tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59011822094426837602024-03-27T01:35:58.381-05:00Holy Cross Monastery Sermons As Benedictine monastics in the Anglican tradition, we're called to preach the gospel.
Br. Bernard Delcourthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04158119636770250519noreply@blogger.comBlogger874125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-57331825736230538552024-03-19T13:23:00.004-05:002024-03-19T13:23:35.604-05:00The Feast of Saint Joseph - March 19, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Bernard Delcourt<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, 2024<br /></span></div><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC/HolyDays/Joseph.html#ot1">2 Samuel 7:4,8-16 </a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC/HolyDays/Joseph.html#nt1">Romans 4:13-18</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC/HolyDays/Joseph.html#gsp1">Luke 2:41-52</a></li></ul><p> <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14722087" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfVwYKZjK8miCZougFIVqQqsbrXI1-2ib0SyRawPCRCy4valqZIEkx61E67J5bVmiE3l9_Zr0hxLj7M6OvpykPNZc-UEyKdZcMe-49JfPmPJJuP70ViasiATB81ktYxEr9FOQ3VrpKS7r3C1eq0aq5Veb16aTaz-IDuospUpCJU0TGt2T0mJES5kAwl37/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRg8z3wJxYa9YSRjyWCjhZWTxKxItrO0n6DvJV0M5cOOxFrzfbrOo8YseXSoyRSC567iaaFKPLgMUAi_ZZSY6vdHUGUCVN1jow8E5ufrG4ECT_o8nwKoZYyBtrnFdO7QaI3IwzH6cSOtzXHNIU7Umbvo0diMO_kMNyazn4mJ48C-p9LvRznFDV25SED_dy/s292/Bernard%20%20Crop%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="292" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRg8z3wJxYa9YSRjyWCjhZWTxKxItrO0n6DvJV0M5cOOxFrzfbrOo8YseXSoyRSC567iaaFKPLgMUAi_ZZSY6vdHUGUCVN1jow8E5ufrG4ECT_o8nwKoZYyBtrnFdO7QaI3IwzH6cSOtzXHNIU7Umbvo0diMO_kMNyazn4mJ48C-p9LvRznFDV25SED_dy/s1600/Bernard%20%20Crop%202022.jpg" width="292" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hail, Joseph, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed<br />are you among men. Pray for us sinners, now and at the<br />hour of our death. Amen.<br /> </div><div style="text-align: left;">I would be remiss if I didn’t wish a blessed name day and<br />a happy birthday to our Brother Josép, named after<br />today’s celebrated Saint!<br /><br />I too have an old fondness for Saint Joseph. His name was that of my maternal grandfather. Grandad Joseph died two days after my birth. I only came to know him through my family’s stories about him. In my childhood, he was a quasi-mythical figure in my conscience. He was deeply beloved by my elders. I had dreams about him.<br />And Saint Joseph is the patron saint of my native Belgium. Because of these connections, his name always<br />carried the notion of loving, provident responsibility for<br />me.<br /><br />In my imagination, Joseph of Nazareth is a young, warm, caring, and cheerful man with a make do attitude. He is not the stern and ancient man so often portrayed. He is a man with full agency who listens to God in his life. He is a man who diligently complies with God’s wishes. And he wonderfully brings that to fruition in raising God’s Son as his own. We have a lot to be grateful to St Joseph for. Joseph of Nazareth is not unlike his namesake in the Hebrew bible, Joseph, son of Jacob. The Joseph of the<br />Hebrew scriptures was also a dreamer and a discerner of God’s will. And he too, was an instrument of salvation for God’s people. Joseph of Nazareth listens to God’s will in no less than four dreams. And each time, he doesn’t dawdle wondering about the validity or the meaning of the message. He promptly puts God’s stated will into action. Joseph is obedient to God. He is a good model for us monks, who vow to put<br />obedience in practice in our lives.<br /><br />I also love the idea that, as a foster father, Joseph did not need to genetically resemble Jesus and Mary. They could be very different and yet be a family bonded to God and to one another. In the TV series “The Chosen,” Joseph is portrayed as an Eastern African black man who is devoted to Mary and to their son-to-be. He acts as a midwife to Mary and helps her to bring Jesus into the world. I imagine Joseph and Mary as nurturing the intimacy of fellow accomplices in God’s grand design of Incarnation. They have risked so much together. They are witnessing such awesome signs and mysteries together. They probably pondered the many wonders of their son, of God’s Son, with one another. They must have been puzzled more than once. But they raised Jesus as best they could. How much of Jesus’ wisdom, caring and wit was transmitted to Him by his earthly parents? Not a little, is my guess.<br /><br />Without Joseph’s humility and devotion to his family, how would have God’s desire for his Son unfolded? We need to emulate this great saint in dedicating ourselves entirely to the love and service of God. And just like Joseph, this may come to the price of self- effacement and near-cancellation in the eyes of those who choose to assess our worth. In this too, Saint Joseph is a good model for monks. He is a model of faithful humility. In all of Joseph and Mary’s story, God is present all along. God has been there, from generation to generation. And God is now revealing Godself through the dedication of Joseph and Mary to their growing boy. Mary was given a choice by an angel and said: “be it to me according to your word.”<br />Joseph was given a choice by an angel in a dream. He woke up and went to work to make it as the angel had instructed; without a question or objection. Joseph was true and just before the Lord. He too was<br />chosen for an immense duty, and he fulfilled it beautifully. He protected his family and ensured that the<br />Savior of the world would grow and become who he was destined to be. So, we can be sure that Joseph taught Jesus more than how to smooth a plank with a plane. There was more to his foster parenthood than carpentry, no matter what idyllic images it conjures up.<br /><br />Saint Joseph, pray for us, that we may love your foster son Yeshua with dedication and humility. Keep us attentive to how God wants us too to be instruments of His Love.<br /><br />Amen.<br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfVwYKZjK8miCZougFIVqQqsbrXI1-2ib0SyRawPCRCy4valqZIEkx61E67J5bVmiE3l9_Zr0hxLj7M6OvpykPNZc-UEyKdZcMe-49JfPmPJJuP70ViasiATB81ktYxEr9FOQ3VrpKS7r3C1eq0aq5Veb16aTaz-IDuospUpCJU0TGt2T0mJES5kAwl37/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-14576910292264698342024-03-17T13:18:00.002-05:002024-03-17T18:34:16.055-05:00The Fifth Sunday in Lent - March 17, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: currentcolor; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Aidan Owen<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2024<br /></span></div><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent5_RCL.html#ot1">Jeremiah 31:31-34</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent5_RCL.html#nt1">Hebrews 5:5-10</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent5_RCL.html#gsp1">John 12:20-33</a></li></ul><p> <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14705606" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfVwYKZjK8miCZougFIVqQqsbrXI1-2ib0SyRawPCRCy4valqZIEkx61E67J5bVmiE3l9_Zr0hxLj7M6OvpykPNZc-UEyKdZcMe-49JfPmPJJuP70ViasiATB81ktYxEr9FOQ3VrpKS7r3C1eq0aq5Veb16aTaz-IDuospUpCJU0TGt2T0mJES5kAwl37/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfVwYKZjK8miCZougFIVqQqsbrXI1-2ib0SyRawPCRCy4valqZIEkx61E67J5bVmiE3l9_Zr0hxLj7M6OvpykPNZc-UEyKdZcMe-49JfPmPJJuP70ViasiATB81ktYxEr9FOQ3VrpKS7r3C1eq0aq5Veb16aTaz-IDuospUpCJU0TGt2T0mJES5kAwl37/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3578" data-original-width="3578" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCfVwYKZjK8miCZougFIVqQqsbrXI1-2ib0SyRawPCRCy4valqZIEkx61E67J5bVmiE3l9_Zr0hxLj7M6OvpykPNZc-UEyKdZcMe-49JfPmPJJuP70ViasiATB81ktYxEr9FOQ3VrpKS7r3C1eq0aq5Veb16aTaz-IDuospUpCJU0TGt2T0mJES5kAwl37/s320/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">In my prayer and preaching this Lent, I’ve been following the throughline of covenant. Our readings have told the story of God’s continual refinement of her covenant, which begins with Noah as the representative of the whole creation (very important that we recover that ecological understanding) and follows through God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah, and then in the giving of the law through Moses on Mt. Sinai. At each point along the way, the people violate this sacred covenantal relationship with God. But rather than abandon them (us), God rejigs the covenant.</span></span><br /></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">This reworking on God’s part is itself a revelation of divine love. God’s promise becomes more and more specific as it moves from the whole creation, symbolized by a beautiful sign in the sky, into the stone tablets of the law. That specificity is meant, not as a prison for human agency, but as a grace that can lead to our freedom. <br /><br />Infected as we are with a radical protestant reading of Paul, we have often come to view the law, and therefore the covenant, as a dead thing in opposition to the living spirit. But, of course, our Jewish ancestors in the faith knew, just as our Jewish siblings still know, that the law and the covenant that it represents was and is a means of grace, a beautiful and life-giving doorway into the full flowering of the life of God. If they and we know the law more in its violation than in its keeping, that has everything to do with human frailty—and yet even our failure to keep the law opens us more and more to God’s abundant mercy. <br /><br />This morning we hear God’s promise, given through Jeremiah, to refine the covenant yet once more: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me.” Where once God made her covenant with one person on behalf of the whole creation, now God promises to write that covenant on every single heart. Where once God mediated the covenant through law written on stone tablets, now God promises to write that law on the tablets of our hearts. Where once the elders conveyed knowledge of God to their people, now God promises to be so close to her people that everyone will know God in the innermost part of their being. God will be closer to us than our own breath, and every heartbeat will whisper her name. <br /><br />Of course, we know how well that worked out. We have only to look around us at the world we have created to see that even God’s indwelling presence cannot guarantee our virtue. Even written on the tablet of our heart, the law cannot corral this restless human nature of ours. But God’s mercy is such that God chooses to leave us free to choose whether and how to respond to God’s love. So that, whether we conform to God’s way or violate it, we are steeped in mercy. <br /><br />In her new book Reading Genesis, Marilynne Robinson writes “The old Christian theologies spoke of felix culpa, the fortunate fall. This is in effect another name for human agency, responsibility, even freedom. If we could do only what God wills, we would not be truly free, though to discern the will of God and act on it is freedom. Our human nature as fallen and our human nature as divine have a dynamic […] relation with each other, meeting at infinity, perhaps.” <br /><br />Our total freedom to choose either good or evil, life or death, is perhaps God’s greatest mercy to us. Our lives and our choices are not predetermined. Yes, we know that we are all driven by instinctual forces, manipulated by past traumas and the unmet needs of our child selves, shaped by beliefs so deeply held as to be shadows on the wall of our consciousness. And yet, we are not now, nor have we ever been, predetermined or predestined. We are radically, frighteningly, and miraculously free. <br /><br />I can say with certainty that it is a miracle some of us are here today worshipping and loving and laughing and singing and not dead or in prison or drugged into oblivion. Because yes, we may be assaulted daily by the shadows of the past and the urges of our unmet longings and the compulsions the advertisers stir up in us, and yet still there remains that quiet tapping on the inner chamber of our hearts, that whisper of a voice that calls our name if get quiet enough to hear it. <br /><br />Jesus himself offers us this example in this morning’s complex and rich passage from John. It’s one of the few times we hear something of Jesus’ inner thoughts. He knows that he is nearing his death and, in that death, the fulfilling of God’s purpose for him. Human as he is, he shows some reticence to accept death. But then he chooses actively to surrender himself to God’s will. That choice is not incidental. It is everything! Jesus has a choice. Like us, he has total freedom to walk away. Without that freedom, his obedience to God would be a puppet show, and his death and resurrection would mean nothing at all. His radical freedom—and ours—are the fountain from which the living waters of God’s love flow into our hearts. <br /><br />We might wonder how Jesus comes to be able to surrender himself to God’s purpose. The clue is in the voice from heaven. Each time that voice has echoes in the scriptures, it proclaims God’s love for Jesus, calling him the beloved child—first at his baptism and then at his transfiguration. By now it would see the mere echo of God’s voice in the thunder above him reminds Jesus of who and whose he is. And like the voice of a loving parent, God’s voice settles Jesus enough to choose once more the path of self-giving love. <br /><br />This is the kind of obedience to which God calls us—not slavish or begrudging or tepid—but born from the sure knowledge that God loves us and wills for us our salvation and our healing. God desires nothing less than to drive the ruler of this world from our hearts and our lives, so that, like Jesus, we can lay down our lives for the world in radical and miraculous freedom. We can think of obedience as a chore, some kind of boring or difficult task that we know we need to do but would rather not. But the very fact that we can obey is itself God’s grace to us, the freedom of the children of God written on the flesh of our hearts. <br /><br />I know that our lives are challenging. Often they’re boring, too. Sometimes they’re painful. And sometimes, hopefully more and more as we grow in Christ, our lives shine out with the radiance of God’s love and we hear in the thunder above us the reassurance that yes, we, too, are God’s beloved children. Our lives, in all their complexity, are God’s grace to us, and we can choose to see and celebrate and cultivate that grace, a freedom that is itself grace and opens the way to more grace. Because the more we learn to recognize God’s mercy to us, the more we come to see that everything, absolutely everything is grace. It is a miracle to be alive, my brothers and sisters. You are God’s miracle and God’s promise. </span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-53048669925549406772024-03-10T09:49:00.005-05:002024-03-10T09:49:51.857-05:00The Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 10, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Samuel Kennedy<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 10, 2024<br /></span></div><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent4_RCL.html#ot1">Numbers 21:4-9</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent4_RCL.html#nt1">Ephesians 2:1-10</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent4_RCL.html#gsp1">John 3:14-21</a></li></ul><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14660902" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX_Jp4-UbO6oNf0T1R6KbCGqsivWBB3z4ZCW4rMHEXsW4Xhz_CAUX2zzi4oWom28w63zLJmL77ug33BdHfnNh9ARP5zsziQDNiBtFu3P0xB20_PgYz2_GeM1zp0DVkiC-F_VgDcpXmTz8cFcyEwgTVnlEdPyCf83Dhlk42XsKHSe8XYZrO5brEo9LKvRa/s3618/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr877Pl0nBPsjRqeJSrxfrRCveqC2g4NdRJt4duc2GApYcYMYWwGf7Yl3-1SWXbkTKwesETwy8BoniKfWJdF7Y-ao5Zmdg7YLaSsef9LxbI5IAmOsawEP9Bm2N0ich2G7HfsznWZPE-SN58hN8g1GROHeb6rtR7Do17FpGruNIFkmVDouberu6JtsGLfKY/s555/Samuel%20Kennedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="555" data-original-width="555" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr877Pl0nBPsjRqeJSrxfrRCveqC2g4NdRJt4duc2GApYcYMYWwGf7Yl3-1SWXbkTKwesETwy8BoniKfWJdF7Y-ao5Zmdg7YLaSsef9LxbI5IAmOsawEP9Bm2N0ich2G7HfsznWZPE-SN58hN8g1GROHeb6rtR7Do17FpGruNIFkmVDouberu6JtsGLfKY/s320/Samuel%20Kennedy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">I found today’s Gospel passage to be a challenging one to work with. It contains some of Jesus’ most well-known words — words that are beautiful, gentle, and hopeful. But, if you are like me, it’s hard to hear them afresh and anew, given how they’ve made a near ubiquitous appearance at every major sporting event in this country for at least as long as I’ve been alive, and are so often coopted by troubled and challenging theologies of salvation. While I don’t think one homily, especially one I’ve written, is going to be able to free this passage from its complicated cultural reception history, I hope we can even momentarily experience it for the breath of fresh, life-giving air it was intended to be.<br /><br />Jesus begins this portion of his discourse with Nicodemus in a bit of a strange place — with a reference to the first lesson we heard read this morning — a relatively obscure story from the book of Numbers. In our Gospel lesson, we heard Jesus say, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” <br /><br />The passage from Numbers places us in the middle of the wilderness after the children of Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. The people were exhausted, tired, and not shy about expressing their discontent. “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness, without fresh food or water, and the food we’ve got to eat is just miserable.” In the story as told in Numbers, God gets irritated with the people's complaining and grumbling and sends a plague of venomous serpents among them. The serpents bite, injure, and kill many of the people. As their suffering mounts, the people begin to beg Moses for forgiveness, and what God tells Moses to do, to free the people from their suffering — is fascinating. God tells Moses to create a serpent of bronze an image of the agent of their suffering, and if the people would but look upon the image, they would find healing and relief. <br />Now the concept we see playing out in this text seems to be based upon a principle commonly held in many ancient systems of medicine where a small amount of a poisonous or virulent substance would be used to counteract a larger dose of the poison or virulent substance itself. It’s not entirely dissimilar from the concept of vaccines where, we take a a tiny subset of that which would harm us — perhaps a few unique surface proteins from a virus, if you will, to provide us with protection from overwhelming infection. <br /><br />Fine and dandy you say, but why is Jesus referencing this principle when he is explaining the way of salvation to Nicodemus, a leader among the Pharisees?<br />Chapter 3 of the Gospel of John opens with Jesus describing the path of conversion as a process of rebirth. This metaphor was understandably confusing to Nicodemus, so Jesus tried again here, to describe how the way of salvation he was proclaiming worked.<br /><br />“Just as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, so must the son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. For God loved the world in this way, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him, will not perish, but have everlasting life.” <br /><br />It’s a condensed soteriology to be sure. But before we can discuss the nature of the cure, it would be good to remind ourselves of the malady — the fiery serpents — we are being delivered from.<br /><br />A crisis of belonging has “ailed” us since the dawn of our human story — this sense of estrangement that is coupled with a longing to belong —to belong within our community, with our God, and with ourselves. We see these tensions echoed in our sacred texts as early as the story of Adam and Eve. A fundamental challenge that we have is that we seem to be nearly hard-wired to conceive of belonging as a limited resource, and we tend to turn our efforts to obtain that limited resource into a zero-sum competition with those around us. <br />One of philosopher René Girard’s key insights was that we humans tend to build social cohesion — our sense of belonging — on the back of exclusion. And these dynamics work themselves out no matter how large or how small the community is — be it as large as a nation state or as small as a family, or a group of friends. As rivalry and competition grow within the community (along with their attendant social tensions and, in some cases, violence) human societies will often select a scapegoat —a person or group who is blamed for the turmoil and conflicts within the community. The scapegoat becomes the target for all of that collective blame and hostility, and is often subjected to violence or expulsion as a means of purging the community of its tensions and conflicts. <br /><br />This often happens subconsciously, but the striking thing is that this process works — at least temporarily. For a season, social cohesion and sense of safety in belonging are restored, but in the long run, this mechanism only perpetuates cycles of violence, as the social order, the “sense of safe belonging,” is maintained via cycles of ritual expulsion and violence. The irony of building community by this mechanism is that one is never actually ever safe — subconsciously we all know that we might find ourselves selected for expulsion at the next round of sacrifice— and this leads to deep, subconscious anxiety at both the group and individual levels.<br /><br />And we participate, I participate, in these patterns of scapegoating and sacrifice all the time.<br /><br />“The Gospels show us that Jesus understands this mechanism,” of inclusion via exclusion; (Allison, 152-153) of maintaining social cohesion and order through expulsion, and Jesus understands that the religious and political structures of this world depend on this mechanism and therefore often unconsciously shore up these sacrificial cycles. Through his life and ministry, Jesus lures the mechanism and these institutions into behaving according to their usual patterns, and that, predictably, gets him killed. He dies a death of shame and suffering on the edges of the City —lifted high on the beams of a cross. <br />Jesus dies, as countless others have and will continue to die — alone, expelled, and rejected. In fact, even at his death he’s surrounded by two others suffering a fate the same as his— a death on the fringes of society, having been sacrificed to the idols of shaky social cohesion and fragile political peace.<br />But Jesus endures this precisely in order to reveal that the whole exercise is unnecessary — to reveal to us that there exists the possibility of another way of being together. With Jesus’ reference to the story of the fiery serpents, it’s as if he is saying, “My death is going to look like the very thing that plagues you — it is going to look like one more ritual expulsion, one more sacrifice,” but, this time, because the Victim is the very wellspring of life himself, his death strips the sacrificial system of its imagined divine imprimatur allowing it to begin to wither from the roots up.<br /><br />“For God loved the world in this way, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him, will not perish, but have everlasting [overflowing, abundant] life.” <br /><br />“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”<br /><br />The only One who very rightly could judge us and condemn us via exclusion has done precisely the opposite. Instead of excluding us, he has instead welcomed us into a state of beloved belonging that is grounded securely in the unending flow of the life and love of the Trinity.<br />We are welcomed into the light of beloved belonging. <br /><br />As verse 21 reminds us, it is a bright, revealing light — a light where we are seen for who we are, faults and all, the good, the bad, and the ugly. But what this light most clearly reveals is just how deeply we are loved. And because it is the light of beloved belonging, we can stand in that light with hope and rest and freedom from fear. And now that we are set free from the need to cast others out to secure our own place in this community, we can instead, stand like Jesus did with outstretched arms inviting others off of the sacrificial altars of our own making and into this marvelous light of beloved belonging. If that isn’t a life that pulsates with the rhythms of eternity, I don’t know what is.<br />So the next time we see John 3:16 emblazoned on a placard behind home plate, may we remember that we, the real us, the us with all our faults and imperfections stand in that eternal light of beloved belonging and what it reveals most clearly is just how deeply we are loved.<br /><br /></span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-23550433031365077532024-03-03T10:36:00.005-05:002024-03-03T10:36:24.371-05:00The Third Sunday in Lent - March 3, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Robert Leo Sevensky<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Third Sunday in Lent, March 3, 2024<br /></span></div><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent3_RCL.html#ot1">Exodus 20:1-17</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent3_RCL.html#nt1">1 Corinthians 1:18-25</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent3_RCL.html#gsp1"> John 2:13-22</a></li></ul><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14617641" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX_Jp4-UbO6oNf0T1R6KbCGqsivWBB3z4ZCW4rMHEXsW4Xhz_CAUX2zzi4oWom28w63zLJmL77ug33BdHfnNh9ARP5zsziQDNiBtFu3P0xB20_PgYz2_GeM1zp0DVkiC-F_VgDcpXmTz8cFcyEwgTVnlEdPyCf83Dhlk42XsKHSe8XYZrO5brEo9LKvRa/s3618/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLwADCUmRqg74n_W0wriFGfD4_cGhRTSGJLiMsCZqdQuow8KftBNpGglmzKyl1xR1_6K3VUfMLdtVoPvbt1iBbqa0trzrB2rj_Sp2ytsDuwZ1HZO-IksZbpnzAk9IiMqbngH5FJn7xsnRjiJzDGcc-Vse2cbnGFSM0oXE3CWDt5eGxt63SwxRueNiAS3G/s600/Robert%20Sevensky.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLwADCUmRqg74n_W0wriFGfD4_cGhRTSGJLiMsCZqdQuow8KftBNpGglmzKyl1xR1_6K3VUfMLdtVoPvbt1iBbqa0trzrB2rj_Sp2ytsDuwZ1HZO-IksZbpnzAk9IiMqbngH5FJn7xsnRjiJzDGcc-Vse2cbnGFSM0oXE3CWDt5eGxt63SwxRueNiAS3G/s320/Robert%20Sevensky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Growing up in a Catholic tradition which expected
regular confession, generally monthly, starting at about the age of eight, I
was introduced to the Ten Commandments not only in what were called catechism
classes on Saturday mornings, but also through the practice of the so-called ‘examination
of conscience’ which was to precede confession.<span>
</span>The main tool in this practice of examining your life to see ways in
which you might have fallen short or fallen into sin was usually through a list
of questions based on the Ten Commandments. The list was extensive and at times
rather creative. Under one or another of the commandments, all sorts of sins or
peccadillos were listed. For example, under the commandment which directed that
we do not take the name of the Lord in vain were questions such as: have I
cursed or used the name of Jesus in anger or frustration? Or have I made fun of
holy things, whether it be a passage of scripture or a liturgical peculiarity. There
was a certain usefulness to this exercise, but I came to realize that perhaps
these many questions are not the point of the Ten Commandments, and that my
anguished personal scrutiny was perhaps like looking through the wrong end of a
telescope, focusing as it did on the personal and interpersonal world and
pretty much ignoring totally the social, political, economic, or cultural
