Showing posts with label Lenten Reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lenten Reflection. Show all posts
Friday, March 5, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Thursday, 2nd Week of Lent
Hoping is Loving in the Moment
"Blessed are they who trust in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD." - Jeremiah 17:9-10
Optimism and hope are radically different attitudes. Optimism is the expectation that things – the weather, human relationships, the political situation, wars, and so on – will improve. Hope is the trust that God will fulfill God's promise in a way that leads us to love more deeply and freely. The optimist speaks about changes in the future. The person who hopes lives in the moment and trusts that all of life is in good hands. Optimism is a personality trait; hope is a choice that risks God's goodness. When we hope, we rely on God's faithfulness, even though we cannot envision a foreseeable future of optimism.
Hope is essentially an act of faith rooted in love. It involves radical openness and vulnerability to life in the present moment and waiting with endurance, trusting that uncertainty, loneliness, restlessness, loss, confusion, etc… will lead to greater freedom, to a more genuine love. A love that "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:7).
When we hope, we wait in openness for God's promise to come true, even though we do not know, when, where, or how this might happen. We trust in God's indwelling presence and laboring to bring about good. We love.
"Lord, help me to love more fully today, through moments of hope."
inspired by Henri Nouwen
"Blessed are they who trust in the LORD, whose hope is the LORD." - Jeremiah 17:9-10
Optimism and hope are radically different attitudes. Optimism is the expectation that things – the weather, human relationships, the political situation, wars, and so on – will improve. Hope is the trust that God will fulfill God's promise in a way that leads us to love more deeply and freely. The optimist speaks about changes in the future. The person who hopes lives in the moment and trusts that all of life is in good hands. Optimism is a personality trait; hope is a choice that risks God's goodness. When we hope, we rely on God's faithfulness, even though we cannot envision a foreseeable future of optimism.
Hope is essentially an act of faith rooted in love. It involves radical openness and vulnerability to life in the present moment and waiting with endurance, trusting that uncertainty, loneliness, restlessness, loss, confusion, etc… will lead to greater freedom, to a more genuine love. A love that "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:7).
When we hope, we wait in openness for God's promise to come true, even though we do not know, when, where, or how this might happen. We trust in God's indwelling presence and laboring to bring about good. We love.
"Lord, help me to love more fully today, through moments of hope."
inspired by Henri Nouwen
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Wednesday 2nd Week
Sorrows and Joys Are Pathways to New Life
"But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" - Matthew 20:12
"Are we able to drink the cup?" is a most challenging and radical question we face. The cup is the cup of life, full of sorrows and joys. Drinking our cups means allowing persons, things, and events to be, to resonate fully as they are in our lived experience. It involves complete openness and vulnerability to life, allowing its full spectrum of sorrows and joys to flow within and over us.
Facing life in such an unflinching, undefended way is extremely difficult. We know well the price of such contemplative attitudes. Yet, fully drinking the cup of our joys and sorrows becomes a sipping of the cup of salvation. Through his suffering and death, Jesus brings us new life. As we empty our cups to the bottom, we become more united with the Crucified Christ while God fills our cups with "water" for eternal life. Our life becomes magnified with meaning and overflowing with compassion. We not only drink, we grow in intimacy with Jesus. We become the cup of blessing.
"Lord, which sorrows and joys do you I invite me to drink deeply today?"
inspired by Henri Nouwen
"But Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" - Matthew 20:12
"Are we able to drink the cup?" is a most challenging and radical question we face. The cup is the cup of life, full of sorrows and joys. Drinking our cups means allowing persons, things, and events to be, to resonate fully as they are in our lived experience. It involves complete openness and vulnerability to life, allowing its full spectrum of sorrows and joys to flow within and over us.
Facing life in such an unflinching, undefended way is extremely difficult. We know well the price of such contemplative attitudes. Yet, fully drinking the cup of our joys and sorrows becomes a sipping of the cup of salvation. Through his suffering and death, Jesus brings us new life. As we empty our cups to the bottom, we become more united with the Crucified Christ while God fills our cups with "water" for eternal life. Our life becomes magnified with meaning and overflowing with compassion. We not only drink, we grow in intimacy with Jesus. We become the cup of blessing.
