Promoter of Preaching for March

The 800^th Anniversary is on! Celebrations abound, bringing back memories of what has been, and challenging us to dream a future for the Dominican Order of our own times. Dominic had to contend with a heresy, a twisting of truth to suit its own purpose. That purpose was to make sure we believe the lie that only “spiritual” realities matter. The physical, the material, are to be despised. It was a purist dualism, and looked so deceitfully holy. But Genesis and the Incarnation beg to differ. The universe is strewn with matter still evolving, and nothing beats a physical hug when your heart is breaking and you are crying your eyes out. The Christ could not be more explicit when he says, “This is my body.”

But this is 2016, and I suggest we have the direct opposite heresy to contend with today. We don’t despise matter. We worship it. Materialism and consumerism rule, and if we listen to the media, nothing, not even God, should question my overcrowded closet or my bulging bank account.

Where would we find Dominic today? I suspect he’d be living in a redeveloped abandoned convent in the central city, where he and his followers are very present in centers of learning and organizations where young and old are learning why they should be protesting unjust penal systems, trafficked human beings, and rampant exploitation of land and water. Why? Because we are to be holy as God is holy. He would be unapologetically proclaiming that this Mystery, contrary to being relegated to the periphery, is the center of every atom, galaxy, and greening effort we attempt. He would be about the business of righting the balance: not spiritualism nor materialism, but a created world held in the arms of a merciful Shepherd. And he’d be ready to die to get that good news out. Maybe we can live for it, into our future.

I have a plan for you...

“I have a plan for you…”

 

You never quit

do you.

 

First you step down

ever so gently

into a virgin’s womb

to be fitted into new clothes.

“Human Made” says the label.

 

Then another step down –

into the chaos of betrayal, beating, ridicule, and execution.

 

Don’t you realize this is no place for you?

 

But no – one more step – down.

Bread? Come now.

Something that is locked in a box waiting to be eaten?

 

What must you be thinking?

 

Life? Mine? Ongoing and forever?

 

You have a one-track mind and you never quit – do you.

Even when we are too busy to notice.

 

Thank you….thank you.

 

 

“I have lost nothing

 

that you have given me.” John 17:12

 

 

                                                                                                Easter, 2016

                                                                                                Carla Mae Streeter, OP

Reflection: First Sunday in Lent

A few thoughts from the powerful readings for today...

Theme: We are reminded that "One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God." Our fasting reminds us that we have "another mouth to feed," that of the longing of our heart for a renewed relationship with the God of the universe, who is bigger than anything that scares us.

Psalm and Middle Reading: "Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble!" We all know this space well. We're backed up into a corner, and see no way out. But we're told the God will never leave us...so when we feel most alone, most attacked, we need to "hang on" to our faith in "every word that comes from the mouth of God."

First Reading: The Jews remember that they've been through some very tough times...and God has pulled them through.

Gospel: The better word for temptation is test.  We take a test to reveal what we know...Jesus is being asked to reveal who he is...but keeps Satan guessing...,"If you are the Son of God..." Satan has no faith. He cannot discern the things of God. Jesus rebuffs him with "the word of God" to which he, and we, cling to in faith, and Satan scatters...but he'll be back. "He left him for a time."

In our faithfulness we're invited to the solitariness of the desert to be reminded that our greatest temptation will be that God has abandoned us. In the aloneness we fear we will really be lonely. Yet the word of God assures us "I will never abandon you." This is the primary lesson of our Lenten retreat...never to fail the test of trust.

Matters of the Heart...

Real-Presence

 

It hung there

the old coat

day after day

in the front closet

along with

the faint scent

of Mennen’s After-Shave.

 

 

We kept telling her

to give it to Goodwill.

“In due time…”

she would say.

She said it reminded her

of him

and their 60 years

together.

 

 

And then one day

there was no answer

when we made our check-in phone call.

 

 

We hurried over

and got in through the garage

our secret agreed-upon passageway.

 

 

She did not answer when we called “Mom?”

When we opened the bedroom door

there she was

curled up on her bed

gone home to God

wrapped in that old coat.

 

-         Carla Mae Streeter, OP, 2015

 

February 2016 Thoughts...

…’Tis the best of times, and the worst of times…

The glow of the Christmas season is celebrated one more time on Candlemas Day…a short taste of Ordinary Time, and before we know it, we are summoned into the Lenten desert.

Lent means springtime. As the people who are God’s own, this season of the soul invites us to till the soil of our personal soul-garden, so that the wonder of what has been planted in us in baptism can grow.

I’m going to suggest this “tilling” is like a spring tune-up of our consciousness. There are four steps.