landscape.<span> </span>And really, how much unnecessary
worry did I, at age eight, expend over whether I had indeed committed
adultery?<span> </span></span></span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">But if the Ten Commandments are not primarily a guide
to personal behavior—and I emphasize the word ‘primarily’—then what is their
point? Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann offers one possibility. In a podcast
posted<a href="#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> earlier this past week
online and titled “Strategies for Staying Emancipated” Professor Brueggemann
connects the Ten Commandments to the liberation of the Hebrews from generations
of slavery in Egypt. God gives the commandments to the Hebrew people through
Moses towards the end of their years of wandering in the wilderness after leaving
Egypt and they mark the covenant and the beginning their life as a self-defining
community. If I may quote:</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">“… the Ten Commandments
are strategies for staying emancipated once you get away from Pharaoh. This new
strategy, first of all, says you have to honor God—that’s the first three
commandments—to the exclusion of every idol, every “ism” such as racism, or sexism,
or nationalism, or the worship of stuff that is rare or precious or attractive
or beautiful or empowering.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">“The new strategy means
in the Ten Commandments to take the neighbor with utmost seriousness. So, the
last five commandments are all about the neighbor and treating neighbors with
legitimacy and dignity and viability and especially disadvantaged
neighbors--not to violate the neighbor for the sake of greed.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">“And between these two
commandments of honoring God and taking the neighbor seriously, at the center
of the Ten Commandments, is Sabbath day. <span> </span>Keep Sabbath: take a break from the rat race
of busyness and exhaustion and do not let Pharaoh define your life.”<span> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">In short, for Brueggemann the Ten Commandments are a
survival plan for a recently liberated people. <span> </span>And long before serving for an individual’s
examination of conscience, they are a social and communal document, a clarion
call away from a mentality of enslavement toward survival and flourishing as a
people, as a nation, as a human family, as God's children.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">We could easily spend hours—or a lifetime—examining
the way this plays out concretely in our shared existence. The demand to have
no other God, no idol, but solely the God who liberates is a reminder that we
are tempted to seek our security in what will never make for safety or for
human thriving in the long run. As Brueggemann says, we are tempted to all
sorts of isms. But only in understanding ourselves as journeying under the hand
and eye of a liberating God will we find the security we yearn for. And by “we”
I mean everyone. And the demand to treat our neighbor with integrity, to honor
and preserve life and that which makes life sustainable, the demand to honor
relationships and commitments, and the demand to not be enslaved by our desires
are the very stuff that makes a healthy human society possible. As is the
establishment of Sabbath rest that is not so much about worship as it is about
refusing to be enslaved to the ethic of Pharaoh who demanded work 24/7 of his
Hebrew conscripts.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">All three elements, all three kinds of commandments, are
necessary if this is to work. We need to be rooted and grounded in a liberating
and loving God, in a transcendent vision and reality, if we're not to ignore
our responsibilities to our neighbors and to ourselves. And to do this, we need
time—Sabbath time—time to step back and see how this working out, time to catch
our breath, and remembering that everyone else is a free person deserving of
that same rest. Again, to quote Brueggemann: “These commands might be taken not
as a series of rules, but as a proclamation in God's own mouth of who God is
and how God shall be ‘practiced’ by this community of liberated slaves."<a href="#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a><span> </span>And we are all liberated slaves.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Yet another commentator notes that these very terse,
very pointed commandments, these directives, need to be fleshed out. They're
more like social policy statements than detailed action plans. Our task as
human beings and as people of faith is to determine how we apply them to form
societies or cultures where people can grow and flourish and where we can shape
our own life within that container. There is a long history of case law or
casuistry based on the Commandments. You have only to skim the next few
chapters of Exodus to see example after example. And if we are awake, we are
faced with its challenges daily. How do we apply the commandments in our own
day? What, for example, does bearing false witness mean in a society such as
ours where “truthiness” has become a substitute for truth and where fake news inundates
us. What does stealing or killing or adultery mean in a society and a world where
people are denied dignity, and the material means to live a dignified life, and
respect for the integrity of commitments and relationships which are its
foundation? And just what is coveting anyway? It has taken me a few decades to
wrap my mind around that. I now understand it not as simply being attracted to someone
or something but becoming fixated on it and obsessed by it, wanting it so bad
that you’re willing to do almost anything to obtain it.<span> </span>Our commandment doesn’t resolve this dynamic
for us, of course, but it may serve to warn us: “Watch out!<span> </span>You’re on shaky ground. This is not the path that
leads to life, but to death.”<span> </span>And not
only us but our culture with its emphasis on having, using, possessing no
matter what the cost and no matter what the consequences. And just so with all
the commandments.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">We began this morning's Eucharist with a penitential order
where we heard what is often called the Summary of the Law. They are the words
of Jesus as reported in Saint Mark’s gospel, though they are not original with
him: “The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the
only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your
neighbor as yourself.<span> </span>There is no other
commandment greater than these.”<span> </span><span> </span>How true it is that in the end all the
commandments, all the advice, all the ethical guidelines, all the rules and
goodwill come down to this: You shall love. You shall love God. You shall love
your neighbor. As the rabbis would say, the rest is commentary and application.
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">And our work is cut out for us. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 107%;">Amen. </span></span></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Aptos",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span></span></span></a> https://day1.org/weekly-broadcast/5d9b820ef71918cdf2004215/walter_brueggemann_strategies_for_staying_emancipated?fbclid=IwAR15SUSjvUPndG8baHs3pHwSwYXvpPSl7jthFQxUuLZ4T8Dy-5lsPjKyCJI</p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face=""Aptos",sans-serif" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Aptos; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span></span></span></a> The
New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 1 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1964), p. 841</p>
</div>
</div>
Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-82585630906012258612024-02-28T15:30:00.004-05:002024-02-28T15:30:55.799-05:00The Initial Profession of the Monastic Vow of Br. Bruno Marc Santana OHC<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Josep Martinez-Cubero<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Initial Profession of the Monastic Vow, February 28, 2024<br /></span></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14596091" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX_Jp4-UbO6oNf0T1R6KbCGqsivWBB3z4ZCW4rMHEXsW4Xhz_CAUX2zzi4oWom28w63zLJmL77ug33BdHfnNh9ARP5zsziQDNiBtFu3P0xB20_PgYz2_GeM1zp0DVkiC-F_VgDcpXmTz8cFcyEwgTVnlEdPyCf83Dhlk42XsKHSe8XYZrO5brEo9LKvRa/s3618/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3618" data-original-width="3618" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX_Jp4-UbO6oNf0T1R6KbCGqsivWBB3z4ZCW4rMHEXsW4Xhz_CAUX2zzi4oWom28w63zLJmL77ug33BdHfnNh9ARP5zsziQDNiBtFu3P0xB20_PgYz2_GeM1zp0DVkiC-F_VgDcpXmTz8cFcyEwgTVnlEdPyCf83Dhlk42XsKHSe8XYZrO5brEo9LKvRa/s320/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>INITIAL PROFESSION OF THE BENEDICTINE MONASTIC VOW<br />Holy Cross Monastery<br /><br />Exodus 3:1-10 Colossians 3:12-17 Matthew 4:18-24<br /><br />Before initial profession Brothers are given the opportunity to request the Gospel they would like read at the profession. I have to admit that when I received Marc’s request and read it, I thought: “Oh, great, the fish for people thing!” I don’t particularly care for fishing so, it is difficult for me to connect to Jesus’s invitation to “fish for people.” I even find the very idea off-putting. It doesn’t help that this story about Jesus calling his disciples is often interpreted as fishing for lost souls, doomed to hellfire. “Hooking” them, and getting them to church to confess Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, so they can be saved from damnation. Nevertheless, there is much in this Gospel story that relates to the call to the monastic vocation, and relates directly to you, Marc, and what you are about to do. <br /><br />In a few moments, you will profess and sign the threefold Benedictine vow of obedience, stability, and conversion of your ways to the monastic way of life. It is one vow that has three parts that are interwoven in such a way that each is absolutely necessary for the other two. One cannot really live Benedictine monastic life with authenticity if we are avoiding any part of the vow. You will promise to live the vow for a period of three years. The vow has to do with three core Benedictine values. The first one is about listening intently and learning to hear how God speaks to us even through the voice of your fallible brothers. The second one is about not running away when the going gets tough. And the third has to do with being open to change and transformation.<br /><br />Obedience is easy to talk about and definitely, the most difficult part of the vow to live. Everyone in formation has heard me, many times, refer to the excellent explanation about monastic obedience found in the Contemporary Reading of the Rule of the Order of the Holy Cross written by our Brother Robert Leo Sevensky. It is the most complete, realistic, honest, and grounded description of monastic obedience I know. It reads: <br /><br />“While none of us is called to become an automaton, mindlessly conforming ourselves to the practices of the community or the commands of those in authority, we must be careful not to avoid the hard work of transformation that comes from holy obedience. We are to strive to hear God’s voice calling to us through such practices and commands and to give them always the benefit of the doubt, the best possible interpretation, and our willing conformity, especially when it is not absolutely clear that another course of action would be preferable. This does not, of course, rule out consultation, communal consideration, or expert advice. In the end, however, our cooperation and support, even under protest, is part of the gift of ourselves. We will find it helpful in this regard to cultivate a sense of the limitations of our knowledge of even outward matters, and to treasure up instances in which our assured judgement has proved wrong.”<br /><br />So monastic obedience is not about blind compliance and conformity so much as it is about deeply listening and cooperating with those in authority so they can fulfill their leadership role with dignity and integrity. We must bring our intellect to our obedience because a community of followers who want a list of dos and don’ts to follow mindlessly is not a healthy community. Consultation, communal consideration, and expert advice can be part of the experience because we must approach obedience as psychologically healthy adults who are fully engaged in the life and know how to use their brains. Notice how in the Gospel story Jesus engages his first disciples’ intellect. What metaphor would make more sense to four fishermen than the metaphor of fishing for people? They would have known from years of experience the patience, resilience, intuition, and artistry that fishing requires. They would have known about the tools of the trade, and about the life-and-death importance of timing, humility, and discretion. So, Jesus does not call his disciples to leave their experience and intelligence behind, but to bring the very best of their core selves forward. The call is for them to become more fully and freely who God made them to be.<br /><br />Bringing the very best of our core selves forward is what guaranties that we will be able to engage in healthy monastic stability. Monastic stability means accepting this particular community and Order as our way to God. For Saint Benedict, community is not just the place where we seek God, but the very means by which we find God. Living in community is not simply about cohabitating, or being fused in unhealthy ways, but about being self-differentiated as we strive to stay connected. The entire community is involved in our monastic stability. This involvement is most crucial when we face the inevitable difficult times of our vocation because it is the support of the community that carries us through. It is a common mistake to think that having a crisis means that we may not have a monastic vocation after all. Vowing Benedictine monastic stability means that facing crisis is part of the monastic way of life. As our Brother Randy has said: “Crisis is often a prelude to some kind of deeper growth.”<br /><br />And finally, conversion to the monastic way of life calls for continuous transformation into Christ. As monks we are always in a state of becoming and in the process of conversion at deeper and deeper levels. In the Gospel story, Jesus does not invite Simon, Andrew, James, and John to abandon who they are, but to become their most authentic selves. He invites them to live into the fullness of the image of God with which they were born. Monks are not called to become self-annihilating abstracts. God prizes our intellects, our memories, our backgrounds, our educations, and our skills. Everything we offer up to God is multiplied, shaped, and brought to fruition. So for me, the operative statement in this Gospel story is “I will make you”. <br /><br />Jesus cultivates, deepens, and perfects who God created us to be. Conversion of our ways to the monastic way of life is directly connected to Jesus’s promise to “make us,” and it is about nurturing who we truly are, not about severing us from all we love. It is about gentleness and respect, not about violence and coercion. It is a promise that when we dare to let go, the things we relinquish are transformed and enlivened in ways we could not have imagined on our own. The older I get, the more I have conversations with discerners, and the more I work with people in formation, the more I am convinced that God is gentler with us than we are with ourselves. Spiritual transformation is not just about renunciation. Resurrection, and abundant life are also part of it. <br /><br />So, dear Marc, you could not have known, two and a half years ago, when you participated in the online “Come and See” we hosted during the pandemic, that you would be here today about to make your initial profession. It has been a blessing for me to accompany you during the past two and half years, first as an inquirer and aspirant, and then as a postulant and novice. You have brought a joyful and energetic presence to our community, and a sense of appreciation of and gratitude for aspects of the life that the rest of us often take for granted. You will continue to have some joyful days, as well as some painful days. There will be some boring days and plenty of ordinary days. You will definitely have some challenges ahead. Remember you are not on this journey alone. We are all in this together. Constantly opening ourselves to others is a vulnerable choice because it means that we will inevitably get hurt by them at times, but the opposite is also true. In community we can experience love at a deep, soulful and trusting level. <br /><br />The Benedictine Vow you are about to profess is your promise to live the Religious life in a certain way. But perhaps it would benefit you and all of us to think about it rather as consenting to a promise from God to us. The desire for Religious life is about grace. God calls us and God gives us the ability to follow, and we follow because we cannot take our eyes off the one who calls us. God interests us more than anything else in our lives. And that is, I believe, is Gospel indeed- good news! I wish you every blessing in your vocation. ¡Que así sea en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen+<br /></span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-66004346587453237272024-02-25T10:22:00.006-05:002024-02-25T10:22:54.070-05:00The Second Sunday in Lent - February 25, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Francis Beckham<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Second Sunday in Lent, February 25, 2024<br /></span></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent2_RCL.html#ot1">Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent2_RCL.html#nt1">Romans 4:13-25</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent2_RCL.html#gsp1"> Mark 8:31-38</a></li></ul><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14570617" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8IZk0_6CWXocR4_Tve-k7Mn3U3p7rq1PwhnAgmCpc0OGXeFwmxwcxJFv1wkP4X7hBSf-4y4Dc36Mi1oObsiooxnAFqP_E3e8h0kX1A7d0UXSRrO8Zs2e1sk15UBccFq0zosI6auxm0V0-4im3V_5Pdv_sew81YyN5WktpLW-IZFjg-E0kqQOYdeBUddd/s2324/12CB1D46-D345-4B9F-9C5B-2C9402D71729.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2323" data-original-width="2324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8IZk0_6CWXocR4_Tve-k7Mn3U3p7rq1PwhnAgmCpc0OGXeFwmxwcxJFv1wkP4X7hBSf-4y4Dc36Mi1oObsiooxnAFqP_E3e8h0kX1A7d0UXSRrO8Zs2e1sk15UBccFq0zosI6auxm0V0-4im3V_5Pdv_sew81YyN5WktpLW-IZFjg-E0kqQOYdeBUddd/s320/12CB1D46-D345-4B9F-9C5B-2C9402D71729.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you, O God, my sustainer and my comforter. Amen.<br /><br />If I were to ask by a show of hands how many of us want to be like Jesus, I’m sure I’d see as many arms raised as there are people in this chapel. Similarly, if I were to ask, “Who’s ready to proclaim the Good News? Feed the poor? Comfort the afflicted? Visit prisoners and captives?” there isn’t a doubt in my mind I’d be knocked to the floor by shouts of, “Ooh! Ooh! Me! I do!”<br /><br />I’m sure we’d all say yes, and I’m sure we’d all really mean it. I can’t help, though, wondering if we’d respond quite so enthusiastically to Jesus’ invitation to proclaim the Reign of God if we really understood what we were signing up for. Certainly, we, like Peter, think that we do understand: Go, sell all we have and give it to the poor. Try not to place stumbling blocks before the Children of God. Turn the other cheek. Show mercy. And so forth. <br /><br />Indeed, these are all things that we must do if we want to follow Jesus. But as the disciples – and, particularly, Peter – learn in today’s Gospel reading, there’s important work to be done even before we can begin performing the spiritual and corporal acts of mercy. And there’s a pretty high cost to discipleship, too. In fact, being a disciple requires a lot more than even dispossessing ourselves of all our earthly goods; it involves dispossession of our everything. Even for Jesus, spreading the Good News will eventually mean having to lay down his own life. In Mark’s gospel, this is the first time Jesus shares this piece of information with the disciples. And Peter, at least, is not thrilled about hearing it. <br /><br />Nevertheless, danger and sacrifice are fundamental realities of the ministry of Jesus. As we know, he will suffer and die for it. So, before they can go any further, Jesus has to make sure Peter and the others understand that staying the course means they must be willing to make those very same sacrifices. Jesus must be completely clear on this point. <br /><br />That’s because Jesus knows that, despite possessing intelligence and generally good intentions, we humans just don’t always get it. We’re understandably conditioned to react to danger like Peter does: sensibly. After all, Jesus – who had already been making trouble for the religious establishment – is announcing in front of members of the Sanhedrin, the council which exercised religious authority over the Jews, that he needs to be killed. To Peter, and probably to any of us, that would sound like inviting trouble – asking for it, basically. Frankly, it would have seemed less reasonable if Peter, as Jesus’ friend, hadn’t pulled him aside and told him to knock it off. <br /><br />But instead of coming to his senses and saying to Peter, “Oh man, you’re right. I guess I got a little carried away back there. Hey, thanks for looking out for me, buddy,” Jesus turns around, looks at everyone else, and basically tells him to can it, while seemingly calling him Satan. Not exactly a tender moment between friends.<br /><br />Why does Jesus react so strongly to Peter’s genuine expression of concern? When I react that way during those kinds of conversations, it’s because my ego doesn’t like having its fragility exposed and challenged. But with Jesus, it’s different. He knows that Peter and the others must adopt a new mindset, or else risk failure. In our reading from the Lectionary, Jesus tells them, “You are setting your minds not on divine things but on human things.” The New American Bible translation, however, treats it slightly differently. There, Jesus says, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” <br /><br />I prefer that translation. To me, Jesus is telling his friends there’s another way to approach, value, and experience life, relationships, and God, and he’s inviting them to enter into that Way. This Way – which is the very Way of Jesus himself – involves fearlessly proclaiming the Love of God to all who hunger for it, by healing the wounds of injustice, banishing the burdens of shame and guilt, offering acceptance to those who have been excluded, and doing it all unconditionally, without regard to what human systems and institutions think, say, or do about it. <br /><br />But to accomplish these things in the midst of an Imperial culture that values power over people – to fully realize God’s dream, as Presiding Bishop Curry so beautifully describes the mission and hope of Jesus – the disciples would first need to embrace a conversion of mind and attitude, accepting that the values and priorities of their inculturation must be un-learned and given up, even though it surely won’t be easy. “Whoever wishes to come after me,” Jesus cautions, “must deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.” <br /><br />What was true for Peter and the other disciples is no less true for us here, today. In our annual Lenten observance, we are invited to enter into the same conversion of heart and mind, casting aside those things that do not help us in living out and proclaiming the Love of God to those who most need it – including to ourselves. <br />Exactly how each of us chooses to embrace this opportunity depends largely on the current realities of our lives; Lenten practices don’t look the same for everyone, and we shouldn’t feel inadequate if our penance seems less heroic than someone else’s. <br /><br />Mostly, though, it really is a matter of examining and adjusting our mindset. Here at the monastery, we are reminded and encouraged in this in several ways. <br /><br />For example, toward the end of Vespers of most Thursdays during the year, the Magnificat, or Song or Canticle of Mary from Luke’s gospel, is opened and closed with the antiphon “O LORD, you have lifted up the lowly, and filled the hungry with good things,” a line adapted from within the Magnificat itself, giving praise for God’s care of the poor, oppressed, overlooked, and marginalized. <br /><br />But during Lent, Thursday’s Magnificat antiphon strikes a markedly different tone: “Use the present opportunity to the full,” it warns us, “for these are evil days; try to understand what the will of the LORD is.” <br /><br />And throughout the year, we hear in our House Chapter readings of the Rule of Saint Benedict, “Run while you have the light of life, that the darkness of death may not overtake you.” <br /><br />These are urgent exhortations, designed to spur us into action, because there is such great need to proclaim the Reign of God in our world. But we can only do so by first making space for God’s dream in our own lives. And that’s the assurance Jesus is offering to Peter, the others, and to us: By changing from thinking as humans do, to thinking instead as God does, we will be able to face any peril, any challenge, even when – not if – the culture around us pushes back. <br /><br />The ministry of Jesus remains as dangerous a business as ever. But we must never forget that, while it’s true “Whoever wishes to save their life will lose it,” Jesus nevertheless promises “Whoever loses their life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” <br /><br />So, here's to life in abundance, lived and freely shared with all, in the fullness of joy in Jesus, during this holy season of Lent, and always. Amen.</span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-59186573270554074352024-02-18T10:23:00.007-05:002024-02-18T10:35:23.992-05:00The First Sunday in Lent - February 18, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Ephrem Arcement<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The First Sunday in Lent, February 18, 2024<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent1_RCL.html#ot1">Genesis 9:8-17</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent1_RCL.html#nt1">1 Peter 3:18-22</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Lent/BLent1_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark 1:9-15</a></li></ul></div><p><b> </b></p><p><b> </b><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14524772" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-ZA</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="376">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Link"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;
mso-ansi-language:EN-ZA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
</p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicCf225_qoHOE2yjUTy8ZAbakchFiTTn7BuaaXhYiAKV8ej50gJe18bQ0bJHreAyIk7nJ6JUBX_8ag9Xquq3oCQI-gHuBs5hMA1yJV01FWg_Np-bLUgcaS07OplsfaodaS6-a1_Vn1Hk4A8FxEL98ZfXlcBRVFJqU7CAO8kUtQcH_jNKE22U7X1CJw_y2q/s3538/Ehrem%20Arcement.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3538" data-original-width="3538" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicCf225_qoHOE2yjUTy8ZAbakchFiTTn7BuaaXhYiAKV8ej50gJe18bQ0bJHreAyIk7nJ6JUBX_8ag9Xquq3oCQI-gHuBs5hMA1yJV01FWg_Np-bLUgcaS07OplsfaodaS6-a1_Vn1Hk4A8FxEL98ZfXlcBRVFJqU7CAO8kUtQcH_jNKE22U7X1CJw_y2q/s320/Ehrem%20Arcement.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">O Lord, make this Lenten season different from the other
ones. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Let us find you again. Amen.”<span> </span>-Henri Nouwen</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><p></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>The
story of the God of Israel and the story of the God of Jesus Christ are one and
the same: they tell a love story.<span> </span>They
both depict a God stubborn for love and jealous for exclusivity.<span> </span>This God doesn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’t
want just part of us.<span> </span>This God wants all
of us.<span> </span>And not just all of me…but all of
us all together.<span> </span>And not just all of us
humans…but all of creation…alive, vibrant, and full of God’s glory.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>So,
if this basic premise about Christianity is true, Lent is all about love</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">…learning how to let God love us more and learning to fall
in love with God all over again.<span> </span>It’s
not really about what we deprive ourselves of.<span>
</span>We challenge ourselves and<span>
</span>discipline ourselves for something greater…to awaken us to love.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>The
annual liturgical season of Lent comes, then, bearing a particular grace. It</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s the grace of renewal that comes as we focus ourselves on
the one thing necessary.<span> </span>By harnessing
all our energies and stripping ourselves of all our excess, we get to the root
of why we are who we are and open ourselves to experiencing a spiritual power
that comes from such focus.<span> </span>We
experience it as a grace that unifies our minds with our hearts and our hearts
and minds with God’s and such integration causes our hearts and minds to expand
and experience the love of God in ways we could never conjure up on our
own.<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>Another
truth, however, about our Judeo-Christian tradition, besides this central truth
of love</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">…is that we humans aren’t very good at
it!<span> </span>Our hearts grow cold and our minds
forget.<span> </span>Perhaps the sign of a mature
person of faith is one whose faith burns longer, whose mind remembers more and
whose heart is steadfast no matter what.<span>
</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>And
this brings us to one of the central ideas of today</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s lessons: baptism.<span>
</span>Baptism, I’d like to suggest, is the central reality of getting us out
of ourselves (our lukewarmness and infidelity) and into God (full of love and
steadfast devotion).<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>I
once had a professor who said that Christian spirituality is all about living
out one</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s baptism.<span> </span>This has stuck with me through the years, and
I believe it to be true.<span> </span>But what is
baptism?<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>Scripture
uses the term </span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">baptism</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> to refer to several different acts: it could be the
baptism by fire or by water.<span> </span>It could be
the baptism of John the Baptist or of one of the Apostles.<span> </span>It could be Jesus’ baptism which we hear
about today or the baptism of the Holy Spirit we hear so much about in the Acts
of the Apostles.<span> </span>Taken all together, we
can say that baptism is a general way of conveying the radical shifting of our
identities from the old to the new.<span> </span>The
old was what was lukewarm and unfaithful.<span>
</span>The new is what is ardent and steadfast.<span>
</span>Fire burns and water fills.<span> </span>Fire
makes one radiant and water makes one pure and both of these’s source is the
Spirit…the super-abundant, self-effusive God of love.<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>But,
if all this is true, why was Jesus baptized?<span>
</span>Did he need to be cleansed and purified?<span>
</span>No!<span> </span>And this reveals what I
believe is central about baptism</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">…it
is not <i>primarily</i> about cleansing and purifying…these are preliminary for
us who need it.<span> </span>Baptism is primarily
about immersing and consuming…or, you could say, about making life full of
God.<span> </span>This is what the story of Jesus’ baptism
by John seeks to convey…Now is the time of fulfillment…or, to put it another
way, now is the time of fullness!<span> </span>The
good news that Jesus enters Galilee preaching is just this message about the
fullness of life that is now possible.<span> </span>If
we are baptized into Christ and don’t experience this fullness at least
sometimes in our daily lives, we have tragically misunderstood what our baptism
means and something has gone awfully wrong!<span>
</span>And it will probably have something to do with not really leaving the
old behind and dying in our baptism.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>This
message of fullness is foreshadowed in the Noahic covenant, the only covenant
in the Bible that God makes, not just with human beings, but with all of
creation.<span> </span>God</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s reach is that far.<span>
</span>It knows no limits and God’s promise to fill all creation, which is
ultimately fulfilled in the Cosmic Christ of the New Testament, is grounded
here in the early pages of Genesis, and the rainbow serves as a sacramental
sign of God’s expansive inclusivity.<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>God</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s expansive love is also corroborated in the passage from
1 Peter which mentions Christ, after his death, going to preach the gospel to
the spirits in prison, who, in the days of Noah, did not obey.<span> </span>Eight people and a boat full of animals were
not enough for God! </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>To
live full of God, then</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">…consciously aware we are right now
immersed in divine life and being consumed in the flames of God’s love…this, I
submit, should be our Lenten project.<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>How
to live conscious of this fullness is set out for us in the initial sequence of
events about Jesus recorded here in Mark</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s
Gospel.<span> </span>Upon his baptism, the Spirit
descends upon him and the voice of the Father from heaven speaks, “You are my
Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”<span>
</span>I call this Jesus’ confirmation.<span>
</span>Full of God, confirmed as the Beloved, the Spirit drives Jesus into the
desert to be tried.<span> </span>And it is through
his trials in the desert that he experiences the continual grace of God’s
empowering presence, symbolized in the angels who wait upon him.<span> </span>The fullness of God is now amplified through
his forty days in the desert, and he is ready to bring this radiating light…the
glory of God that fills him…to a people lost in darkness.<span> </span>This is the context in which he announces the
Gospel for the first time, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has
come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>Jesus,
here, is not just preaching a theoretical idea about a place far away that we
will be able to experience and enjoy after we die.<span> </span>That is not the gospel.<span> </span>He is demonstrating and then instructing us
how to experience the fullness of God</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’s
presence here and now.<span> </span>That is the
gospel!<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>In
order to know the fullness of God and to remain in that fullness</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">…and even grow in it…in our baptism, we must really die to
all that is not life-giving…we must empty ourselves.<span> </span>Then, like Jesus, we must receive the Spirit’s
confirmation…the knowledge that we, too, are God’s beloved, and allow that love
to fill us.<span> </span>To know that you are
infinitely loved and precious in God’s sight bestows the power which frees you
to be conditioned by nothing other than this love and to live fearlessly and
boldly in the face of adversity.<span> </span>Then,
we too, must be tested in the desert.<span>
</span>The desert is the symbol of divestment…the continual dying and the
stripping away of the illusions which so tenaciously cling to us and give false
security and prevent us from a more profound experience of God’s grace.<span> </span>By the act of intentional vulnerability that
going into the desert represents, we unlock our own life’s hidden potential…and
the knowledge of our blessedness is ratified all the more.<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>But,
perhaps, the greatest blessing of the desert is the way its aridity challenges
our limited conceptions of God and grounds our faith in something more than a
passing feeling or in a faith based on something more than what we can get from
God.<span> </span>God isn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">’t so much what we feel in the realm of our shifting
emotions or only present when we get what we want.<span> </span>In the desert, we discover that God is what
we know in the core of our being and is often better encountered when we don’t
get what we want!<span> </span>And this deepening of
faith allows us to root our lives in a dimension within ourselves where our
consciousness of God is undetermined by circumstance.<span> </span>We hit the ground of our being where God is,
where we are…come what may!<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>No
one speaks more profoundly of the spiritual fecundity of the desert than the
sixteenth century Carmelite mystic, St. John of the Cross.<span> </span>In his words, </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“Love
consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in
suffering for the Beloved. The soul that is attached to anything, however much
good there may be in it, will not arrive at the liberty of Divine union. For
whether it be a strong wire rope or a slender and delicate thread that holds
the bird, it matters not, if it really holds it fast; for until the cord be
broken, the bird cannot fly.”<span> </span>This may
sound severe but certainly no more severe than the cross which Christ bore
which gave birth to a resurrected existence…a cross we, his disciples, are all
also commanded to bear if, we too, want to live the fullness of resurrected
life that Christ offers us.<span> </span>Fullness is
impossible without emptiness.<span> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p>
<p class="BodyA"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span> </span>Convinced
of this, let us together boldly enter into the desert of this Lenten season
being convinced of the good news: that in our baptism God has made all things
new and calls us </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">“the beloved” bestowing on us a life
abounding in love…and that the trials of life are producing in us a far greater
weight of glory than for which we could ever hope.<span> </span>Now is the time of fullness.<span> </span>Become empty that you may become full.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 14pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-62789783606483779582024-02-14T12:36:00.003-05:002024-02-14T12:36:46.684-05:00Ash Wednesday - February 14, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Robert James Magliula<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">Ash Wednesday, February 14, 2024<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC/Lent/AshWed.html#ot2">Isaiah 58:1-12</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC/Lent/AshWed.html#nt1">2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC/Lent/AshWed.html#gsp1">Matthew 6:1-6,16-21</a></li></ul></div><p><b> </b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtEb4AzXCry9IAlqvfn-4X4LfT-OraPbGmBu92dPas5AVy1dIgSNdoWBsRxJ8S4IWX-Zb_4qeQl6KjHQ8OdmTGnJWfT5kRP_7Yoc4ZYCmUKXt3upXQAZsJciMUpzUagHvW12nxIZbhrDNvliPbJxBfpXV8NspxJTpirjSB9QffyqwhMvFUu86lWddzyJA/s3399/Robert%20Magliula.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3399" data-original-width="3399" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtEb4AzXCry9IAlqvfn-4X4LfT-OraPbGmBu92dPas5AVy1dIgSNdoWBsRxJ8S4IWX-Zb_4qeQl6KjHQ8OdmTGnJWfT5kRP_7Yoc4ZYCmUKXt3upXQAZsJciMUpzUagHvW12nxIZbhrDNvliPbJxBfpXV8NspxJTpirjSB9QffyqwhMvFUu86lWddzyJA/s320/Robert%20Magliula.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /> </b><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-ZA</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="false"
DefSemiHidden="false" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="376">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footer"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="index heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Unresolved Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Link"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;
mso-ligatures:standardcontextual;
mso-ansi-language:EN-ZA;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA"><span> </span>For the past
month, the last line of Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day”<i> </i><span> </span>has taken up residence in my mind. She wrote:<i>
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Exploring this question is a good practice for today and for the whole of
Lent. Lent can get overly focused on our past, the life we have already lived.
But what if Lent is really about the life yet to be lived? What if we gave as
much attention to where we are going as we do to where we have been? </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">What does it mean to live our one wild and precious life? What are the
things that domesticate and devalue our life? How do we recognize and recover
what is of ultimate value and importance? Maybe our greatest sins are the ones
in which we tame and impoverish our lives and the lives of others.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">When I describe life as wild, I’m talking about being open to what we
can neither control nor predict, being able to receive whatever comes to us. I’m
talking about not letting the past define or domesticate us, not letting the
present moment cage us but rather exposing ourselves to the risk of an unknown
future, the possibility of something new. We often let fear, self-doubt, guilt,
regrets, disappointments, or wounds confine and tame our life. Every time we
try to control life, guarantee outcomes, or live within the boundaries of what
is safe and predictable, we limit our life. We live less than who we are and
want to be. Consider what you need to do or give up, to reclaim your wild life?
What cages imprison you? </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">What makes our life precious is not what we have, or how much we have.
It’s not dependent on how others see us. The preciousness of life is found in
its fragility and mortality. Life is short and uncertain, and we only have one.
There are no guarantees. The future is unforeseeable. Rather than this negating
the value and beauty of life; it intensifies it. Everything and everyone matters.
Nothing and no one are to be taken for granted. Not a minute is to be wasted.
This intensification of life gets revealed in the things we are most passionate
about; in the people we love, in the things that give us meaning, offer us
hope, and give us courage. The preciousness of life underlies the truth that we
are of infinite value. Maybe this Lent we wrestle with how to divest ourselves
of everything that diminishes our value and keeps us from remembering and
reclaiming our treasures. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Those words are
not a threat of death or a judgment that we are bad or worthless. To hear those
words and remember our mortality is the first step in healing the ways our
lives become distorted. Whether it’s fear, arrogance, pride, delusion, denial, or
pain, we forget that we are dust. Having forgotten our own mortality, we have
no need for the immortality of God, offered us through the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we forget our mortality, our human nature,
we begin practicing our piety, before others; hoping to be seen and praised. We
trade the secret rewards of the Father for the public opinions of others. The
question behind today’s ashes is not whether we will die, but how we want to
live from this day forward. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">We live in the tension between the uncertainty of life and the
certainty of death. The reminders of our mortality and the fragility of life
all are around us. We work hard at denying, ignoring, and forgetting those twin
realities. We’re reminded of it by aging and illness. Accidents, mass
shootings, wars, hurricanes, and floods remind us of how easily and quickly
life can change. Our own cemetery and columbarium stand as monuments to our mortality.
</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Our lives and treasures exist in the midst of the uncertainty of life
and the certainty of death. As much as we might want to escape those two
realities, we cannot. We mark ourselves with the ashes of mortality not to make
us cynical and hopeless, but to return us to our self and proclaim that
everything matters, freeing us to live a different way, so that we can remember
and reclaim our treasures, the things in our lives that are of ultimate
importance and value. </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="EN-ZA">It’s easy to forget our treasures, to take them for granted, or just
set them aside, making us forgetful of what really matters. As we reclaim them we’re
more whole, not just for ourselves but so we can offer our treasure back to God
and others. They are the treasures that “neither moth nor rust consumes” and
“thieves do not break in and steal.” For where our treasure is, there will our
heart be also. (Matt. 6:21).<span> </span>+Amen.</span></span></p>
<p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-1786587848968734462024-02-11T10:20:00.011-05:002024-02-14T12:35:46.244-05:00The Last Sunday after the Epiphany - February 11, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Aidan Owen<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, February 11, 2024<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpiLast_RCL.html#ot1">2 Kings 2:1-12</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpiLast_RCL.html#nt1">2 Corinthians 4:3-6</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpiLast_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark 9:2-9</a></li></ul></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14480133" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsBnLOCVezOPjROXZfAPDi3HbzMt0ibFFaTvIVhgZvGc7Ly0VfAREfMyakNb1u03Vjz1wY8cBNdEJ59csStFFpq9ZNpkjPAUHOiArrBvmogVQsS4wW7w9zbbQNO2KiOv2d0fPB5rL1-IkxIx5ZazOlimZS0TdVaEbbYvSgdzfRgPYE2aonHZzCXS0RUmf/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3578" data-original-width="3578" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsBnLOCVezOPjROXZfAPDi3HbzMt0ibFFaTvIVhgZvGc7Ly0VfAREfMyakNb1u03Vjz1wY8cBNdEJ59csStFFpq9ZNpkjPAUHOiArrBvmogVQsS4wW7w9zbbQNO2KiOv2d0fPB5rL1-IkxIx5ZazOlimZS0TdVaEbbYvSgdzfRgPYE2aonHZzCXS0RUmf/s320/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In his novel This is Happiness, Niall Williams describes the revolutionary change the coming of electricity brings to a small Irish village in the late 1950s.<br /><br />“I’m aware […] that it may be hard to imagine the enormity of this moment,” he writes, “the threshold that once crossed would leave behind a world that had endured for centuries, and that this moment was only sixty years ago. Consider this: when the electricity finally did come, it was discovered that the 100-watt bulb was too bright for [the little village of] Faha. The instant garishness was too shocking. Dust and cobwebs were discovered to have been thickening on every surface since the sixteenth century. Reality was appalling. It turned out Siney Dunne’s fine head of hair was a wig, not even close in colour to the scruff of his neck, Mick King was an out-and-out and fairly unsubtle cheater at Forty-Five, and Marian McGlynn’s healthy allure was in fact a caked make-up the color of red turf ash. In the week following the switch-on, Tom Clohessy couldn’t keep mirrors in stock, had a run on hand-, oval-, round- and even full-length as people came in from out the country and bought looking glasses of all variety, went home and in merciless illumination endured the chastening of all flesh when they saw what they looked like for the first time.” <br /><br />I imagine a similar transformation in human awareness with Christ’s transfiguration on Mount Tabor. Sure, the light has been growing warmer and brighter as Epiphany has progressed. There is the sudden illumination each of the disciples experiences when Jesus looks at them and calls them. Surely, in their first encounter with Jesus, they are each revealed to themselves in ways they could never have imagined. But the illumination dims, at least somewhat, in the growing dailiness of their new lives, and they get on with things, as we all do.<br /><br />Not so with the Transfiguration. The unveiling of Christ’s light in on the mountain not only reveals his glory—it also transfigures the whole cosmos, revealing the reality of God hidden in plain sight all the time.<br /><br />As Williams knows, there is something threatening in the revelation of light. Light reveals the dirt that has lain on the surface of our lives, literally and metaphorically, for far too long. Light can be merciless in its unflinching gaze. Remember that Moses had to wear a veil over his face after spending time with God, lest God’s glory, reflected in Moses’ face, should overwhelm the Israelites. Too much light can blind as much as total darkness.<br /><br />We need our light tempered, perhaps even meted out bit by bit. That’s partly why God comes to us in Jesus, a human person to whom we can relate perhaps more naturally than to the fullness of God the Creator, who is all light and all darkness.<br /><br />In Jesus, God’s light moderates itself. From time to time, like Peter, James, and John on Mount Tabor, or like Mary Magdalene at the tomb, we get a vision of the full glory of God reflected in Jesus. But most of the time, we get the 40-watt version, enough to see but not enough to blind.<br /><br />As Christ’s light illuminates our lives, we come to see ourselves and reality more fully as we are. And while at the beginning that illumination may strike us as merciless—as indeed it can be from time to time—Christ’s light is not meant to overwhelm us with our smallness, our dirtiness, or our insufficiency. In that way the light of Christ differs from the artificial light with which we fill our lives. <br /><br />The light of lamps and televisions and phone screens inverts our attention and encourages our self-absorption. Like the residents of little Faha, we surround ourselves with mirrors so that, in merciless illumination we can obsess over our so-called flaws; implement self-improvement plans; and market ourselves to an indifferent world. The false illumination of the screen has turned us all into modern-day Narcissi, so in love with—or horrified by—our own reflections that we are liable to drown in them.<br /><br />Instead, the light of Christ is the light of Resurrection. It is the wound that heals. In the light of Christ we are revealed as we truly are. We may be covered in centuries of dirt and dust, but the light of God shines through the cracks in the mud that cakes our skin. We, too, are transfigured on the holy mountain of our ordinary little lives. The light of Christ reveals us as bridge between heaven and earth, the beloved children of God, guilty, yes, but loved beyond and through that guilt. <br /><br />Held in this light, we know that we cannot go on the way we have before. That to return to the dark oblivion of self-absorption is no longer tenable. In the words of Rilke’s great poem, “Archaic Torso of Apollo”: “there is no place that does not see you. / You must change your life.”<br /><br />Christ does look on us primarily through the eyes of judgement. Always, always, he sees us through the eyes of mercy and of love. We need not fear or shrink back from the full illumination of our lives in the light of Christ, because that light is love itself and the promise that love always wins.<br /><br />And when the light fades back to a tolerable brightness, as it inevitably will, we find ourselves once again with the ordinary human Jesus and our ordinary human selves. Yet something has changed in the moment of revelation. Because we know now that these little lives we’ve been given are the summit—the full outpouring—of God’s extraordinary grace to us. Yes, your life, just as it is, right here and now, in this very moment is the tabernacle of God’s glory and the sacrament of God’s love. The only appropriate response is yes.<br /></span></span><p></p><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-69177744820002389162024-02-04T10:31:00.005-05:002024-02-04T10:31:47.062-05:00Epiphany 5 B - February 4, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Randy Greve<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, February 4, 2024<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi5_RCL.html#ot1">Isaiah 40:21-31</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi5_RCL.html#nt1">1 Corinthians 9:16-23</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi5_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark 1:29-39</a></li></ul></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14435645" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9-civeWG-Vgf4pLbg746LjaQ6NeOkqKXdK0FlCsuYetN9DMHnqDwqZLZZrYx22MyJQB4WqzlV7opgJzm_TeYUREhI1FPwi9eotLpOUw28J2lyZlTo_ltL2J5Y5K96COFlLZO7HC3KYxokYrDkLsQEPjiuBtSZj066zyWHIt-Si6sfxb_bA0MwUCtyYpH/s2783/Randy%20Greve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2783" data-original-width="2783" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE9-civeWG-Vgf4pLbg746LjaQ6NeOkqKXdK0FlCsuYetN9DMHnqDwqZLZZrYx22MyJQB4WqzlV7opgJzm_TeYUREhI1FPwi9eotLpOUw28J2lyZlTo_ltL2J5Y5K96COFlLZO7HC3KYxokYrDkLsQEPjiuBtSZj066zyWHIt-Si6sfxb_bA0MwUCtyYpH/s320/Randy%20Greve.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The richness of the gospels is how the same story of the same Savior is told in these four distinct ways. If in Matthew the Lord is Teacher, in Luke the bringer<br />of universal joy to all people, in John the eternal Logos made flesh and glorified eternally in the death/resurrection event, then in Mark Jesus is the Vanquisher, the Rebuker of evil in the form of the suffering servant. Mark is loaded with conflict<br />and confrontation. The evil unleashed on and ravaging the world in the form of spirits, disease, violence, rivalry, and oppression is faced head-on by Jesus. Indeed, he is the only one who can, the only hope to break cycles began in the garden of Eden and the one to open the way to love and peace. The work is urgent, the need for focus and clarity are serious, the time is short, the stakes are eternal. Mark’s community is in crisis and looking for meaning in their persecution - why won’t Jesus save us from our suffering? The gospel sets them on the journey of the mystery that in their suffering is Christ alongside them, suffering in them and with them. The gospel shows them and us how to follow and to lay down our<br />lives, how to put down the sword and take up the cross.<br /><span> </span>All four gospels have so-called “reversal” sayings, but Mark really loves paradox: the first are last and the last first, the poor are rich, the blind see, the seeing are blind, the servant is the greatest. Humans in Mark are mostly hard-hearted, slow, and seeking to save our own skin first before laying down our lives<br />for others. We are a confused and hapless lot who provoke Jesus to ask “Have you still no faith? Do you still not understand? Are your minds closed?” Jesus is looking at us from the page, across the millennia, when he asks these questions. We can barely perceive a world of goodness and justice and so need prophetic awakenings - mighty acts - to rouse our hunger and open our hearts. Jesus sets about doing the impossible - undoing the physical, spiritual, social powers of isolation, exclusion, and dehumanization. The healing and making right which is the foretaste of the coming reign is joyful and healing but also disorienting and unsettling. We readers are being undone and refitted to think and act as fellow signs of courage and boldness alongside our crucified leader.<br /><span> </span>New Testament scholar Werner Kelber writes this of the gospel of Mark:<br />“Jesus announces the Kingdom but opts for the cross; he is King of the Jews but<br />condemned by the Jewish establishment; he asks for followers but speaks in<br />riddles; he is identified as Nazarene but rejected in Nazareth; he makes public<br />pronouncements but also hides behind a screen of secrecy; he saves others but not<br />himself; he promises return but has not returned; he performs miracles but suffers a<br />non-miraculous death; he is a successful exorciser but dies overcome by demonic<br />forces; he is appointed by God in power but dies abandoned in powerlessness; he<br />dies but rises from death.”<br />So keep all of that in mind as we look at the reading for today. We are not yet out of the first chapter and already Jesus is the successful healer and exorciser. He is doing all the rebuking and meeting the needs of the people for health and connection, for wholeness of body and mind and spirit. The elements for a<br />growing and influential ministry are there. Bigger crowds, more to share the message of the kingdom, more hope and joy are at his fingertips. All he has to do is stay and keep doing what he did last night. Just show up and give the people what they want. The potential for popularity and fame is limitless. Jesus goes to a deserted place. He prays. The disciples hunt for him. (And the Greek is quite explicit - not casually looking around, but stalking him like an animal). The disciples’ words on finding Jesus alone hang ominously in the air, loaded with assumptions and expectations.<br />“Everyone is searching for you...”<br />It’s nice to know that being passive/aggressive did not start with us…<br />So much hangs on the next words Jesus says! What kind of movement is this going to be? Will Jesus join the ranks of doomsday prophets, zealots, insurrectionists, rebels? Will he use his power to create yet another system of domination with attention and control centered in him? Are miraculous acts a way<br />to create throngs of people dependent on his physical presence for their identity? <span> </span> </span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span>If our Lord - loving and merciful and forgiving as he is - is also at times, perhaps most of the time, surprising, offensive, scandalous, outside the worn paths of any thought we might have of, “Well, if I were in that situation, here is the obvious right thing to do”, that is not because he intends to be inscrutable or<br />confusing, it is because he is the only fully and perfectly present, aware, free, and perceptive person who has ever lived. Jesus simply had no category of motivation toward being famous or followed for his powers. We imperfect creatures are the ones prone to create and worship a safe, manageable, and laid back image of Jesus who is cool with whatever or, at the opposite extreme, a vindictive, violent, and hell-obsessed Jesus who will slay the wicked who happen to be the people we don’t like. The journey is not caging our image and nailing down all knowable facts about Jesus so we have a clear and predictable definition (although that is a popular aim, it is misguided). It is closer to the capacity to continuously have my illusions shattered, my lack of imagination exposed to his unblinking gaze, to be surprised, shocked even, by the deeper reality of the one who continuously chooses the narrow path, the counterintuitive decision, the way that rejects every mark of success we idealize and worship. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span>“When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on…’” Whatever Jesus perceives it is that they are searching for must remain as search. Jesus calls disciples, he does not accumulate admirers. Jesus loves the people in Capernaum in two ways: he heals them and he goes on. Compassion compels both. The kingdom must include both. Our growth in union with Christ must reckon with how we receive both gifts. Jesus comes to us as perfect presence and perfect ache. He hides nothing of himself, gives himself fully, yet at the same time will evade and escape every<br />attempt to possess him as our pet savior, our mascot, our magic wand. I am thrown back onto the nature of my desiring so that I may encounter the presence of Jesus within me in the very desiring of the one I believe I do not possess. When the ache is a gift that teaches me what it is to a creature who desires, who yearns, who sighs and groans, then the paradox of the kingdom is doing its work in me to make me<br />human.<br /><span> </span>When I am healed of the fantasy of the unreal Jesus I can never possess - who brings clarity, who resolves crises, who evacuates mystery - then I can encounter the Christ who has packed up and moved on to the next village. What the folks in Capernaum will come to learn, as we ourselves are on the path of<br />conversion, is that while it seems as if he is absent, he is not truly absent. His absence is his presence. The searching for him is already the encounter.<br />“Everyone is searching for you.”<br />“Good”, Jesus says. Exactly what I wanted.”<br />Amen.</span></span></p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-28294456940517377872024-02-02T11:26:00.000-05:002024-02-02T11:26:02.832-05:00Presentation, Year B - February 2, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Josep Martinez-Cubero<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Presentation of Our Lord, February 2, 2024<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/HolyDays/Present_RCL.html#ot1">Malachi 3:1-4</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/HolyDays/Present_RCL.html#nt1">Hebrews 2:14-18</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/HolyDays/Present_RCL.html#gsp1">Luke 2:22-40</a></li></ul></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14428305" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX_Jp4-UbO6oNf0T1R6KbCGqsivWBB3z4ZCW4rMHEXsW4Xhz_CAUX2zzi4oWom28w63zLJmL77ug33BdHfnNh9ARP5zsziQDNiBtFu3P0xB20_PgYz2_GeM1zp0DVkiC-F_VgDcpXmTz8cFcyEwgTVnlEdPyCf83Dhlk42XsKHSe8XYZrO5brEo9LKvRa/s3618/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3618" data-original-width="3618" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdX_Jp4-UbO6oNf0T1R6KbCGqsivWBB3z4ZCW4rMHEXsW4Xhz_CAUX2zzi4oWom28w63zLJmL77ug33BdHfnNh9ARP5zsziQDNiBtFu3P0xB20_PgYz2_GeM1zp0DVkiC-F_VgDcpXmTz8cFcyEwgTVnlEdPyCf83Dhlk42XsKHSe8XYZrO5brEo9LKvRa/s320/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Our Brother Edwin left on Wednesday to return to our community in South Africa where he lives. We miss him already. Before he left, he needed a big suitcase to put things he was taking, and sacristy things we were sending with him, and so on. On Monday, I told him: “Don’t worry, we have many suitcases around here, and I’m sure there is a big one somewhere upstairs that you can take. Let’s meet at 6 and I’ll help you look for one.” Upstairs… The monastic enclosure has three levels. There are cells on the second floor and on the third floor. My cell in on the second floor, and I think it is in a very nice neighborhood. It is a different world upstairs on the third floor. So, up I went to meet Edwin to find a suitcase. Darkness! “Why is it so dark up here?”, I asked Edwin, who was using the flashlight on his phone. He said: “I don’t think they like to use lights up here. It’s always very dark, so I use the light on my phone.” “What? But that’s ridiculous.” I replied (and I don’t remember thinking that I was being judgmental or critical.) “That’s what the hallway lights are for, so you can see where you’re walking when it’s dark.” “That’s OK”, Edwin said, “I can hold the phone for both of us.” “No”, said I, in a flare-up of righteous indignation. “I’m turning on the lights.” I went around switching on the lights. We found the perfect suitcase for Edwin. I returned to the second floor, to my very nice neighborhood to realize that we, too, downstairs, keep the hallway lights off.<br /><br />Now, this is not a reflection on how we tend to find faults elsewhere before we find them where we are, although it could be. But it is about how we take light so much for granted. All we have to do is to flip on the switch, or use the flashlight on our phone, or turn on the knob on the lamp. We have light at our disposal anytime we want it. Here at the monastery, depending on where one is in the building, if the electricity goes out, one may not even notice because the generator kicks on and lights stay on.<br /><br />Being in the dark can make us feel helpless and terrified. Being in the light makes us feel safe and in control because we can see. So light is an important image in the Gospels. An angel comes to shepherds by night announcing the birth of Jesus, and the Glory of God shines around them. In the Gospel of Matthew magi follow the light of a star to find where Jesus has been born. The Gospel of John speaks of the Word made flesh as the light of all people, that shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. And in today’s Gospel lesson, Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and praising God says of him that he is a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to God’s people.<br /><br />Although we take light for granted, it is still an incredibly strong metaphor for our relationship with Christ because, think about it, as much as we say we want to receive the light of Christ, sometimes we decide to just turn that switch off. Sometimes I want Christ to be a dim little light for ambiance and that’s it. As much as I desire to have the light of Christ shine on me, I resist it because, you know, light reveals, and it may show parts of me that I’m not so happy with, and I’m not so sure I want people to see, thank you very much. But the light that is Christ wants to shine on me and on you, and to say: “It is OK. I already know every single thing about you, and I love you just the way you are. If you don’t see these parts of you, if you hide them, and avoid them, you will never be able to work on them. Now, have hope. Take courage. Keep working to be whole. Transformation can be a pain, but I am always with you.” <br /><br />There is a old tale in a book called The Different Drum by M. Scott Peck that has always stayed with me. I read the book a very long time ago and couldn’t find it recently, so this is my version of the story according to what I remember of it. <br /><br />There was once a monastery with a thriving and vibrant community. Their skin balms and salves were very famous, and they sold lots of them. Many people visited the monastery for wisdom and spiritual advice. But as time wore on, fewer and fewer people visited. For some reason fewer people turned to the monastery for advice. Even the sale of their famous balms and salves began to dwindle. The abbot began to spend many sleepless nights worrying about his community and wondering what they should do. He prayed and prayed, but the monks became more and more depressed. Soon the buildings of the monastery started showing signs of their depression. The monastery became shabby and untidy. <br /><br />Now, the abbot knew of a very wise Jewish rabbi who lived not too far away from the monastery. He decided to go visit him and to ask for his advice. The rabbi showed him great hospitality and they visited for a very long time. They talked about their respective religions and shared all manner of spiritual insights with each other. The abbot explained his problem to the rabbi and asked for advice, but the rabbi only shook his head and smiled. As the dejected and disappointed abbot departed, the rabbi suddenly stood up and shouted after him, “Ah, but have hope, take courage for Christ lives among you!” All the way home the abbot pondered the rabbi’s words, “Christ lives among us? What? Like, Christ lives in the monastery?” The abbot knew all the monks very well, and he also knew he himself wasn’t Christ. <br /><br />When he got back to the monastery the abbot shared the rabbi’s words with one of his brothers… who went and told another brother… who was overheard telling another brother. Soon the entire community had heard the news. “Christ lives among us!” “Who do you suppose he could be?” As each brother speculated on who the Christ could be, his view of his brothers began to change. They began to treat one another with greater respect, humility and love because what if he was dealing with Christ? Soon the entire community was doing everything with great reverence and joy and treating one another as if the other person was Christ. They also started treating every single thing in the monastery as if it were a holy vessel of the altar. The monastery once again became tidy and clean and beautiful.<br /><br />People in the neighboring town began to notice the change that had come over the monastic community. The quirky monks all of a sudden looked radiant to everybody, shining like the sun. People once again flocked to the monastery and were energized by the spirit of the brothers. The monastery still prospers today, and it is known as the monastery of the light because rumor has it that Christ lives there. <br /><br />Have hope and take courage for Christ is always among us. May Christ’s light, enkindled in our hearts, shine forth in our lives. ¡Que así sea en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen+ <br />overflowing.</span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-62384282144190826962024-01-28T10:16:00.004-05:002024-01-28T10:16:38.366-05:00Epiphany 4 B - January 28, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Aidan Owen<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, January 28, 2024</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi4_RCL.html#ot1">Deuteronomy 18:15-20</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi4_RCL.html#nt1">1 Corinthians 8:1-13</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi4_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark 1:21-28</a></li></ul></div><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14391271" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmMpyGvoEDvJ5vp5CyoLNrRTMjb4LHVieS2NEDZdoiyRZ0KLEuE0vDJBrPhVNAMijEcty1jbHOhFK8QWuzh1w4VRWnFy3Ru0SQNYZYIdgIjxSUgyX-16VUG1STa3nxnWAAHBD_2WAuixI9etyc4SN5or1-Zu-tyz2cvy9wW4fsUJoePB6nlOPjW7oNKSl/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3578" data-original-width="3578" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNmMpyGvoEDvJ5vp5CyoLNrRTMjb4LHVieS2NEDZdoiyRZ0KLEuE0vDJBrPhVNAMijEcty1jbHOhFK8QWuzh1w4VRWnFy3Ru0SQNYZYIdgIjxSUgyX-16VUG1STa3nxnWAAHBD_2WAuixI9etyc4SN5or1-Zu-tyz2cvy9wW4fsUJoePB6nlOPjW7oNKSl/s320/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the name of God, the Lover, the Beloved and the Love<br />overflowing.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Jesus rebuked him saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.” <br /><br />It’s easy to pass over passages like this morning’s gospel reading. It’s certainly a familiar scene. We’ve probably read or heard this gospel passage hundreds of times in the course of our lives. But it’s more than that, I think. We’re very modern in our reading of scripture. We don’t really believe in spirits in that way anymore. We’ve figured out that the demons Jesus rebukes in the gospels were really more like psychological ailments or even mental health disorders. <br /><br />And then there’s the whole aesthetic element of rebuking and binding spirits. Which us good, polite Episcopalians generally lump in with things like liturgical dance and speaking in tongues. Certainly not something to be done in church, and not where other people could see you. That’s what those other sorts of Christians do. Which, by the way, has all sorts of class and racial overtones, but that’s another sermon for another day. <br /><br />To deny or explain away Jesus’ rebuking of the unclean spirit is also to deny Jesus’ authority, a key word for understanding both this morning’s reading and the whole of the Christian life. The word authority derives from the root that means “creator” or “originator,” as we see clearly in its near twin author. Jesus’ casting out of this morning’s unclean spirit reveals his divine nature as the author of creation. In other words, God’s healing action is also the revelation of God’s original love poured out in creation. <br /><br />You’ll notice that the spirit knows who Jesus is, even when the crowds do not. The spirit recognizes Jesus’ identity as creator and therefore bows to Jesus’ power to heal, command, and save. And it makes me wonder if perhaps that unclean spirit has a wisdom that we church-going Christians often lack. <br /><br />I suspect that our reticence to focus on the rebuking of unclean spirits has more to do with our discomfort with Jesus’ authority in our own lives than it does with mere politeness or modern understandings of psychology and biology. We all suffer from various sorts of spiritual, physical, and emotional ailments. The more religious we are, the more likely we are to twist and contort our experience of God to our own ends. That’s why Jesus is always concerned in the gospels with the hypocrisy of the religious elites, which is to say with people very much like you and me. <br /><br />He understands that a passion for God’s justice can very easily become judgmental self-righteousness. He knows that a reverence for liturgy and worship can turn into obsessive and pietistic compulsion. He sees how easily true compunction—which the ancient monastic writers called the “wound that leads to joy”—can entangle itself with our shame and become a bludgeon of self and others. The more religious or spiritual we are, the more we are in danger of focusing on the gift rather than the giver and of using that gift to reinforce our own sense of power and control. I’m speaking from personal experience here, folks. <br /><br />Instead, Jesus constantly invites us to surrender and self-emptying. When we find ourselves caught up in self-righteous anger, pietistic compulsion, or shame masquerading as compunction, we can turn to the one who has true authority, not only over our own lives but over the spirits—however you want to understand them—that plague us. <br /><br />Last year a good friend shared with me the deliverance prayer, to be used in case of spiritual emergency: <br /><br />By the authority of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus <br /><br />I command any spirit of [fill in the blank with your ailment] <br /><br />to be bound an infinite number of times <br /><br />and rendered impotent. <br /><br />In the name of Jesus I cast you out <br /><br />and send you to Jesus <br /><br />to do with you according to his will. <br /><br />I can see some of you clutching your pearls. But I assure you, this prayer has a powerful lineage and came to my friend from a very wise and gentle solitary nun who lived on a mountain nearby. This prayer may be something of an advanced technique, because it requires us to be unselfconscious enough to recognize that our ancestors may have known a bit more about spirits and God’s authority than we do. Further, it begs the question: do we really believe in Jesus’ power to save? <br /><br />Scripture tell us that there is power in the name of Jesus. And if we are reticent to ask God to rebuke that which is plaguing us, we may need to ask how much we truly recognize and celebrate Jesus’ authority in our lives and our world. In the old way of putting it, the Devil is a liar. And whether we believe in a little red man with horns or some inner force of self-sabotage, the Liar whispers in our ears all the time telling us to be afraid; telling us it’s all up to us; telling us we’d be just fine if so-and-so would behave themselves. Sometimes the only way to get the Liar to shut up, is to rebuke him in the name of Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. <br /><br />I particularly love the second part of the deliverance prayer, though, in which you send the spirit that is plaguing you to Jesus to do with that spirit according to his will. It is too easy to think that whatever plagues us—internal or external—is somehow beyond redemption. But if Jesus is always undermining religious hypocrisy, he is also always bringing to the center for healing and integration that which was once on the margins. <br /><br />Several years ago a friend sent me a quotation from Urban Holmes’ book What is Anglicanism? that has stuck with me: “One commonplace access to the chaotic powers of the earth is obscenity. […] A trivialization of the obscene is the dirty joke, whose humor is built on the incongruous and is the obverse of our fear of the dark mysteries of life associated, particularly, with the orifices of the body. […] [But] is it possible that obscenity taps an energy for mystical union?” <br /><br />Is it possible that obscenity taps an energy for mystical union? The word obscene means “that which does not belong.” By casting out whatever is plaguing us and sending it to Jesus, the source of all life, we invite Jesus to heal and integrate whatever is broken or unwell. In that action, the very spirits that torment us become the gateway of fuller life in God. And in the light of Christ’s mercy we can begin to see our shame, our compulsions, our self-righteousness, and whatever else plagues us, as part of the beautiful texture of these lives God has graced us with. <br /><br />You see, there is, ultimately no part of us or of this world that is truly obscene. There are no boundaries, no margins, no barriers between us and Christ the Beloved. We are already one, and we always have been. <br /><br />In the words of the late John O’Donohue: “It is a strange and magical fact to be here, walking around in a body, to have a whole world within you and a world at your fingertips outside you. It is an immense privilege, and it is incredible that humans manage to forget the miracle of being here. […] It is uncanny how social reality can deaden and numb us so that the mystical wonder of our lives goes totally unnoticed. We are here. We are wildly and dangerously free.” <br /><br />Amen. <br /></span></span></p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-11352904208704407852024-01-21T10:25:00.000-05:002024-01-21T10:25:01.348-05:00Epiphany 3 B - January 21, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Bernard Delcourt<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Third Sunday after the Epiphany, January 21, 2024<br /></span></div><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi3_RCL.html#ot1">Jonah 3:1-5, 10</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi3_RCL.html#nt1">1 Corinthians 7:29-31</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi3_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark 1:14-20</a></li></ul><p></p><p></p><p> <br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14347437" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9ciVaG_rsf5w9UgI2Lg-KtIkXoV2uc5Fgtwb5b6n0u0hY-ke_LKQBMNnrGB-rWfSMpEV02aHqJqx9_3So6jgAoEN2tOow8f8Qf_D6tznGUS2eRulEnk73kzGfssvEGQWg0zqE6y6A2jM-RgkNJc_1MrMcOkuCgTs6WNb5-iSLhiZQHDi0F-h61SQmr3e/s292/Bernard%20%20Crop%202022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="292" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV9ciVaG_rsf5w9UgI2Lg-KtIkXoV2uc5Fgtwb5b6n0u0hY-ke_LKQBMNnrGB-rWfSMpEV02aHqJqx9_3So6jgAoEN2tOow8f8Qf_D6tznGUS2eRulEnk73kzGfssvEGQWg0zqE6y6A2jM-RgkNJc_1MrMcOkuCgTs6WNb5-iSLhiZQHDi0F-h61SQmr3e/s1600/Bernard%20%20Crop%202022.jpg" width="292" /></a></div>In the name of God, the Lover, the Beloved and the Love<br />overflowing.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />Today, I will focus on verse 15 of this gospel passage:<br /><br />and [Jesus says], ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’<br /><br />*****<br /><br />Before we get to this first reported statement of Jesus in<br />the gospel according to Mark, a few things have recently<br />happened.<br /><br />Before today’s passage, Jesus had been baptized by John.<br /><br />Jesus had gone into the wilderness for forty days. In telegraphic style Mark lets us know it was, at times, a<br />rocky retreat.<br /><br />Then John was arrested. It was best for preachers in the John the Baptist movement to leave Judea for a while. Jesus decides to strike out on his own and returns to his native Galilee to proclaim the good news, the gospel, of God.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />In the five verses following verse 15, Jesus will call two pairs of brothers as his first disciples. This shows the Jesus movement cannot rely on Jesus alone. Jesus knows he will need helping friends to pursue his ministry. Maybe he even already knows he’ll need these disciples to continue his reform movement after he is no longer there in person to lead it.<br /><br />Christianity is a team sport. You need to practice together; practice, practice, practice. And it’s no use playing it solo. Jesus himself makes that immediately clear. He assembles followers and starts teaching them. To this day, He and his disciples are still teaching the good news.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />Now back to verse 15.<br />‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’<br /><br />The Greek text of verse 15 uses the word Kairos for “time.” The Greek language had two words for time:<br />“chronos” and “kairos.”<br /><br />Chronos is more like what we think of time nowadays. It is a chronological sequential time; a quantitative thing we can scientifically measure.<br /><br />Kairos, on the other hand, is a good and proper time for action. It is a perfect, delicate, crucial moment (or is it an era). It is a time when conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action or decision. It is a qualitative thing we can perceive but not measure.<br /><br />Some like to call Kairos “God’s time.” It is the right time for the accomplishment of the kingdom of God. As such, it is a time that marries the present instant and the full sweep of eternity; the already and the not yet. God is always present to all of it; the present moment and all of eternity, and beyond.<br /><br />“Kairos is fulfilled” says Jesus. God’s time is now; in this instant that your heart is beating and your breath sustains you. And God’s time is forever; and you are part of that forever.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />The other term I’d like to look at is “the kingdom of God.” I am told that metaphor occurs 66 times in the New Testament; 98 times if you include the Matthean equivalent “the kingdom of heaven.” The expression “the kingdom of Yawheh” only occurs twice in the Hebrew Scriptures.