be kind

“Part of kindness

is loving people

more than they deserve.”

~Joseph Joubert

"The Good Samaritan" is by Chinese artist HeQi

and the interpretation of the art is from Howard Carter’s

blog which is located here

Today I hit the 1000 mark on my posting meter....
Imagine that! 

Good Friday

Photo of Mary’s 4th Sorrow – The Meeting

Taken at Monastery Memorial Gardens

from Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, CA

“God of Compassion, so many times we feel utterly helpless

when we experience the brokenness and pain in the lives of others around us. 

We feel incompetent when we see the many homeless persons walking the streets; 
we feel powerless when we see our world crushed by fighting and violence,

even in our own neighborhoods and cities! 

Help us to be men and women who are strong in faith. 

Help us to do all that we can do to assist others.

But above all else, help us to remember that it is when we feel most powerless

that we are able to act with the strength that comes

from your Holy Sprit of love and compassion.”

Arranged by Sr. Judith Rinok, S.N.J.M.

call back every judgment

"Whenever a judgment or evaluation
Arises within you,
Whether positive or negative,
Add the three words: '. . . just like me.'
You can go ahead and judge another as lazy,
But be inclusive with it: He is so lazy, just like me.
She is arrogant, just like me.
They are incompetent,
She is unreliable,
He is angry,
Just like me.
Call back positive judgments in the same way:
The Dalai Lama is so wise, just like me.
She is so compassionate,
He is so strong,
Just like me.
In this way, call back every judgment to yourself
And realize that there is no other out there:
It is all you."

— Arjuna Ardagh

2nd Sunday in Advent, 2011

Yesterday we celebrated the Second Sunday of Advent. 

Two candles of the four are now lit, bringing a bit more light into the darkness.  

Isn't this Advent wreath a thing of beauty? 

I'm drawn to both the earthy textures and desert-like colors.

Which brings me to John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness.

The forerunner to the Messiah, who prepared His way.

He was earthy to the max, wasn't he?

 With his rough clothing, austere diet, and calls for repentance.

I have lifted the following quote from a website

that I look forward to receiving every week:

The Edge of Enclosure.  Do check it out here.

And as you light your second candle, consider the pairing of our loneliness,

our desert experiences of life, with the river of life

that the Christ child will bring and fill us with in this season

so that we might offer such a love to those who, like us,

are also wandering in the wilderness. 

***

"Our brokenness is the wound through which

the full power of God can penetrate our being and transfigure us in God.

Loneliness is not something from which we must flee

but the place from where we can cry out to God,

where God will find us and we can find God.

Yes, through our wounds the power of God can penetrate us

and become like rivers of living water to irrigate the arid earth within us.

Thus we may irrigate the arid earth of others, so that hope and love are reborn."
-Jean Vanier
The Broken Body
1988 Paulist Press
quoted from An Advent Sourcebook (LTP)

the photo of the Advent table decoration is from here.

behold & inhabit

 

"The ultimate goal of prayer is to learn to behold yourself

with the same gentleness, pride, expectation, and compassion

with which the divine presence beholds you at every moment.

If we can inhabit that reflex of divine presence,

then compassion will flow naturally from us."

-John O'Donohue

 

photo is from here.

Cell Rage

No matter how mindful, holy, or present I can possibly be it all goes to hell in a handbasket after spending an hour and a half being transferred 6 times at Verizon Wireless.  Where is my compassion?  Well it flew out the window after the first hour of being told that my call was important and that the next available operator would take care of my needs.  Did I mention the 3 hang-ups?   I'd like to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama deal with a phone tree and keep his cool, know what I mean?

P.S. I have to admit the operator that is now helping me is wonderful and apologetic about all the transfers.  And yes, I am treating him kindly, which is always an amazing feat for an "8"........

Prayer for My Enemies

The following prayer is from the end of the sermon I preached yesterday. 

The prayer is based on Matthew 5:43-45 in which Jesus expands 

"love your neighbor" into "love your enemies"

and oh yes, pray for them too! 

"Thank you for enemies Lord, for they drive me back to you in prayer.

Thank you God for your sun that rises on everyone.

May it bring warmth and comfort to my enemies today.

Bless them Lord.  Heal the hurts in their lives just as you heal mine.

Give me the grace to show your love to them today.

Thank you God for this rain that you have sent to quench your earth.

May it quench the thirst of my enemies today.

Bless them Lord.  And as you have forgiven me,

May your Spirit give me the grace I need to forgive my enemies today.

Thank you for these tangible reminders that your grace is bestowed on all.

And when the pain of hurt and hatred begin to overwhelm me,

and I consider seeking solace in resentment and revenge,

may your Holy Spirit direct me to the only place I can receive true comfort

and healing - in your loving embrace.  Amen"

Roberta Hiday, Spiritual Director

Sequim, Washington

spilling sweat, not blood

"It's when we start working together

that the real healing takes place.

It's when we start spilling our sweat

and not our blood."

David Hume

I took this photo inside the AIDS Chapel

at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

what we have in common

"Compassion - which means, literally, "to suffer with" - is the way to the truth

that we are most ourselves, not when we differ from others,

but when we are the same. Indeed, the main spiritual question is not,

"What difference do you make?" but

"What do you have in common?"

It is not "excelling" but "serving" that makes us most human.

It is not proving ourselves to be better than others

but confessing to be just like others

that is the way to healing and reconciliation.

Compassion, to be with others when and where they suffer

and to willingly enter into a fellowship of the weak,

is God's way to justice and peace among people.

Is this possible? Yes, it is,

but only when we dare to live the radical faith

that we do not have to compete for love,

but that love is freely given to us

by the One who calls us to compassion."

- Henri Nouwen

quoted in the wonderful book

'Befriending Death: Henri Nouwen and a Spirituality of Dying'

by Michelle O'Rourke

p. 112

Artwork from here:

Flow of Compassion

2006 Finalist

Jessica Escobedo, Age 13

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

becoming human

“You can survive on your own;

you can grow strong on your own;

you can prevail on your own;

but you cannot become human on your own."

Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey

Widow of Nain

J.J. Tissot, detail of "Jesus Raising the son of the widow at Nain" (1890), original watercolor
The following is from Sunday's Gospel reading:

"Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country." Luke 7:11-17

So the crowd following Jesus was heading toward Nain while the crowd following the widow was walking away from the town when their paths crossed. And you know what happens when your path crosses with Jesus? Resurrection! Oh, maybe not the type where you flip the lid off of your coffin and you start chatting up a storm (though I do wonder what the widow's son said after he sat up & realized he was in his own funeral procession?) but Resurrection comes in many forms such as: we no longer have to live in fear, change is actually possible, and when we die, we will be brought into new life. And that, my friends is the Good News!

(The focus of this painting is the dead son but in the reading the emphasis is actually on the widow and the compassion she receives from Jesus. This painting has a "Where's Waldo" quality to it, as in "Where's the Widow?")