Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

Christ in mosaic, Adoration Chapel, Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

Who do you call “master?”

In life we have many “masters” of one degree or another. Our alarm clock seems to master the time we rise in the morning.  An employer decides what you do and where you work. A pet masters his owner when it is feeding and walking times. If you are a minor (not yet independent of your parents’ home or support) your parents pretty much reign supreme over not only what you do but also with whom, where and for how long. If you are married your spouse is a master, a gentle and loving one albeit. And, if you have children, they are masterfully brilliant in letting you know they are hungry, tired, bored or in need of the newest coolest gadget or piece of clothing. Yes, all of these are masters in one sense but not the Master in the most real way.

Drawing our attention to the spiritual realm, who masters our life, our inner life, our heart? This Sunday we hear Jesus being called ‘master’ by Peter (Lk 9:33).  It was a title of respect and honor. It also holds a tone of servitude.

What better person to call Master than Jesus? He was sage and knew the Hebrew Scriptures intimately yet was not pompous. He was the suffering servant about whom Isaiah speaks. His specialty was and is loving and serving his heavenly Father by loving and serving us his brothers and sisters.

Jesus continues to be the good shepherd and head of the Christian church showing us the way to eternal life through the cross. His wisdom made him stand out among others because his guidance was true and is still true today.  He is the one true master of all Christians who desire eternal life and seek it wholeheartedly. In all of this, those who cling to Jesus are able to master lesser things in order to serve the Master of all things.

May we take time and give ourselves space to hear what Jesus is calling us to and know that it is good to be wherever our Master leads us.

The Holy Spirit is the very breath of God. God breathed out his spirit to fill the nostrils of Adam with life. He gave life to every living creature. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can experience God as Creator and as God. It was through the Holy Spirit that the Virgin Mary conceived Jesus.  The power of the Holy Spirit is life giving and life sustaining. And we all have the divine breath within us.

The Holy Spirit is received at conception, and this gift is strengthened by our Baptism. It was no different when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan before he went in to the desert. This means that Jesus did not enter the desert alone. He was accompanied by the strength of the Trinity.

When we experience a desert in our lives we too need to trust that we are not alone. We are never alone. We always have the power of the Spirit to guide us and bring us to greater being. All we need to do is call upon our source of life and love to find our way and the strength to persevere.

The Holy Spirit is a mighty force to be reckoned with.  Let us put our faith in the One who can vanquish sin and death in us and in our world. May The Spirit be with you.

It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:9)

The Church celebrates the centrality of the sacrament of Holy Eucharist today. We commemorate the beginning of the new covenant written in the blood of Christ.

In the first reading from the book of Exodus, we hear about the promises the Israelites made to God when Moses offered the blood of young bulls as peace offerings. This was in keeping with the old covenant.

Today’s second reading from the letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus offered his own blood for the salvation of the world. Jesus “who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanses our consciences from dead works to worship the living God” (Heb 9: 14). The new covenant is rooted in the personal and free choice Jesus made to enter into an eternally committed relationship with us for the love of God. This is what we celebrate each time we gather for Eucharist.

In the gospel we enter the story of Jesus’s last supper with his chosen disciples once again. We cannot pray with this event often enough as it is so vital to our faith. This is when the body and blood of Christ were blessed, broken and shared in the gifts of bread and wine with the faithful followers. This is when they became the body and blood of the Lord.

As we celebrate Eucharist we too take the body and blood of Christ, in the form of simple bread and wine and partake in Christ’s sacrifice, becoming part of his sacrifice. We share in His gift of salvation for the world. As He did with the disciples, let us sing hymns of praise for God’s fidelity to the new and everlasting covenant.

(Photos are of painted stencil-work in the Relic Chapel of our Clyde, Missouri, monastery.)

“[Jesus] said, ‘Peace be with you…(and) breathed on them, saying, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20:21-22)

Jesus shared his living and lasting peace as well as his breath of life, his breath of creation, his breath of God. We Christians became the church on this day; we were given everything we need to be Christ’s body, everything necessary for our holiness and greatest call – to be the children of God.

Jesus’s peace is powerful. It sets the world on its head. Everlasting peace vanquishes all need to earn our way into heaven. Heaven is our gift. But with the gift comes the responsibility to share it as all gifts are given for the common good. Do not our hearts stir when we try not to share this peace? Jesus’s peace negates the hatred and violence of the world and their pull on our souls. As Christians we joyfully share this peace and faithfully bring others into the fold.

Jesus’s breath is powerful. Like a mighty wind, able to move mountains and oceans, able to bring forth order from chaos, able to bear life from nothing. The Holy Spirit is the promise Jesus gave us that he would not leave us alone. The Holy Spirit dwells in our human bodies and brings gifts for each of us. We are enabled to be the people we are called forth to be. We are enabled to do the unthinkable, the unimaginable and the impossible. We have truly become the body, soul and divinity of Christ. We take on Christ and are welcomed into the cosmic dance of creation, into the inner sanctum of the sacred, the Triune God, and strengthen this unity every time we celebrate the Eucharist.

Now that we have received the ability and the ensuing gifts, let us go forth proclaiming the good news, co-creating peace to the ends of the earth. Let us each speak, with tongues set on fire, the words of eternal salvation. Let us together be a sign of God’s divine love.

