As I sit tonight pondering how Jealousy has destroyed Relationships and Lives in my own family and within the families of many others that I journey with, I opened an email with Fr. Henri Nouwen’s Daily Meditation on Jealousy that I felt I should share with you all……………..
Beyond Jealousy
“Jealousy arises easily in our hearts. In the parable of the prodigal son, the elder son is jealous that his younger brother gets such a royal welcome even though he and his loose women swallowed up his father’s property (Luke 15:30). And in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, the workers who worked the whole day are jealous that those who came at the eleventh hour receive the same pay as they did (see Matthew 20:1-16). But the Father says to the older son: “You are with me always and all I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). And the landowner says: “Why should you be envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:15).
When we truly enjoy God’s unlimited generosity, we will be grateful for what our brothers and sisters receive. Jealousy will simply have no place in our hearts. ”
By: Henri Nouwen
My Thoughts to Ponder About this Matter
How can I/you be the reconciling love amidst the jealousy?
Am I/you doing my/your inner work to nurture and heal the hurts within our own hearts caused from the alienation?
Am I/you humble enough to look beyond and love even when we are being persecuted?
How can I/you help others experience God’s unlimited generosity to inspire them to be grateful for what my/your brothers and sisters in Christ receive?
Let me hear from you in the comments or click the “like” button if this post speaks to you……
As I placed myself in the scene of the Gospel according to Matthew 7:21-29 , I imagined being on the Mount of the Beatitudes as a disciple. I was intrigued just like the early disciples with Jesus and I felt a deep desire to conform my heart to His.
I begged Him to give me a deep experience of what that meant and I had a conversation with Jesus about listening to His words in scripture and carrying them out in my life. I came to a much deeper understanding of the essential qualities of true discipleship…which is all about truly knowing God and following His word… a true disciple is someone totally united to God in heart, soul and mind. Deeds alone will not save us…..Certainly, it is not a bad thing to do good deeds, but our attitudes in performing such works, and our motives and goals for doing so are really the key. I was reminded that it is through grace that we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven…that grace is freely given when we follow the Lord….we cannot buy grace with deeds or with what we do. It is about paying attention to Jesus’ words, understanding them, accepting fully and enfleshing it into our lives. When we have enfleshed scripture we will naturally act accordingly. It is only then that we can be sure that we can say that we are true disciples of Jesus. As he says in the story of the 2 houses, it is the only sure foundation which we can build our lives on. Otherwise, the minute we come under attack, we will collapse with no foundation.
One of the things that I really love about Fr. Mark Link’s approach to the Spiritual Exercises is that he always gives his readers the scripture text, a real life story that I can usually imagine, and thoughts for reflection.
Imaginative Prayer Experience
I would like to invite you to have an imaginative experience with me based on one of the Gospel verses… Jesus said, “ Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father wants them to do…..”
Imagine Opening a Magazine to a Cartoon
….it shows a man in his fifties dressed in a baseball uniform and hat. He is seated in a big easy chair. Resting against one side of the easy chair is a baseball bat and glove. On the other side of the chair is a table with a telephone on it. Across from the man sits his wife. She wears a patient but frustrated look. The caption reads: “I don’t want to step on your dream Walter, but if they haven’t called after thirty years, perhaps it’s time to go on to something else.” Pay attention to what bubbles up in the depths of your heart about this cartoon.
Imagine Your Personal Conversation with Jesus
Shift gears with me and now imagine you are sitting in a big easy chair and Jesus is sitting across from you like the wife was sitting across from her husband in the cartoon. You begin to have dialogue with Jesus:
about your life….
about facing up to reality….
about assuming responsibility for your life…..
about assuming your responsibility for God’s Kingdom…….
Questions to Ponder
You begin to ask yourself what area in your life might you be failing to assume responsibility and do what God wants you to do?
Abiding in the Word
You sit with Jesus and you have a heart to heart with Him…… now thank Him for spending this time with you and bid Him farewell until you meet him again…..
Closing Prayer
God Bless You and May we all have the courage to assume responsibility for our lives and do what God wants us to do…putting our full trust in Him, developing and nurturing an intimate relationship with Him so that we can hear his voice and not take matters into our own hands. Amen!
Let’s help one another by sharing in the comments about anything the Holy Spirit leads you to share that has helped you nurture intimacy with Our Triune God ……..
Feel Free to “cut and paste” any of these texts for Prayer or Worship Aids and simply add this reference:
“Taken from the The Hopeless Romantic: Falling in Love with God site of Patti Clement. www.patticlement.wordpress.com Used with Permission.”
Do You Stop Trusting and Take Matters Into Your Own Hands?
Inspired by First Reading from Thursday 12th Week of Ordinary Time-June 27, 2013
How many of you are creatures of habit like me? I am on staff at Montserrat Jesuit Retreat Housedirecting the annual personally directed 5 and 8 day retreats. On Thursday of last week, the Jesuit priest celebrating the English-speaking masses asked the lay guest directors to volunteer to give scripture reflections. I immediately did what I am comfortable with which was to go straight to my head and intellectually find out as much as I could by consulting commentaries and delving into the historical biblical criticism of the passages. I wanted to gather all this data about the passages.
Then the Lord gently reminded me that He wanted more from me. He wanted me to abide in the Word and enflesh it. Back in 1989, my introduction to Ignatian Spirituality was actually through books written by a Jesuit, Mark Link S. J., who was experimenting with the Spiritual Exercises in parishes here in Dallas. I remembered I had packed one of my devotionals written by him and I pulled it out of my suitcase as a prayer aid to use Imaginative Prayer and set off to place myself in the scene. I began by begging for the grace to really Know God, The Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit from the experience and not just know about them. I specifically begged to Know Jesus more intimately, love Him more dearly and follow Him more nearly which is a grace specifically noted in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius when praying with the second week experiences. I abided in the passages and then I used the prayer aid to deepen my experience. I thought I’d have a little show and tell with my audience to help everyone with the mechanics of placing ourselves in the scene of passages, abiding and enfleshing sacred scripture.
Knowing that Jesus came to fulfill and not abolish the teachings of the Old Testament; I felt confident that whatever lessons revealed to me from the Genesis story would reveal something about Jesus to me. I honestly had no desire to go to the Old Testament. When I do get out of my head, I am very much a romantic and would love to spend all my prayer periods in the gospel of John.
However, I worked my way through my resistances and began spending time with Sara and Hagar. Our God of surprises surprised me in ways that only He can do. I was placed in the scene as Sara. I found myself having to resist self-pity about my own unfulfilled dreams of not being happily married with children. I had to be honest with myself about my tendency to succumb to self-pity at times because my life has not turned out how I thought it would. But, I also experienced tremendous joy with Our Triune God about the amazing grace I have been given. This grace helped me to realize I had a disordered attachment to the married life and biological children that had to be surrendered to Our Lord. I was also being called to trust that He loves me unconditionally and knows what is best for me. The major insights I received from abiding in the Genesis reading is that the story of Sara and Hagar is about the consequences of not trusting God and taking things into our own hands. Sara, whom I can relate to very well because I have always wanted to be happily married with lots of children and I am still single and childless, stopped trusting God and took things into her own hands and then she took the consequences of her poor choice out on others. It led to her abuse of power and mistreatment of others. The abiding in scripture reminded me of my past and I am not proud of those times in my past. I had to admit that when I had succumbed to slothfulness and not done my inner work to recognize How deeply loved I am by God and that I can trust Our Triune God totally to know what is best for me, I too abused my power and mistreated others.
Imaginative Prayer Experience
Place yourself in the scene of Genesis 16: 1-12, 15-16. Allow the Holy Spirit to place you as one of the characters in the scene. Who is the character? What happens for you? What are you doing? What are you feeling?
Questions to Ponder:
Are you aware of your habits and inclinations?
Were there any resistances for you in the Genesis passage?
Do you rely fully on God or do you stop trusting when the journey gets tough?
Do you take matters into your own hands?
Have you abused power over others or mistreated others?
Are you doing the inner work required of you?
Are you grounded in a deep personal and intimate relationship with Our Loving God?
Do you trust God to know what is best for you?
Closing Prayer
God Bless You and May we all have the courage to be honest with ourselves and honest with God about our deepest desires and allow God to reveal His great love to us…..Amen!
Let’s help one another by sharing in the comments how methods of prayer from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola have blessed us…………………
Feel Free to “cut and paste” any of these texts for Prayer or Worship Aids and simply add this reference:
“Taken from the The Hopeless Romantic: Falling in Love with God site of Patti Clement. www.patticlement.wordpress.com Used with Permission.”
As I prayed with today’s readings, the common thread that the Holy Spirit placed on my heart is the tension between Truth and Deception that is part of every human journey. The first image I received was one of a Board Game. Doesn’t the title “Truth or Deception” have a good ring to it for the name of a Board Game? There is even a Board Game called “Life” so why not?
Oh, how I have often wished Life was as easy as a Board Game that comes with a set of specific instructions! I have always thought of Board Games as a means of fellowship, community and making good choices. We all strive to make good choices in a Board Game because, of course, we want to win the game. However, we all know that Life is not about winning or losing, but about making good moral choices and living in the Truth.
In the reading from Genesis 13, we hear of Abram and Lot’s separation because their herdsmen were quarreling. Abram offers Lot the choice of land to keep peace. In Lot’s choosing though I was reminded by his choice that things are not always what they seem to be. Lot chose the Jordan Plain. Why? Because it was well watered and he felt it was the better decision. However, the area he chose to dwell in was filled with wicked inhabitants. Lot was deceived by outward appearances.
In Psalm 15, we hear from Sacred Scripture that “He who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord”. Then we have several verses revealing what Justice is in the biblical sense. The verse that I really resonated with is the one where we hear, “He who thinks the Truth in his heart and slanders not with his tongue.”
Then in the Gospel according to Matthew 7: 6, 12-14, we have laid before us a great visual of what happens when we are not attuned to this tension between Truth and Deception. We hear “Enter through the Narrow Gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and those who enter through it are many. How Narrow the Gate and Constricted theRoad that Leads to Life. And those who find it are few.”
I believe that St. Ignatius was referring to the Narrow Gate and Constricted Road that Leads to Life when he states in the First Principle and Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises that our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God’s deepening life in me.
Therein lies the tension I mentioned when I began….Truth vs. Deception particularly in the secular world we live in today.
How often have you heard the word “Truth“? Have you ever wondered what does that word “Truth” really mean? Have you ever wondered how do we know “Truth” from Deception in the world we live in?
Deciphering “Truth” from Deception is part of our Baptismal Call as faithful Christians. As I sat with the Lord and pondered what He might be trying to reveal to me about this matter, another scripture verse came to mind: John 18: 37, specifically the following words where Jesus responds to Pilate in dialogue:
There is so much loaded into that one verse. It is Jesus that is the “Truth“! So seeking the Truth is all about relationship with Jesus and becoming a person of virtue just like Jesus.
How do we do that?
The answers may not be packaged as a Board Game with instructions, but we are given instruction in Sacred Scripture. We hear in John 14: 6, Jesus telling his disciples, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father“.
How do you know Jesus?
By spending time with Him and allowing Scripture to come to Life. Allow Him to reveal his virtues to you in the depths of your soul so that you can beg him to conform your heart to His. We have to Allow Him to gently show us where our value system is not in line with His so that we can repent and make better choices to be more like Him.
How well do you know Jesus? Not what do you know about Him? There is a big difference between Knowing about someone and Knowing Them.
How might you nurture your relationship with Him?
Have you been graced with insights on how you might listen to His voice amidst the noise of Deception in the secular world? What graces have you received that helps you to stay rooted in Jesus that might help someone else do the same?
Like Lot in the story from Genesis, what are ways you have been deceived by outward appearances?
How do you stay focused on deciphering the “Truth” from all the Deception of commercialism, consumerism and busyness in the world we live in?
Let’s help one another by sharing what we are doing to stay focused on Jesus…..
Feel Free to “cut and paste” any of these texts for Prayer or Worship Aids and simply add this reference:
“Taken from the The Hopeless Romantic: Falling in Love with God site of Patti Clement. www.patticlement.wordpress.com Used with Permission.”
As I prayed, reflected and pondered the scripture passages for today, three phrases have stayed with me.
“You Are All Children of God”
“But Who Do You Say That I Am?”
“He Must Deny Himself, Take Up His Cross and Follow Me”
The first image that I saw when I heard “You Are All Children of God” was the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe with Children hanging out of every window from Nursery Rhyme Books. This brought me back to my childhood and all the warm memories of my grandmothers being so inclusive of all of their grandchildren and making us each feel like we were the most important human being on the face of the earth. In our hearts I believe we each felt like their favorite grandchild and I believe that is how God wants us to feel too. He is so inclusive. He created us out of love in His image each with uniqueness and desires a deep, personal, intimate relationship with each of us.
Then as I reflected on one of Jesus‘ questions from today’s gospel, “But Who Do You Say That I Am?”; I was filled with a sense of excitement knowing He is My All In All. The image I saw when I first heard this question was a multi-faceted jewel. He represents so much for me and there is much that I cannot put to words but will sum up as mystery. However, the main thing is that He is my Savior and so much more. As I thought back about the many times I have turned to Him in my life for guidance, I thought of the following roles that He has filled for me….Prince of Peace, Source of Strength, Teacher, Lover, Comforter, Healer, Leader, Forgiver, Servant, and Best Friend.
Finally, as I reflected on the conditions of discipleship laid out for us, “He Must Deny Himself, Take Up His Cross and Follow Me”; my excitement turned to tension. The image I saw as I heard these words was a woman hunched over and burdened. When I am honest with myself and God, I must admit that although I know God loves me and Jesus will be by my side in the midst of any cross I am called to carry; I don’t like denying myself. I don’t like carrying my crosses and often times I carry my cross in pain. But the one thing I am sure of and convicted about is that I do deeply desire to follow Him and He helps me when I turn to Him and beg for grace to endure. He helps that bent over woman stand erect and proceed with grace. He shows me over and over again that whatever pain comes from any cross, He will transform and make something good out of it. This is why I can live in Christian optimism. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! He really is my sustenance. What about you?
Read, Reflect and Pray with Scripture:
Gal 3:26 Through Faith You are All Children of God
Luke 9: 18-24 Questions of Jesus and Conditions of Discipleship
Helps:
Thoughts to Ponder:
What image do you see when you hear the phrase “Child of God“?
What does it mean to you to be a “Child of God“?
Who Do You Say Jesus Is?
Is Your Life a Reflection of Jesus‘ Life? Why or why not?
How might you better follow the conditions of discipleship laid out for us in today’s gospel…..”He Must Deny Himself, Take Up His Cross and Follow Me”?
What are the crosses you have been carrying in your life? Do you turn to Jesus and beg for the grace needed to persevere?
What cross might Jesus be inviting you to carry with Him? What bubbles up inside of you as you consider your next right step?
Let me hear from you in the comments or click the “like” button if this post speaks to you……
The first thing I prayed with this morning was Today’s Daily Meditation from the Henri Nouwen Society. I was so moved by it that I have copied it for you below:
The Beatitudes offer us a self-portrait of Jesus. At first it might seem to be a most unappealing portrait – who wants to be poor, mourning and persecuted? Who can be truly gentle, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker, and always concerned about justice? Where is the realism here? Don’t we have to survive in this world and use the ways of the world to do so?
Jesus shows us the way to be in the world without being of it. When we model our lives on his, a new world will open up for us. The Kingdom of Heavenwill be ours, and the earth will be our inheritance. We will be comforted and have our fill; mercy will be shown to us. Yes, we will be recognized as God’s children and truly see God, not just in an afterlife, but here and now (see Matthew 5:3-10). That is the reward of modeling our lives on the life of Jesus!
by: Henri Nouwen
For sometime now, I have turned to the Beatitudes when really begging for the grace to “know” Jesus because I have felt that the Beatitudes really represent Jesus’ value system. However, at times, just as Fr. Nouwen states above, I have felt a bit overwhelmed with the task at hand. Being my own worst critic, I often times beat myself up when I feel I am not living up to the model Jesus lays out for us of being truly gentle, merciful, pure in heart, a peacemaker, and concerned about justice.
What the Lord revealed to me in my prayer time is that when I move my focus from modeling Him and become self-absorbed with evaluating myself and worrying about what others will think or how others have treated me, I fall into the deadly trap of one of the seven deadly sins, namely, pride. It is usually subtle and begins with self-pity and I usually find myself dwelling on a list of who has hurt me and who has not celebrated life with me and who is it that makes me feel like an outsider. It is when my focus becomes about me and not about Jesus that I fall into my downward spiral.
On the other hand, when I am able to really spend time with Jesus and beg for the grace to “know” His heart and to teach me how to be in the world and not of it, He does show me how to find Him in all things in the here and now and not get caught up in what can be a world of self-absorption. It is only then that I allow myself to be comforted and receive His love and mercy and find the strength, courage and wisdom to go forth and be Him to others. At this point, even when I am feeling hurt or persecuted, I can find confidence in knowing I am doing what has been revealed to me by Jesusand trust that He will fill in whatever gaps I may have in my humanity. As Fr. Nouwen claims, when I am able to model my life on the life of Jesus and really strive to live out the Beatitudes, a whole new world really does open up. I am able to look past and forgive those who hurt me either intentionally or unintentionally and continue to see the face of God in them and others and bring His love to all. It truly is amazing grace!
Imagine yourself on the Mount of the Beatitudes in the Holy Land and place yourself in the scripture passage.
Use what St. Ignatius of Loyola refers to as the application of sensesand read the passage slowly a couple of times and then reflect on the passage asking yourself the following:
What do I hear in the crowd….what do I hear in the depths of my soul?
What do I see…..what really catches my attention?
What do I smell…..what memories do the wonderful smells bring up for me?
What do I taste……can I taste the salt in the air coming in off the Sea ofGalilee…..can I taste the goodness of the Lord?
What do I feel……….what emotions surface as I spend time with each of the Beatitudes…..do I have one underlying need that I really need to turn to Jesus with and ask for healing?
Thoughts to Ponder:
How might the Beatitudes help you in living counter-culturally in our world of self-absorption?
What are the areas in your own life where Jesus might be inviting you to model His life and allow a whole new world to open up?
Are you willing to put your total focus on Jesus and not succumb to the trap of our first world culture of self-absorption? Why or why not?
Let me hear from you in the comments or click the “like” button if this post speaks to you……
Are You a Facilitator of the Faith or a Controller of the Faith?
As I read and prayed with Pope Francis’s homily today, I found myself really saddened by the division I sometimes see in our Church today. Christians of goodwill may intentionally or unintentionally judge others as sinners and like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day believe in their self-righteousness that those people whomever they may be should not be allowed to enter the door of faith. As translated on (Vatican Radio), Pope Francis says those who approach the Church should find the doors open and not find people who want to control the faith. The Pope said these things this morning during Mass in the Casa Santa Marta. The day’s Gospel tells us that Jesus rebukes the disciples who seek to remove children that people bring to the Lord to bless.… Read the homily linked below….you are sure to be blessed.
Mark 10: 13-16 “Let them come to me, do not hinder them. For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Helps: Mental Prayer Exercise
Think of all those Christians of goodwill that Pope Francis alludes to in his homily who are closing the doors of goodwill in your midst today.
Think of times in your own faith journey when you may have closed the door of faith to someone.
Pray for the conversion of hearts so that we may all become facilitators of faith.
Thoughts to Ponder:
How might you be a better facilitator of the faith and not a controller of the faith?
Have you ever been on the receiving end of someone who is a controller of the faith and how did it make you feel?
As you think of others (unwed mothers, gay men and women, divorced men and women, etc.) who are Holy People of God who want to get closer to Jesus but are often turned off by so many Christians of goodwill who are wrong and that instead of opening a door they close the door of goodwill, what might you do to grow in courage to be a better facilitator of faith for them?
Let me hear from you in the comments or click the “like” button if this post speaks to you……
The Hopeless Romantic: Falling in Love with God 