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Dear Preachers: WELCOME to the latest email recipients of “First Impressions,” the Dominican Sisters retreatants of Grand Rapids, Michigan. PRE-NOTE: Thanks to volunteer Dennis Keller, we are again posting General Intercessions for the Sunday liturgies on our webpage. Go to: https://preacherexchange.com/gi.htm I have a friend named Rosie. She is in her 70s
and since childhood has been friends with Marie. Seven years ago Rosalie moved
about an hour away from Marie. But she still makes the trip once, or twice, a
week to see her friend, because 20 years ago Marie developed a disease that
slowly paralyzed her whole body. Her brain does not communicate with her
muscles. Little by little her body became scrunched up. Now, she can’t move,
can’t turn her head, or speak clearly. She has to live in a nursing home under
constant care. Click here for a
link to this Sunday’s readings: Everyday Mysticism.... the experience of the Spirit I talk of here is also to be found in a mysticism of everyday life outside a verbalized and institutionalized Christianity, and therefore may be discovered by Christian in their lives when the encounter their non-Christian brothers and sisters, or in their study of religious history, Christians need not be shocked or astonished at such a revelation. It should serve only to show that their God, the God of Jesus Christ, wants all men and women to be saved, and offers God’s grace as liberation to all human beings, offering it as liberation into incomprehensible mystery. The grace of Christ takes effect in a mysterious way...and...allows people to share in the paschal mystery of Jesus, even where people who are loyal to their conscience have not yet been reached in any convincing way by the explicit message of Christianity and have not been molded by the Christian sacraments. —Karl Rahner, quoted in LIVING PULPIT, Volume 5, No.1 When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. —Psalm 104:30 Have you ever wondered what the apostles were talking about just before the moment of Pentecost? Do you think they were busy with idle chit chat or discussing the politics of the day or engrossed in discussing their daily routines? I think they were actively praying for the Spirit of truth of which Jesus had so clearly spoken. They desperately needed guidance in order to go forth, now that Jesus was no longer with them. Imagine a group of holy people gathered with one deep heartfelt desire for the presence of the Holy Spirit. . .and God answered their prayers big time. What does this mean for us as we gather so many years later? Being filled with the Spirit is not just a one-time historical event. The Spirit of God is our life’s breath too—the force that can call and transform each of us. In his writings, Paul emphasizes that only in living with the Spirit by our side can believers truly follow Jesus. . .and the Spirit acts. In Ronald Rolheiser’s book, The Holy Longing, (Doubleday, 1999), he uses an expression that I had not heard before, to “put skin to prayer.” By this, he means that the pray-er concretely involves him or herself in trying to bring about what they are asking God to do. For example, he writes, “If I pray for world peace, but do not, inside of myself, forgive those who have hurt me, how can God bring about peace on this planet? Our prayer needs our flesh to back it up” (84). After Pentecost, we see the apostles put skin to their prayer. Today marks the beginning of Laudato Si Week, May19-26. This Laudato Si’ Week and Pentecost, let us gather in community to contemplate and nurture seeds of hope for our “suffering planet” (LD 2). There is a need for both personal and cultural transformation amidst our ecological and climate crises. Let us be seeds of hope in our lives by our actions, rooted in faith and love.
There is a powerful formula here. To pray for the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives to guide us and then, as part of the Body of Christ, to act as Jesus would; to put some skin in our prayer. It seems to me that we could renew the face of the earth! Barbara
Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director
Mini reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home. From today’s Acts of the Apostles reading: And they were filled
with the Holy Spirit Reflection: Look what happened very rapidly for the gathered disciples: the descent of the Spirit upon them, the gift of tongues, Peter’s speech and the formation of the Church. While the elders in the Hebrew Scriptures (1 Samuel 10:5 ff) spoke in ecstatic speech under the impulse of God’s Spirit (“prophecy”), today we celebrate Jesus’ Spirit empowering all in the fledgling church to speak to the nations and to be understood by them. So, we ask ourselves:
POSTCARDS TO DEATH ROW INMATES "The death penalty is
one of the great moral issues facing our country, yet most people rarely think
about it and very few of us take the time to delve deeply enough into this issue
to be able to make an informed decision about it." Please write to:
----Central Prison P.O. 247 Phoenix, MD 21131 Please note: Central Prison is in Raleigh, NC., but for security purposes, mail to inmates is processed through a clearing house at the above address in Maryland. For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the Catholic Mobilizing Network: http://catholicsmobilizing.org/resources/cacp/ On this page you can sign “The National Catholic Pledge to End the Death Penalty.” Also, check the interfaith page for People of Faith Against the Death Penalty: http://www.pfadp.org/ “First Impressions” is a service to preachers and those wishing to prepare for Sunday worship. It is sponsored by the Dominican Friars. If you would like “First Impressions” sent weekly to a friend, send a note to Fr. John Boll, OP at jboll@opsouth.org. If you would like to support this ministry, please send tax deductible contributions to Fr. Jude Siciliano, O.P.: St. Albert
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