Easter Sunday

Short Reflection for Easter Sunday (B)  Readings: Acts 10: 34. 37-43; Colossians 3: 1-4; John 20:1-9  Selected Passage: "Then the otherdisciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”(John 20: 8-9) Meditation:  Jesus is, truly, Risen.Alleluia! With Jesus' resurrection we now have the guarantee that, in the end,good shall prevail over evil; life over death; and grace over sin.  Yes, if we have died with Jesus, we, too,shall rise with him. Easter Blessings to one and all! 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 aprayer of the heart… following three simple steps:  1. Write in one’s heart acertain passage of the Holy Writ… 2.Make the same passageever present in one’s lips.  3.Then wait for God’sdisclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!   It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even moredays to relish the beauty of this method…

Palm Sunday (B)

Short Reflection for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Mark) Readings: Isaiah 50: 4-7; Philippians 2: 6-11; Mark 14: 1 - 15: 47 Selected Passage: “Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying: ‘Aha! You would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross’. Likewise, the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, ‘he saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe’.” (Mark 15: 29-32) Reflection: The crucified Christ is the powerful symbol of God’s love - ‘greater love than this no one has… to give one’s own life for his friends’. Jesus calls us his friends and we are ransomed from our sins by his blood. The ‘Suffering Servant of Yahweh’ embraced all sufferings unto death that all creation may have life and life to the full. Thus in our sufferings, sins, trials and difficulties, especially this time of Pandemic, we look at the one exalted in the Cross to receive life and healing. 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…

Ministry, Vocation and Life

Ministry, Vocation and Life: a Reflection on Resigning Oneself to Resignation Recovering our sense of the real difference between life in Christ, vocation and ecclesial function By Thomas O'Loughlin | United Kingdom

The news from the Monastery of Bose fills many of us with sadness – a little beacon of light seems to be dimmed in the face of the ecumenical community's founder, Enzo Bianchi, who went from being a papally appointed "auditor" at the Synod of Bishops' 2018 assembly on youth, to one whom the pope ordered to leave Bose! But perhaps we should not be surprised. A charismatic leader grows old – the effluxion of time – and a new person must take over leadership. Then the old leader likes to imagine driving the car from the back seat, while the new leader knows that it is now his or her duty to make the decisions. After all, that was the reason for the change in leadership. But the old leader becomes the contrarian and brings about a split in loyalties in the group. It is a familiar human story that's even woven into fairy tales and is played out time and again. It is currently playing out at Bose between Bianchi and his former "Number 2", Luciano Manicardi. And it's also being played out in Scotland between the older charismatic leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party, Alex Salmond, and his one-time "Number 2", Nicola Sturgeon. In both cases the scenario is all too human, but it should remind Christians of a more fundamental truth. The distinction between ministry and vocation We have always said that we recognized that ministry and vocation within a person's life are distinct, even if often overlapping. But, in fact, we have not really believed it! Certainly, until it became common for bishops and parish priests to retire at 75 (some will remember the ructions that caused in the 1960s), the distinction between ministry and vocation was at best notional. We had de facto identified the individual with his/her role in the community. So we saw aged prioresses whose convents were ill-managed until "Mother was called home" because there was no provision for resignation and retirement. In these cases, whether male or female, lay or clerical, the role in the group was made identical with her/his vocation. It is an identification we still see, alas, in the job-description of the Vocations' Director when the task is that of finding suitable candidates for seminary formation for ministry as presbyters. But the need for Enzo Bianchi to move on, just like the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013, brings us back to this fundamental fact: each one of us is unique, wholly distinct in our identity, our gifts, our situation, our foibles, and our weaknesses. But each of us – and this applies to all the baptized -- is also called into participation in the life of the Christ in the service of the Father. Indeed, just as we confess that the Logos came among us not as a generic "man", but as a distinct historical individual named Jesus of Nazareth, so each of us is unique in the providence of God. But this uniqueness is always under threat from a variety of sources. From the time we are small children we are put into classes, treated as specimens of a group and expected to fit into pre-existing molds, or become biological machines in some complex production line. People cannot be reduced to a function How sad – how blasphemous -- when someone describes her/his life as "just a small cog"! Sadly, we want a neat world of round and square holes, and we would (secretly) like all others to be good round or square pegs each in the corresponding holes. As the song expressed it: "little boxes … all the same". How does this affect us in our attitudes to ministry? Tasks in the community such as deacon, presbyter and bishop became, in effect, co-extensive with people. So, men were expected to become so identified in their roles/tasks that one could not distinguish community role and vocation. Even more, individuality, specific gifts, and all the jagged wonder of humanity was trimmed off to form the biological inhabitants of roles. Life became co-extensive with role. This created the original "company man" whose individuality and uniqueness was seen as "noise in the system". And when it became manifest, it was often seen as rebellion, awkwardness, self-promotion or the crime of "wanting to do your own thing"! Yet ministry to be real, human and effective operates one-to-one, person to person. And we are ill-served when we do not encounter another individual, but simply someone who is chopped down to a function. Our uniqueness is a tribute to the overflowing goodness and wonder of the creation; to deny it is tantamount to burying our talent and showing we lack trust in God. It is easy to fall into a role, and when many people treat ministers as simply "spiritual functionaries" it is easy to forget that vocation is individual. It is unique to each of us. For some, their vocations include ministerial roles – but this is but a part of a larger real whole, and one's human life is larger than all: a wonder reflecting the wonder of God. Various levels of failure Collapsing life into vocation and vocation into a ministry is a failure on several levels. It turns ministry into a job. It reduces the uniqueness of the person. It depersonalizes the ministerial encounter. It ignores the reality of the Spirit working differently in each person. It is a recipe for workaholism and guilt at perceived failure. It ignores that all Christians are united, not by functional relationships (as one would find in a corporation), but as sisters and brother in baptism. Since the Second Vatican Council's decree Christus Dominus (which led to bishops retiring at age 75) we have been slowly recovering our sense of the real difference between life in Christ, vocation and ecclesial function – but only to a very limited extent. Moreover, the shortage of young clergy has often exacerbated the problem, as tired greying priests seek to function in ever bigger parishes with less and less real interpersonal contact in their dealing with those to whom they minister. When Benedict resigned from being Bishop of Rome, he demonstrated that his own vocation as a human being is distinct from his ecclesial role. This was a far more important demonstration of this forgotten aspect of our theology than if he had written several encyclicals on the presbyterate! His resignation was a new fact in Catholic experience and its implications need to be internalized by all who hold ecclesial office. As we have seen, it is a very hard lesson for many of us to learn! The task of being a deacon, presbyter or bishop is not something that replaces an individual or that wholly exploits one's vocation. Vocation is personal, individually-sized and as distinctive to each of us as our facial features. It will change and evolve as life changes. It will take on new forms with every new day and with every additional grey hair! What God called us to be 20, 30 or even 50 years ago is not as important as what God is calling us to do today... and tomorrow. Thomas O'Loughlin is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and professor of historical theology at the University of Nottingham (UK). His latest book is Eating Together, Becoming One: Taking Up Pope Francis's Call to Theologians (Liturgical Press, 2019). Read more at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/religion/ministry-vocation-and-life-a-reflection-on-resigning-oneself-to-resignation/14011

The Agony in the Garden

THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN – THE SPECIAL PLACE OF LONELINESS The passion of Jesus refers to the helplessness he had to endure during the last hours of his life, a helplessness extremely fruitful for him and for us. The first component in that helplessness begins in the Garden of Gethsemane, immediately after he has celebrated the last supper. The scriptures tell us that he went out into the Garden with his disciples to pray for the strength he needed to face the ordeal that was now imminent. In describing Jesus’ suffering during his passion, the evangelists focus little on his physical sufferings (which must have been horrific). Indeed, Mark puts it all in a single line: “They led him away and crucified him.” What the gospel writers focus is that in all of this, Jesus is alone, misunderstood, lonely, isolated, without support, unanimity-minus-one. What’s emphasized is the agony of his heart that’s ultra-sensitive, gentle, loving, understanding, warm, inviting, hungry to embrace everyone but which instead finds itself misunderstood, alone, isolated, hated, brutalized, facing murder. That’s the point that has been too often missed in both spirituality and popular devotion. In Gethsemane, Jesus’ agony is not that of the son of God is frustrated because many people will not accept his sacrifice, nor even his agony the all-too-understandable fear of the physical pain that awaits him. The agony in the Garden is many things, but first of all, it’s Jesus’ entry into the darkest black hole of human existence, the black hole of bitter misunderstanding, rejection, aloneness, loneliness, humiliation, and the helplessness to do anything about it. The agony in the Garden is the black hole of sensitivity brutalized by callousness, love brutalized by hatred, goodness brutalized by misunderstanding, innocence brutalized by wrong judgement, forgiveness brutalized by murder, and heaven brutalized by hell. This is deepest, black hole of loneliness and it brings the lover inside us to the ground in agony begging for release. But, whenever our mouths pushed into the dust of misunderstanding and loneliness inside that black hole, it’s helpful to know that Jesus was there before us, tasting just our kind of loneliness. To read more click here or copy this link into your browser http://ronrolheiser.com/the-agony-in-the-garden-the-special-place-of-loneliness/#.YE-YL11KjDY www.facebook.com

