proverbs, Holy Wisdom urges "And now my children, listen to me."

The cultivation of the skill of listening for God  is embedded in many different types of spiritual practices and we need to regularly adjust our listening antennae to hear God through the scriptures, the liturgical life of the church, people, events, and nature. 

Nothing, no person, place or moment is left out from divine revelation - our spiritual development depends on being alive and vigilant enought to hear the myriad of  possible messages of transformation that weave through our daily existence. 

The late Cardinal Basil Hume of England suggested this :

"Each of us needs an opportunity to be alone, and silent, to find space in the day or week just to reflect and to listen to the Word of God that speaks deep within us. Our search for God is inly our response to God's search for us. God is at the door but for many people their lives are too preoccupied for them to be able to hear."

Anthony de Mello had some wonderful nuggest of wisdom on the subject of prayer and prayers :.............

Grandmother : do you say your prayers every night ?"

Grandson : "Oh, Yes !"

"And every morning?"

"No.I'm not scared in the daytime."

Even if we have the  intentional desire to listen it will be an important step.

Again, Anthony de Mello has some help for us  here ......

" A cobbler came to Rabbi Isaac of Ger and said "Tell me what to do about my morning prayer. My customers are poor men who only have one pair of shoes. I pick up their shoes in the late evening and work on them most of the night: at dawn i still have work to be doen if the men are to have their shoes before they go to work. 

Now my question is ; What shouild I do about my morning prayer ?"

"What have you been doing till now?" the Rabbi asked.

"Sometimes I rush through the prayer quickly and get back to work - but then I feel bad about it. 

At other times, I let the hour of prayer go by. 

Then too, I feel a sense of loss and every now and then, as I raise my hammer from the shoes, I can almost hear my heart sigh.

What an unlucky man I am, that I am not able to make my morning prayer.

Said the Rabbi, " If I were God I would value that sigh more than the prayer ."

Painting above untitled 1943 by Leo Lowit

PRAYER
Dear God,

You know my heart through and through.

Your gaze penetrates to the core of who I am,

where the truest and deepest desire dwells.

When I knock on the door with my requests

grant what will most influence my love for you.

May I ever seek that which you long for me to be.

I open the door of my heart to you.

I open the door.

Even if we do manage to stop and listen what happens when everything we do seems fruitless, when we feel estranged and God still seems remote ?

What happens when all our pleas and murky questions about horrific violence inflicted by humanity and other unsettling issues go unresolved and we are perplexed or bewildered and nothing makes sense ?

Never give up !!

Something inside me 

Constantly bleeds towards God

That's why I keep writing,

Slipping messages under the door

Dorothy Walters 

and remember  God has a sense of humour !!.................

More gems from Anthony de Mello

A woman who had given up on praying decided to open the Bible at random for a phrase that would enlighten her. The first one she came cross said , " and Judas went out and hanged himself. " 

Not surprisingly, she was a little disconcerted by this so decided to try another.

only to find that the second one was 

" And  I say to you,  go and do likewise ! "

An atheist fell of a cliff but as he tumbled he caught hold of a branch of a small tree. There he hung between heaven above and the rocks a thousand feet below, knowing he wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer.

Then an idea came to him. "God !", he shouted with all his might.

Silence !! No one responded.

" God!" he shouted again. " If you exist, save me and I promise I shall believe in you and teach others to believe."

Silence again ! Then he almost let go of the branch in shock as he heard a mighty voice booming across the canyon,

" That's what they all say when they are in trouble."

Doors and Prayer.Part Three

Continuing my posts on the theme of doors and prayer :
Part One is here and Part Two here

this tale is titled the Insanity Prayer by Anthony de Mello

On the question of his own Enlightenment the Master always remained reticent, even though the disciples tried every means to get him to talk.

All the information they had on this subject was what the Master once said to his youngest son who wanted to know what his father felt when he became Enlightened.

The answer was:

"A fool."

When the boy asked why, the Master had replied, "Well, son, it was like going to great pains to break into a house by climbing a ladder and smashing a window and then realizing later that the door of the house was open." 

This image depicts the tale well 

 

Sunday 18th Week in Ordinary Time Scripture and Reflections

Painting by Jim Janknegt

I am posting early for this Sunday : All the Mass readings  and lots of true riches to stock up your barns here.

• Reflection on the Gospel on T"he Danger of Riches" from Ron Rolheiser can be read  here.

• I really like this one by Martha Sterne, "titled "Building Bigger Closets."

My reflections (My vanity !!) 

The first reading from Ecclesiastes  gives us the memorable phrase :

"Vanity, Oh Vanity, All is Vanity."  

Vanity, in its modern sense, is a form of self-idolatry, in which one rejects God for the sake of one's own image and so becomes divorced from the grace of God .

