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Stories Seldom Heard
309th Edition - April
2025
Mark 9:37-40: Insights and Challenges
Welcome to Stories Seldom Heard. A special welcome
to the deacons and wives of the Dallas Community. Like many of you I have my “go
to” books for prayer. Later in the day I read and study the daily readings using
the Jerusalem and the New American translations of the Bible. But in the early
morning I use a small book that arrives each month with the daily readings: Give
Us This Day (1). Prior to the daily scripture readings, the book includes a
brief story of the “Blessed Among Us.” Some of these “Blesseds” are well-known.
Others I have never met. But all of their lives offer us insights and
challenges.
This month, April, is no exception. We hear of Blessed Giuseppe Girotti
(1905-1945), a Dominican priest born in northern Italy who offered safe shelter,
transport and false baptismal certificates to Jews who were fleeing Nazi
persecution. Mother Lurana White (1870-1935), an Episcopal sister who worked
with Fr. Paul Watson, an Episcopal priest, successfully petitioned the Vatican
to accept their community into the Catholic Church. We know their community as
the Graymoor Community in New York. It has been designated as a pilgrimage site
for the Jubilee Year of Hope. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a Lutheran
theologian who joined a conspiracy to overthrow Hitler. Along with his
companions, he was imprisoned and hanged. Honora “Nana” Nagle (1718-1784) born
in a small town in County Cork founded the Presentation Sisters. Her passion for
education and compassion led her to establish schools for the poor even though
they were legally banned. She risked imprisonment and death and was publicly
maligned by the bishop.
To be a person of faith calls for great courage, integrity and prayer. We don’t
have to be a well-known saint or a person in leadership. Each of us is required
and empowered by our baptism to respond lovingly and justly to the needs of
others. Sometimes we will be required to break a law in order to live by God’s
Law. We heard this challenge in the life of Girotti, Bonhoeffer and Nagle.
Sometimes the Spirit inspires us to open the boundaries that divide us as did
the Graymoor Community as they continue to work for the union of Christian
churches. Each year in January there is a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
that is celebrated by many Christian denominations. Each of us in prayer and
silence is guided by the Spirit and called to be a prophet: one who speaks and
acts on God’s behalf.
The word prophet means the mouthpiece of God. It is a call and a gift that is
not limited to a few people. The gift and responsibility of discipleship and
truth-telling is offered to all who draw their strength and wisdom from God. God
calls each of us to be the “Blessed Among Us.” Limiting God’s gift to a few
select people was not in Jesus’ plan. We hear Jesus rebuking his disciples in
Mark’s Gospel when John complains that someone who is not one of the twelve is
curing people in Jesus’ name. “Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting
out demons in your name and because he was not one of us, we tried to stop him”
(Mk 9:38). What a curious reaction on the part of the disciples. Don’t you
wonder what was behind the disciples’ reasoning? Jesus’ response is “Anyone who
is not against us is for us” (Mk 9:40).
In the Book of Numbers in the First Testament we hear a similar complaint from
Moses’ community (Nb. 11:27-30). The Spirit of God had come upon seventy elders
who were gathered in the Tent of Meeting. Thus, they were recognized as leaders
appointed by God. Later, the Spirit of God came upon two men who “had stayed in
the camp;” one called Eldad and the other Medad. They too were prophesying. An
official leader complained and asked Moses to stop them from prophesying. Moses
responded to the official leader, “Are you jealous? If only the whole people of
God were prophets” (Nb 11:30). At that point God’s Spirit came upon all of them.
Prophetic truth-telling is dangerous, then and now. Thus, it is not a surprise
that our faith begins in community with baptism and is sustained in community by
the celebration of the Eucharist. Prophets are birthed within the faith
community. They are nurtured, supported, guided and inspired by their community
of faith. We do not all have the same gifts, but by generously sharing our gifts
with one another we become a well-knitted community of faith that can speak the
truth and act on behalf of justice even in the face of opposition.
There are many issues of justice in our society that need to be addressed. What
is the truth I need to speak at this time of my life? What injustices do we, as
a community, need to address? Prior to the passage of Mark 9:38, Jesus puts his
arms around a little child and says,
Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in my
name, welcomes me; and anyone who welcomes me, welcomes
the one who sent me.
We are still in Lent, but my Easter prayer for all of us is boldly and lovingly
offered in the poem “The Wreck of the Deutschland” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, a
Jesuit priest. Hopkins dedicates the poem to the “happy memory of five
Franciscan Nuns.” These sisters were exiled because of the Falk Laws. The Falk
Laws were an expression of the struggle between the Roman Catholic Church and
the German government over the control of education and ecclesiastical
appointments in Germany. The sisters drowned between midnight and morning of
Dec. 7th, 1875. In this poem, “Easter” is used appropriately as a verb, an
action word. Hopkins prays, “Let Him Easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness
of us, be a crimson-cresseted east.” What would it look like to be “Eastered in
Christ?”
Footnotes
1. Give Us This Day, Liturgical Press, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, MN 56321-7500.
Customer Service 888-259-8470.
Special thanks to Mary Ellen Green
and Maria Hetherton who have helped in editing this article. Also,
special thanks to Bob McGrath who conscientiously mails SSH to you
each month. Without Bob’s generosity this service would not be possible. Bob
utilizes Constant Contact for mailing. If you wish to change your email address
please send your new email address to Bob at
robert.mcgrath@mgrc.com. Thank
you.
"Stories Seldom Heard" is a monthly article
written by Sister Patricia Bruno, O.P. Sister is a Dominican
Sister of San Rafael, California. This service is offered to the Christian
Community to enrich one's personal and spiritual life. The articles can be used
for individual or group reflection. If you would like "Stories Seldom Heard"
sent to a friend, please send a note to Sister Patricia at
brunoop2017@gmail.com. If
you would like to support this ministry, please send a donation to
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, c/o Sister Patricia Bruno, O.P., 40
Locust Avenue, San Rafael, CA 94901. Thank you.
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