Carrying Life's Burdens Together

Dear Friends,

On this 244th Independence Day weekend, we look back on American growth and the times we have had to rebuild our nation after natural and human disasters of all kinds. Notable this year are the COVID-19 pandemic, which is continuing to speed through our country, and the protests on behalf of black and brown people that has confronted our complacence. Given all of this, what are we to make of our Gospel today? We hear the call of Jesus: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me...My yoke is easy and my burden light” (Matthew 11. 29-30). What does Jesus know about yokes that we don’t?

Yoke is not a commonly used word in our day and if we think of it at all, yoke is a freedom-restricting word. We have only to think of the yoke of slavery and oppression. That’s not anything we want for ourselves or our loved ones. Despite what history reveals we have done to black and brown people, the word yoke almost sounds un-American, because when we are yoked together, we can’t go where we want, when we want. We have to go where our yokefellow goes.

But to repeat the question, “What does Jesus know about yokes that we don’t?”

To begin, Jesus knows that yokes are meant to get the job done in an easier way. We pull together, here and now, to overcome the “isms” that threaten to destroy our nation, to put out forest fires and gather the resources to dig people and groups out of debt.

The second thing about yokes is that they are made to fit the wearers. One simply does not go off to the local Walmart to buy a yoke. They are made to fit the shoulders and the neck – made of wood by skilled carpenters so that there is no chaffing, no irritation due to rubbing.

(Let’s be imaginative for a moment. Perhaps where Jesus got those words he says to us today is from his memory of days working in the carpenter’s shop with Joseph. Maybe they made yokes. Maybe they had an enticing sign in their shop which said, “Our yokes are easy.”)

In any case, Jesus knew that we need yokes because he knew we have burdens to bear. Funny thing about us: some burdens we bear gladly, the stuff we have accumulated over the years.

Some of us take on the burden of being the savior of others, instead of letting God do the job.

But in our most honest moments, we know which burdens are essential and God-connected. They are the burdens which create, inspire and support life...burdens which give rise to justice, apply mercy like balm to sunburn or encourage peace on earth. There are the burdens of sharing one another’s joys and sorrows, the burdens of citizenship.

People can argue about it if they want, but one nation under God means that God is the yokefellow of our country, through all of our iffy times.

Going back to our Gospel, Jesus is our yokefellow. That means that we are not alone when we carry whatever essential burden is ours by choice or by providence.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Whom Do We Receive into Our Lives?

Dear Friends,

Today’s readings – for the 13^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – answer the question, “Whom do we receive into our lives?” The Shunamite woman in the Second Book of Kings welcomed the prophet Elisha. There would always be a room for him in this Shunamite household. And Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew bids us to receive Him, the prophets, the righteous (that is, the just and merciful) and anyone who gives a cup of water to the little ones.

To whom are we hospitable? In this most remarkable year, when we come face to face with our neighbor in new ways, when and how and why are we hospitable? Who do we welcome to the table of our minds and hearts? On whose behalf do we put forth hospitable actions?

Are we hospitable in our hearts to everyone in our family? Possibly not. Some we can’t stand. Some rub us the wrong way. Some are our role models and we take their spirits to abide in us.

Thinking of the generosity of the Shunamite woman toward Elisha, for whom or what idea, cause, new realization do we keep a room ready in our hearts or minds or homes? What literature do we read and study?

With whom do we spend time?

Who is it that makes us cross the street – literally or figuratively – in order to avoid?

Are we hospitable to people as they are or only if they are as we want them to be?

Are we hospitable to the prophets? I suspect that many of us would not think of George Floyd as a prophet. He probably didn’t think of himself in those terms either. But he stood as placeholder for all those who died by police violence, worldwide, and millions of people worldwide recognized him as such. By his dying and his dying words, George Floyd helped us rip off the scabs from our eyes that accepted the abuse of black and brown people by the police and by extension, by all of us who knowingly or not are invested with white privilege.

Speaking about prophets, the late theologian Carroll Stuhlmueller told his listeners, “prophets have the strength to be at the heart of the community and be rejected by that community.” And Parker Palmer, the Quaker spiritual writer asks us to be hospitable to the sick, the hungry, the imprisoned without demanding that they become our friends or grateful allies.

Through the summer, each of us masked as we pass another person on the street, would find it easy to ignore him/her. Who would know? Who cares? In our hearts, we would know. At this moment, the hospitable wave, the thumbs up would makes a big difference. Small positive gestures bring God’s grace to others.

~Sister Joan Sobala

The Attic of Your Mind

Dear Friends,

Talking with friends and family about how they spent these 100-plus days of pandemic isolation, a number of people said they hoed out various parts of their homes, including their attics. That made me remember a phrase I learned many years ago – “look for it in the attic of your mind.”

We all have nooks and shelves and niches in our mind where we have stored ideas, memories, unfinished tasks, things we learned in classes or from life situations. This Father’s Day weekend, I find myself recalling songs my father, Connie, sang to me, how he taught me to read a road map, how he prayed, and his stance at the tee as he played golf. Do dust off the memories of your Dad this weekend, and share them with your family.