·        First, notice things. Be very present to what is going on with you at this moment. Be attentive to people, and to situations. This is a real discipline!

·        Second, question everything…with compassion. That means your doctor, your mayor, and yes, your politicians and your newscasts. Find out if they are a good reliable source of truth.

·        Third, be slow to make a judgment, when you have a hunch you may not have all the facts. Hold off. That too is a discipline.

·        And Finally, make choices and go into action only when you are convinced it is the most loving thing to do.

Your Lenten prayer, fasting, and generosity can be first on the list for this “tilling” of your personal garden. Your nightly question? “How does your garden grow?”

                                                *****

Jesus, gentle Gardener, hand me the tools to clear my soul of whatever gets in the way of the new life you want to bring forth in me. Teach me to gather the rubbish and trash, and recycle it into whatever fertilizer I need. Plant in me the order and discipline that makes tilling the soil of my busy consciousness a joy. Help me to foster the gifts you have given, and warm them with your own Sonshine. Water me with the life-giving flow of your Spirit, refreshing in me what I’ve overlooked or forgotten. Draw me close to yourself in your prayer and fasting that I might know you as always present in my life. I ask this for the sake of your holy Name, Jesus, and that might be a Word of life wherever I walk. Amen.

Celebration Time!

The Dominicans and the Jubilee of Mercy

It’s Anniversary time. We’re 800 years old! It’s a time for looking back at what has been, and looking forward for what can be. It’s also a time for reclaiming who we are and what we are all about. For Dominicans that means being something first, then doing something. We are the Holy Preaching. We don’t just imitate the Word of God. We identify with it. We are first of all a word of hope, then of joy, then of peace. We are worded women and men, and in this celebration year we are also called to be a word of mercy. How so?

Dominicans walk a tightrope. (This image comes from Edward Schillebeeckx, OP.) We walk through history with a balance pole. On each end is a pail. One pail holds the Gospels, the Documents of the Church, and the Creeds. In the other we carry the New York Times, the Economist, the Science News, and the New Internationalist. If we let either go, we fall off the tightrope. Because we identify with the Incarnate Word, we are people of the both/and, not people of the either/or. We look for the truth wherever it may be found, even in the enemy, and we honor it. We live a spiritual act of mercy. We instruct the ignorant, and the first object of our outreach of mercy is ourselves. Our study is our penance, our daily asceticism. It prepares us to sow the Word we identify with, to give it away so there is always room for more. Thus we are mendicants. We are beggars. The Jubilee has begun – may our minds, our mouths, our hands overflow with mercy.

Mater Misericordiae...

"...Mater Misericordiae..."
"Mother of Mercy..." How often these words have crossed our lips when reciting the "Hail, Holy Queen." In this Year of Jubilee of Mercy perhaps it is time to ask what we mean by this title that we give to the Mother of God. Miseri: the poor ones; Cordiae: of the heart. She is heartsick for the poor miserable ones.
How and why is Mary the Mother of Mercy? Pope Francis tells us in his letter on Mercy (Misericordiae Vultus, The Face of Mercy) that Jesus is the face of mercy. So Jesus is heartsick too. It would be a challenging reflection to ponder that dear face being formed in the womb of Mary, his mother. In fact, he delighted in spending nine months confined in that small space, no larger than a man's fist...he, the God of the cosmos. He delights being intimately united with small things, so I guess you and I have a chance. Mary is the former and shaper of the human face of God's own mercy shown to us so we can see it, and share it...
Next, he nurses from her, drawing the strength to grow his tiny hands and feet. With them he will heal, restore, comfort, and finally die of self-giving merciful love. She has provided the very human means for our redemption. She will agonize with him as he lives it out. We will too as we watch the nightly news...
The Word-made-Flesh sits upon her lap as on a throne. She is the Seat of Wisdom. The very Word of the Father, the Wisdom-Engineer, the One who shaped the cosmos, tossed out the stars, appeared in the burning bush, and parted the Red Sea...the One who rules as King over all human history and its unfolding, carefully and wisely working with and around human freedom to bring about the dream-plan of his Father, that One sits upon her lap and plays patty-cake on her cheeks. He outstretches his pudgy arms to you, to me...wanting to draw you in, to plant kisses all over your face, and seems oblivious to any stupid thing we've ever done. We too?

Yes, indeed...she is Mater Misericordiae...
Star of the new evangelization,
help us to bear radiant witness to communion,
service, ardent and generous faith,
justice and love of the poor,
that the joy of the gospel
may reach to the ends of the earth,
illuminating even the fringes of our world.
Mother of the living Gospel,
wellspring of happiness for God's little ones,
pray for us.
Amen, Alleluia!