Myths that Derail Faith

Dear Friends,

Myths abound in the world – about many aspects of life. Three myths, in particular are destructive in the way they work on our minds and stoke our fears. This small collection of myths tell us that God is not really steadfast, so we had better fend for ourselves.

The first of these destructive myths is scarcity. There isn’t enough for you and me, so I’ll take care of myself and good luck to you! Hoarding and violence are ways of responding to the threat of scarcity. All over the world, in countries where there is scarcity there is pushing and shoving when food arrives. Where there is a scarcity of respect for the human person, there is violence. We witness to the power of the myth of scarcity when we take more than our modest share. Scarcity translates into “God is not trustworthy.”

A second destructive myth is self sufficiency. “Whatever is needed, I can do it myself.” This myth disconnects us from others, and from our God. Look at the back of a dollar bill. Ben Franklin and his design team took four years to produce two circles to represent our nation in a satisfactory way: The right circle is dark , because in 1776,  the nation did not know what it would become. The circle on the left contains a pyramid with a bright face and no top. Above the sheered - off top is the eye of God, over the land : from the beginning, one nation, under God. Dependent and interdependent America  is our homeland.

The third myth is destructive silence – the unwillingness or fear of sharing the things in life that really matter. In not speaking out against injustice or not speaking up on behalf of others, evil wins. In not offering words of hope, others become hopeless. If we keep silent in our sorrow, the world can offer its temporal comfort to us, but nothing lasting.  Instead of destructive silence, our God invites us to speak words of hope. The word hopeless is not in God’s vocabulary. With God, we can name sin for what it is and release into the world the power of God for good.

Negative forces in today’s world take advantage of our uncertainty about God’s steadfast love, and uses our uncertainty to entice us away from God and to control us. But, God is not the giver of scarcity or disconnectedness or destructive silence. Our loving God invites us to proclaim God as steadfast and to live in that confidence.

                                                I, God, will not remove my steadfast love.

                                                I will not be false to my faithfulness.

                                                I will not violate my covenant with you or

                                                Alter the word that went forth from my lips.

                                               

                                                Happy the people who know you, Lord,

                                                Who walk in the radiance of your face.  (Ps.89: 3,4,16 paraphrased)

 ~Sister Joan Sobala

Wedding Do's and Don'ts -Beyond the Registry and the Dress

Dear Friends,

As a child growing up, our family celebrated an abundance of June weddings. It was the done thing. More recently, we celebrate weddings throughout the year. Still, the newspaper last week and magazines last month featured what society deems important things for brides to consider as the month of June broke into the calendar. Do you have a traditional gown with train for a destination beach wedding? Whom do you invite to the wedding? Do you have a registry? In what kind of store?

Two realities are missed when the engaged couple focuses primarily on elements of the wedding currently deemed important. One is the place of the community in the wedding and the second is the spiritual dimension of weddings as understood in our Church.

The place of the community: The wedding is prelude to what is hoped to be a lifetime of marriage, and in the best of all possible worlds, marriages begin and are lived out in communities of mutual support: aunts and uncles and cousins three times removed, neighbors from twenty or thirty years ago, children taking it all in. That’s why money set aside for the wedding might be better invested in in a simple, big, hall, with a simple, tasty meal with everyone possible able to come and dance, meet new people and retell old stories. The wedding is not just for the bride and groom. They are taking their place in the community and by their invitation, they acknowledge and seek the support of all who can possibly help them as life together unfolds. I call this “grace on the margins”, the support that comes when we least expect it and from unexpected sources.

The spiritual power of the marriage vows:  This power comes to mind as I recall a conversation I had with my Aunt Angie moments after she had finished fastening my Uncle Al’s belt one  Easter Sunday. We were about to go out to dinner, and my uncle, debilitated by Parkinson’s Disease, always was dressed to the nine’s. Angie saw to that. I gave her an encouraging, appreciative word for her constant, loving care, ending with “I don’t know how you do it!” She shot back “It’s the grace of the sacrament. That’s what the sacrament of marriage is all about.” I was stunned. My aunt was not one to “talk religion” in this way. I didn’t even know she knew those words. But it was out of her mouth in an instant and it is true. The years of marriage contain “the good times and bad, the sickness and health”, that were spoken in the marriage service.  These are real, long beyond the length of the train or the destination or the registry.

In the wedding which begins the marriage, God’s promise to be with us is interwoven with the words of the couple in the fabric of the community.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Coincidence - Luck - Chance - Happenstance...Are they God’s way of being anonymous?

Dear Friends,

As believing people, many of us grew up with two rather divergent world views:

          One world view encompasses our everyday lives: work, school, family, neighbors, friends, sports, shopping – by and large, a world we love, value and enjoy.

          The other world view is the God world: Sunday church, prayer, keeping the commandments. Often this world seems rather distant, not particularly warm or inviting.

          The Feast of Pentecost, which we celebrated last Sunday celebrates and reminds us of quite a different world view.

Pentecost celebrates and reminds us that there is only world:

The world of  Genesis in which God looked at this earth and said “It is good. It is very good.(Gen.1.31)”

The  world of  which Jesus said “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.(John 10.10)”

The  world of which Jesus said “I will send the Holy Spirit to be with you always. ( John 14.26)”

The challenge of Pentecost is twofold:

-         to recognize the Holy Spirit  present in every facet of our lives

-         to understand that the Spirit of God comes where and when the Spirit will it and not at our command..

Think about the people who were present in Jerusalem at the time of

the First Pentecost.. They came from places with tongue-twisting names. All came for other reasons, but they were privileged to hear Peter, newly infused with the Holy Spirit, and to experience the power of the Spirit themselves. Coincidence that they were there?

A woman  in New York City, hesitant about taking a job in Rochester  was considering her options when a jogger passed her on the street, wearing a tee shirt that said “ I’d Rather Be in Rochester.” Coincidence?

Walking through a courtyard at the University of Pavia, Italy last month, my friends and I came across a graduate with her family. We applauded her, engaged her in conversation, then she said to us  “ I have

been considering going to America. You are my sign I should go.” Concidence?  Luck? Chance? Happenstance?

          Someone once said that “Luck and chance are just God’s way of being anonymous.”  Where has God been anonymous in your everyday life?     

~Sister Joan Sobala

The Great In Between

Dear Friends,

I call this this week “the great in-between”. The Ascension of Jesus is past. We, the Church, await  Pentecost, with all it will mean and however it will happen in us. Together, we cling to Jesus’ promise: “… it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”(John 16.7)

This week, I invite you to think about/remember when the Holy Spirit has moved you, moved in you. For example the times you:

• were in the right place at the right time,
• asked the right question,
• spoke and had no idea you thought what you voiced.
• had the sense that some course of action was appropriate, indeed compelling for you and you didn’t have verifiable data to back you up
• had the hunch that, in your interactions with others, sometimes one plus one added up to more than two?
• found yourself changing or changed in the direction of a broader vision and couldn’t figure out what prompted it?
• felt confirmed in your conviction?
• wondered where your courage came from?

In all these moments, and more, the Holy Spirit has overshadowed you.
 

There is an  intensity in the formal prayer of the Church this week. Let there be an echoing intensity in us.

But suppose there can’t be? Suppose we can’t muster up enthusiasm for this sort of realization? Don’t worry, for as Paul reminds us in Romans 8.26: “the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness, for when we do not know how to pray as we ought, the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

This week, choose a mantra (a line) to pray over and over again. It may be

• Living Flame, burn in me.
• Fountain of life-giving Water, well up in me.
• Breath in me, O Breath of God.

Whatever it is, say it often, pray deeply to welcome anew the Ever-Renewing Spirit of God.
~Sister Joan Sobala

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Friends,

Happy Mother’s Day, extended  into the week, to all you women and men who mother the Earth’s people!

True – only women can give physical birth, but men join women in offering spiritual birth and nurturing, the milk of compassion and mercy.

Did you know that Saint Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the Church, wrote in the late 11^th century about Jesus being our mother? This is how he frames it:

And you, Jesus, are you not also a mother?

Are you not the mother who, like a hen,

gathers  her chicks under her wings?

Truly, Lord, you are a mother;

for both they who are in labor

and the who are brought forth

are accepted by you.

Christ, my mother,

You gather your chicks under your wings.

This dead chicken of yours puts himself under those wings;

for by your gentleness the badly frightened ones are comforted,

by your sweet smell the despairing are revived.

Now let’s have some fun!  With some family members and friends, try to recall the “momilies” that came from your mothers when you were young. The word “momily” was coined in 1985. Michelle Slung’s  book of remembered Momilies  included these gems:

                                                                If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well!

                                                                I’m only doing this for your own good!

                                                                It’s only your mother who will tell you the truth!

                                                                This is not a hotel!

                                                                It’s not what you wear, it’s who you are!

                                                                If you’re quiet, you must be up to no good!

Hope that’s enough to whet your memory.

Whatever this day/week means to you or doesn’t, all  year long,  we can make moments to honor the special ones who have created us: our God, our Christ, our mother earth, our birth mother, all the mothers of our lives.

~Sister Joan Sobala