This reading exposes one of those dark truths of reality that we in the Western affluent world live with but seem incapable of doing anything about.

As Oscar Wilde said,

“Nothing makes one so vain as being told one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists of us all.”

 

We humans are seemingly hardwired for vanity  at least to some extent......

Omnia Vanitas ("All is Vanity"),  originally referred not to obsession with one's appearance,

but to the ultimate fruitlessness of humankind's efforts in this world.

Vanity by Charles Allan Gilbert 

This is the second reading from today's Mass:

Brothers and sisters:

If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above,

where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.

For you have died,

and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ your life appears,

then you too will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:

immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,

and the greed that is idolatry.

Stop lying to one another,

since you have taken off the old self with its practices

and have put on the new self,

which is being renewed, for knowledge,

in the image of its creator.

Here there is not Greek and Jew,

circumcision and uncircumcision,

barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;

but Christ is all and in all.

 

Photo by Raymond Voinquel

Two images came to mind as I reflected on this passage;  The Oscar Wilde novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray  and the Myth of Narcissus.

In Wilde's novel Dorian starts as  an innocent youth.The young man Dorian Gray's  physical beauty is his most cherished attribute, and vanity is, as a consequence, his most crippling vice. His mentor Lord Henry claims to value beauty and youth as a virtue above all else. It is this belief, when imparted to Dorian, that drives him to make the wish that ultimately damns him. 

Dorian's fall from grace is the consequence of his decision to embrace vanity - and indeed, all new and pleasurable feelings - as a virtue, at the behest of Lord Henry, his corrupter.He somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.

Dorian Gray is the  man who wanted eternal youth, and bartered his soul to get it!

 Under Lord Henry's influence he becomes corrupt, and eventually begins corrupting other youths himself. 

When Dorian realizes that he will keep his youthful appearance regardless of whatever immoral actions he indulges in, he considers himself free of the moral constraints faced by ordinary men. 

He values his physical appearance more than the state of his soul, which is openly displayed by the ever-increasing degradation of the portrait.

This superficial faith in the ultimate value of youth and beauty is therefore the driving mechanism behind his damnation. In this way, The Picture of Dorian Gray may be read as a moralistic tale warning against the dangers of valuing one's appearance too highly, and of neglecting one's conscience. 

The fear that Dorian expresses when viewing the painting, and the emotions that he seeks to escape through sin, drug addiction, and even murder, might be considered an expression of his rage at laying eyes upon his true self.

Dorian, like Narcissus, falls in love with his own image, and is ultimately destroyed by it.Even his attempts at altruism are driven by a desire to improve the appearance of his soul. Throughout the novel, vanity haunts Dorian, seeming to damn his actions before he even commits them; vanity is his original sin.

In addition to Dorian many of the novel's characters are greatly concerned with their reputations. Lord Henry and Basil Hallward both counsel Dorian on how to best preserve his good status in the public eye. When crimes are committed, it is not personal absolution that anyone is concerned with, but whether or not the guilty party will be held responsible by the public.

In this way, each character in the novel possesses an awareness of a split identity: one that is defined by the public, and one that they define themselves. 

The portrait is a literal visualization of Dorian's private self, the state of his soul, 

while Dorian himself looks perpetually young, beautiful, and innocent.

One of the major philosophical questions raised by this novel is that of where to locate the responsibility for a person's misdeeds. 

 I can see in this tale something that relates to the Catholic Church and its obsession with image :the ridiculous return to ornate vestments and overblown language of the proposed revised liturgy,  the frantic  recent initial inadeqate attempts to appoint blame for the corruption in the church  and scandals of sex abuse on the world rather than themselves, the acting out and projection of their rage on women by their stupid alliance of women's ordination as a grave sin alongside sexual abuse  because of their inability to cope and deal with the inherent sickness inside the church hierarchy when they laid eyes on its true self.

It is almost as if the church is still trying to portray itself as a spotless corporate edifice of beauty and truth, wanting to take us back  to some youthful imaginary golden age of the past  but this portrait is a lie and we are told to stop lying to one another !

The vision portrayed that we should take on is not of this earth .

Why can't the Vatican see that this can only be fulfilled by radical change of vision to one where we are:

 

"to put on the new self,

which is being renewed, for knowledge,

in the image of its creator

That means no distinctions guys, between male, female, hetero or homo !!

 

Some choice quotes on vanity.....

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And a suitable one to finish on !!

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Twitter Me ?

Thanks to First Things First/The Anchoress for this.

When I Let Things Stand That Should Not Be, My Lord Did Trouble Me

Tom Jones' recording of Did Trouble Me from his new album Praise & Blame, 
released 26th July.

Review of the album here from Sunday's Guardian

Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola

Coming up on July 31st is the Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola and to get in the mood there is a  feast of links to be found  here

Loads of stuff from here

Click here to link to the Jesuit Vocations site for the UK with videos, reflections etc etc.


Don't forget to check the side bar of my blog for 31 Days of St. Ignatius A month-long celebration of Ignatian spirituality.

The Spanish saint is known for founding the Society of Jesus,  the Jesuits. He  devised the “Spiritual Exercises” often used today for retreats and individual discernment.

St. Ignatius was born into a noble family in 1491 in Guipuzcoa, Spain. He served as a page in the Spanish court of Ferdinand and Isabella

He then became a soldier in the Spanish army and wounded his leg during the siege of Pamplona in 1521. During his recuperation, he read “Lives of the Saints.” 

The experience led him to undergo a profound conversion, and he dedicated himself to the Catholic faith.

After making a general confession in a monastery in Montserrat, St. Ignatius proceeded to spend almost a year in solitude. 









St Ignatius at Pamplona Seattle University

He wrote his famous “Spiritual Exercises” and then made a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, where he worked to convert Muslims.

St. Ignatius returned to complete his studies in Spain and then France, where he received his theology degree. While many held him in contempt because of his holy lifestyle, his wisdom and virtue attracted others and The Society of Jesus was born.

The Society was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540, and it grew rapidly. St. Ignatius remained in Rome, where he governed the Society and became friends with St. Philip Neri.
St. Ignatius died peacefully on July 31, 1556. He was canonized by Pope Gregory XV in 1622.
The Jesuits remain numerous today, particularly in several hundred universities and colleges worldwide.

David L. Fleming, S.J., from the preface of  his book What is Ignatian Spirituality ? has this to say :

“Ignatian spirituality is not captured in a rule or set of practices or a certain method of praying or devotional exercises.  It is a spiritual ‘way of proceeding’ that offers a vision of life, an understanding of God, a reflective approach to living, a contemplative form of praying, a reverential attitude to our world, and an expectation of finding God daily.”

Finding God is All Things was a core theme for Ignatius. His belief was that God is always at work and to be found in the events and experiences of the day.

St Ignatius is particularly well known for his Daily Examen----

The Daily Examen is a technique of prayerful reflection on the events of the day in order to detect God’s presence and discern his direction for us. The Examen is an ancient practice in the Church that can help us see God’s hand at work in our whole experience. 

St. Ignatius thought that the Examen was a gift that came direct from God, and that God wanted it to be shared as widely as possible.

One of the few rules of prayer that Ignatius made for the Jesuit order was the requirement that Jesuits practice the Examen twice daily—at noon and at the end of the day. It’s a habit that Jesuits, and many other Christians, practice to this day.

I need God - and I need God every instance of every day that I am conscious and as I sleep. So all the time...........

 

We can surely find God anywhere and we need God all the time. 

But isn't it the same with the air we breathe ?

We can find it anywhere and we need it all the time, but we take it for granted.

That is why this is called a prayer (examen) of consciousness. God is everywhere and anywhere - but the problem is that we are not always aware and this is what this daily practice aims to bring - AWARENESS: 

This is a version of the five-step Daily Examen that St. Ignatius practiced.

1. Become aware of God’s presence.

2. Review the day with gratitude.

3. Pay attention to your emotions.

4. Choose one feature of the day and pray from it.

5. Look toward tomorrow.

Try it and let me know how it worked for you.


May you be inspired - everyday!

Breathe on me Breath of God

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the breath of God
on earth,
who keeps the Christ vision present
to souls yet in darkness,
gives life
even to hearts now blind.
Infuses energy
into spirits yet weary, isolated,
searching and confused.

The spirit has spoken
to the human heart
through the prophets
and gives new meaning
to the Word
throughout time.







Painting  by Jaroslaw Gamrod
The Breath of God by Joan Chittister by permission

The Pearl of Great Price

Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Mass readings are here.

The Gospel from Matthew has two parables : The Treasure in The Field and The Pearl of Great Price

                                                          Art above by David Bonnell 

Jesus said to his disciples:

"The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,

which a person finds and hides again,

and out of joy goes and sells all that he has

and buys that field.

 



Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."

One of my favourite programmes is BBC's Radio 4 Something Understood. Below is a recording of Pete Rollins , taken from an excerpt of one of the programmes earlier this year that dealt with the parable of the Great Pearl. 

Rollins is associated with  emergent church stuff and whom I often find incomprehensible but on this occasion he is quite good). His books How (Not) To Speak of God and The Fidelity of Betrayal seem to inspire some and incense others.

The Orthodox Heretic is a collection of original parables that encourage the reader to examine familiar and not so familiar stories from unique and sometimes challenging angles. Whether you love or hate these parables  they are designed to make you think - which, is much of what Rollins as a philosopher hoped to accomplish when writing them.

Here the parable of the Pearl of Great Price is retold from the viewpoint of a woman in Christ's audience...............





The Pearl of Great Price by peter-rollins

Mmm - not sure if I go along with all of that , but it's an interesting viewpoint.

Image source

• Click here for some more thoughts on this Gospel from a Lent Retreat in Daily Living:Learning from the Parables Week 2: Parables of the Kingdom. This also has a written transcript of Pete Rollins piece.

• There is also a reflection from Ron Rolheiser here on the "Pearl of Great Price and It's Cost."

My Reflections

But first a little science.

Pearls are formed in oysters as a response to an irritant, which enters when the shell valves are open for feeding or respiration.

The oyster secretes nacre, a sticky substance around the object to protect the soft tissue and seals off the irritation.

Layer upon layer the nacre coats the irritant and a pearl is formed, buried deep within the oyster.

Light reflected from the layers produces the iridescent lustre.  

Pearls vary in colour, depending upon the type of  oyster, the type and depth of water where they live. 

Pearls that are grown in warmer deeper water tend to be darker in colour, are more rare and valuable. 

The pearl is the gem of the sea. Pearl is often used as a metaphor for something rare, and fine, and admirable. It is a symbol of femininity, wisdom, charity, honesty, integrity, preciousness, purity of heart, and spiritual transformation.

  
My Reflections.


In our present consumer frenzied world  we are probably all familar with the phrase "I've got to have it" but the stark reality is  that we don't need half of what we think we can't do without. Try telling that to your children , teenagers or even adults.

The parable of the pearl is a wonderful metaphor for the way in which our spiritual lives are  formed .

Inside the shells of our heart  we are irritated  by feeding and taking in all the rubbish we are led to believe is  needed to live but cumulatively these damage us, both physically and spiritually.  

Christ "our nacreous shell " forms and  protects us layer by layer-
and the deeper we go with Him, day by day, month by month , 
year by year, depth by depth, -

in the hard daily grind and grit of of our lives ,

our spiritual transformation slowly begins to take place.

We receive gift layers of honesty, wisdom, integrity, charity : all these increase by feeding on the Word Of God , enabling us to reach out to others. 

The layers of our hearts are created and fused together through all types of circumstances - sometimes through depths of despair and at others through times of peace and joy.

It is only truly rare and  great pearls that have learnt much over many years that are able to reflect to others the iridescent beauty  of God; these are the saints I guess.

Imitation or fake cultured  pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of their iridescence is usually very poor - See the metaphor again ?? 

All the material things we widely crave are fake imitations  and even the false prophets of shiny new age spirituality are of no permanent lasting use as they only have a surface thin lustre and no annular depth of growth  that  enables the true brilliance of  the truth of God to reflect to others. 
However, it is not always easy to know what the truth is these days . ( Is that Pilate speaking ?)

When reading up on the formation of pearls it was nice to see that the most valuable pearls occur in the wild, but they are very rare. and pearls from the sea are valued more highly than freshwater pearls.

 This fits in with the idea that we need to be the salt of the earth  and wild at heart for God to thrive in us. !!

I suppose an obvious difference between the two parables in the gospels is that the treasure in the field is "found" and so is an accidental discovery of surprise and delight but the pearl  is "sought after"; a deliberate endeavour of a person who knows the value of it . 

So in life, we often encounter the treasures of the presence and action of God and the Holy Spirit in unexpected ways, finding God in all things, as St Ignatius would say.

The treasure is always there for us even if it is hidden. The fact that we are digging in a field suggest that we may fruitlessly search in life for all sorts of encounters, for meaning, for truth, for joy, whatever.  

But sometimes as in Gerard Hughes book  Surprised by Joy we are led unexpectedly through someone or something, an experience, an often simple encounter that leads us to that ah ha ! moment , and in that moment we find the ultimate experience of  true joy in God alone and we realise that to continue this new way of being will cost us everything. 

Yes this love of God we really do have to have !!

The priceless pearl too,- once it is found will cost us everything !! 

Possessing God is costly but priceless; it cannot be bought or sold.I It can only be learned, lived, and told.

So in keeping with two parables with the same message here are three versions of "Je crois entendre encore" from the opera "Les pecheurs de perles" ( The Pearl Fishers), By Georges Bizet ; the first performed by The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Gardens. Sung by Salvatore Licitra.

The second is by David Gilmour . The third is an instrumental version played by Joshua Bell.

The choice is yours- you may even like all three !!