But there is something more precious that is somewhere in our minds: something Paul in Philippians 2.5 encourages us to have within us, namely “the same attitude/mind that is in Christ Jesus.” I would hope that the mind of Christ is active in you during these days when the pandemic is mixed with the aftermath of George Floyd’s untimely death. These two realities, plus the economic downturn the pandemic caused, have absorbed us whether we want them to do so or not.

But where will we go for wisdom and understanding about the meaning and implications of these interwoven realities? Gurus from many spheres of influence tell us what to fix, how to proceed, what the most important thing to do might be. Still others remind us that we can’t honestly say these problems have nothing to do with us. We cannot claim we are out of the loop.

This is where the mind of Christ comes in. Most especially, the mind of Christ, His attitude toward people, which we have been taught since our youth, is where we are to go for courage, insight,  determination to seek truth and follow after it and set people free of illness, poverty and racism/sexism. Life today can be so full of absorbing things that we forget God, Jesus, the mind of Christ, the call we said “yes” to as His disciples at our Baptism and repeated at our Confirmation. These life-giving realities may well be in the niches, corners, shelves in the deep recesses of our own minds. Go hunting. Find what Jesus reminded his hearers, his disciples: “love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole soul and your whole strength and your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12.30-31). Remember his story of the Good Samaritan, the ways he healed the blind, lame, and deaf. He treated women and children with respect. Some commentators believe that Simon the Cyrenean, who helped carry the cross, was black. Race, gender, age made no difference to Jesus who served all.

In the weighty matters before us today, neutrality is not an option. Our participation in the reshaping of our decimated world will make a difference. So, put on the mind of Christ. Let your own heart be shaped by Christ’s desire for a world that keeps coming closer and closer to heaven on earth. As one of the encouraging ads on TV says: “Together we can” – which we edit “Together with Christ, we can.”

~Sister Joan Sobala

Finding the Holy Spirit in Turbulent Times

Dear Friends,

Two weeks ago, our Church celebrated Pentecost – the coming of the Holy Spirit. The wind and fire transformed the lives of Christ’s disciples. It’s easy to forget the presence of the Holy Spirit now, given the pandemic with its continuing destruction of human life, the violent death of George Floyd and its aftermath, and the misery of the economy. So today, let’s pause to ask, “Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?”

That’s a good and proper question – one to ask in silent prayer when we take time to focus on our oneness with God. But we should ask it in public as well, ask it of neighbors, friends, strangers with whom we work or with whom we are thrown together in a variety of circumstances. “Where is the Holy Spirit in all of this?”

The Spirit is not in the killing of people by virus or by human hands. The Spirit is not in the self-serving destructiveness and violence of looters masking as protesters. The Spirit is not in people in power who use these turbulent times for their own advancement.

It was a knee on the throat of George Floyd that took his life away from him. Across the country, high-ranking police officers “took the knee” in the midst of heartbroken protesters to express solidarity. Two different ways in which people used their knees: Derek Chauvin took the breath from George Floyd for some nefarious reason. Chief Vincent Tavalero in Brooklyn used his knee to express solidarity with the powerless in the face of police action. Maya Angelou writes, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” To build on the blessedness that Jesus offers, blessed are those who suffer with the suffering.

In ambulances, emergency rooms, ICU's, clinics and long lines of people waiting, the Holy Spirit is in the capable hands of medical personnel, bringing healing, and where healing was not possible, bringing comfort. The Spirit of God has been everywhere essential workers did what they were committed to do, giving them energy and courage to stay the course. Blessed are those who take their work seriously.

In our homes, the Holy Spirit has been present as parents attempt to continue their children’s education, and generations care for one another in whatever way they can. The Holy Spirit is with those who mourn separation from loved ones by service, sickness, dying or death. It is hard and maybe even devastating to experience loss. Do we recognize others who speak or act in ways that convey the Spirit’s unique and abiding presence wherever people live and move and breathe, weep, and find new strength to go on? Blessed are those who become aware of the Spirit.

Pope Francis urges Americans to work toward national reconciliation, to expunge the sin of racism from every corner of our life as a nation. “We cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to any kind of racism or discrimination and pretend to claim to defend the sacredness of human life.” Another Vatican official describes racism as like a virus that worms into people’s hearts and destroys them and everyone else besides. The Holy Spirit is in every attempt at reconciliation. It’s hard work, but then, the Holy Spirit is used to hard work.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Becoming One with God

Dear Friends,

Today is the feast of the Trinity – Life-Giver, Pain-Bearer, Love-Maker. We celebrate the fullness of God – “God who gives us sun, when we expect rain, dreams when we expect a storm…God, who plays with us, turns us sideways and around. (Michael Leunig, A Common Prayer)”

Throughout Christian history, people shared visual images of the Trinity. Patrick used the shamrock. The German monks developed the pretzel with three twist. Each caught an aspect of the mystery of the Trinity.

