Radical Hospitality

Raising The Daughter of Jarius by Wilson Ong


"When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he stayed close to the sea." Mark 5:21

In today's Gospel Jesus is once again on the edge of the sea. When I think of the metaphor of the sea in Mark's Gospel I think of water as the primordial chaos. Wilderness.

I was fortunate to attend the Castelot Summer Scripture Series this past week and hear David Neuhaus speak on the Gospel of Mark. I have more to say about David in a future post, but for today's short reflection I just want to share one of the things I carried away from that encounter: the radicality of Jesus in this Gospel narrative. Here he is touching a bleeding woman... and a corpse! What are the three things that a Levitical priest would never touch because they are unclean and would defile him? Lepers, bleeding women, and corpses. Jesus touches them all and heals them all. Rather than making Jesus unclean--the opposite happens. Jesus makes them clean.

Jesus was everything we know in our hearts God must be: compassionate, just, merciful, loving, and on the other side of every boundary. Jesus with the hemorrhaging woman, Jesus raising a girl child from the dead...

Jesus reflecting what I must become if our loving Creator is ever to see divinity come to fullness in me.

"Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." Mark 7:14-15

Insurance Profits Make Us Sick!

Hat tip to Border Explorer, Billy Greenwood, for this wonderful video. Subscribers, you will have to click through to the blog to be able to view it.
Also worth viewing is the video, available as a podcast or in transcript form, from Democracy Now. The video is nearly an hour long, but well worth the time. Of course, as I said the transcript is available to copy and read at your leisure.

Once again, I quote Billie Greenwood's succinct points: "The national healthcare crisis in the United States springs from the stranglehold that profit-driven private insurance corporations have on the system. Not sure we're in a crisis? Activists cite these bullet points:

■ 50 million Americans have no insurance or access to medical care and, with the economic crisis, this number is skyrocketing.

■ 20,000 (probably more) die each year due to lack of health care.

■ Millions suffer disability and chronic conditions that would have been prevented by access to adequate health care.

■ Millions who have health insurance are denied necessary care by their insurers.

■ Health care bills (of people who HAVE health insurance) are the single highest reason for filing bankruptcy in the U.S.

■ Untreated disease and injuries hurt those who do have access to healthcare and make us more vulnerable to pandemics.

Does the healthcare industry care about us? Or about profit? These folks say coverage by health insurers is based on profitability not on providing health care for those who need it. The industry makes money by only insuring those who will likely remain healthy and by denying coverage to those who do or might get sick.

■ 20-40% of every health care dollar goes to profits and overhead and things other than anyone's healthcare.

■ Precious health care dollars are wasted on symbols of wealth: anything from private jets, to skyscrapers, to capital investments.

To add insult to injury, they say healthcare insurers lie, hiring lobbyists (with outrageous salaries) to protect their interests. Here's what lobbyists won't tell you:

■ Other nation's national healthcare programs work efficiently.

■ National healthcare will ultimately create more jobs. (They just won't be in the health insurance industry.)

■ No one will have less ability to choose a doctor or wait significantly longer for medical procedures with a single-payer healthcare plan.

■ Mainstream media and members of congress are financially controlled by insurance lobbyists, campaign contributions, and advertising revenue."

It has been more than five years since I have had health insurance. My husband is self-employed, I work part time for a church and we have five children. The cost is prohibitively expensive. We would literally have to choose between having a place to live and food on the table or health insurance to help us in the event of a catastrophic illness. We are left with no choice but to pay as we go and pray for good health.

And work for single payer universal health care coverage. There's that. H.R. 676

Healthcare is a human right.

Scientia est Potentia! Knowledge is power.

Unity in Diversity

Once again, to demonstrate that these days I am much more of a reader than a writer, I share with you an excerpt which resonates with me today. This is taken from the concluding chapter of Frederick J. Cwiekowski’s masterpiece of ecclesiastical scholarship, The Beginnings of The Church:

“The diversity of the early church is reflected still in the writings of the New Testament. By accepting the twenty-seven books of the New Testament as her canon (rule) of scripture, the church has chosen to live with diversity and with the tensions which sometimes come in the wake of diversity. No single understanding of Christ and no one expression of church fully exhaust the mystery of Christ or the richness and variety of life that come when the Spirit dwells among Christ’s followers.

But diversity is only one element; throughout the early church the strong concern for unity prevented diversity from degenerating into chaos or disintegration. The early Christians struggled to preserve a unity of faith and a community in the Spirit. Some segments of the church—the Ebionites, the Gnostics, the Docetists—did not preserve the basic faith, and eventually they went or were made to go their separate ways. But Peter, Paul, and James strove to preserve communion, even in the midst of their differences. Among these three leading figures, there is ample evidence that Peter became a stabilizing force for unity amidst diversity. In the decades after his death the memory of Peter served as a moderating influence among those who, in the name of either Paul or James, would have pushed to extremes. The presence of diversity in the early church and the conviction of the need for a basic unity were not easily maintained. But both had and have still an essential and—let us say it clearly—a God-given place in the life and mission of the church.

There are several areas where the examples of the early church in its unity and diversity can be a guide for us. It is no secret that there are strong differences within the Roman Catholic Church, for example, in these decades after Vatican II. It is very salutary for all Christians to see and keep before them the early church’s conviction that there is and must be both unity and diversity in the church. When the tension to preserve both these elements gives way to a single-minded interest or advocacy of either one or the other, something very basic to the reality of the church is neglected and the church as a whole suffers from such neglect.

The issues of unity and diversity also bear upon the relationships that Christians have with each other. Here too the New Testament and the early church have something to say to us. There was a time when various Christian churches tended to grasp one of the different New Testament perspectives on church and use that perspective to justify a particular outlook or church structure against other Christian bodies. Happily there seems to be much less of that approach today. Perhaps the recognition of a likeness between one’s own Christian church and one or another emphasis of the New Testament churches may help Christians today to appreciate the value of their particular tradition and its fidelity to some part of the legacy of the early church.

But there is more to be considered. Put very starkly, we cannot use the New Testament or the early church to support or justify Christian division. Diversity within a basic unity, yes; division, no. Our awareness of the complementary features of unity and diversity in the early church challenges us to do all we can, under God and in the Spirit, to overcome Christian disunity. It is a blessing, surely, that many Christians today are more appreciative of the partial unity among us that is founded on shared faith and a common baptism. But that unity is not complete. The communion of the early churches prompts us to seek a full visible unity among Christians. The diversity in the early church and the New Testament writings may be telling us that in that unity there may well be room for greater diversity than was once thought possible.”

Unity in diversity and diversity in unity. Words to meditate on.

The Theological Center of The Old Testament

Repost: This post was written last summer after I attended the Castelot Summer Scripture Series. I recently attended this year's conference and will soon be serving up blog posts on Fr. David Neuhaus and Fr. Michael Joncas. In the meantime, I share with you once again...

Crime and punishment, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth; that’s the sort of theology I expect from Deuteronomy. Some would say I lack an appreciation for the subtleties and layers of meaning buried in the context of that book. And so I did. Until I heard Lawrence Boadt speak about the book of Deuteronomy at the Castelot Summer Scripture Series.

I have come to discover that in Deuteronomy there is a theology of repentance and hope; of reconciliation and restoration; that there are the beginnings of the theology of Jesus in this book.

Deuteronomy is the beginning of the theology of love.

And that is a message I can embrace anthropologically, historically, and theologically.

“Lawrence Boadt,” I said looking over the brochure. “I don’t think I’ve read anything of his. Why does his name sound familiar?”

“Look in the front of your study Bible,” said Gloria.

“Ohhhhh. Lawrence Boadt.”

Yes, the man is brilliant. I would first say that Fr. Boadt has a very classical sense of order and style, evidenced by the organization of his notes and outlines. I really like that kind of nerdy intelligence and wry sense of humor he brings to his lectures.

Some of what I learned wasn’t exactly a surprise. Yes, Moses is the narrator, and yes, it was written after Moses died, so no, Moses didn’t write it. If you are shocked by this, take a deep breath. Biblical scholarship is not about undermining faith or truth, but about being open to the deeper message the text is trying to convey to you. So what if scholars believe Joshua was an invented character?

Deuteronomy was written by a variety of authors who edited it and added to it to respond to what was going on around them at their time.

There’s nothing wrong with using a variety of literary forms, including myth, to illustrate a theological truth. To quote the Jewish Rabbi Rami Shapiro, "The transformative power of faith is not rooted in outward signs and historical facts, but in inner awakenings and literary narratives. Only in our day has the human imagination become so degraded as to reduce truth to fact, and myth to falsehood. Only in our day does story pale before history."

Okay, look at Numbers 36:13. “These are the commandments and the ordinances that the Lord commanded through Moses to the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.” That’s the last line before the book of Deuteronomy. Now look at Deuteronomy 34:1. “Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan.” Chapter 34 is the last chapter of Deuteronomy. Look at the two sentences again. Num 36:13, then Deut 34:1. It’s the next sentence. They go together. That means everything in between, that is basically all of Deuteronomy, was inserted later as part of the Pentateuch. There are other particularities, such as the use of singular and plural forms, or phrase and theme comparisons with other contemporary writings, which to the trained scholar indicate changes and additions and help to make connections to various times and sources.

But what are the important themes and connections? Well, look at it this way: justice in the ancient world could be very arbitrary and ruthless. Downright nonexistent. When men looked to other men for justice more often than not they did not find it. Only the God of Israel brought justice to the world, and the men who feared Him and followed His laws. The people of Israel were obsessed with justice—and the way to find it was through God, and his prophet Moses. In Deut 4:5-8 Moses said, “See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’ For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?”

So justice and righteousness, yes. The punishment attitude was a natural outcome of this evolution of theology to the one God of Israel. Unlike the Greeks or Egyptians who had multiple gods to praise or blame when things went right or wrong, having only one God and struggling with the problem of evil brought people to the idea that when bad things happen it must be because we deserve it; it must be that we did something wrong and we are dominated by sin. But the theology of love is introduced as well—the people of Israel knew God loved them—it appears over and over. God has chosen the people of Israel because he loves them and he offers them justice as they did not have in Egypt: Deut 10:17-19 “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” The God of Israel even loves strangers, and commands us to do so as well. The greatest commandment of the people is to love God. The Shema comes out of Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41.

And indeed, when Jesus is asked, he singles it out as the greatest commandment. “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

Another of the great themes is that of repentance and hope, reconciliation and restoration. God is always faithful. God recompenses for what you lost; just wait, you will be restored. Return to the Lord, return to the covenant. The message is that God will not fail you or forsake you—you may forsake God when you do not follow his commandments, but you can always repent and come back to the Lord. He will never forget you.

“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life.” Deut 30:19

Now, if you view the Commandments through the prism of the Beatitudes, you’re really starting to get it.

Books by Fr. Lawrence Boadt, CSP:
Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction
Why I am a Priest
“Scriptural Exegesis” in Paulist Liturgy Planning Guide, Years A, B and C
And the forthcoming The Life and Missions of St. Paul (2008)
Along with many others.

More Castelot Pictures

O Sun behind all suns
I give you greeting this new day.

Let all creation praise you
Let the daylight and the shadows praise you
Let the fertile earth
And the swelling sea praise you
Let the winds and the rain,
The lightening and the thunder praise you.
Let all that breathes, both male and female, praise you
And I shall praise you.

O God of all life I give you greeting this day.

News and Links

In big bloggity news, Archbishop Vigneron has opened up a blog called A Shepherd's Mission. Welcome to the blogosphere, your Excellency! The Archbishop will be chronicling his experience as he travels to Rome to receive his pallium. I must admit my pallia acumen was mighty low before visiting. Prayers for a safe and faithful trip.

And yes, it’s happened. Pope Benedict will meet with President Obama on July 10. Hat tip to Rocco Palmo. Now don’t start fighting here, take it outside.

Castelot Images

Thanks be to you O God
That I have risen this day
To the rising of this life itself.

May it be a day of blessing,
O God of every gift,
A day of new beginnings given.

Help me to avoid every sin
And the source of every sin to forsake

And as the mist scatters
From the crest of the hills
May each ill haze clear
From my soul O God

Psalm 72:6

May he be like rain coming down upon the fields, like showers watering the earth

That was quite a rain we had the other day...

Let Them Praise The Name of The Lord

Hallelujah! Praise the LORD from the heavens; give praise in the heights.
Praise him, all you angels; give praise, all you hosts.


Praise him, sun and moon; give praise, all shining stars.
Praise him, highest heavens, you waters above the heavens.


Let them all praise the LORD'S name; for the LORD commanded and they were created,
Assigned them duties forever, gave them tasks that will never change.


Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deep waters;
You lightning and hail, snow and clouds, storm winds that fulfill his command;


You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars;
You animals wild and tame, you creatures that crawl and fly;


You kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all who govern on earth;
Young men and women too, old and young alike.