Today we celebrate Jesus’s ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of God. This day is all about power – divine power, which rescues creation from the power of death. What exactly is this power?

The power that we were promised by Jesus is nothing less than the power of divine love. It comes as a gift to those who choose to believe, and it empowers us to confront evil and overcome its trappings.

Divine love is given to us by the Holy Spirit and holds us together, untied in one hope and one faith. This faith is ours to pass on, entrusted to us mere humans, commanded by Christ to spread to the ends of the world.

We cannot do this on our own and without being taught the truth. It is the indwelling of Divine Love that gives us the power to proclaim Christ’s truth that he was crucified, that he was raised and now has ascended into heaven. It is the same power that allowed Jesus to hope for resurrection and ascension into heaven while enduring crucifixion and death. It is the same divine power that allows us to have hope in and follow him.

Let us join in praising and giving thanks with all creation echoing the words of Psalm 47: “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy. Shout to God with cries of gladness, for the Lord, the Most High, the awesome, is the great king over all the earth.”

“I will sing of your salvation.”

The responsorial psalm for today is taken from Psalm 71. It is a fitting prayer for any day really but especially today as we ponder the first reading from Isaiah’s 49th chapter and John’s gospel account of Judas’s betrayal.

The psalmist is crying out to God for strength, wisdom and refuge. The depth of trust and faith in God comes through the passionate words. It is a love poem between the psalmist and a loving God whose relationship is tried and true.

God is an all-loving God and cannot be anything but loving. This is unsettling for us who tend to put boundaries around our love. Jesus’s love was boundless. He is the way, the truth and the life (Jn 14:6). He is the one we need to model our love after. He was capable of withstanding everything, including abandonment, persecution, mockery and a horrific death because he united himself to God and trusted in God’s refuge.

May all the faithful draw upon this the source of all strength, all love, all good and become united with Jesus Christ who is united with the Father and the Holy Spirit in endless and boundless love. Then we too can sing of salvation.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to show our gratitude and pray for her continued intercession on our behalf.

For us, we observe a Sunday schedule. We put aside our normal works, such as altar bread production, cleaning and clerical duties, to focus entirely on prayer.

Father in heaven, all creation rightly gives you praise,
for all life and all holiness come from you.
In the plan of your wisdom she who bore the Christ in her womb
was raised body and soul in glory to be with him in heaven.
May we follow her example in reflecting your holiness
and join in her hymn of endless love and praise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As we honor and celebrate our moms, living and deceased, let us take a moment and reflect on Mary, the Mother of God, of all the children of God, our mother.

Mary was a woman in love – in love with her husband, Joseph, but also in love with God. Her fiat was a choice she could not refuse because of her deep faith and love of the Almighty.

“Mary will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt 1:21)

She was willing to follow God’s grace wherever it would take her.  She became the Arc of the Covenant, giving flesh to the Incarnate Word.  Through her, Jesus took on human form and likeness.  Through Mary, Jesus became who God wanted and needed him to be, the Christ.  Through Mary, Our Savior became God with us.

What great love Mary bore for her only son and for humanity. She thwarted social and religious norms and practices in order to give herself totally to God.  The result was a joy she herself knew, and it was glorious yet mysterious.

But it was also heart-piercing.  Mary did not stand in the way of Jesus growing in wisdom and taking on his role, his purpose in life.  She allowed Jesus to go forth and take on the sins of humanity to save all humanity from the darkness of death.  What anguish she must have felt when he was not accepted.  What love she must have had for God to watch her beloved son from God be mocked, tortured and crucified.  Mary also knew the faith and love Jesus had for Almighty God and trusted in God’s fidelity.

When moms (and dads) welcome their children into the world, watch them grow into people with distinct personalities, likes and dislikes, send them off to learn about the world and their role in it, and guide them on the road to independence, they are following Mary’s example.  Mary did what all faithful moms do – she gave Jesus roots and wings.  May all mothers model their lives after Mary, the quintessential mother.

Soon we will enter into the Triduum (pronounced tri-doo-um), three days leading to Easter, devoted to prayer and observance of the death and resurrection of Christ.

Triduum means “three days” and begins with Holy Thursday, marking the end of 40 days of Lent.

The Second Vatican Council instructs us: “Christ redeemed us all and gave perfect glory to God principally through his paschal mystery: dying he destroyed our death and rising he restored our life. Therefore the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year.”

While our Sisters generally gather at least four times each day for prayer, our schedule will alter a bit during this time. For instance, on Holy Thursday our Sisters at the Clyde monastery have:

8 a.m. Lauds with Exposition beginning at 9 a.m.

1 p.m. Agape meal

4 p.m. Community reconciliation

6 p.m. Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Blessed Sacrament reserved until midnight

Also, several Sisters will take part in footwashing.

On Good Friday:

8 a.m. Lauds

3 p.m. Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion

On Holy Saturday:

8 a.m. Lauds

Noon Day Hour followed by dinner in silence

6 p.m. Vespers

And finally, Easter Sunday:

8:30 a.m. Lauds

11 a.m. Easter Liturgy

6 p.m. Vespers

7 p.m. Compline

Living together as a community is one of the most crucial aspects of our religious life. And it is at times like these, where we gather to mourn the death then celebrate the life of Christ, that we can share it together most heartedly. We hope you too have a place to go to observe this special time and fellow believers to share it with.