The image above is a copy of an icon created by the Russian monk Andrei Rublev (d.1430). The figures are obviously related. They have the same look. They are ageless.

The Father is represented by the figure (looks like an angel) on the left. We know this because behind the Father is a house. In my Father’s house there is room for everyone.

The Word Incarnate, Jesus is in the middle. There is a tree behind him. An old hymn tells us that Jesus died for us on a tree. Jesus has two fingers on the table, perhaps to signify the two natures in Christ, perhaps to point to the bread and cup.

The third figure is the Holy Spirit, whom we invoke in every Eucharistic Prayer: “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy that they may become for us the Body and Blood of Christ.” A community of love – united around the table.

Most of us, looking at this icon, are so engrossed in these figures that we fail to see an additional important feature of the icon. There, between the feet of the Father and Holy Spirit is a stool, drawn up to the table – an invitation to you and me to come, sit at the table of God’s very intimate life. Come and sit. Be one with God.

Even as we celebrate the God who has created, redeemed and sustains us, we are invited to be one with God.

These days when the world suffers immensely because of the coronavirus, science, technology, medicine and every other good human construct we can name are in a battle to conquer the beast who threatens life so relentlessly. In the days and months ahead, aspects of life will be uncertain. We will know instability and unrest. Episcopal priest Cynthia Bourgeaux says, “this is a time of profound planetary adjustment.”

Going forward, we will have to depend on every resource possible and on one another to not only survive, but to love and grow. But more than that, let’s remember to rely on God, no stranger to love and intimacy, who invites us to the very family table of God. For centuries, in good times and bad, the words of St. Athanasius (296 – 373) have resonated in the believing community: “God became human so that humans might become God.” We are at the table of God.

Today, let’s act on that belief and nor despair. We are becoming one with God in a profound way in these turbulent times.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Standing Together

Dear Friends,

I remember the first time I saw Les Miserables. It was memorable. The singers were inspired, the dancing energetic, the pathos heart-wrenching.

       “Red, the world about to dawn,
        Red, the color of desire,
       Red, I feel my soul on fire.”

This was what the students sang before they made their stand before their foes. And as Jean Valjean lay dying he sang to his adopted daughter, Cosette, “To love another person is to see the face of God.”

At the end of this electric production, the whole cast came to the apron of the stage. They reached their arms toward the audience and sang, “Will you join in our crusade? Will you be strong and stand with me?”

Like one person, the audience surged to its feet, cheering and singing with the cast, saying with our bodies and voices, “Yes! We will join you! We will stand with you!” Even now, I cry when I remember how I felt as we were invited with such direct and poignant words.

Today, Pentecost, the liturgical color is red. That day, the world of the ancient Church was about to be born. Caught up in the moment, the disciples desired that it be so. Their souls were on fire. To this day, right now, the early disciples invite us to join them, be strong with them. The Holy Spirit has been given and it will never desert the followers of the Word Made Flesh.

In this pandemic time, when we can grow irritated at the absence of the ordinary in our lives, when jobs, money and food are scarce for many, will we still turn to the Spirit of God, be faithful to the Risen Christ and find ways to encourage others to “keep the faith?” This is the day that renews in us the companionship of the Holy Spirit who is our helper, advocate, strength, comfort and healer.

After Pentecost, the disciples were able to face and resolve difficult questions, stand up to the authorities that would crush them. They could do these things and more. Because their belief in the Risen Christ had become conviction. All they said and did depended on their conviction.

Conviction means I will. I will be. I will join my efforts to those of others. I will hold fast to belief even though naysayers will challenge me. I will go. I will do. I will minister to others in whatever way I can in Christ’s name.

We see reflected in the daily news, people’s hardships because of this pandemic, but we also see examples of others who want what they want without regard for the virus which they might receive or carry to one another without knowing it. If we let it, Pentecost can be for us also a feast of conviction – the conviction that when we treat one another lovingly, we see the face of God.

~Sister Joan Sobala

Recognizing Our Part in Renewing Earth

Dear Friends,

If nothing else, this devastating COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the pace of human life. We find ourselves at home most of the time, and unless we are essential workers, we are out for only exercise or errands. The creatures of the world notice our absence. In Llandudno, Wales, wild mountain goats came into town and sampled the bushes, garden vegetables and trees. In a photograph from Nigeria, lions are resting comfortably in the blazing sun on a paved, untraveled highway. And the storks whose migratory pattern takes them over an Albanian lagoon have settled there in large numbers.

At the same time that nature and clear air levels have changed for the better, we have experienced the collapse of our economy, devastating illness and the noble attempt to find ways of addressing COVID-19 and the human need for the basics of life.

May 24 marks the fifth anniversary of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ “bold bid to help humanity to love the earth, to glimpse its sacredness and be moved by its plight” (Austen Ivereigh, