The Communion of Saints

THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS

Perhaps we had hurt that person, or he or she had hurt us, and it was never fully reconciled. Or we feel guilt, because while that person was alive, we should have given more of ourselves to him or her but were too busy with our own lives to reach out.

Worse still, perhaps someone has died for whom we had felt hatred and we should have made some gesture of reconciliation and we never did. Now it’s too late! Death has separated us, and some painful bitterness now lies irrevocably unresolved and we live with the guilt, wishing we had done something before it was too late.

But it’s not too late. It’s never too late if we take seriously the Christian doctrine of the communion of saints.  To believe in the communion of saints is to believe that those who have died are still alive and are linked to us in such a way that we can continue to talk with them, that our relationship with them can continue to grow, and that the reconciliation that wasn’t possible before their deaths can now occur.

“Today you will be with me in paradise!” Jesus speaks those words to the good thief on the cross and they’re meant for every one of us who dies without yet fully being a saint and without having had the time and opportunity to make all the amends and speak all the apologies that we owe to others. There is still time after death, on both sides, for reconciliation and healing to happen because inside the communion of saints we have privileged access to each other and there we can finally speak all of those words that we couldn’t speak before. We can reach across death’s divide.

It can be a great consolation to die a happy death, snug and reconciled in the arms of love, with no unfinished business. But, happily, there’s time still after death for this to happen for those of us who aren’t so lucky and who end up dying with some bitterness, anger, wound, and frustration still gnawing away.

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Prayer for Stillness

A PRAYER FOR STILLNESS

God of stillness and of quiet …

• Still my anxiety, my heartaches, my worries, and stop me from always being outside the present moment. Give me the grace to know that you have pronounced my name in love, that my name is written in heaven, that I am free to live without anxiety.

• Still my unrelenting need to be busy all the time, to occupy myself, to be always planning for tomorrow, to fill every minute with some activity, to seek distraction rather than quiet. Give me the grace to accept what circumstance and failure have dealt me.

• Still in me the fear I feel in the face of the powerful, dark forces that unconsciously threaten me. Give me the courage to face my darkness as well as my luminosity. Give me the grace to not be fearful before my own complexity.

• Still in me the congenital fear that I’m unloved, that I’m unlovable, that love has to be earned, that I need to be more worthy. Give me the grace to know that I’m a beloved child of a God whose love need not be earned.

• Still in me my false fear of you, my need to treat you like a distant and feared dignitary rather than as a warm friend. Give me the grace to relate to you in a robust way, as a trusted friend with whom I can jest, wrestle, and relate to in humor and intimacy.

• Still in me my doubts, my anxieties about your existence, about your concern, and about your fidelity. Give me the grace to trust, even in darkness and doubt, that you will give me immortality.

Still my heart so that I may know that you are God, that I may know that you create and sustain my every breath, that everyone, myself no less than everyone else, is your beloved. Nothing falls outside of your love and care, and that everything and everybody is safe in your gentle, caring hands, in this world and the next.

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November 1st - Feast of All Saints

 Short Reflection for the Feast of All Saints

Readings: Revelations 7: 2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3: 1-3; Matthew 5: 1-12a

The Beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor; Blessed are they who mourn; Blessed are the meek; Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness; Blessed are the merciful; Blessed are the clean of heart; Blessed are the peacemakers;  and Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness…” (Matthew 5: 7-9)

Meditation: The Beatitudes remain the daunting challenges for every disciple of Jesus Christ. They are the keys to true happiness and true HOLINESS that we all seek as sons and daughters of God. www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips. 

3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…

 

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Short Reflection for the 31st Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

 Readings: Malachi 1: 14b – 2:2b; 1Thessalonians 2: b – 9; Matthew 23: 1-12

 Selected Passage: “They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. (Matthew 23: 4)

 Meditation: Three things to remember: Never put a heavy burden on people; Never ask people to do something that we never bother lift a finger to do it; and Never judge others that we shall not be judged! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.  www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

 DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

 Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.

 

  

Mary - a Model of Faith

MARY AS A MODEL OF FAITH

Looking at how Mary gave birth to Christ, we see that it’s not something that’s done in an instant. Faith, like biology, also relies on a process that has a number of distinct, organic moments. What is the process by which we give birth to faith in the world?

First, like Mary, we need to get pregnant by the Holy Spirit. We need to let the word take such root in us that it begins to become part of our actual flesh.

Then, we have to lovingly gestate, nurture, and protect what is growing inside us until it’s sufficiently strong so that it can live on its own, outside us.  Eventually, what we have nurtured and grown inside of us, when it is ready, must be given birth outside.

However, birth is only the beginning of motherhood. Mary gave birth to a baby, but she spent years nurturing, coaxing, and cajoling that infant into adulthood. The infant in the crib at Bethlehem is not yet the Christ who preaches, heals, and dies for us.

Finally, motherhood has still one more phase. As her child grows, matures, and takes on a personality and destiny of its own, the mother then must let herself be painfully stretched in understanding, and in letting go.

All of this is what Mary went through to give Christ to the world: Pregnancy by the Holy Spirit; gestation of that into a child inside of her; excruciating pain in birthing that to the outside; nurturing that new life into adulthood; and pondering, painfully letting go so that this new life can be its own, not hers.

Our task too is to give birth to Christ. From Mary we get the pattern: Let the word of God take root and make you pregnant; gestate that by giving it the nourishing sustenance of your own life; submit to the pain that is demanded for it to be born to the outside; then spend years coaxing it from infancy to adulthood; and finally, during and after all of this, do some pondering, accept the pain of not understanding and of letting go.

To read more click here or copy this address into your browser http://ronrolheiser.com/mary-as-a-model-of-faith/#.X3YQull7k_8
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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

 

Short Reflection for the 28^th Sunday of the Ordinary Time (A)

 Sunday dedicated to REMEMBER and PRAY with our Indigenous Peoples

 Readings: Isaiah 25: 6-10; Philippians 4: 12-14; Matthew 22: 1-14

 Selected Passage: 'The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find.' (Matthew 22: 8-9)

 Meditation: The Parable tells us of God’s invitation to ALL! One caveat is finding ourselves NOT WORTHY TO COME. We are preoccupied with other concerns, thus we miss God’s invitation… Cuidado!

 In responding to God’s call, we should do it properly. It is not enough to be present. We should show respect to the host, as well as, exhibit self-respect and exhibiting good behavior. We do not take the invitation for granted and neither do we trivialize God’s invitation. BEWARE! Cf. www.badaliyya.blogspot.com

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD

Dhikr is an Arabic word which means REMEMBRANCE.

1st step: Write the text in your heart.

2nd step: Let the text remain always in on your lips and mind - RECITING the text silently as often as possible...

3rd step:  Be attentive to the disclosure of the meaning/s of the text in your life.