<br /><br />It clearly was a powerful new metaphor for the early Jesus movement. In the times of Jesus’ it would have contrasted with the Herodian dynasty. They were Roman puppet kings who tried to please both their Roman overlords and the Jewish populace at the same time.<br /><br />Jesus’ Kingdom of God does not rely on monumental displays of wealth and power like the Herodians and the Romans did. It relies on the beloved community of the people of God turning to God and trusting in God’s ultimate redemption of creation. “Repent, and believe in the good news.” says Jesus.<br /><br />*****<br /><br />So the fulfillment of God’s desire for creation is now. God is with us (Emmanuel) here and now. God is calling forth our engagement into the present and eternal breaking in of God’s kingdom. But the moment we can seize to take action is the present moment. Don’t tarry. Don’t delay. We mortals don’t have eternity on this side of death.<br /><br />We can’t sit back and be spectators. We are part of the team, remember? Practice, practice, practice. And you can’t play it solo. And God is with you every step of the way.<br /><br />This playing along with God requires that we turn our hearts and minds towards God and that we believe in God’s magnanimous, benevolent and transforming love for all of creation.<br /><br />Jesus is not calling us to new tasks (although there will be those too), but Jesus is calling us to a new identity. And it is a costly identity. We are to be followers of Jesus. We are to be disciples. As you know, this is not always easy. Suffering will be part of the journey and that does not exclude ineffable joy.<br /><br />This identity of disciple requires a dogged loyalty. If you falter, you can repent, you can turn back to it. This disciple identity demands a trust that, what will be broken in acquiring it, was not worth keeping whole. Discipleship doesn’t come cheap. But rejecting our true identity as a follower of Jesus is the costliest loss of all.<br /><br />Pray that you will not mistake the sirens’ song for the voice of your destiny. Listen for God. Feel your yearning for participating in God’s kingdom. And, when he calls you, hear yourself saying like Samuel: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” (1 Samuel 3:10)<br /><br />May you lean into the embrace of the living, loving God. ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’<br /><br />Amen.</span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-20686053928429083012024-01-14T10:43:00.005-05:002024-01-14T10:44:49.801-05:00Epiphany 2 B - January 14, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Luc Thuku<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 14, 2024<br /></span></div><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi2_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank">1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20)</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi2_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 6:12-20</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Epiphany/BEpi2_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">John 1:43-51</a></li></ul><p></p><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14306075" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4WPKe_mRA_a9gRMINmdPZ4Cmfbt_mDBn2du0e_YrjEixVgdwfTB6QwcPetOB_qQ1qQPQcjYYsH4gFmoKs4SklXuDNl6QYOn7GuJvPRraNEC1iIljDg2SwvW8bv5WWeRWkOgDz4sIVobIg7jWUbVBz51PCJoveO6N3Lqdd-8dWgN3DQ8xTY0SB85GfWsE/s890/Luc%20Thuku.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="890" data-original-width="890" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm4WPKe_mRA_a9gRMINmdPZ4Cmfbt_mDBn2du0e_YrjEixVgdwfTB6QwcPetOB_qQ1qQPQcjYYsH4gFmoKs4SklXuDNl6QYOn7GuJvPRraNEC1iIljDg2SwvW8bv5WWeRWkOgDz4sIVobIg7jWUbVBz51PCJoveO6N3Lqdd-8dWgN3DQ8xTY0SB85GfWsE/s320/Luc%20Thuku.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dear Friends we gather again this morning to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection in a Special way this season of Epiphany when we continue to remember God’s manifestation of self through His incarnate Son Jesus.<br /><br />In our first reading and Gospel today, we hear of two individuals being called. The first one is Samuel who was called directly by God. As a young man and inexperienced in the ways of God, he didn’t know who was calling or how to respond but luckily he was not going about it alone. He had Eli, an experienced guide who had the spirit of discernment and who after being woken up a third time by his protege was able to discern that it was God who was calling the young man. Eli would have been angry about being woken up by Samuel repeatedly. He would have ignored him or be rude to him. Eli would have chosen to use the little ‘child psychology’ he had and tell Samuel that he was not his absent father or his judgemental mother; but he was a true priest and a true man of God! I am sure we know of people who hold positions of spiritual authority who have no time for their charges and/or who leave them insulted every time they encounter them.<br /><br />Strangely enough, when Samuel eventually answered God with the response Eli had coached him to use, the message that came through was for Eli. Shocked, Samuel didn’t know what to do with the prophecy of doom directed to his mentor.<br /><br />Eli’s sons Hopni and Phinehas were priests just like their father. However unlike their father, they were bad priests. Scripture actually calls them scoundrels! They kept for themselves meat that people sacrificed to God which was against the law. They carried out every imaginable atrocity including raping women who served at the tent of meeting…sounds familiar? Like some of our modern day priests and preachers, they were wolves in sheep’s clothing. Eli tried to stop them but they ignored him which means that they neither respected him. Eli should have relieved them of their priestly office but he did not and therefore God had to intervene and hence the message through young Samuel.<br /><br />God may be patient, kind, merciful and long suffering but as He shows in this case, He will nor tolerate abuse of power forever. God is a defender of the oppressed, of the abused, of the despised, of the hungry and of the destitute. He will equally not tolerate sin in whatever form. Scripture tells us in 1 Peter 1:15-16 that God is holy and we too must be holy!<br /><br />So what happens when the Christian becomes the oppressor? I am sure it is hard to fathom a Christian being an oppressor but remember slavery was theologically backed and condoned by preachers and good Christians practiced it; apartheid was condoned and theologically backed by preachers and good Christians went along with it…“But that is in the past” one might be tempted to say… Yes, but what about the Mexican and other Latin American immigrants, the men and women working in our ‘Christian’ owned farms as we speak despite it being a Sunday, to produce the food that our ‘Christian’ nation will most probably end up wasting? What about the Asian and African immigrants changing our elderly parents’ diapers in the nursing homes around this ‘Christian’ nation for peanuts?… “But they are fairing better here than in their ‘shithole’ countries” if I may borrow from Mr. Trump’s sick vocabulary! Yes they do I agree, but does that justify paying them wages that keep them enslaved and treatment that is at times worse than we accord our dogs and other pets? What about the African American male who cannot move anywhere near me or my business because they are threatening…just by their being? The reality my dear brother and sister is that we, good Christians that we are, have blind spots.<br /><br />In many ways throughout our lives, we have been oppressed either literally or figuratively. Those moments are easy to identify. However, what we don’t see are the many instances in which we, although at times accidentally, assume the role of the oppressor. All of us are guilty. Not any single one of us is spotless and if we think we are, we are lying to ourselves and others and do not deserve the name Christian.<br /><br />The second individual whose call we hear about today is Nathaniel. Nathaniel unlike Samuel did not get called by the Lord directly. There is an intermediary, Philip. In this short story about the call of Nathaniel, we encounter enthusiasm, prejudice and extraordinary insight. These three things are a reminder today that we share not only a common humanity with the people of Jesus’ time but also traits and characteristics that enliven and sometimes make our day to day lives difficult and sad. Philip and Nathaniel, just like you and me were prone to moments of enthusiasm and almost unconscious prejudice.<br /><br />If we first speak about Philip before we go to the main character of our passage Nathaniel, his encounter with Jesus had been a dramatic and life changing event. Jesus was direct with him. When Jesus met him, he asked him to join the small group of followers that he was forming. Philip dropped what he was doing and followed. There may have been more to the encounter than we know that might have added to the extraordinary excitement that made Philip go to find Nathaniel. Whatever it was that impressed him so much, Philip was hooked and he was charitable enough to want his friend to come and share in his new found experience.<br /><br />Nathaniel on the other hand thinks Philip has lost it. To a Jew worth the name, the people who lived in Nazareth were not only rural backward people but were also a racially mixed community, therefore impure, and hence his famous retort… “what good can come from Nazareth”. Nathaniel was just like us who encounter and even perhaps in our unguarded moments exhibit judgement. We ask each other for instance in Kenya, what good can come from such and such a tribe, in Africa, what good can come from Nigeria, and in the West what good can come from Africa or the third world! Prejudice is as old as humanity! The beauty of this particular passage, however, is that John does not attempt to whitewash the character of the disciples. Despite what we might want to, or at times do, think of them, we encounter them as real people, their beautiful and ugly sides together. The reason why Jesus chose people who demonstrate the same failings we meet in the people we encounter in our lives is the same reason he chose us.<br /><br />I am sure Philip being Nathaniel’s friend knew that Nathaniel had a sarcastic side and all. He therefore risked embarrassment, humiliation and even rejection when he went to call him. He however had inner conviction that if Nathaniel could meet Jesus, He would be convinced that despite him coming from that ‘godforsaken’ town of Nazareth, he was also the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer that Jews had hoped for ever since the fall of Adam.<br /><br />Jesus saw in Nathaniel a totally honest but blunt person. He did not allow Nathaniel’s prejudice against his home town and its people block his view of the good in him as a person. Jesus saw the potential of what Nathaniel could be. He loved and accepted him just as he was, without an attempt to change or ‘fix’ him. The encounter was so revealing and life giving to Nathaniel that he made his confession of faith there and then…”Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel”.<br /><br />When we became Christians, we too encountered the living God. A courageous person like Philip, be it our parents, evangelists or missionaries cared enough about you and me to bring us to the place where God is. Jesus looked into our souls and judged you and I to be the person he was calling. Sinful as we were, Like Nathaniel, we had the potential to be the type of people Jesus calls to be his intimate followers, his beloved brothers and sisters. Filled with this knowledge, let us therefore affirm our faith again that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our king, our redeemer and sustainer. Let us also remember that we have a duty and service to represent Jesus to others. He calls us because he knows us. Jesus calls us like Nathaniel, despite our looking down on people and our prejudices against others in our day, to be changed by our encounter with him. An encounter with Jesus calls us to engage people in the totality of their being. Whatever their race, background, class, level of education, wealth or poverty, mannerisms and behavior, all are to be brought to Jesus. We are to evangelize them holistically. True evangelism for Jesus is concerned not with ‘fixing’ people but about poverty, disease, hurt, grief, discrimination, injustice and not of least importance sin!<br /><br />Paul in our second reading this morning singles out sexual sin and describes how it affects the body and spirit of the sinner. Sin displaces Jesus from our bodies, which are His temples and therefore to get our relationship with Jesus back on track when we fail, we need to repent and once again enthrone the Lord Jesus in our hearts. May we get good guides and spiritual authorities like Eli who will help us to listen and discern the Lord. May we get good Apostles like Philip who will risk all to bring us to the Savior because while we still live in this world, we all need the Savior.<br /><br />Amen.<br /><br /></span></span><p></p><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-51244357304468508062024-01-01T10:20:00.006-05:002024-01-01T10:20:35.217-05:00The Holy Name - January 1, 2024<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Robert Leo Sevensky<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Holy Name, January 1, 2024<br /></span></div><p></p><ul><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/HolyName_RCL.html#Ot1">Numbers 6:22-27</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/HolyName_RCL.html#Nt1">Galatians 4:4-7</a></li><li>or <a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/HolyName_RCL.html#Nt2">Philippians 2:5-11</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/HolyName_RCL.html#Gsp1">Luke 2:15-21</a></li><li><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/HolyName_RCL.html#Ps1">Psalm 8</a></li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14229519" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wGrZ4w5AePFyLel6kUbK_OXf5XDBjHtOs2PFAZ292ut7dQ-nZVSJ0awzZlDCX8OQlS4Ctm7xd_AQVSI7-P3AGR5qtTriC9XUtJGH8suT_cw1_QT_F1CuR0B-vwpzlBMdS_yWmRmLMYB_-B-2Dd9vxtnncIEMiULetcAbbbqMVn9BtU_KWk-qcytrhnR7/s600/Robert%20Sevensky.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3wGrZ4w5AePFyLel6kUbK_OXf5XDBjHtOs2PFAZ292ut7dQ-nZVSJ0awzZlDCX8OQlS4Ctm7xd_AQVSI7-P3AGR5qtTriC9XUtJGH8suT_cw1_QT_F1CuR0B-vwpzlBMdS_yWmRmLMYB_-B-2Dd9vxtnncIEMiULetcAbbbqMVn9BtU_KWk-qcytrhnR7/s320/Robert%20Sevensky.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Let us pray.<br /><br />O Lord, whose years are without end and who dwells in the light of an unending day: as we begin this year in your Name, grant us wisdom to use our time wisely, that your love may be the beginning and the ending of all our hopes, our work, our joy, and our desires. Amen.<br /><br />Happy New Year!<br /><br />Today's feast has had throughout the centuries many different titles, each highlighting or focusing our attention on one or another aspect surrounding the narrative of the birth of Jesus. It has simply been called the Octave Day of Christmas, reminding us that we need more than one day to take in the mystery of Christ coming among us. We need at least eight days. Some would even say: twelve. It's that big a deal. <br /><br />In the Roman tradition today is called the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, drawing our gaze to that quiet but central figure who, as our Gospel today says, treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart thereby offering us a model of a true contemplative in action. <br /><br />And today was for centuries titled the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ which inevitably reminds us of the Jewishness of Jesus who, like Jewish boys ever since the time of Abraham, entered into covenant of God's chosen people Israel through a ritual act marked in his flesh. There is understandably a certain hesitancy today with this title. I won't go into details but suffice it to say that small children still ask adults embarrassing questions when they hear this strange word. But to ignore it is to play, wittingly or unwittingly, into a kind of anti-Jewish rhetoric all too prevalent in our time. <br /><br />Finally, we have the title we currently use in our Church, the Feast of the Holy Name with its comforting assurance that the Name of Jesus is a sign of salvation, and not just for Christians but for all people. It is a sign of hope and justice and peace.<br /><br />So many titles, some many facets of a deep mystery. But let's be realistic. When was the last time anybody wished you a Happy Octave or a joyous Solemnity or a Sweet Holy Name Day or, rarest of all, a Blessed Circumcision?<br /><br />No. It's Happy New Year, isn't it? And sometimes--not often, but sometimes--our popular culture is wiser than our liturgy. And I think today is one of them. So, I offer a few brief reflections on how we might begin this New Year. And I begin with a quote from Dag Hammarskjold who wrote famously in his journal Markings (1964) the following: “For all that has been — Thanks. For all that shall be — Yes.”<br /><br />The first task of the New Year is to let go of the past. Not necessarily forget it or suppress it or minimize it, but to simply acknowledge that it is indeed past, though its effects, both good and bad, may linger deeply and profoundly. We are called to learn from it if we are ever to change its course and ours. We are to become wise. And we are to learn that most difficult of spiritual practices that St. Paul counsels: to give thanks in all circumstances (I Thes. 5:18). No matter how hard, to learn again to practice gratitude, even amid pain and trial, discouragement and emptiness. <br /><br />Thes second task is to consent to the future, whatever it brings. Of course we do our best, but we do so trusting that One greater than us is active, inviting our cooperation, blessing our efforts and bringing them to perfection in ways that we may never see or understand in this mortal life. <br /><br />“For all that has been — Thanks. For all that shall be — Yes.” And between the two is a period or a semicolon, a liminal pause, a resting place. Like Janus, the Roman god of two faces and for whom the month of January is named, we look both to the past and the future. We stand in the doorway, at the threshold, at the gate at once done and ready. And many of us may stand there for a very long time. There is no shame in that. <br /><br />But when we find ourselves standing at the threshold, perhaps paralyzed by fear and uncertainty, the central spiritual act required of us is one of self-offering. Of availability. Of nurturing a willingness to align our dreams and desires and longings with those of the God who loves us and who dwells with us and in us. We may need to remind ourselves daily, if not more often, that our greatest freedom comes from being able to say, in one way or another: “Thy will be done.”<br /><br />There are many prayers which have helped me in the lifelong and ongoing task of purifying my motives and redirecting my vision. The Lord's Prayer is certainly paramount. There was for decades the tradition in our monastic community that we brothers begin each day with the praying the<i> Suscipe</i> of Ignatius of Loyola, a 15th c. prayer that begins with the words: “Take and receive, Lord, my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, my will…” It was the offering of the entire person to God, to the Higher Power, to serve God’s ends, God’s purpose, God’s dream for us and for all creation. Some of you here today in 12-Step Programs are no doubt familiar with the Third Step Prayer which voices that same intention: “God, I offer myself to Thee – To build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt…”<br /><br />I treasure these prayers. But today I think particularly of one that comes to us from John Wesley, the 18th century evangelist, preacher, and founder of the Methodist movement. It is known as the Covenant Prayer.<br /><br />In 1755 in London, Welsey, inspired by the German Moravians, instituted a Watchnight Service for New Year's Eve. The lengthy service included readings and testimony and confession and spontaneous prayer, and it culminated at midnight not with the dropping of a ball but with a prayer recited by everyone renewing their commitment to serve Christ and to serve others in Christ’s name and to accept freely whatever God intends and the New Year brings. It’s not unlike the renewal of the baptismal covenant that we in liturgical churches observe at Easter. The Covenant Prayer deserves sustained reflection and personal meditation. The best I can do this New Years Day is to read it to you in a contemporary language version, praying that it may guide you and me as we enter together into this Year of Grace 2024.<br /><br />I am no longer my own, but yours.<br />Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.<br />Put me to doing, put me to suffering.<br />Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,<br />Praised for you or criticized for you.<br />Let me be full, let me be empty.<br />Let me have all things, let me have nothing.<br />I freely and fully surrender all things <br />To your glory and service.<br />And now, O wonderful and holy God,<br />Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,<br />You are mine, and I am yours.<br />So be it.<br />And the covenant which I have made on earth,<br />Let it also be made in heaven.<br />Amen.<br /><br />Happy New Year.</span></span><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-69189037586950540692023-12-25T11:54:00.009-05:002023-12-26T07:17:38.166-05:00Christmas Day - December 25, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: currentcolor; text-align: justify; transition: 0.3s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Francis Beckham<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Christmas Day, December 25, 2023</span></div><br /><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/ChrsDay1_RCL.html#Ot1" target="_blank">Isaiah 9:2-7</a></p><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/ChrsDay1_RCL.html#Nt1" target="_blank">Titus 2:11-14</a></p><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearABC_RCL/Christmas/ChrsDay1_RCL.html#Gsp1" target="_blank">Luke 2:1-14(15-20)</a></p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14202507" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8IZk0_6CWXocR4_Tve-k7Mn3U3p7rq1PwhnAgmCpc0OGXeFwmxwcxJFv1wkP4X7hBSf-4y4Dc36Mi1oObsiooxnAFqP_E3e8h0kX1A7d0UXSRrO8Zs2e1sk15UBccFq0zosI6auxm0V0-4im3V_5Pdv_sew81YyN5WktpLW-IZFjg-E0kqQOYdeBUddd/s2324/12CB1D46-D345-4B9F-9C5B-2C9402D71729.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2323" data-original-width="2324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL8IZk0_6CWXocR4_Tve-k7Mn3U3p7rq1PwhnAgmCpc0OGXeFwmxwcxJFv1wkP4X7hBSf-4y4Dc36Mi1oObsiooxnAFqP_E3e8h0kX1A7d0UXSRrO8Zs2e1sk15UBccFq0zosI6auxm0V0-4im3V_5Pdv_sew81YyN5WktpLW-IZFjg-E0kqQOYdeBUddd/s320/12CB1D46-D345-4B9F-9C5B-2C9402D71729.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: inherit; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There’s a rather wonderful word that has recently come into vogue here at the monastery. It is a word that somehow manages to express the unique way in which an animal’s particular cosmos of senses, instincts, and circumstances coalesce to create an entirely unique experience of the world around it, from how it does or doesn’t see color (or even if it sees at all); how it detects motion, scent, and temperature; and the way it perceives things like pressure, time, direction, and even emotion. <br /><br />This remarkable little word is umwelt, from the German meaning “environment.” The reason for umwelt’s recent rise in esteem is its centrality-of-concept within our current refectory book, An Immense World, by science journalist and author Ed Yong (Random House, 2023). In it, Yong explains that umwelt was “defined and popularized by the Baltic-German zoologist Jakob von Uexküll in 1909” and that it is meant to express specifically “the part of those surroundings that an animal can sense and experience – its perceptual world” (p. 5). <br /><br />Perhaps unsurprisingly, the untold legions of animals who have ever lived and ever will live in our world represent a mind-boggling array of umwelten. For elephants, raising the trunk like a periscope is the normative way to check for scent, whereas a rattlesnake sniffs out its world using fast flicks of the tongue. Blood-seeking insects like mosquitos use their antennas to cut through the air, searching for the tell-tale marks of carbon dioxide to locate their next meal. Each animal has a very different way of perceiving the world, and each way is optimally suited to its particular set of circumstances. They’re different, but they’re all valid! So, even when animals share a common environment – such as alligators, herons, and panthers in the Florida Everglades, or lions, gazelles, and turaco birds of the Maasai Mara of Kenya – they do so while inhabiting what are essentially completely different perceptual worlds, courtesy of each one’s distinctive umwelt. <br /><br />It's fascinating stuff, and it really does shine a fresh light on all our old, familiar surroundings. But one may wonder, what exactly does any of it have to do with the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord? We could certainly make an Incarnational link between the arrival of the Eternal Word-made-Flesh and the German-made word umwelt. And that would be a pretty good way to go. It would certainly make it much easier to incorporate the fact that on this day in 1223 – that’s exactly 800 years ago – the famous Christmas at Greccio took place, where Saint Francis of Assisi enlisted the help of animal friends in staging the first-ever living creche. But, truth be told, there’s another connection that’s been on my mind which I’d like to explore. So, I guess I’ll just have to leave that bit of trivia out. <br /><br />You see, I feel quite strongly that there’s a dimension of umwelt among the Christmas-season experiences of humans just as there’s one in the light-perceiving experiences of deep-sea fish. In the liturgical – or, at the very least, the cultural – sense, we all move through the same seasons of Advent and Christmastide. Whether we were really aware of it or not, we all woke up on Advent I, brushed our teeth on Gaudete Sunday, and donned our socks on Christmas morning. But our spiritual, cultural, intellectual, mental, emotional – indeed, even existential – realities during this time of year are anything but the same. <br /><br />Yes, Christmas may be our common watering hole, so to speak, but where one person is caught up in the joy and excitement of the season, fully invested in its spirit of hope, enjoying the Christmas music and Hallmark Channel movies, and warmed by the gathering of family and friends around the table, others are experiencing things differently. For any number of reasons, there are those for whom Christmas is less joyful, or at least less festive. It’s harder to get into the spirit of things when you’re working the overnight shift as a first responder, or covering a shift in the service industry so people can come in and enjoy the fruits of your labor with their families, at the expense of you being able to be with yours. Sometimes the season bears the wounds of losses and regrets which, regardless of how new or old they are, always seem to make themselves felt particularly strongly this time of year. I’d guess that, in any given year, many people experience some combination of Christmas feelings. <br /><br />And then there are the struggles we may have with Christmas itself. What is the real meaning of it? Can it truly be the promise of hope and the heralding of a Savior the way we’ve always been told? “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). That’s Isaiah, of course, who seeks to explore the role Jerusalem is destined to play in God’s plan for our world, focusing on themes of God’s holiness and righteousness, justice for the poor and powerless, and the assurance of a Deliverer, born of a Virgin, who will bring peace and freedom to God’s people. In our Christological understanding, this is the Reign of God. It’s a beautiful vision. It’s just not always easy to believe. <br /><br />For one thing, depending on the time, place, and circumstances any of us lives in, there may not be a lot of peace and justice going on around us. There certainly isn’t in places like Ukraine and Palestine right now where, as always, those bearing the brunt of the violence of war are civilian women and children. I imagine they long for a peace-bringer to come, one who has ‘authority resting upon their shoulders’ who can put an end to all the suffering. But instead, all they get is Herod, still very much alive and loose in our world, still reigning genocide on the Holy Innocents of society. <br /><br />In our own country, as well as many others, there are millions whose umwelten mean that Christmas is characterized by poverty, hunger, and loneliness; by neighborhoods or households racked by toxicity, trauma, and violence; by systems of economic injustice, racism, xenophobia, and other forms of hate that seek to stifle God-given talents, identities, longings, and dreams.<br /><br />One could be forgiven for questioning Isaiah’s prophetic credentials in light of the brokenness, pain, and unheeded history lessons that seem to be constantly swirling around us. <br /><br />And I just want to say, whatever anyone’s reality of Christmas happens to be as the result of their unique perceptual place in life: It’s perfectly valid. It’s okay to experience Christmas with less merriment and cheer than the ads and the culture insist. It’s okay to experience Christmas with less certainty and more doubt than our scriptural readings proclaim. It’s okay to experience Christmas apart from family and friends, especially when that’s what circumstances or our needs require of us. And it’s okay to experience Christmas with sadness and longing, even if we really have no idea why we feel the way we do. <br /><br />That’s because – whether it feels like it or not – God is present in all our experiences, just as our sacred stories tell us God has been present with Israel during periods of exile and occupation; with Mary and Joseph during times of fear and confusion; and with Jesus while those ‘upon whose shoulders authority rested’ plotted again and again to kill him for proclaiming the holiness and justice of God, the very vision of Isaiah. God, who has been present in all moments of suffering, quietly sustaining those who long for better times, is still in our midst. This is the God whom the Gospel of John proclaims is in our world, made flesh, right here and now, to share our joys and sorrows, to rest with us during seasons of peace, and to shelter with us in times of conflict. <br /><br />This, I believe, is the hope of Christmas: that in whatever way we experience it through our own particular perceptual worlds – our umwelten – God is surely present, permeating every part of our senses, drawing us ever deeper into God’s self, and becoming more and more Emmanuel, God-With-Us. <br /><br />I pray that the peace of God and the hope of Christmas, in whatever way you experience it this year, be upon you and remain with you, during this holy season, and always. Amen. <br /><br /><br /></span></span>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-65334679117080663502023-12-24T10:14:00.002-05:002023-12-24T10:14:08.492-05:00Advent 4 B - December 24, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Adam McCoy<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 24, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv4_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank">2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16</a></p><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv4_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">Romans 16:25-27</a></p><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv4_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">Luke 1:26-38</a></p><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14199309" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWNY-KLbUofNEb75KRd1eD5HakvJ3t0PrAvIsp5ecYISRV46IQMxP6tc8x0KNEb52n2ivHDuweSjJfxHaYCVbQxyRpBbzqIemrlzkfzktDkUT3jvhohwQtCOAOFickHHrj25AahzEIiM3dZdgZlbqgjMBLV9E0sBjuFgDAIJ3NGan9q6D9ZVaB2zOT4i8x/s1741/Adam%20McCoy%20Shot%20-%205%20Sept%202022.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1438" data-original-width="1741" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWNY-KLbUofNEb75KRd1eD5HakvJ3t0PrAvIsp5ecYISRV46IQMxP6tc8x0KNEb52n2ivHDuweSjJfxHaYCVbQxyRpBbzqIemrlzkfzktDkUT3jvhohwQtCOAOFickHHrj25AahzEIiM3dZdgZlbqgjMBLV9E0sBjuFgDAIJ3NGan9q6D9ZVaB2zOT4i8x/s320/Adam%20McCoy%20Shot%20-%205%20Sept%202022.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For any number of reasons, this sermon will be a bit short, a bit simple and direct, not the least of those reasons being that the poinsettias are already urgently pressing toward the entrance to the church, the trees are up, cooks are already pouring forth epic menus of holiday treats, and the sacristy is doing double duty. Christmas is just hours away! <br /> The scriptural images of Advent to this point have been large, grand, public, noisy, impossible to miss: heavens tearing open, mountains quaking, the sun and moon going dark and stars falling from the heavens; valleys lifted up and mountains laid low, crooked paths straight and rough places plain; a strangely clad prophet with a weird diet calling a whole nation to account; ruined cities being rebuilt; and an as-yet unknown savior coming to bring all to fulfillment. Entire peoples, whole nations will be cast down and lifted up and the physical universe itself will be transformed.<br /> So one might think the entrance of the one everyone is waiting for will also be large, grand, public, noisy and impossible to miss. But No. Not. God’s chosen scene is the private domestic space of simple people. In our first lesson, God is happy to move about with the people on their journeys. It is they, not God, who need a great and grand and public house of worship. <br /> A bit earlier in the same part of the Old Testament there is a story eerily similar to the stories of Elizabeth, pregnant with John the Baptist, and of Mary: Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel. She is getting on in age but held up to ridicule because she has no child. Her son will be Samuel, a little boy born out of his mother’s desperation through divine intervention. This small child will become the agent of the complete political transformation of Israel. As with Elizabeth - older, barren, yet called to bear a nation-changing prophet. From such small beginnings: Who would have thought? And so Mary: a small town teenage girl, pregnant but not by her fiancé, this most extraordinary man, traveling in her ninth month to a town with no relatives or friends to take them in, will also, in these desperate circumstances, through divine agency, bear a child who will transform, not this time the nation, but the world itself. Difficult circumstances. Little children. On the road. No house or home. Faith and hope and little else. Hard times are the most ordinary things in the world. And there, there is where God is. <br /> Such a contrast between the great and grand and the small and private! The transforming, saving Word of God, so eagerly waited and watched for, comes into the world of people of no particular distinction coping as best they can.<br /> Tradition recommends that we apply the experience of the mothers of Samuel, of John and Jesus to our own lives. Practically all of us are like Hannah, Elizabeth and Mary. We seem to be of no particular importance. We may have been, probably will be, perhaps even now are, in desperation of one sort or another. Trouble is part of life. But we too are counseled to invite the promise of God, the Word of God, into our own lives. To let it plant itself in our troubled hearts and begin to grow. It may take half a lifetime to come to maturity and require all our skill to set it on its path, as good parents must do. But that promise, that Word, is always hoping for an invitation to enter, always hoping to find in us a home to grow great in. It does not need a public, grand and holy house, but will build for us the house we need. The sign of God’s Word’s presence is the faith, hope and love which quite ordinary, obscure people have for the future. Let us be like Hannah, like Elizabeth, like Mary. Let us trust the promise of God and set out on the paths God sets before us, confident that God is with us. Let us say yes when God’s invitation appears. <br /><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-10326662299993171752023-12-17T11:48:00.001-05:002023-12-24T10:12:41.752-05:00Advent 3 B - December 17, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Rev. Samuel Kennedy<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Third Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 17, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv3_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank">Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv3_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">1 Thessalonians 5:16-24</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv3_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">John 1:6-8,19-28</a></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14160536" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> <br /></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3du_ZI4TS_GQW0oNIfBtz0CNbOu2itkgPM-IC4wMCQrMdGDgnZwWlWxoyCU0fMVCy-wysCrDLGpsEuMZG1AeXGdu33obsXGXmAbO9eoP2HO5oHLfwTOs05E5hKHYaUv9tj1Tn0CbmzL_eW4N9pD9avN1DqWbHGiYbDahu7oyEHl6C8qCwhRWABD_CIT0A/s3024/IMG_2644.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3du_ZI4TS_GQW0oNIfBtz0CNbOu2itkgPM-IC4wMCQrMdGDgnZwWlWxoyCU0fMVCy-wysCrDLGpsEuMZG1AeXGdu33obsXGXmAbO9eoP2HO5oHLfwTOs05E5hKHYaUv9tj1Tn0CbmzL_eW4N9pD9avN1DqWbHGiYbDahu7oyEHl6C8qCwhRWABD_CIT0A/s320/IMG_2644.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div><p><b></b></p><p></p>A blessed third Sunday of Advent to you! It would seem that our liturgy is trying to communicate to us that change is afoot in this liturgical season. The glow of the wreath is brighter now that we have the third candle lit, our celebrant is vested in rose instead of the solemn purple we’ve seen the last two weeks, and there’s even a gentler, more hopeful tone about our Lessons.<br /><br />Today we observe Gaudete Sunday, whose name is taken from the first word of the introit that was historically used on this Sunday,”Gaudete in Domino semper.” “Rejoice in the Lord Always.” While that introit is based on Philippians 4 and Psalm 85, our Lesson from First Thessalonians 5 passionately reiterates this call, urging us to not merely experience joy on special occasions but rather to "Rejoice always! Pray without ceasing! Give thanks in all circumstances; to not quench the Spirit.<br /><br />“Rejoice always…” It sounds stirring, yet I can't help but admit that Paul’s imperatives seem a bit tone-deaf at times, even conjuring up images of white-knuckled spiritual bypassing. While I know that’s not being fair to the Apostle, his context, or what we can best discern about his intentions in writing, it is, if I’m honest, sometimes my experience when I read these words, and I believe it is important that we acknowledge that these imperatives from Paul may, at times, feel a bit detached from the realities of life. <br /><br />This year we are walking through Advent for a second time after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Today there are approximately ten thousand Ukrainian civilians and over a hundred thousand Ukrainian and Russian military personnel who are dead; no longer able to join us in awaiting the feast of Christmas. This year, it is they, not we, who are joined by nearly 1500 Israelis and 18,000 Palestinians who have died in the war in Gaza and Israel. Tragically, we all know that the examples of suffering in our world do not stop there. <br /><br />The holiday season also often magnifies our personal losses, the void left by those we loved and who loved us. The holidays can conjure up wistful longing for dreams that still elude us.<br /><br />In the face of such suffering and grief, can the Church authentically call us to joy? Is it even ethical for us to experience joy when the world (and our hearts are) is in this state? These questions weigh heavily on us (our hearts). And if we can experience joy, what function does it serve? What might the Spirit be inviting us to, when it/she invites us to rejoice, even in the midst of the suffering of this world? <br /><br />As we grapple with these questions, I think it can be helpful to recall the historical context in which these passages, with their attendant calls to joy, were written. The authors, did not live detached, privileged lives, but also faced the crucibles of suffering and adversity, as our beloved Apostle Paul likes to remind is some of his other writings. So, perhaps the joy that Paul speaks of and calls us to in our Epistle Lesson today is not an oblivious dance around the harsh realities of life, but rather something deeper -- a disposition that flows from a trust that ALL is held within the embrace of the Spirit of God. A trust that our grief, anger, and longing are not ignored but have a purpose, an end -- a deeper opening of our hearts to participate in the transformative work of the Spirit that we heard described so poetically in our lesson from Isaiah. <br /><br /><br />The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me<br /> because the Lord has anointed me;<br />he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,<br /> to bind up the brokenhearted,<br />to proclaim liberty to the captives<br /> and release to the prisoners…<br />to comfort all who mourn…<br />to repair the ruined cities,<br /> the devastations of many generations<br /><br /><br />This is, of course, the work of Jesus — the One that John the Baptist points to in our Gospel lesson, the One whom we await this Advent, and who invites us to join him in his work as the adopted children of God. It is the completion of this work that we await and long for this Advent, and it is this work that the Spirit invites us to participate in. <br /><br />However, for us to be able to join God in this work of healing, liberation, and repair, we have to first be willing and able to see the realities of the brokenness around us and within ourselves. Because we cannot actively participate in the renewal of the things that we cannot or will not see. But seeing is painful; experiencing the brokenness of this world — and our own hearts — can incline us toward shutting down, walling off, using every tool at our disposal to bypass the pain.<br /><br />But the Spirit of God, whose work Paul reminds us not to quench, seems to be faithfully about the work of expanding our hearts, of opening them up precisely to perceive and experience, unflinchingly and honestly, that which is true both about the world around us and the worlds within us. <br /> <br />And I believe that this may be where joy has an important role to play.<br /><br />There’s a saying in the Taoist tradition, “When you open your heart, you get life’s ten thousand sorrows and ten thousand joys.”<br /><br />Dharma teacher James Baraz articulates an understanding of the purpose of joy that I believe resonates with the wisdom of Scripture, and I’d like to share with you. He writes,<br />“Joy creates a spaciousness in the mind that allows us to hold the suffering we experience inside us and around us without becoming overwhelmed, without collapsing into helplessness or despair. It brings inspiration and vitality, dispelling confusion and fear while connecting us with life. Profound understanding of suffering does not preclude awakening to joy. Indeed, it can inspire us all the more to celebrate joyfully the goodness in life…[experiencing joy does not] mean disregarding suffering; [but] it does mean not overlooking happiness and joy.” <br /><br />Joy, then, is not an escape from reality but rather a profound encounter with it. It creates a spaciousness in the mind, a sacred container that allows us to hold the weight of suffering without being crushed beneath its burden. Joy brings inspiration and vitality, connecting us more deeply with the pulse of life itself. <br /><br />The Spirit of God that holds us and gives us life connects us to the pain and suffering in our own hearts and in the lives of those around us, but it also connects us to the joys emerging wherever there is life. The Spirit is present and holds the tragedies in Gaza and the Ukraine and invites us to lament and mourn with those who mourn and to work for just peace. That very same Spirit also connects us to the beauty, awe, and wonder experienced at the birth of a loved child, or the simple heart’s delight at being nuzzled by a beloved pet.<br /><br />The way that joy seems to function in our lives reminds me a bit of the way one of my very favorite singer songwriters uses music as he composes his songs. This artist has an uncanny ability to pen the most unflinchingly heartbreaking lyrics, but then deliver those lyrics in a way that we can stomach -- that feels almost gentle because he surrounds them with such musical beauty. The beauty of the music holds the pain of the lyrics and enables us to endure them and even connect our own pain and loss to the pain expressed in the song. I believe that joy functions analogously to music in this example — joy holds us as the Spirit broadens our hearts and opens our eyes. It enables us to endure the pain in our own lives and witness and stand alongside others in their own. This opening of our hearts, this beholding, in turn, allows us to begin to connect to the healing, renewing work of God around us and within us.<br /><br />One of our most beloved Advent hymns captures this tension between joy and mourning well.<br /><br />O come O come Emmanuel<br />And ransom captive Israel<br />That mourns in lonely exile here<br />Until the Son of God appear<br />Rejoice, rejoice, <br />Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel.<br /><br />May these words remind us that even in the midst of our waiting and mourning, there is room for joy to blossom, and that joy will help further open our hearts to the healing and renewing work of God that we await and long for this Advent. So may we not quench the Spirit, and may our hearts be opened to experience the 10,000 sorrows and 10,000 joys of this life, so that in those moments when the longed for Son of God appears with healing and redemption in his wings we stand ready to behold and join him in his work.<br /><br />In the name of God, Lover Beloved, and Love overflowing. <br />Amen.<br /><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-74161293344818941442023-12-10T10:25:00.006-05:002023-12-17T11:26:40.870-05:00Advent 2 B - December 10, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Ephrem Arcement OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Second Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 10, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv2_RCL.html#ot1">Isaiah 40:1-11</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv2_RCL.html#nt1">2 Peter 3:8-15a</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv2_RCL.html#gsp1">Mark 1:1-8</a></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14119706" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpdJMNGN2aOK3VMCfNcBYJoW64HDhHqAV0WXYCep5me1cB40cBFWWOrRq-P1X0wF6jRpyFsSs6EFQYy6un4D-Sr1wGCj0A7LzhKkdWd2ZmMc6UjD0gQ-pNctkGjkFAADl-7H_GFilknM_uqR_6JvhbGZ7avGTAHAPZmAYHjfeKlDhVrSqqRVlziTPGKMI/s3538/Ehrem%20Arcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3538" data-original-width="3538" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpdJMNGN2aOK3VMCfNcBYJoW64HDhHqAV0WXYCep5me1cB40cBFWWOrRq-P1X0wF6jRpyFsSs6EFQYy6un4D-Sr1wGCj0A7LzhKkdWd2ZmMc6UjD0gQ-pNctkGjkFAADl-7H_GFilknM_uqR_6JvhbGZ7avGTAHAPZmAYHjfeKlDhVrSqqRVlziTPGKMI/s320/Ehrem%20Arcement.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p></p><p>Last week we heard the anguish of the people of God bellow out of the prophet Isaiah: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,” giving voice to the desperate hope for divine intervention. Today we hear God’s compassionate reply, “Comfort, O comfort my people…the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together….” The book of the Isaiah, one of our main guides through the season of Advent, takes us through a roller-coaster panoply of highs and lows…of hopes and despairs…of sin and redemption. These pages echo those of Ecclesiastes, “For everything there is a season…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance….” Israel’s time of punishment is now complete, she has served the term for her transgressions and it is now time for comfort. Though she had wondered if her subjection would ever come to an end and if her torment would ever cease, the voice is now heard, “Here is your God! He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom….” <br /> By the time we come to the end of our Isaian roller-coaster ride and close the book, we are left with one overriding sense: that no matter how desperate and hopeless we may at times have felt along the way, God is Emmanuel, right here with us, and everything will be okay! But this is only part of the truth. The biblical testimony goes further…not only will everything will be okay but everything will, in the end, be far greater than it ever was before. The glory to be revealed is not a restoration of a mythical paradise of the past but an entirely new revelation which would not have been possible without the journey through the highs and lows of the roller-coaster ride of our lives. The pain and suffering of Israel, as well as our own, have not been for nought…they are birth pangs of a new creation.<br /> So, if last week’s answer to Israel’s cry was depicted in the tearing open of the heavens in a sudden divine intervention, this week’s answer offers us a fuller expression for our hope. Taken on its own, last week’s parting of the clouds may lead one to see the divine intervention as a kind of “deus ex Machina,” “a god from the machine,” a phrase used in Greek tragedies of an actor portraying a god being lowered by a crane into a scene or raised from a trap door. It was a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly resolved. Its function was to resolve an otherwise irresolvable plot situation, to surprise the audience, and to bring the tale to a happy ending. This scenario, taken on its own, may lead one to question…Is our Advent hope purely a projection…a kind of naive wish, a baseless hope…one ultimate deus ex Machina to bring the tragedy of life to a final conclusion? Certainly, many since the tragedies of the twentieth century have thought so. But today’s scenario of a God who is actually encountered in the here and now and effects true and lasting change offers a fuller vision for our hope than some sudden escape route and a surer foundation for our future fulfillment and justifies why we have every reason to remain full of hope and expectation. <br /> Instead of placing all of our hopeful energy on one final apocalyptic cataclysm to right all wrongs and usher in a new heaven and a new earth, today we hear of the role played by God’s chosen ones: Israel, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and ultimately by Jesus and his disciples. Rather than wallowing in misery and self-loathing, holding out for the final day, these chosen of God seized upon their call and vocation and became divine agents of transformation and birth which helped hasten this new heaven and new earth. And in Christ and his disciples, even helped make it visible in their own flesh.<br /> The temptation whenever we suffer and find ourselves in an existential crisis is to wallow in the questions and never reach a resolve to do anything about them. Why do anything, we reason, if none of this makes any sense and life seems to be just one tragedy after another? The answer that God’s chosen ones offer us is not to evade or ignore the problem. They were all very much in touch with their own pain and sorrow. What was different about them was that they had the faith to see that their pain and sorrow was not the last word but served a greater purpose. In the haunting words of Second Peter, the fire of God is a purifying agent so that “everything done on [earth] will be disclosed”…it serves to ground us in the truth. It’s the baptism of fire that John the Baptist preached which would lead, not to our end, but prepare us for something far greater, a new beginning where all things become possible. With God, pain and sorrow, rather than being sterile and debilitating, can become a fecund womb capable of being impregnated with a divine seed and, with faith, can give birth to something astonishingly new.<br /> What would happen if we channeled all the energy that we put in the hope of a future divine intervention and focused it on the God who is present birthing the new creation in the here and now? What if instead of worshiping the “sky god” far removed from us, we worship the God of Incarnation who seeks at every opportunity to erupt with the brilliant blaze of glory from within to conquer the dark places of our lives and our world? The evidence for this God of Incarnation, unlike the absent “sky god,” is all around us. I see it in the multitude of lives once bound by sin set free by this grace of divine Presence. I see it in the multitude of saints whose lives exude an aura which attests to a transcendent realm of peace and joy now accessible. I see this God of the new creation present in the evolving world of which we are a creative part…and in the astonishing variety of species we are still discovering. I encounter this birthing God in an expanding cosmos that has no end in sight…and in the overwhelming beauty of it all that reminds me just what a privilege it is that I exist. I encounter this God of Presence in the random acts of kindness that are making real differences in people’s lives each day and in the righteous indignation felt when the most vulnerable of us are cheated or degraded or ignored. The welling up of this love and of this kindness and of this anger is the welling up of the divine within us incarnating itself in our flesh and transforming us, and the world through us, into what God has desired us to be all along, and we, like God’s chosen ones, are hastening the coming kingdom. Maybe the metaphor is misplaced and outdated and God may not break through parting clouds, but the breaking-in of God into our world remains true and, perhaps, more realizable than ever…not from outside our world in a distant future but from the deepest dimensions within it right now. <br /> How does this new orientation…this new focus on the “what is” rather than on the “what may or may not be” affect the way we live our lives and the way we live this season of Advent? Much in every way! To live in the future is to worship the god of the “what if only” which leads to frustration and anxiety because it is not grounded in reality. The only way toward the ultimate fulfillment of what Jesus called the “kingdom of heaven” is to bring the vision of our future hope into the living reality of the present which is the only place where the God who makes all things new can be encountered. The present, with all of its crosses to bear, is the only way to the future. Too much of Christian spirituality through the centuries has tried circumventing this straight and narrow path and preferred a spirituality of escapism and rapture and has lost what is most profound about the God of Incarnation: the mystical possibility of bearing God in our own flesh! <br /> Teilhard de Chardin once said that “joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God.” For Teilhard, authentic Christian spirituality is about vitality…what he called “the zest for life.” To be truly Christian is to quite literally be alive with the creative force of the God of evolution, who through divine grace and spiritual vitality, is using us to fill the world with Christ and bring the world to fulfillment. He called this process, Christification…making all things alive in Christ…and amorization…making all things alive in love. <br /> The humble maiden awestruck at the wondrous and disturbing announcement of an angel remains the archetype for our involvement with this God of Incarnation. Our common Christian vocation is this Advent journey of encounter, impregnation, gestation, and birth. But unlike Mary, we are not giving birth to a separate existence outside ourselves. Through the gift of the Spirit, Christ is birthed into his new body, which is you and me, and makes his appearance upon the joyful, the peaceful, and the loving countenance of our own faces. And he then acts to bless the world and transfigure it through our own hands. “Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together!"<br /> Malcolm Guite, the Anglican poet and priest, perhaps captures best this truth in his poem Annunciation:<br /><br />We see so little, stayed on surfaces,<br />We calculate the outsides of all things,<br />Preoccupied with our own purposes<br />We miss the shimmer of the angels’ wings,<br />They coruscate around us in their joy<br />A swirl of wheels and eyes and wings unfurled,<br />They guard the good we purpose to destroy,<br />A hidden blaze of glory in God’s world.<br />But on this day a young girl stopped to see<br />With open eyes and heart. She heard the voice;<br />The promise of His glory yet to be,<br />As time stood still for her to make a choice;<br />Gabriel knelt and not a feather stirred,<br />The Word himself was waiting on her word.<br /><br />So, as we continue our Advent journey with this God of Incarnation, let us awaken to the fact that it is not so much we who wait on God, but, rather, it is God who waits on us! And not from a secure abode somewhere far away out of reach but right here in the tenacious, obstinate, relentless spirit of our own lives ever knocking until Spirit is joined with flesh and all of life is caught up in the swirling shimmer of God’s glory.<br /> <br /> </p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-27432837025486242392023-12-03T10:22:00.002-05:002023-12-03T10:23:22.220-05:00Advent 1 B - December 3, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Robert James Magliula OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The First Sunday of Advent, Year B, December 3, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv1_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank">Isaiah 64:1-9</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv1_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">1 Corinthians 1:3-9</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Advent/BAdv1_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">Mark 13:24-37</a></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp23_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14078390" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b> </b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-fFoF3Vn7alww02NQVCzYFnIf8SFcAWMlchNhixwj7En7n-JvOl5PjlW4zYVF2PnFQxfHr9tYcX9AidJT2UsUD0aaPBHLUSvsZmdJWM7b66k_9SCLj93NgtRomu0mK5Jp1-uCyk-PUMWOLRmmoFfkE9hTdT7zQRSqtO7D4Pg_ccxc3ujJ0dKIybrM6xW/s3399/Robert%20Magliula.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3399" data-original-width="3399" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-fFoF3Vn7alww02NQVCzYFnIf8SFcAWMlchNhixwj7En7n-JvOl5PjlW4zYVF2PnFQxfHr9tYcX9AidJT2UsUD0aaPBHLUSvsZmdJWM7b66k_9SCLj93NgtRomu0mK5Jp1-uCyk-PUMWOLRmmoFfkE9hTdT7zQRSqtO7D4Pg_ccxc3ujJ0dKIybrM6xW/s320/Robert%20Magliula.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Every year on this First Sunday in Advent, the beginning of the Church year, we hear a gospel about endings. <br />“In those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.” (Mark 13:24).<br />Jesus and his disciples have just left the temple, the center of Jewish life and identity. One of the disciples, impressed by the temple, remarked, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” “Not one stone,” Jesus says to him, “will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” (Mk. 13:1-2). He’s not predicting the future or giving us signs to look for so that we can predict the future. He’s describing a present reality. He is telling them that the story of their life and identity will be changed and replaced with another. He’s describing what it feels like when there’s been a ending in our life---when the stars by which we once navigated no longer point the way, when the powers on which we depended are no longer dependable. If you have ever experienced significant change in your life, whether desired or dreaded, you know about Advent. You know what it is like to enter the darkness of change. <br />All change brings an end, some kind of loss of what is comfortable, familiar, safe. Jesus is telling them, and us, that one will need to let go of their old view of life, the world, themselves, and even of God. Every beginning starts with an ending. There’s more to our lives and our world than a single beginning and ending. So today’s gospel is about “an” end and not “the” end. Beginnings and endings are two sides of the same event, possible moments of growth and transformation. <br />Our entry into the Season of Advent sounds ominous and it is, because it is not just a liturgical season. It’s a reality of life, including the life and world in which the Son of Man comes. The lectionary holds this before us because endings are what we face and live with. They come at various points in life, not just the weeks before Christmas. Naming such times in our life is our entrance into Advent. Our Advent preparation for the coming of Christ invites us to look at the ways our endings have shaped and defined our life, how they have narrowed our view of God, the world, others, and ourselves. We need to ask ourselves whether we are willing to accept the necessary endings so that His coming is the beginning of our new life. This takes time. Maybe this year we can create more space than we did last year, be more trusting of the darkness and the necessary endings. What we do on this First Sunday of Advent, will, in large part, set the tone and context for how we will experience the coming of Christ throughout the rest of this year. <br />Instead of being concerned with where God is and what God is doing, we ought to first be concerned about where we are and what we are doing. Instead of starting with what’s going on in the world around us, we ought to begin with what’s going on within us. More often than not we do not see other people and the world as they are, but as we are. When we are tense and anxious, we’ll want to run away. When we are living in the past, we’ll miss this present moment. When we are frightened, other people can easily become threats and enemies. When our life is full of problems, we’ll be quick to judge others. When we are filled with guilt, we’ll look for someone to blame. These are not the circumstances around us; they are spiritual conditions within us.<br />In those threshold moments when our world is shaken we mostly want someone to fix it and make it like it used to be. We echo the prophet Isaiah’s cry, “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down” (Is. 64:1 ). The God of Advent does not redo our life but redeems it. Advent confronts us with a necessary ending that makes space for a new beginning. <br />Advent times are liminal times of waiting, times of transition. Advent invites us to receive the God who comes to us in the darkness. If we run from our darkness, we run from God. Darkness is not our enemy. If we allow them, the dark places of life can draw us deeper into the divine mystery by reminding us that we are not in charge, that we do not know everything, or see all possibilities. Advent challenges us to let go of our ways of knowing, and to question our ways of seeing. Too often we use the darkness to deceive ourselves into believing there is nothing worth waiting or watching for. So we close our eyes and become part of the darkness, refusing to see the One who is always coming to us. We fall asleep whenever fear controls our life, when hope gives way to despair, when busyness is equated with goodness, when entitlement replaces thanksgiving, when we choose what is comfortable rather than life-giving. If we are not aware of these things they will overtake us. Jesus says become aware and alert to what is going on. If we do not tend to what is going on inside of us we will project it outside of us. <br />In the darkness of Advent we listen more than we speak, we hold questions rather than answers. We wait expectantly but without specific expectations. Waiting in darkness is an act of faithfulness and surrender to the Coming One. Waiting becomes our prayer, a prayer that is and will be answered by God’s presence. <br />The entire Season of Advent echoes with challenge, assurance, and promise. A new awareness within ourselves changes the way we see with a clarity and objectivity we did not have before. We become connected to that original goodness and beauty that resides in each of us, that has always been there; maybe forgotten, but never lost. We are always waking up to the truth, so we can reconnect to the beauty of life, the mystery of love, the wonder of creation. We awaken to hope, alert to the presence of God in unexpected places and surprising ways. <br />Time does not separate and define our beginnings and endings. It is Christ who joins and unites them. So every beginning finds its fullness in an ending and every ending is the context for a new beginning. All happens in Christ, the one who called himself the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. +Amen.<br /><br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-77637726500405301752023-11-26T10:35:00.000-05:002023-11-26T10:35:02.054-05:00The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King - November 26, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Randy Greve OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King, November 26, 2023</span></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank">Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html#ps2"><br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">Ephesians 1:15-23<br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp29_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">Matthew 25:31-46</a></p><p></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14034529" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b></b></p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjK3JRxK9abyo6AxOiMTtW1GhyphenhyphenhsfyuFnBrmO1NzcmJK68aJ600BZg3wuITF10qmrtelphg7xCtR3pOXWNGpE8VJEG-CGKygPOgVD_EOKeELM7qT56vYNWFZQF7m_nWBeIG5P9b-htLaYgyp9Axfz4hdEjieGvpPUG6O3Muf1eb7RhhWgIKUGBCdyzxUD/s2783/Randy%20Greve.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2783" data-original-width="2783" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjK3JRxK9abyo6AxOiMTtW1GhyphenhyphenhsfyuFnBrmO1NzcmJK68aJ600BZg3wuITF10qmrtelphg7xCtR3pOXWNGpE8VJEG-CGKygPOgVD_EOKeELM7qT56vYNWFZQF7m_nWBeIG5P9b-htLaYgyp9Axfz4hdEjieGvpPUG6O3Muf1eb7RhhWgIKUGBCdyzxUD/s320/Randy%20Greve.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Recent American history has evoked a reckoning. Movements such as #metoo, the facing of past and present racism, even in the church, and the dismantling of many Confederate statues and symbols are but a few of the shifts in these years. This reckoning is an unveiling of the patterns of denial and privilege that is leading us to a deeper awareness of our collective unfinished business of creating a society with liberty and justice for all. Yet as our heightened commitment to justice comes as grace-filled liberation for many, for others the present moment is a threat to previous ways of organizing power and has inspired an equally intense resistance that seeks to preserve racial, gender, sexual, and other barriers and prejudices. Those empowered by the ways of denial are not happy about this reckoning. <br />In her book, The Great Emergence, Phyllis Tickle describes this reckoning as a once every five hundred year rummage sale during which the political and religious foundations shift and crack and institutions go from chaos to realignment in ways that are both hopeful and dangerous, exciting and disorienting. She writes that the central question during the transition is, “Who is in charge?” Who has power and how is it being used? The deepening levels of political and religious polarization and partisan strife in our culture points back to Tickle’s question. In his last book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks writes about this phenomenon; “Something new is happening: the sense that the other side is less than fully human, that its supporters are not part of the same moral community as us, that somehow their sensibilities are alien and threatening, as if they were not the opposition within a political arena, but the enemy, full stop.” We are in the midst of the cracking and do not know the extent or the duration. The desire after the worst of the pandemic to “return to normal” has confronted the undeniable reality that whatever that “normal” was way back in February 2020 is not coming back while what will be is not yet fully known. As old structures of power are questioned and critiqued, but before new ones have coalesced, we are at an impasse that invites careful reflection and mindful discernment as to the faithful response of word and deed. <br /> </p><p>If we are paying attention, we come around to the seasons of the Church year and her feasts over and over again yet as if meeting them for the first time. The collects and readings are the same, but the moment, the “now” of each feast and season is unrepeatable. The reckoning of Christ’s life and work among us takes on ever more urgent importance and is an ever more vital source of unshakable hope amidst the disorientation. It is good to celebrate Christ the King. Necessary to that celebration is to take seriously the claim of Christ the King for today, among us, within the changes and chances that 2023 have brought us. <br /> </p><p>Christ the King disorients and reorients, evokes frustration and hope. Perhaps only Trinity Sunday is a rival in the admonition to the preacher - “just don’t say anything heretical!” It is a truth claim and title that by itself evokes a range of reactions about spiritual power and authority. Can the eternal identity of Christ meet our present honest struggles and longings, our unknowing and fear, and still be affirmed? Christian disorientation is creating two main reactions: on one hand when theology is doubted, just double down - vigorously preserve the tribal dogma against its critics and enemies. On the other side are those who have been harmed by abuse in the name of Christ and who struggle to preserve faith when the voices and models have acted contrary to the Christ they proclaim. They see no way to integrate the claims of faith with their emotional experience. <br /> </p><p>I suggest Christ the King gives us a third way - not a Christ who is tyrannically demanding conformity, yet a Christ whose rule is necessary to fulfill my human dignity and freedom. Let’s start with the obvious. Christ is King. I am not king. You are not king. The judgment scene in St. Matthew gives sole rule and reign to the one who gathers and knows and who pronounces what might be called a verdict on our behavior’s compassion or lack thereof. Note carefully how nowhere does Christ the king ask my opinion, solicit my help, or seek my advice about how to be king - there is no committee. The only thing that humans do in the scene is ask “when did we see…?” Christ, we may affirm from the text, is not a mascot for my side over the other. Christ is not King in such a way that aligns him with those who believe they are right, who hold power, who claim superiority simply by the fact of those beliefs or powers. No persons or groups get a free pass, special status, or exemption from the standard of judgment. Christ is not a means to gaining power for myself. Christ is not available to be weaponized into a sword with which I smite the infidels. What we would need to know if we were going to construct a theology of power based on knowing, exclusion, absolute answers, and fixed boundaries is missing. Such as…<br />When will the final judgment come? We don’t know because the story does not say when the final judgment will come.<br /> How can we know with certainty who are sheep and goats? We cannot. The story identifies what sheep and goats do, not who they are. Christ knows.<br /> Do we help Christ execute judgment against our enemies? We do not.<br />Has much energy been spent by Christians seeking to answer these questions and who believe that answers are attainable? Yes. Are the answers any of our business? No.<br /> </p><p>I find I would much rather be a helper than a subject. I would like to serve on Christ’s staff. Wise understanding is not rightly oriented toward inventing what the text does not provide, but first taking as given that we are not mini-kings who must rule over those in error, but limited and imperfect humans in fellowship with other equally limited and imperfect humans. The story purely distilled is reinforcing the differences between the divine vocation and the human vocation and pointing toward how these separate powers interact. When we aspire to divine acts, Christ is giving us back the gift of our human creatureliness with all its glory and honor, all its passing-breath mortality. Part of the gift and glory of being human is what we do not know, cannot know, what is hidden from us, what is of an altogether different order of reality from our ways of understanding. Our vocation is to let the unknowns be unknown so that we can attend to the human quest of love for our neighbor.<br /> </p><p>Christ the King asks us to awaken to being human not as a problem to be overcome, but as a gift to be received and shared. What is not said, what is kept in God’s own being, what is missing, is information that also makes the story formative in that our attention is pointed toward seeing and doing what we can, not what we cannot - that is where our power resides. Our deepest search is for Christ, but Christ the King himself declares that our search is not fulfilled in esoteric theories and speculation, not in power over others, but presence with and service to others. The place to find Christ is in the other. There is a theme in scripture of God appearing in the stranger. Christ is always coming to me in the other person. By grace I am Christ going to my brother or sister. To locate Christ as the One encountered in the other puts me in an open, expectant, and generous posture - in other words, makes me human.<br /> </p><p>Aware of what we do not know, but on the last day will know because we will be fully known, our power is liberated toward human flourishing in this our waiting-time before the setting right of the world. In our care of the least of these, we discover a reality bigger than our unknowing - that Christ the King is present to us through them and that we are present as Christ to them. That is the reckoning to which we are called. In the moments of seeing and responding, we are choosing to be counted among the blessed inheritors of the kingdom. That compassion participates in and adds to what foretells the end of violence and exploitation, the end of greed and idolatry, the end of division and ingratitude. Amen.<br /><br /></p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-11542344444418004292023-11-25T10:47:00.006-05:002023-11-25T10:47:58.566-05:00James Otis Sargent Huntington OHC, Founder - November 25, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Josep Martinez-Cubero OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Feast of James Otis Sargent Huntington OHC, Founder, November 25, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"> </div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Nov/Huntington.html#nt1">Galatians 6:14–18</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Nov/Huntington.html#ps1">Psalm 34:1-8</a></div><div style="color: #444444;"><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/LesserFF/Nov/Huntington.html#gsp1">John 6:34–38</a></div><p></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/14031594" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b></b></p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ixYnDyYlnNvkBOOkOHjRVMynomx2E5hh9JXkmcUrlWpaw7ZEdcYgnp0CKnNBkUjee5VqHdJMlTG5-1mOIDcyqsrmTlIqwPWwLhQcT7vCK8tqIiL7P-gzD8zQ8TcsMjPDx0RKoB3nSwCB4PHUMGACCBdjOIBKb4S0SDsqOxq1fc2HSM9Np2GZILySJX6_/s3618/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3618" data-original-width="3618" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4ixYnDyYlnNvkBOOkOHjRVMynomx2E5hh9JXkmcUrlWpaw7ZEdcYgnp0CKnNBkUjee5VqHdJMlTG5-1mOIDcyqsrmTlIqwPWwLhQcT7vCK8tqIiL7P-gzD8zQ8TcsMjPDx0RKoB3nSwCB4PHUMGACCBdjOIBKb4S0SDsqOxq1fc2HSM9Np2GZILySJX6_/s320/Josep%20Martinez-Cubero.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Love bade me welcome. Yet my soul drew back<br /> Guilty of dust and sin.<br />But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack<br /> From my first entrance in,<br />Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,<br /> If I lacked any thing.<br /> <br />A guest, I answered, worthy to be here:<br /> Love said, You shall be he.<br />I the unkind, ungrateful? Ah my dear,<br /> I cannot look on thee.<br />Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,<br /> Who made the eyes but I?<br /> <br />Truth Lord, but I have marred them: let my shame<br /> Go where it doth deserve.<br />And know you not, says Love, who bore the blame?<br /> My dear, then I will serve.<br />You must sit down, says Love, and taste my meat:<br /> So I did sit and eat. ~George Herbert<br /><br /><br />This poem by 17th century English poet George Herbert is one of my favorites because to me, it most beautifully and clearly characterizes the intimate mystical relationship God so desperately desires with us. The scene is a banquet, a feast, a celebration of life, joy, freedom and belonging to which each of us is intimately invited. But we hold back, afraid of going in. It is Love who invites us, Love with capital L, that is, because love is what is most essentially true of God. The invitation is profoundly personal. It is to me, as I am, unconditionally. It is to you, as you are, unconditionally.<br /><br />One of the great mystics of our Order, Fr. Whittemore, described Religious Life as a “love affair”. Like Jeremiah, we have heard in our hearts what Fr. Whittemore called “the whispering of the perfect lover”: “O LORD, you have enticed me, and I was enticed; you have overpowered me, and I have prevailed”. <br /><br />Becoming a Religious begins with the experience of what, theologically, is called a “vocation” or call to the life. It is exemplified by biblical stories such as the one from the Book of Genesis we just heard. God calls Abram, a wealthy man from a great patriarchal lineage, to leave the security of everything he knew and loved, and to follow God’s guidance and promise. In the Holy Scriptures God also calls Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, the Virgin Mary, Paul, and many others. In the Religious tradition God has called Antony, Benedict, Francis, Clare and many others, including our Father Founder, James Otis Sargent Huntington. <br /><br />In the post-modern world, this call is still heard as a convergence of interior factors such as attraction, desires, and even awareness of personal limitations, with exterior factors such as people we admire, a lifestyle that seems attractive to us, or even opportunity presenting itself. God works with everything and transforms it into something new. Those of us who remain in Religious Life know that the other motivations that were there all along, perhaps less clear, but ultimately, more powerful, begin to surface: love for Christ, a desire for union with God in prayer, zeal to proclaim the Gospel, and desire to be part of a community centered on the spiritual life and committed to looking for the riches of God as it depends less on the riches of the world.<br /><br />Sister Sandra Schneiders describes Religious Life as a “prophetic lifeform in the Church whose prophetic character is rooted in and derives from the celibate solitude that unites contemplative immediacy to God and solidarity with the marginalized of society and expresses itself in the vows that address to the world the challenge of the Reign of God”. Religious Life is a mystery but requires no justification to those who embrace it and can provide no defense to those who challenge it. It was to this mystery that James Otis Sargent Huntington was called. We are here today because Love bade him welcome, and he sat and ate. He stayed. Like Abram, he heard the call of God and walked away from an upper-class lifestyle to live as a monk at a time when monks were held in derision by many in the Episcopal Church. <br /><br />The founding of what came to be the Order of the Holy Cross was born out of a conversation between Father Huntington and Father Robert Stockton Dod. It was Father Dod who led Father Huntington and Father James Cameron, who joined them soon after, in the formation of community life beginning in the autumn of 1881. But both Dod, and Cameron left within the next two years. Father Huntington chose to stay the course, and that’s why we are here today. He persevered after both his companions had left. He persevered through what must have seemed like a failure. He was not the more dominant character of the three, but the stronger. As Br. Adam McCoy states in his history of our Order: “It is in this sense that Fr. Huntington became Father Founder: not that he had the founding vision, but that he had the founding strength to remain faithful, and his faithfulness raised up a mighty work.” <br /><br />His decision was undoubtedly fueled by his conviction that the virtues of monastic life- humility, obedience, love- could serve as an example for all Christian life. The distinction lies in that, in monastic life the individual relinquishes independence in order to become part of a unified body, guided by the Holy Spirit. In his letter to the Galatians, Saint Paul gives us an account of some traits that characterize a Spirit-led community. It begins with the understanding that life according to the Spirit is not something that can simply be structured according to human expectations. It is a counter-cultural orientation of the heart especially in western culture, which places a great deal of emphasis on independence and self-sufficiency. <br /><br />On the Vow of Obedience in his Rule for the Order, Father Huntington wrote: “We are to die to our isolation and separateness as individuals, that we may live in the energies of a mystical body wherein the life is one, and that the life of Jesus, our Head. The community is thus our means of entrance into union with our ascended Lord.” So, for Father Huntington, monastic life is characterized by the interdependence of its members. That means that we support one another in times of need, encourage each other to flourish, and are even willing to challenge one another when necessary. Our common welfare depends on the spiritual health of each member. There is no room in a Spirit-led community for domination, manipulation, bullying, controlling others, competition which says that you must lose so that I can win, resentment, envy, or revenge. On the other hand, Saint Paul tells us that spiritual health is characterized by love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We all have a stake in helping one another achieve these fruits of the Spirit and to walk faithfully in Jesus’ way. <br /><br />This was Father Huntington’s vision for the monastic life, a vision that serves as an example to the entire human enterprise of what is possible when we accept Love’s welcome. A community of monks devoted to imitating the crucified Christ who bore the cross for love of the world. A community that keeps its vision focused on Jesus and sees the depth of God's forgiveness, grace and love. A community that keeps its vision focused on Jesus as the ultimate example of a life of service and sacrifice that reflects the Reign of God here on earth.<br /> <br />It was this vision which carried Father Huntington, who in his rule for our Order wrote that “love must act as light must shine and fire must burn.” It was this love that carried him through a life full of struggles: periods of depression, burnout, temptations to escape, and disappointments. Yet, his faith never seemed to have wavered. He stayed the course. He followed the path. Love bade him welcome, and James Huntington did love. Indeed, at his deathbed, he made sure that the message to his brothers was that he wanted them to have joy, and that he loved them. He seems to have been the embodiment of the imperative of Saint John’s Gospel, that it is by our love for one another that we will be known as followers of Jesus. <br /><br />Blessed James Huntington, intercede for us. ¡Que así sea, en el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espíritu Santo! ~Amen+<br />Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-91588927573418632422023-11-19T13:18:00.008-05:002023-11-19T13:27:42.160-05:00Proper 28 A - November 19, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Aidan Owen OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 28 A, November 19, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp28_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank">Zephaniah 1:7,12-18</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp28_RCL.html#ps2"><br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp28_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">1 Thessalonians 5:1-11<br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp28_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">Matthew 25:14-30</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp27_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank"></a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/13998767" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghOrPa-g5lwHiD0V5Xc5XgN2o2j3qpBJaYFettJY_52LslQdhdJEo6dkhBUQMy0qZ-HsL-tW7_jSuaHDA8ufUD1bqXHj1QygnLEKpgeo4tg0ybnNgsPWXXvPaIt97Y8u9rs2A1sLa7rzzb9aNWm9eCHaXc-O538lhfJi4pQiN9SZNg4nD8a4VZwCsQ9IvA/s3578/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3578" data-original-width="3578" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghOrPa-g5lwHiD0V5Xc5XgN2o2j3qpBJaYFettJY_52LslQdhdJEo6dkhBUQMy0qZ-HsL-tW7_jSuaHDA8ufUD1bqXHj1QygnLEKpgeo4tg0ybnNgsPWXXvPaIt97Y8u9rs2A1sLa7rzzb9aNWm9eCHaXc-O538lhfJi4pQiN9SZNg4nD8a4VZwCsQ9IvA/s320/Aidan%20Owen.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><p>The poet Scott Cairns writes “I love the Word’s ability to rise again / from chronic homiletic burial.” No parable in all the gospels is in greater need of such resurrection than this morning’s, which has been used as fodder for stewardship sermons for generations. This is not such a sermon, though you should feel free to make a donation by check, cash, or Venmo at the church door. Let’s get this out of the way at the beginning. This parable is not about using your God-<br />given talents for personal fulfillment or societal improvement. Although our addiction to power often leads us to find God in the kings, landowners, and masters of Jesus’ parables, we need only examine the behavior of the master here to realize that he does<br />not represent God. He yells at his slave “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest.” By the way, violating Jewish laws against usury. He then orders the slave to be thrown into the outer darkness, because, as he says, “to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even<br />what they have will be taken away.”<br /></p><p>If the master corresponds to your image of God—and let’s be honest, he might. Many of us still carry around a vindictive and violent God image—I suggest you find a good spiritual director. And I’m not kidding here. Jesus is the antidote to the toxic God-image so many of us carry. Jesus, who heals all who come to him. Jesus, who eats with those on the margins. Jesus, who pours out his life in self-sacrificing love on the Cross, forgiving his murderers. The God we know as self-giving love in Jesus is nothing like the master in this morning’s parable. Rather, the master, and the system he represents, shows us the cruel reality of the world in which we are still living today. The world in which our corporate overlords goad us into frantic activity for their own enrichment. The world in which we are complicit in the devastation of the natural world in order to extract enough so-called resources to maintain our lives of privileged excess. The world in which we judge ourselves and one another based on what and how much we can produce. Our world, the world we live in and the one we help to prop up, is a place where those who have get more and those who have practically nothing, lose even what little they have. But what if, instead of giving the spotlight to the master and his atrocities, we follow Jesus to the margins? For if the Gospel is to be our guide, it is not in the centers of well- lit power that we will find him, but with the outcast slave, in the darkness, with all that weeping and gnashing of teeth.<br /><br />Following the exiled slave into the outer darkness, stripped of even the nothing he has, we find that God has preceded us there. Jesus, who took the form of just such a slave, as scripture tells us, has already made a place in that darkness to welcome those who have been exiled there. In proceeding us, and all who choose or are forced into the dark, Jesus makes a way out of no way. As Psalm 139 puts it, darkness is not dark to him; the night is as bright as the day. And even when the darkness threatens to shut down around us, we cannot be lost, not because we know the way (small w) ourselves, but because the Way (capital<br />W) is closer to us than our own heartbeat. The God who fearfully and wonderfully made<br />us will not—cannot—let us go.<br /></p><p>We are living today in a world threatened by the darkness of annihilation. I don’t need to give you the rundown. You all already know it too well. Our systems of domination and control are collapsing, and those who steer them only tighten their grip and increase their pressure on us. These peddlers of power offer us their well-lit certainties and fundamentalisms. They assure us that they know who is to blame and that they have the power to return us to a fabled golden age. Really, they seek to return us not to the<br />paradise of the garden but to the unthinking sleep of the automaton in a neon-lit nightmare. One of Teilhard de Chardin’s great insights is that God is not a god of the past, but of the future. God draws us out of the well-lit cities into the dark margins of the cosmos, into the unknown future where greater and deeper wholeness awaits us—the fullness of love in the heart of God.<br /></p><p>Writer and activist Rebecca Solnit reminds us that the future is always dark, but that it is a darkness as much of the womb as of the grave. That is not to say that we should give thanks for the metaphorical and literal hurricanes and earthquakes. But it is to say that, given the context in which we are living, we can choose to seek the oblivion of the shopping mall or we can move out into the night, where the stars can be our guide. If God seems to be absent or aloof, it may be that our world is too polluted with certainty and light to see the outline of the hidden one. </p><p>Scott Cairns again: </p><p></p><p>Suppose the Holy One Whose Face We Seek<br />is not so much invisible as we are ill equipped to apprehend His grave proximity. </p><p>Say the One is not so hidden as we are kept by our own conjuncture blinking, puzzled, leaning in without result. </p><p>Let’s say the meek, the poor, the merciful all suspect His hand despite the evidence. </p><p>As for those rarest folk, the pure in heart? </p><p>Intent on what they touch, they see Him now.<br /> </p><p>Scott Cairns, “As We See,” in Pilokalia (2002)<br /><br />There is no place that is separate or hidden or cut off from God’s merciful love. Though sometimes we must consent to our own stripping to stand naked before the one who beheld our limbs yet unfinished in the womb. Sometimes the choice for life is the choice of conscious darkness and unknowing. But the stars are there, even when the world is too bright for us to see them. And the outer and inner darkness shine, too, with God’s radiance, if we have the courage to consent to our own unblinding. Let the master rage. Give him back his talent and be gone. For when his breath his spent and all his worst is wrought, we will already be gone into the long and starlit night of Jesus’ loving Way. Love does not destroy the masters of the world. But love outlasts them. And hand in hand with love, we will do, too. </p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-58754990847248210472023-11-12T10:40:00.001-05:002023-11-12T10:40:36.618-05:00Proper 27 A - November 12, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Bernard Delcourt OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 27 A, November 12, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp27_RCL.html#ot1" target="_blank">Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp27_RCL.html#ps1"><br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp27_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">1 Thessalonians 4:13-18<br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp27_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">Matthew 25:1-13</a></p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/13954643" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><b> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGcslmn62dfmJiBqtPPECANuCL7lCP_dC7vS5NbPxJWSzVXTKyV4EECyg_E-BgTJHwlBbRgS2LPENRD8aEsfBdVLI1cRvCtha3z09BEZgTbuuYLcoLRHdMylLNABcq1kvFpnz-wA-Jst4DMbFewAfCMPxV2osurWyyLcxw4usqkoPvlJauNvztV1LThyp/s292/Bernard%20%20Crop%202022.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="292" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHGcslmn62dfmJiBqtPPECANuCL7lCP_dC7vS5NbPxJWSzVXTKyV4EECyg_E-BgTJHwlBbRgS2LPENRD8aEsfBdVLI1cRvCtha3z09BEZgTbuuYLcoLRHdMylLNABcq1kvFpnz-wA-Jst4DMbFewAfCMPxV2osurWyyLcxw4usqkoPvlJauNvztV1LThyp/s1600/Bernard%20%20Crop%202022.jpg" width="292" /></a></div></b>Today’s parable can be read as a metaphor for the end times. The message to God’s people seems to be: “Be prepared to wait. Don’t assume you have enough oil in your lamps. Take some rest if you must. Be prepared, be provident.”<br /><br />In some religious traditions, Advent still begins on the sixth Sunday before Christmas, the Sunday after St. Martin's Day (November 11, yesterday). Advent was that long between the fifth and eighth centuries. You can still find traces of that in the readings of the few Sundays before our current four-week Advent.<br /><br />The season of Advent in the Christian calendar anticipates the "coming of Christ" from three different perspectives: the physical nativity in Bethlehem, the reception of Christ in the heart of the believer, and the eschatological Second Coming.<br /><br />Our parable today focuses on the third perspective, on the coming of Christ; His coming in glory at the end of times. The world today makes you hanker for the Second Coming, doesn’t it? Reading, listening and watching (as little as possible) about the world today, can indeed be more anxiety-producing than the end of time. Can all this be over yet, Jesus? But more on that later.<br /><br />This parable stresses the importance of constant personal spiritual preparedness. Are we always willing to say yes to God’s grace and face the consequences? If you are like me, there are days that your preparedness is wavering.<br /><br />But in my understanding of God as manifested to us in Jesus, God’s grace is like the sun and the rain. They fall on everyone, the good and the challenging, regardless of merit.<br /><br />The evangelist Matthew was very concerned with encouraging his community of believers to endure and persevere in the faith. <br /><br />Matthew is clearly writing for a Jewish Christian audience living within the immediate proximity of the homeland itself. Matthew's is the most Jewish of all the gospels.<br /><br />At the time of Matthew’s writing, this community was going through incredibly challenging times for their faith. The temple at Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Romans and the population of Jerusalem scattered to the winds.<br /><br />Many were hoping for Jesus to return very soon and get everyone home safe and sound in the Kingdom of God.<br /><br />With the parable of the ten virgins, Matthew is saying “not so fast, folks!” And we still need to hear that message today when it would be so nice to have the Second Coming of Christ take us out of wars and climate change disruptions right about now.<br /><br />Matthew is suggesting that we will need to wait and that we will have to be prepared for a long wait. Our energy for the wait may be flagging at times. Indeed both the wise and the foolish will fall asleep at times. But in the end, the Bridegroom will be coming in a glorious wedding procession to start times of feasting and revelry in togetherness.<br /><br />So it seems the point of this parable for the people of God is to live joyfully and expectantly for we are invited to the wedding feast. But we are to live prepared in Christian hope, attempting to discern the will of God and to do it as well as we can.<br /><br />As Presbyterian pastor John M. Buchanan puts it: “Christian hope rest on trust that the God who created the world will continue to love the world with gentle providence, will continue the process of creation until the project is complete, and will continue to redeem and save the world by coming into it with love and grace, in Jesus Christ.”<br /><br />In the meantime, there are faithful people genuinely frightened about where human history seems to be headed. Living in hope does not mean immunity to the harsh realities of history. We can’t hide from the realities of the world.<br /><br />On the contrary, living in hope means living confidently and expectantly, trusting that the Lord of history continues to come into life with compassion and redemption and hope.<br /><br />So, even in the face of awful trends in the world’s current affairs, we are not to lose hope. We are to trust that God is engaged with it all whether we discern it or not.<br /><br />In Letters to a Young Poet, the poet being a 19 year-old officer cadet in the Austro-hungarian army, Rainer Maria Rilke writes:<br />“Why don’t you think of him as the one who is coming, who has been approaching from all eternity? … What keeps you from projecting his birth into the ages that are coming into existence, and living your life as a painful and lovely day in the history of a great pregnancy?”<br /><br />Are we, humanity, willing to be pregnant with the Savior once more? Can we accept to participate in this stupendous pregnancy?<br /><br />On the one hand, we ought not to be lulled into thinking that there is no sense of urgency in preparing for the Lord’s coming. It is foolish to put off obtaining the oil of the “deeds of discipleship.” <br /><br />On the other hand, the prospect of the end should not produce panic and anxiety. Even the wise maidens were able to go to sleep. <br /><br />So rest assured, God is coming. Or even, wake up and see that He is at hand.<br /><br />Still, you may wonder this week, do I have enough oil in my lamp to welcome the Beloved, the Bridegroom. How am I doing the will of our Father in heaven?<br /><br />In case you need a reminder, as Jesus says earlier in the gospel according to Matthew: “love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:38-40)<br />And you may have to do this for quite a while. After all, we may be the early Church, the church of the first two millenaries of many more to come. Only God knows the time.<br /><br />And finally, I think Matthew ended his parable with retribution for the foolish because that’s how he felt at the time about those who did not see God’s grace and respond to it readily. But I happen to be a universalist. I believe God’s grace and mercy are endless. Only those who will, to the bitter end, deliberately refuse to accept God’s grace and mercy will not enjoy God’s deepest embrace and love, but it will be self-inflicted pain.<br /><br />I believe in a God whose invitation to love is always open even after the wedding party has started.<br /><br />The Bridegroom is coming home. Let us rejoice and prepare for the feast! Amen.<br /><br /><p> </p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5901182209442683760.post-46796667328522948162023-11-05T10:46:00.005-05:002023-11-05T10:47:45.711-05:00Proper 26 A - November 5, 2023<p><a href="http://www.holycrossmonastery.com/" style="color: #009eb8; display: inline; font-family: trebuchet; outline: none; text-align: justify; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s;" target="_blank">Holy Cross Monastery</a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">, West Park, NY</span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet;">Br. Robert Leo Sevensky OHC<br /></span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;">The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 26 A, November 5, 2023</span></div><div style="color: #444444;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: trebuchet; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><p><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp26_RCL.html#ot2" target="_blank">Micah 3:5-12</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp26_RCL.html#ps2"><br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp26_RCL.html#nt1" target="_blank">1 Thessalonians 2:9-13<br />
</a><a href="http://lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp26_RCL.html#gsp1" target="_blank">Matthew 23:1-12</a></p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/129046/13910138" target="_blank"><b>Click here for an audio of the sermon</b></a></p><b> </b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV01DP1aTKJjwEY1sKZLDL_3enMKqp3E024950mpWzzdG9qpBftRODiaNX_xH2696qnqGlOX6Y7oFKGwD0FV7DyuHfl8jhfZfnFPdPeYO6IPzvqFCct4FBbcgK3wYNLcFDUeoMQ-saAba9S2z7Hsnm6hS75TMHlxo8Z4sfSs5i-5geqx7VKY-welUCQOPr/s600/Robert%20Sevensky.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV01DP1aTKJjwEY1sKZLDL_3enMKqp3E024950mpWzzdG9qpBftRODiaNX_xH2696qnqGlOX6Y7oFKGwD0FV7DyuHfl8jhfZfnFPdPeYO6IPzvqFCct4FBbcgK3wYNLcFDUeoMQ-saAba9S2z7Hsnm6hS75TMHlxo8Z4sfSs5i-5geqx7VKY-welUCQOPr/s320/Robert%20Sevensky.jpg" width="320" /></a>I want to begin this morning by acknowledging the current situation in Israel, Gaza and that entire region that we often call the Holy Land. It is a situation marked by a complex history, competing claims, and horrendous human suffering. We must be careful in our Christian proclamation and preaching not to add to this fraught and heart-breaking situation through misinterpretation of our scriptures leading either to a fundamentalist Judeo-Christian political-religious dream on the one hand or to hateful anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism on the other. And I say this with full knowledge that people—even us—differ regarding Zionism, Palestinian homelands, and the causes of and justifications for the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7 and for the ongoing bombardment of Northern Gaza. We plead: Lord, have mercy!</div><p>For the past several weeks and continuing through this month, we have been and shall be hearing passages from the gospel according to Matthew beginning in the middle of chapter 21 and continuing until chapter 25 with its Parable of the Sheep and the Goats that we will be read on the Sunday of Christ the King. These passages from Matthew’s gospel express a deep tension and conflict between Jesus and the Judean Temple authorities, sometimes so violently that I cringe when I hear them and say inwardly: “Jesus, couldn't you be a bit more diplomatic?” But we must remember that, at least according to Matthew’s timeline, these intense interactions take place in Jerusalem in the very last days before Jesus’ crucifixion. They follow on the heels of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and his overturning of the tables of the money changers in the Temple with their implicit and not so implicit claim that he comes as the true Messiah, challenging both the dominant institutional expression of Judaism and Roman colonial oppression.<br /><br />I quote, as I often do, Berkeley Divinity School Dean Andrew McGowan whose commentary offers us some helpful and necessary reminders. He writes of the “…need to contextualize the Gospels of these last two months of the liturgical year within the mounting drama of Jesus 's last days in Jerusalem. His conflict with the chief priest is not the basis for a theory of Christian-Jewish relations; it is an account, in what is arguably the most Jewish of the Gospels (Matthew), of the conflict between the Jewish Messiah and the authorities of the time.”<br /><br />Again he writes: “…it is important—let's say crucial—to remember there is no conflict depicted here between Jesus and Judaism let alone between Christianity and Judaism. Jesus in this passage [Matt 22:34-46] is being presented as a paradigmatic Jew, both as a teacher of the law more effective than his interviewer, and also as the true Son of David, the Messianic King. Matthew also is clearly Jewish in belief and practice. These are conflicts within Judaism, at this point.” It is important to stress those final words: at this point. That will change over time, but not yet.<br /><br />Verbal sparring, textual counter-interpretations, and linguistic challenges--at least those that are well-intentioned--were and remain a classic way of moving toward greater truth. This was true in Jesus’ day and remains true to this day in Talmudic studies in Judaism just as it is true in our courts of law where opposing legal teams try to uncover a fuller truth through sometimes difficult and challenging verbal engagement. We see a similar dynamic in so-called Buddhist Dharma combat where teacher and student spar with each other to uncover deficiencies or errors and to move to greater clarity. And so it is, I believe, in these chapters of Matthew’s gospel. Jesus respects Jewish law, and if anything, his teaching seeks to deepen and radicalize the law and its demands though a yet more demanding and interiorized command. And that is, of course, the command to love which is for Jesus at the heart of it all. It is the central and fundamental interpretative principle which governs his, and I hope our, understanding and approach. But whatever else these passages may teach us, we must first acknowledge that they are a debate within first-century Judaism, though they often continue to echo into our own age and within our own hearts.<br /><br />So what's the problem? Well, it's simple and is in no way unique to first-century Judean Pharisees, scribes or temple authorities. It is that the controlling authorities--the teachers, the religious scholars, the experts--don't practice what they teach or preach or claim to believe. And frankly, this should not surprise us. We are all familiar with this disconnect both within others and in ourselves. But there is more to it than that. For the dissonance between what we say and what we do is complicated by the fact that others, society, the community honors these leaders as if this were not the case. And these very leaders remain blind actors, wittingly or unwittingly playing the role to the hilt, including all the visible accoutrements: broad phylacteries, long fringes and ample robes. This is not a wholesale condemnation of first-century Judaism but rather a withering critique of a compromised institution (the Temple) and of many, though by no means all, of its leaders with their layers of political collaboration and moral accommodation. And it can and does serve as a withering critique of our own institutions and our own characters. <br /><br />I had to laugh when I saw that Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of today’s Gospel passage in “The Message.” He titled this section of Matthew's gospel “Religious Fashion Shows.” Listen to his, admittedly non-literal, take on the central part of today’s reading:<br />Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.<br />Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’<br />“Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.<br /></p><p>The existential danger here, of course, is precisely hypocrisy, that lack of coherence between our teaching and our actions, between what we say and what we do, between who we think we are and who we truly are. That is a danger, yes, and one that applies to all of us at some level, probably at many levels. But there is an even greater danger here, one that's more insidious and damaging. And that is that we begin to believe the idealizations that others project on us and attempt to live into and serve their unexamined fantasies. “Don't let them put you on that pedestal,” says Eugene Peterson. Don't believe and start living your life as if you were something you are not, namely, the unfulfilled and unfillable fantasies of others. Don’t start living into their projections! That, in my book, is the real danger. And believe me, I speak from experience. <br /><br />It's no accident that our gospel passage ends with an exhortation towards humility over against hypocrisy in both its senses, that disconnect between what we say or believe and what we do or are as well as in the sense of buying into the projections of others. Humility is the antidote to this poison. And humility in our Christian, and particularly on our monastic, tradition is never understood as self-abasement. Rather it names the slow and sometimes painful process of growing into the truth about ourselves so that we can finally live who we are.<br /><br />Trappist monk Michael Casey in his book “A Guide to Living in the Truth’ reminds us that hypocrisy is a word that refers to a play actor, a pretender, or dissembler. And humility means setting aside the mask. It is, he says: “…a kind of nakedness that allows us to be seen without the bulwarks of social conventions. We present ourselves to others transparently, in all our imperfection and vulnerability. We depend on their goodwill for acceptance and love, not on the success of our efforts at self-promotion. The fruit of humility… is naturalness. Being at home with ourselves. Being ourselves.”<br /><br />It is this very naturalness, this coming home to ourselves, this liberation from the need to hide from others or from God or from ourselves behind some mask, which is, I believe, the great hope and promise of our faith. And it is a freedom which is needed not just by scribes and Pharisees, but by all of us. Could this be the salvation that Jesus brings? Could it?<br /><br /><br /></p>Randy Grevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09238981087334411011noreply@blogger.com0