Against an Eternal Horizon

AGAINST AN ETERNAL HORIZON A few years ago, I was watching a discussion on television between a prominent religious commentator and a panel of theologians representing a number of Christian churches. The commentator asked the panel this question: “Should it make any difference in the way you live whether or not you believe in life after death?” Everyone on the panel and the host himself agreed that it shouldn’t. In their view of things, whether or not you believe in life after death shouldn’t make any difference practically in the way you live. Each asserted that they believed in individual immortality, but each also said that this didn’t, and shouldn’t, influence their daily actions in a practical way. What’s wrong with that idea? Simply put, when we stop believing in life after death, we tend to put too much pressure on this life to give us the full symphony. When we stop seeing our lives as being completed by something beyond the present world, it becomes natural to become more frustrated with the limits of our lives and to begin to demand, however subtly or unconsciously, that our spouses, children, friends, careers, jobs, and vacations give us something they can’t give, namely, complete fulfilment, full meaning, final satisfaction, joy beyond frustration, ecstasy, heaven. None of us goes through this life without our share of bitter disappointment, crushed potential, broken dreams, and daily frustration. Our lives are never the way we dreamed them to be. There’s always a huge gap between our dignity, our desire, our potential, and the actual state within which we find ourselves. There are no perfect lives. There is no heaven this side of eternity. Unless we can somehow place our present lives against a horizon of an after-life that completes it, the punishing limits, daily inadequacy, and brute mortality of this world will eventually drive us to depression, bitterness, or violence. Outside of a vision of life after death, we can’t come to full peace with this life, the sophisticated stoicism of so much of contemporary theology and spirituality notwithstanding. To read more click here or copy this address into your browser http://ronrolheiser.com/against-an-eternal-horizon/#.YDUcNWpKjt0 www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser

4th Sunday of Lent (B)

Short Reflection for the 4th Week of Lent (B) Readings: 2 Chronicles 36: 14-16. 19-23; Ephesians 2: 4-10; John 3: 14-21 Selected Passage: “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.” (Jn. 3: 19-20) Meditation Lent is a special season to LOOK at the VERDICT on our own life. Our good deeds are our witnesses that we belong to the light. The true sacrifice that the Lord requires of us is good deed extended to our neighbors in need. Evil persons preferred darkness and hate the light. Beware! Cf. 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…

3rd Sunday of Lent (B)

Short Reflection for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (B) Readings: Exodus 20: 1-3. 7-8. 12-17; 1 Corinthians 1: 22-25; John 2: 13-25 Selected Passage: “Jesus said, Take these out of here, and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." (Jn.2: 16) Meditation: Lent is a special season to cleanse our life of the many “merchandise” that has made God’s abode in us a MARKETPLACE. God’s grace is a GIFT; it is NOT for sale. The kingdom of God is not a merchandise. Cf. 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…

The Power of Powerlessness

THE POWER OF POWERLESSNESS There are different kinds of power and different kinds of authority. There is military power, muscle power, political power, economic power, moral power, charismatic power, and psychological power, among other things. There are different kinds of authority too: We can be bitterly forced into acquiescing to certain demands, or we can be gently persuaded into accepting them. Imagine four persons in a room: a powerful dictator who rules a country, gifted athlete at the peak of his physical prowess, a rock star whose music and charisma can electrify an audience and a newborn, a baby, lying in its crib. Which of these is ultimately the most powerful? The irony is that the baby ultimately wields the greatest power. A little baby can touch hearts in a way that a dictator, an athlete, or a rock star cannot. Its innocent, wordless presence, without physical strength, can transform a room and a heart in a way that guns, muscle, and charisma cannot. Around a baby, as most every parent has learned, we not only watch our language and try not to have bitter arguments; we also try to be better, more loving persons. Metaphorically, a baby has the power to do an exorcism. It can cast out the demons of self-absorption and selfishness in us. This is the way we find and experience God’s power here on earth, sometimes to our great frustration, and this is the way that Jesus was deemed powerful during his lifetime. The entire Gospels make this clear, from beginning to end. Jesus was born as a baby, powerless, and he died hanging helplessly on a cross with bystanders mocking his powerlessness. Yet both his birth and his death manifest the kind of power upon which we can ultimately build our lives. God’s power forever lies within our world and within our lives, asking for our patience. Christ, as Annie Dillard says, is always found in our lives just as he was originally found, a helpless baby in the straw who must be picked up and nurtured into maturity. But we are forever wanting something else, namely, a God who would come and clean up the world and satisfy our thirst for justice by showing some raw muscle power and banging some heads here and now. But that’s not the way intimacy, peace, and God are found. To read more copy this address into your browser http://ronrolheiser.com/the-power-of-powerlessness/#.YD5Zy11KjDY