"Lord, which sorrows and joys do you I invite me to drink deeply today?"
inspired by Henri Nouwen
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Tuesday 2nd Week
Serving the Least Embraces God’s Reconciling Love
"The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Mt 23:12
"Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow." Is 1:17
Both the Jewish and Christian traditions imagine a God who stands with the poor and the powerless. Jesus shows a clear referential option or love for the poor. Outreach to the marginalized and opposing injustices are not extra expressions of faith, they are integral to our embrace of God's love.
The Lenten call to repentance consists of reconciliation, a bringing together. Bringing together how we practice and what we preach; closing the gap between "the haves" and the "haves not"; embracing our identity in God's unconditional love and letting go of a sense of self that comes from possessions, prestige, or power; allowing God to heal us and going beyond ourselves to serve the least among us. While we serve, we realize the Pharisees within each of us: we serve and redress wrong from a place of power and privilege; we "stand over" people; we are motivated more by the recognition from others than the desire to honor God. At the same time, we realize the call to "stand with" those we serve, to face our illusion of control, to share in our common poverty – our utter need for God's healing and mercy. Jesus calls us to servant leadership so that we may be embraced by God's reconciling love as we serve and stand with the poor.
"Lord, help me to concretely embrace your love by standing on the side of the poor and powerless."
Fr Tri Đinh
"The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Mt 23:12
"Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan's plea, defend the widow." Is 1:17
Both the Jewish and Christian traditions imagine a God who stands with the poor and the powerless. Jesus shows a clear referential option or love for the poor. Outreach to the marginalized and opposing injustices are not extra expressions of faith, they are integral to our embrace of God's love.
The Lenten call to repentance consists of reconciliation, a bringing together. Bringing together how we practice and what we preach; closing the gap between "the haves" and the "haves not"; embracing our identity in God's unconditional love and letting go of a sense of self that comes from possessions, prestige, or power; allowing God to heal us and going beyond ourselves to serve the least among us. While we serve, we realize the Pharisees within each of us: we serve and redress wrong from a place of power and privilege; we "stand over" people; we are motivated more by the recognition from others than the desire to honor God. At the same time, we realize the call to "stand with" those we serve, to face our illusion of control, to share in our common poverty – our utter need for God's healing and mercy. Jesus calls us to servant leadership so that we may be embraced by God's reconciling love as we serve and stand with the poor.
"Lord, help me to concretely embrace your love by standing on the side of the poor and powerless."
Fr Tri Đinh
Monday, March 1, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Monday 2nd Week
Forgiveness: Seeing with God’s Compassion
"Be merciful just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" - Luke 6:36-37
We are all wounded people. Who wounds us? Often those whom we love and those who love us. When we feel rejected, abandoned, abused, manipulated, or violated, it is mostly be people very close to us: our parents, our friends, our spouses, our lovers, our children, our neighbors, our teachers, our pastors. We too, wound those close to us. That's the tragedy of our lives. This is what makes forgiveness from the heart difficult. It is precisely our hearts that are wounded. We cry out, "You, who I expect to be there for me, you have abandoned me. How can I ever forgive you for that?"
Forgiveness often seems impossible, but nothing is impossible for God. It involves seeing with the eyes of God, with the heart of Christ. It may be the most painful thing to do, to allow the pains of hurt, abandonment, and betrayal just to be. To be in God's healing presence. We may begin to see through the heart of things, that we inadvertently place our longing for unconditional love in limited, frail human beings. We may begin to see with God's great compassion that we are all wounded people, that we all long to live deep within the very heart of God, to be God's Beloved. Being with Jesus forsaken on the Cross, we are not destroyed by our suffering because we suffer with God, in the very heart of God. It is not easy, but Jesus has already and is walking that path with us. With God, all things are possible.
"Lord, help me to forgive all who have hurt me. With whom are you inviting me to begin?"
inspired by Henri Nouwen
"Be merciful just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" - Luke 6:36-37
We are all wounded people. Who wounds us? Often those whom we love and those who love us. When we feel rejected, abandoned, abused, manipulated, or violated, it is mostly be people very close to us: our parents, our friends, our spouses, our lovers, our children, our neighbors, our teachers, our pastors. We too, wound those close to us. That's the tragedy of our lives. This is what makes forgiveness from the heart difficult. It is precisely our hearts that are wounded. We cry out, "You, who I expect to be there for me, you have abandoned me. How can I ever forgive you for that?"
Forgiveness often seems impossible, but nothing is impossible for God. It involves seeing with the eyes of God, with the heart of Christ. It may be the most painful thing to do, to allow the pains of hurt, abandonment, and betrayal just to be. To be in God's healing presence. We may begin to see through the heart of things, that we inadvertently place our longing for unconditional love in limited, frail human beings. We may begin to see with God's great compassion that we are all wounded people, that we all long to live deep within the very heart of God, to be God's Beloved. Being with Jesus forsaken on the Cross, we are not destroyed by our suffering because we suffer with God, in the very heart of God. It is not easy, but Jesus has already and is walking that path with us. With God, all things are possible.
"Lord, help me to forgive all who have hurt me. With whom are you inviting me to begin?"
inspired by Henri Nouwen
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Sunday 2nd Week
Prayer and Solitude Help Us Listen to God
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." - Matt 9:7
Many voices vie for our attention. They can be placed in two camps. One is for us; the other is against.
The first and louder kind says, "Prove that you are a good person," or "You'd better be ashamed of yourself," or "Nobody really cares about you," or "You are a nobody because you don't have anybody," or "You've done THAT! God can no longer love you!" or "The more you become successful, popular, and powerful, the more you will be accepted and loved."
But beneath all these often very noisy voices a still, small voice whispers, "You are my Beloved, on whom my favor rests." That's the voice we need to hear most of all. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. It may take time to get past those defeaning voices telling us that our worth is directly proportional to how well we perform or to what we possess. Yet in time, we come to recognize that gentle voice. God's voice for us. Beyond our sinfulness.
That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us, "my Beloved."
"Lord, help me to devote time for prayerful solitude. Help me to listen to your voice within."
inspired by Henri Nouwen
"This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." - Matt 9:7
Many voices vie for our attention. They can be placed in two camps. One is for us; the other is against.
The first and louder kind says, "Prove that you are a good person," or "You'd better be ashamed of yourself," or "Nobody really cares about you," or "You are a nobody because you don't have anybody," or "You've done THAT! God can no longer love you!" or "The more you become successful, popular, and powerful, the more you will be accepted and loved."
But beneath all these often very noisy voices a still, small voice whispers, "You are my Beloved, on whom my favor rests." That's the voice we need to hear most of all. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen. It may take time to get past those defeaning voices telling us that our worth is directly proportional to how well we perform or to what we possess. Yet in time, we come to recognize that gentle voice. God's voice for us. Beyond our sinfulness.
That's what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us, "my Beloved."
"Lord, help me to devote time for prayerful solitude. Help me to listen to your voice within."
inspired by Henri Nouwen
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Saturday 1st Week
Saints Always Focus on God
"You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust." – Matthew 5:43-45
A Jesuit priest friend of mine has a challenging saying: "You are as Christian as how you treat the most irritated people you know." It is easy for us to love those with whom we are comfortable, those who are nice to us, and those whom we deem good. We seldom consider loving those who irritate us; at best, we tolerate or endure them. This betrays our misconception that love is primarily a feeling. However, love is a choice. A choice: a reaching beyond ourselves to nurture the spiritual growth of ourselves or another.
Consider someone who irritates, annoys, or angers you. Ask yourself, what does this irritation tell me about myself? Could it be that the person is manifesting a defect in yourself or pointing out something in your life you are refusing to see, or not living up to the expectation that have been programmed into you by your upbringing? It is difficult for us to love the person because of the inner agitation that arises in us. Loving the person would involve accepting and even embracing parts of ourselves that are "ugly" or "unlovable." Loving the person would involve a reaching out beyond our present negative feelings. Yet, such reaching out expands our hearts and make us more receptive to the One who is Love.
"Lord, help me to reach beyond myself and accept irritable people or parts of myself today."
