Intercessions: Voice and Action

Our mouths reveal our motives! I saw this on a poster this week, and it fits with the Gospel reading for this Sunday. The Canaanite woman persists in asking Jesus for something not for herself, but for her daughter. She gives voice to her daughter’s torment. Even after Jesus’ disciples, his bodyguards at times, insist that Jesus tell her to go away, even after Jesus doesn’t answer her at first, and even after she might have heard the reference to a dog as quite insensitive, she persists in asking. And Jesus responds to her: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter is healed.

The Canaanite woman uses her voice to advocate for someone she knows is suffering. Her cries seem to be unheard. People tell her that she is a menace and should go away. Every obstacle seems to be put in her path. She, however, is persistent in asking, in moving her feet, and in using her voice.

This woman of faith, as Jesus names her, gives us a model—a pattern of persistence in prayer. Catholics call this intercessory prayer. We pray for our own needs and we pray for others, especially those among us who are suffering “torment.” What prayers of intercession are you praying for these days? How do we act when our prayers go seemingly unanswered? What do we do when what we pray for is the opposite of what others pray for? Or when others consider us a nuisance for remembering the poor, the suffering, and the persecuted among us? What attitudes do we have about those who move their feet and their mouths in protest, in lament at injustice? Even if we don’t feel the injustice, are we willing to accompany those who do? Even when we are called names for doing so?

Let’s listen carefully this weekend to the Prayers of the Faithful voiced at Mass. Are we sincere in our petition? What other prayers will we add to them?

Our mouths do reveal our motives! And another post reminded me:  “Don’t ask God to guide your footsteps if you aren’t willing to move your feet.” I have for years now been responding to prayers of petition with “Lord, hear our prayer and move us to act.” And in the process, may we all be healed—we who pray and those we pray for.

The Lord Will Be Passing By

Then the Lord said, “Go outside and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will be passing by.” Like Elijah, we are staying in our “caves” seeking shelter. We seek shelter from all that causes dis-ease in our lives—hurricanes, fires, COVID-19 and other illness, loss of jobs, and losses of all kinds. We are all experiencing fear. Perhaps the Lord is inviting us too, to stand before the Lord wherever our mountain is, and seek the Lord who will be passing by.

So let’s show up, pay attention, and tell about it. Where are we encountering the Lord passing by so far today? Did you hear the voice of someone you love and miss? Did you see a beautiful sunrise or sunset? Was there an aroma that was new to you? Did your garden bear fresh vegetables? Did your child express curiosity about learning something new? Did a cloud shape remind you of something you need to pay attention to?

Like Peter in the boat during a storm, we can hear Jesus saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Can we get out of the boat, out of the cave, and trusting the Lord, letting go of our fears, live in God’s promise that we are loved and cared for. Will we find the Lord passing by? Will we hear a tiny whispering sound?

A poem written by Kitty O’Meara has circulated in various places.  The links to video versions are here:

In the Time of Pandemic

And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.  And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.  And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed. — Kitty O’Meara.

All Ate and Were Filled

Feeding 5,000 (not counting women and children) is a phenomenal act of mercy. Feeding implies that there was hunger. Hunger must be satisfied or the people (and all of creation) may perish. Where do we find the resources to feed people, to feed the hungers of the world, of the universe? The hungers of the world include an end to hunger, poverty, war, racism, diseases, and others.

Jesus says, “There is no need for them to go away; give them some food yourselves.” When they ask him to give them time to go buy food, he asks them to gather what they have. And what they have, a few loaves and fishes, is ENOUGH! And there are leftovers!

How did that happen? Jesus took what they had to offer, blessed and broke their offerings, gave to them and they in turn gave to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied.

When we consider the hungers of the world today, what gifts do we have to offer? How will God bless and break them? How will we be fed? And how will we pass that “feeding” on to others? And the gathering of the leftovers—do we really believe that there will always be enough?

For me, “Feed them yourselves” means offering the gifts I have been given by God, my abilities to donate money to organizations that feed the hungry and perform the other corporal works of mercy. I vote for candidates who recognize the dignity of all persons, who support living wages for all workers, who will lead in getting all people to work together. I continue to reflect on the Word and to share my reflections with others. I both pray and work for justice for all. And I work and pray that all hungers will be fed and all will be satisfied. Yes, all of this is about building the kingdom of God on earth. May God take, bless, multiply, and distribute what we offer to feed others.

Hunting for Pearls

What is “the pearl of great price” that each of us is seeking? What is it that is priceless and sometimes hard to find or to recognize in our lives today? Our first response—a cure for COVID-19! After all, we could go back to “normal life” if only we could rid ourselves of this virus. Of course, we all want to alleviate the suffering and we want to find a cure. Even when we find the cure, we know that we are changed by this experience.

I think this Gospel gives us lots to ponder. I think we are also seeking and finding new understandings as well as unearthing lots of misunderstandings. We are discovering a lot about ourselves and what matters most during this pandemic. In some ways, we have all become more vulnerable, and perhaps more able to hear the cries of those who are suffering. We are all suffering.

Solomon prayed: “Give your servant, therefore an understanding heart.” What is it that we are seeking to understand? Understanding requires deep listening. Are we listening to the pressures we are experiencing—choices about how to “school” our children, unemployment, evictions from homes, protests of injustice and reactions to them, the immigration status of human beings whose dignity doesn’t seem to matter, the climate crisis?

In Romans we read that “all things work together for those who love God.” How are we working together? The divisions we see—economic, political, religious—are not in my mind examples of working together. They are not unlike what Jesus experienced during his life, his ministry. What did Jesus do? He went against the culture of his time and acted to heal the injustices. He recognized the dignity of every person!

Pope Francis says the pearl is the Gospel. The treasures that come from this “pearl” are these graces: truth, mercy, and joy. The Scripture readings for this weekend provide not a cure for a virus, but in the hunting, the seeking, lure us to deeper insights into what is truly priceless. Let us be BOLD in naming what is priceless in our lives. Let us seek the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. “Selling all we have” is about our sacrifice for the lives and dignity of all. May we be graced with truth, mercy, and joy.

Weeds AND Flowers?

In one of the parables that Jesus tells,  he encourages the growth of weeds alongside the flowers. That doesn’t quite sound right, does it? Surely, we think, the weeds will overcome the flowers. That’s the way I used to think too. But this parable is stretching me to think that there might be something that happens to me, that changes me, when I grow amongst the weeds. You notice that I am identifying with the flowers! What if I am a weed? What if I am sowing weed seeds?

In this time of conflicting ideologies, messages, and choices being made, I wonder what would happen if we truly occupied the same space, grew in the same garden, and were literally forced to co-dwell, to co-exist? Do I trust and hope that my effort, together with God’s, will bring about the coming off God’s desire for us?

Pope Francis encourages us in our time of suffering and our time of creating goodness and peace:

God’s Kingdom requires our cooperation, but it is above all the initiative and gift of the Lord. Our weak effort, seemingly small before the complexity of the problems of the world, when integrated with God’s effort, fears no difficulty. The victory of the Lord is certain: his love will make every seed of goodness present on the ground sprout and grow. This opens us up to trust and hope, despite the tragedies, the injustices, the sufferings that we encounter. The seed of goodness and peace sprouts and develops, because the merciful love of God makes it ripen.

Pope Francis, Angelus, June 14, 2015