Let them all praise the LORD'S name, for his name alone is exalted, majestic above earth and heaven.
The LORD has lifted high the horn of his people; to the glory of all the faithful, of Israel, the people near to their God. Hallelujah!
~Psalms 148

An Online Reading List

I've been more of a reader than a writer these days. In that spirit I'm sharing some of the articles I've read recently. I'm taking an Ecclesiology course through the University of Dayton and these are some of the resources.

• The Need for Biblical Criticism by Alan C. Mitchell, Ph.D.
• How the Spirit Guides the Church: Two Views in Matthew and John by William H. Shannon
• Can the Church Change? by Michael D. Guinan, O.F.M.
• The Holy Spirit as Paraclete: The Gift of John’s Gospel by Raymond E. Brown, S.S.
• Whither Vatican II? by John Feister Does the Council continue to shape the Church? Six experts assess its implementation.

How Did My Pentecost Happen?

In whatever way we receive the Spirit, it is just as real and just as good as any other. For some reason egocentric people tend to idealize their way as the only way. God meets us where we are and makes his presence known to us in the way we are most ready to experience it. The Spirit blows where she wills and she fills our hearts in whatever measure we are open to the Spirit. The glory is all to God and not to our technique, method, formula, or church protocol.

When it does happen, we always know that we did nothing to deserve it! It is all God’s graciousness. It is being grabbed by God and lifted to a new place in spite of our best attempts to deny or avoid it.

Richard Rohr, OFM~ from Great Themes of Scripture p. 90-91

Current mantra:
Lord, send out your spirit
and renew the face of the earth

Obama/Notre Dame

For an excellent analysis of President Obama's speech at Notre Dame that goes beyond the headlines I highly recommend Fr. Robert Imbelli's evenhanded commentary at chiesa esspreso.

Sandro Magister, in the same article, shares links to Judge John T. Noonans Laetare Remarks, President Obama's Commencement Address, three commentaries critical of the Vatican and "L'Osservatore Romano," the note on May 22 from Cardinal Francis E. George, president of the United States bishops' conference, and the one from the secretary of the conference, David Malloy.

A very comprehensive view of the whole bruhaha.

hat tip: Concord Pastor

The Beatitudes for Modern Times

Blessed are those who seek more authentic ways 

of being Church in the world today,

they are my witnesses. 

Blessed are those who strive to live 'in communion' 

in their endeavours to build community,

they are my people.

Blessed are those who struggle for justice 

within oppressive structures,

they are my prophets in today's world.

Blessed are those who strive to live according to my Gospel 

rather than societal values, 

they are my heralds in this land.

Blessed are those whose hearts are bent on serving,

rather than being served,

they are my true servants. 

Blessed are those in whose hearts my law is written,

they are my friends. 

Blessed are those who seek humility and act with integrity

as the Church's mission is redefined 

and the call to partnership is heeded, 

they are my stewards.

Blessed are those whose ministry is of healing

and reconciliation in a broken and fragile world, 

they are my peacemakers.

With gratitude to the Australian Pallottines...

The Lemonade Stand Award

With apologies to Dale Carnegie, it seems I make Lemonade. Don't we all? It's one of the mantra's of this recession, alongside "Do more with less."

While life has handed us all a few lemons, the Lemonade Stand Award is for those who manage to make blogging lemonade. My dear friend Fran Rossi Szpylczyn, of the Parish Blog of St. Edward the Confessor, has recognized St. Anne, Pray for Us with a Lemonade Stand Award, and it seems the only requirement to fulfill as an honoree is to nominate other blogs deserving of recognition.

But most of my favorite Catholic/Spiritual blogs have already received this award. So what's wrong with heaping it on a few times? Absolutely nothing! The point is, after all, to introduce St. Anne readers to other blogs they may like. So make time to check out these wonderful blogs for headlines, homilies, prayers, and fun.

Parish Blog of St. Edward the Confessor--Fran Rossi Szpylczyn

Caught a Glimpse of Jesus Down by the Railroad Tracks--Tim Jones

A Concord Pastor Comments--Fr. Austin Fleming

Whispers in the Loggia--Rocco Palmo

Clerical Whispers--Sotto Voce

G'wan. Click on the blue link. You know you want to.

If I Had a Hail Mary Every Time I Thought of You I'd Have a Glorious Mystery!

Another YouTube video, this one shamelessly stolen along with amusing title from The Headless Clown.

The Lighter Side of Theology

Don't blame me. Blame Marianne.
How many Christians does it take to change a light bulb?