Fr. Tri Đinh
"You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust." – Matthew 5:43-45
A Jesuit priest friend of mine has a challenging saying: "You are as Christian as how you treat the most irritated people you know." It is easy for us to love those with whom we are comfortable, those who are nice to us, and those whom we deem good. We seldom consider loving those who irritate us; at best, we tolerate or endure them. This betrays our misconception that love is primarily a feeling. However, love is a choice. A choice: a reaching beyond ourselves to nurture the spiritual growth of ourselves or another.
Consider someone who irritates, annoys, or angers you. Ask yourself, what does this irritation tell me about myself? Could it be that the person is manifesting a defect in yourself or pointing out something in your life you are refusing to see, or not living up to the expectation that have been programmed into you by your upbringing? It is difficult for us to love the person because of the inner agitation that arises in us. Loving the person would involve accepting and even embracing parts of ourselves that are "ugly" or "unlovable." Loving the person would involve a reaching out beyond our present negative feelings. Yet, such reaching out expands our hearts and make us more receptive to the One who is Love.
"Lord, help me to reach beyond myself and accept irritable people or parts of myself today."
Fr. Tri Đinh
Friday, February 26, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Friday 1st Week
Forgiving Is a Healing In Our Own Hearts
"So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift." - Matthew 5:23-24
How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is first and foremost an inner movement.
It is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts and helps us to reclaim our human dignity. We cannot force those we want to forgive into accepting our forgiveness. They might not be able or willing to do so. They many not even know or feel that they have wounded us. Yet, when we reach out through forgiveness, we move forward toward inner healing and peace. We also invite those we seek to forgive to a similar conversion.
The only people we can really change are ourselves. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts.
What forgiving have you delayed? Can you do it now, with God's grace?
adapted from Henri Nouwen
"So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift." - Matthew 5:23-24
How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is first and foremost an inner movement.
It is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts and helps us to reclaim our human dignity. We cannot force those we want to forgive into accepting our forgiveness. They might not be able or willing to do so. They many not even know or feel that they have wounded us. Yet, when we reach out through forgiveness, we move forward toward inner healing and peace. We also invite those we seek to forgive to a similar conversion.
The only people we can really change are ourselves. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts.
What forgiving have you delayed? Can you do it now, with God's grace?
adapted from Henri Nouwen
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Thursday, 1st Week:
God Always Gives More Than Enough
"Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will you give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7.9-11
God is a God of abundance, not a God of scarcity. The Hebrew Scriptures attest this divine plentitude, manifesting a God who leads the Israelites to a "land overflowing with milk and honey" (Ex 3:8). Jesus reveals to us God's abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps, and when he enables his disciples to catch so many fish that their boats nearly sink. God doesn't give us just enough. God gives us more than enough; more bread and fish than we can eat, more love than we dared to ask for.
God is a generous giver, but we can only see and enjoy God's generosity when our hearts and minds are unclouded and unfettered. When we are full of demands or attachments, we narrow our vision only to those peoples, things, and conditions that we think will make us happy. We resent what we did not get and miss the plentiful gifts offered before us. We remain distant from God and unable to experience what God truly wants to give us, which is life and life in abundance. Moreover, we close ourselves to God when we, as individuals or societies, take more than what we need, thereby restricting others' access to God's bountiful gifts.
Lord, help us to live gratefully and simply, so that others may simply live.
adapted from Henri Nouwen
"Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will you give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7.9-11
God is a God of abundance, not a God of scarcity. The Hebrew Scriptures attest this divine plentitude, manifesting a God who leads the Israelites to a "land overflowing with milk and honey" (Ex 3:8). Jesus reveals to us God's abundance when he offers so much bread to the people that there are twelve large baskets with leftover scraps, and when he enables his disciples to catch so many fish that their boats nearly sink. God doesn't give us just enough. God gives us more than enough; more bread and fish than we can eat, more love than we dared to ask for.
God is a generous giver, but we can only see and enjoy God's generosity when our hearts and minds are unclouded and unfettered. When we are full of demands or attachments, we narrow our vision only to those peoples, things, and conditions that we think will make us happy. We resent what we did not get and miss the plentiful gifts offered before us. We remain distant from God and unable to experience what God truly wants to give us, which is life and life in abundance. Moreover, we close ourselves to God when we, as individuals or societies, take more than what we need, thereby restricting others' access to God's bountiful gifts.
Lord, help us to live gratefully and simply, so that others may simply live.
adapted from Henri Nouwen
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Wednesday, 1st Week of Lent
God Wants to Forgive and Heal
Jesus preached to the people, asking them to repent, just as the Ninevites had done, saying, "They turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach." - Luke 11:32
Our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and concern for those in need call us to radical conversion and trust in God's mercy. These practices disclose our sinful tendencies, and uncover areas of unfreedom and attachments that often lead us to sin. We realize our inner conflict like Saint Paul: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Rom 7:16). We come to the limit of our creaturehood: we cannot save ourselves.
Such realization takes us to the threshold of God's unbounded mercy and love. We meet the God of Jesus who has no room for hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home. Like the father in the "Prodigal Son" parable who lets both of his sons make their own decisions, God gives us the freedom to choose or refuse divine love. God waits. Yet, God will go more than half way to meet us upon our return. God accepts our wandering hearts yet continually chooses to forgive, heal, and embrace completely. This is our homecoming. This is our Good News.
"In what area of my life might I long for yet resist a deeper conversion of heart and return to God?"
Jesus preached to the people, asking them to repent, just as the Ninevites had done, saying, "They turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach." - Luke 11:32
Our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and concern for those in need call us to radical conversion and trust in God's mercy. These practices disclose our sinful tendencies, and uncover areas of unfreedom and attachments that often lead us to sin. We realize our inner conflict like Saint Paul: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Rom 7:16). We come to the limit of our creaturehood: we cannot save ourselves.
Such realization takes us to the threshold of God's unbounded mercy and love. We meet the God of Jesus who has no room for hatred, desire for revenge, or pleasure in seeing us punished. God wants to forgive, heal, restore, show us endless mercy, and see us come home. Like the father in the "Prodigal Son" parable who lets both of his sons make their own decisions, God gives us the freedom to choose or refuse divine love. God waits. Yet, God will go more than half way to meet us upon our return. God accepts our wandering hearts yet continually chooses to forgive, heal, and embrace completely. This is our homecoming. This is our Good News.
"In what area of my life might I long for yet resist a deeper conversion of heart and return to God?"
Lenten Reflection - Tuesday, 1st Week of Lent
Thoughts Can Actually Help us Toward God
"When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven ..." - Matthew 6:7-9
Our minds are always active. We analyze, reflect, or daydream. Much of the time, we worry about the future and fret about the past. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is "unceasing." Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with God, who is the source of all love.
One way of listening to the Spirit's prompting at the core of our being is just to let our thoughts be, without judging ourselves as we experience these thoughts nor feeding them. Letting them be while inviting God in can be a way of praying unceasingly.
Let us allow the One who dwells in the center of our beings to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds. Let us listen to the One who hides in our thoughts.
O Holy Spirit, convert my never-ending flow of thoughts into prayer.
adapted from Henri Nouwen
"When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven ..." - Matthew 6:7-9
Our minds are always active. We analyze, reflect, or daydream. Much of the time, we worry about the future and fret about the past. There is not a moment during the day or night when we are not thinking. You might say our thinking is "unceasing." Sometimes we wish that we could stop thinking for a while; that would save us from many worries, guilt feelings, and fears. Our ability to think is our greatest gift, but it is also the source of our greatest pain. Do we have to become victims of unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with God, who is the source of all love.
One way of listening to the Spirit's prompting at the core of our being is just to let our thoughts be, without judging ourselves as we experience these thoughts nor feeding them. Letting them be while inviting God in can be a way of praying unceasingly.
Let us allow the One who dwells in the center of our beings to listen with love to all that occupies and preoccupies our minds. Let us listen to the One who hides in our thoughts.
O Holy Spirit, convert my never-ending flow of thoughts into prayer.
adapted from Henri Nouwen
Monday, February 22, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Monday, 1st Week of Lent
Choose Love By Taking Small Steps Daily
"You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Leviticus 19:17-18
Often we speak of love as if it were a feeling. Rather, it is a choice. A continual choice: a commitment to nurture the spiritual growth of ourselves or another. Yes, it is difficult to choose love when we have experienced so little of it. Nevertheless, we can choose love by taking small steps of self-giving love. A smile, a handshake, a word of encouragement, a phone call, a card, an embrace, a kind greeting, a gesture of support, a moment of attention, a helping hand, a present, a financial contribution, a visit - all these are little steps toward love. It may even involve taking more rest or better self-care so that we can better care for others.
Thérèse of Lisieux reminds us that love lies not in the magnitude of the deed but in the totality of the self-giving. Mother Teresa puts it similarly: "We can do no great deeds, only small deeds with great love." In choosing to love through simple self-giving deeds, we are acting into a new way of being. These small steps ground our love in the One who is Love, beyond our feelings.
O Lord, help me to take the small steps of love I need to take today.
inspired by Henri Nouwen
"You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Leviticus 19:17-18
Often we speak of love as if it were a feeling. Rather, it is a choice. A continual choice: a commitment to nurture the spiritual growth of ourselves or another. Yes, it is difficult to choose love when we have experienced so little of it. Nevertheless, we can choose love by taking small steps of self-giving love. A smile, a handshake, a word of encouragement, a phone call, a card, an embrace, a kind greeting, a gesture of support, a moment of attention, a helping hand, a present, a financial contribution, a visit - all these are little steps toward love. It may even involve taking more rest or better self-care so that we can better care for others.
Thérèse of Lisieux reminds us that love lies not in the magnitude of the deed but in the totality of the self-giving. Mother Teresa puts it similarly: "We can do no great deeds, only small deeds with great love." In choosing to love through simple self-giving deeds, we are acting into a new way of being. These small steps ground our love in the One who is Love, beyond our feelings.
O Lord, help me to take the small steps of love I need to take today.
inspired by Henri Nouwen
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Lenten Reflection - 1st Sunday of Lent
"Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil." - Lk 4:1
"Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him." - Ps 91:14
We never talk about loneliness; yet, it is so prevalent. It visits us all. Yet, our culture frowns upon it. It is "bad" to feel lonely. However, loneliness affects us all, so much that some of us are paralyzed into fear; and many of us throw ourselves into a maelstrom of activity as if we can run away from it.
Jesus allowed the Spirit to lead him into the desert. He faced his suffocating loneliness and its temptations. Through it, he grew more radically dependent on God_Abba; he came to a deeper realization of who he was and who he was called to be – the Beloved. Like him, when we are open to our loneliness - our particular kind of suffering - something creative happens. We can stand with others who suffer their particular loneliness. And even though ours and theirs are not the same loneliness, solidarity is born. Compassion grows. Moreover, we come to know and love Jesus more intimately. Mysteriously, we grow in greater intimacy with ourselves, others, and Jesus. On the way, our heart becomes more tender and closer to the heart of God.
"Jesus, help us to enter our loneliness with you and cling to God."
"Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him." - Ps 91:14
We never talk about loneliness; yet, it is so prevalent. It visits us all. Yet, our culture frowns upon it. It is "bad" to feel lonely. However, loneliness affects us all, so much that some of us are paralyzed into fear; and many of us throw ourselves into a maelstrom of activity as if we can run away from it.
Jesus allowed the Spirit to lead him into the desert. He faced his suffocating loneliness and its temptations. Through it, he grew more radically dependent on God_Abba; he came to a deeper realization of who he was and who he was called to be – the Beloved. Like him, when we are open to our loneliness - our particular kind of suffering - something creative happens. We can stand with others who suffer their particular loneliness. And even though ours and theirs are not the same loneliness, solidarity is born. Compassion grows. Moreover, we come to know and love Jesus more intimately. Mysteriously, we grow in greater intimacy with ourselves, others, and Jesus. On the way, our heart becomes more tender and closer to the heart of God.
"Jesus, help us to enter our loneliness with you and cling to God."
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Human Love Reflects God's Love
Jesus answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance." - Luke 5:31-32
We all long for love without condition. We look for such unconditional love in the faces and hearts of many people. While our parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, or spouses can love us in deep and meaningful ways, their love cannot fully satisfy our deep longing. While human loves can reflect God's love without condition, they are limited and broken. No human love fulfills our hearts desire, and sometimes human love is so imperfect that we can hardly recognize it as love.
When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily be thrown into despair, but when we live our broken love as a partial reflection of God's perfect, unconditional love, we can forgive one another and enjoy together the love we have to offer. When we acknowledge ourselves as sinners who expect people to love us perfectly as God loves, we make space in for God. We allow God's indwelling Spirit to heal our wounds, purifies our desires, and unites us with God, whose personal and abiding love surpasses our wildest imaginations.
"O God, help me not to demand of others the perfect love they cannot give."
adapted from Henri Nouwen
Jesus answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance." - Luke 5:31-32
We all long for love without condition. We look for such unconditional love in the faces and hearts of many people. While our parents, brothers, sisters, teachers, friends, or spouses can love us in deep and meaningful ways, their love cannot fully satisfy our deep longing. While human loves can reflect God's love without condition, they are limited and broken. No human love fulfills our hearts desire, and sometimes human love is so imperfect that we can hardly recognize it as love.
When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily be thrown into despair, but when we live our broken love as a partial reflection of God's perfect, unconditional love, we can forgive one another and enjoy together the love we have to offer. When we acknowledge ourselves as sinners who expect people to love us perfectly as God loves, we make space in for God. We allow God's indwelling Spirit to heal our wounds, purifies our desires, and unites us with God, whose personal and abiding love surpasses our wildest imaginations.
"O God, help me not to demand of others the perfect love they cannot give."
adapted from Henri Nouwen
Friday, February 19, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Friday after Ash Wednesday
Meeting and Loving God of the Poor
"This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own." - Isaiah 58:6-7
Fasting is commonly understood as a means of personal holiness: a way of expiating sin, of purifying one's spirit, of offering something up to God. However, fasting is integrally related to the almsgiving of the Gospel – the practice of compassion and justice. We are challenged to a greater simplicity of life, to "live simply so that others may simple live." Does our Lenten commitment involve a deeper reaching out to our sisters and brothers who are marginalized and forgotten? Do we adopt a simpler lifestyle, or sharing of time and resources that raise awareness concerning the plight of those less privileged in society, or deepen solidarity with the poor?
God in Jesus whom we seek to know, love, and serve was born poor, lived a poor life, identified with the poor, and died poor. Our love for God is diminished if there is less room for the poor in our hearts? In reaching out to such sisters and brothers, we open ourselves to meeting and loving our God who stands with those who are poor. This is not an easy message; yet do we genuinely long to encounter and love the God of Jesus?
"O Lord, help us reach out in profound gratitude to you in those whom society rejects, abandons, or despises."
"This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own." - Isaiah 58:6-7
Fasting is commonly understood as a means of personal holiness: a way of expiating sin, of purifying one's spirit, of offering something up to God. However, fasting is integrally related to the almsgiving of the Gospel – the practice of compassion and justice. We are challenged to a greater simplicity of life, to "live simply so that others may simple live." Does our Lenten commitment involve a deeper reaching out to our sisters and brothers who are marginalized and forgotten? Do we adopt a simpler lifestyle, or sharing of time and resources that raise awareness concerning the plight of those less privileged in society, or deepen solidarity with the poor?
God in Jesus whom we seek to know, love, and serve was born poor, lived a poor life, identified with the poor, and died poor. Our love for God is diminished if there is less room for the poor in our hearts? In reaching out to such sisters and brothers, we open ourselves to meeting and loving our God who stands with those who are poor. This is not an easy message; yet do we genuinely long to encounter and love the God of Jesus?
"O Lord, help us reach out in profound gratitude to you in those whom society rejects, abandons, or despises."
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Thursday after Ash Wednesday
God Never Gives Up Loving Us
"Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom … Choose life!" - Deut 30:15
We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, abuse, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God.
God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. The injunction to "choose life" is not a condition of God's love for us. Rather, it describes the path to happiness and fulfillment. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. Whereas our sins may keep us from God; but they can never keep God from us.
Not only does God never gives up loving us, but God chooses to create us anew every moment with each breath we take and each beating of our own hearts which continue to give life. God chooses us as we are, regardless of our response.
The challenge to "choose life" lies within the truth that God has already chosen us, over and over again. Persistently; patiently.
"O God, when we are most tempted to give up on ourselves, help us to remember that you never give up on us."
- adapted from Henri Nouwen
"Today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom … Choose life!" - Deut 30:15
We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn't approve of betrayal, abuse, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God's love. Evil does not belong to God.
God's unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. The injunction to "choose life" is not a condition of God's love for us. Rather, it describes the path to happiness and fulfillment. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. Whereas our sins may keep us from God; but they can never keep God from us.
Not only does God never gives up loving us, but God chooses to create us anew every moment with each breath we take and each beating of our own hearts which continue to give life. God chooses us as we are, regardless of our response.
The challenge to "choose life" lies within the truth that God has already chosen us, over and over again. Persistently; patiently.
"O God, when we are most tempted to give up on ourselves, help us to remember that you never give up on us."
- adapted from Henri Nouwen
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Lenten Reflection - Ash Wednesday
God Loves Us and Wants Our Love
"Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing." - Joel 2:13
What can we say about God's love? We can say that God's love is unconditional. God does not say, "I love you, if …" There are no ifs in God's heart. God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God's love brings us into this life and carries us into the next. God's love is from eternity to eternity and is not bound to any time-related events or circumstances. Nor is it dependent on our faithfulness.
God invites us through the Lenten journey to return, to come back, to change: to enter the desert of our inner landscape to acknowledge areas of unfreedom and resistance and allow God's unconditional love to transform us. Fasting, alms-giving, and prayer are observances that rend our hearts to make room for Love without conditions.
Let us dare to be drawn deeper into an intimate relationship with God in generosity, honesty, and trust. "O God, my Creator and Redeemer, help me this Lent to deepen my awareness and appreciation of your awesome love for me."
- adapted from Henri Nouwen
"Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing." - Joel 2:13
What can we say about God's love? We can say that God's love is unconditional. God does not say, "I love you, if …" There are no ifs in God's heart. God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God's love brings us into this life and carries us into the next. God's love is from eternity to eternity and is not bound to any time-related events or circumstances. Nor is it dependent on our faithfulness.
God invites us through the Lenten journey to return, to come back, to change: to enter the desert of our inner landscape to acknowledge areas of unfreedom and resistance and allow God's unconditional love to transform us. Fasting, alms-giving, and prayer are observances that rend our hearts to make room for Love without conditions.
Let us dare to be drawn deeper into an intimate relationship with God in generosity, honesty, and trust. "O God, my Creator and Redeemer, help me this Lent to deepen my awareness and appreciation of your awesome love for me."
- adapted from Henri Nouwen
Lenten Reflection: An Invitation from Fr Tri Ðinh, SJ
My friends in the Lord,
In the past few years, I have sent a short reflection each day of Lent. I hope it will assist you in your Lenten discipline of prayer.
These reflections on the Scripture of the day are meant to be a help for a daily 5-10 minute reflection or prayer. Some of these reflections are adapted from Henri Nouwen; others will be written by someone else or me. If you feel moved to write one, please let me know.
May I suggest the following format for each reflection:
1. Place yourself in God's presence, perhaps with a prayer like: "Spirit of God, please pray through me, draw me to you, sanctify, and create me anew."
2. Read the reflection slowly and be attentive to what stirs within you.
3. Speak to God or Jesus about whatever is on your mind and in your heart.
4. Listen to God's response or simply rest in God's presence with an open mind and a receptive heart.
5. End with the "Our Father" or another favorite prayed slowly.
United in prayer,
fr Tri Dinh, S.J.
In the past few years, I have sent a short reflection each day of Lent. I hope it will assist you in your Lenten discipline of prayer.
These reflections on the Scripture of the day are meant to be a help for a daily 5-10 minute reflection or prayer. Some of these reflections are adapted from Henri Nouwen; others will be written by someone else or me. If you feel moved to write one, please let me know.
May I suggest the following format for each reflection:
1. Place yourself in God's presence, perhaps with a prayer like: "Spirit of God, please pray through me, draw me to you, sanctify, and create me anew."
2. Read the reflection slowly and be attentive to what stirs within you.
3. Speak to God or Jesus about whatever is on your mind and in your heart.
4. Listen to God's response or simply rest in God's presence with an open mind and a receptive heart.
5. End with the "Our Father" or another favorite prayed slowly.
United in prayer,
fr Tri Dinh, S.J.
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