Charismatic : Only 1
His hands are already in the air.

Pentecostal : 10
One to change the bulb, and nine to pray against the spirit of darkness.

Presbyterians : None
Lights will go on and off at predestined times.

Roman Catholic: None
Light a candle.

Baptists : At least 15
One to change the light bulb, and three committees to approve the change and decide who brings the potato salad and fried chicken.

Episcopalians: 3
One to call the electrician, one to mix the drinks and one to talk about how much better the old one was.

Mormons : 5
One man to change the bulb, and four wives to tell him how to do it.

Unitarians :
We choose not to make a statement either in favor of or against the need for a light bulb. However, if in your own journey you have found that light bulbs work for you, you are invited to write a poem or compose a modern dance about your light bulb for the next Sunday service, in which we will explore a number of light bulb traditions, including incandescent, fluorescent, 3-way, long-life and tinted, all of which are equally valid paths to luminescence.

Methodists : Undetermined
Whether your light is bright, dull, or completely out, you are loved. You can be a light bulb, turnip bulb, or tulip bulb. Bring a bulb of your choice to the Sunday lighting service and a covered dish to pass.

Nazarene : 6
One woman to replace the bulb while five men review church lighting policy.

Lutherans : None
Lutherans don't believe in change.

Amish :
What's a light bulb?

Praise God in Song

I can't stop singing "Shower down on me!" After you listen to this group, you will never think of Kumbaya in the same way again. This is Kurt Carr and the Kurt Carr Singers. Subscribers, you'll have to click over to the blog to see this YouTube video:



It has me thinking about how we praise God in music and song, how certain songs can elicite real emotional responses--real spiritual responses, and how music can effect our prayer life. I'm thinking about how music is, in fact, an integral part of our spiritual response to God. Many times a song has brought a tear to my eye or lifted me up or caused me to thank God.

How do you incorporate music into your prayer life? Do you sing in a church choir? Do you listen to music at home or in your car? How about when you are working on your computer? Is music an important part of your spirituality? Speak up and let us know.

Do we find ourselves trying to control each moment?

"The contemplative secret is to learn to live in the now. The now is not as empty as it might appear to be or that we fear it may be.

Try to realize that everything is right here, right now. When we’re doing life right, it means nothing more than it is right now, because God is in this moment in a non-blaming way.

When we are able to experience that, taste it and enjoy it, we don’t need to hold on to it. The next moment will have its own taste and enjoyment."

~ Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM

St. John Vianney, Patron of Priests

During this jubilee Year of the Priest, Pope Benedict XVI will also proclaim St. John Vianney to be patron saint of all the world's priests.

I found this information about St. John Vianney on a parish website named for him. He must have been an extraordinary confessor to acheive such widespread acclaim in his lifetime. What a wonderful model for all priests.

St. John Vianney, known in French as Jean Marie Baptiste Vianney, was born on May 8, 1786 in the village of Dardilly in France. After serving a time in the army during the Napoleonic period he entered seminary formation to become a priest. He had a very difficult time. He struggled mightily with all of his studies and he had a particularly difficult time with Latin. Many, including his formation directors and instructors in the seminary and his own bishop, had very serious doubts that this man who did not have strong intellectual gifts, would be suitable for the priesthood. However, John Vianney persevered and finally was ordained a priest in 1815. His bishop, acting on his estimation of this new priest as a man of few gifts, sent him to the remotest backwater village of his diocese, the village of Ars.

He was a man of great dedication to his call to be a priest and to serve his people. He preached in a very simple manner, had a great love of the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Mother and he had a special devotion to St. Philomena. Through his work as a confessor he brought about a spiritual renewal that touched not only the people of his parish but all of France. He regularly spent 14 to 18 hours a day in the confessional surviving on only a few hours sleep and a diet of boiled potatoes. As the word spread his extraordinary abilities as a confessor, thousands, including bishops and aristocracy made the journey to Ars in order to receive his spiritual counsel.

Thus a man who started his life as one who very few thought would ever amount to anything became, by the time of his death in 1859, the vehicle for thousands of conversions. He is, for us today, an example of how God works wonderfully through those who dedicate their lives to him and who seek to do his will. John Vianney, a humble parish priest is regarded by the Church as one of its great figures simply because he was faithful.

John Vianney was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1925. He is the only diocesan priest ever to be canonized. His feast day is August 4.

Just Ask

Or... if you're still confused about vocations, just ask Sister Mary Martha.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy.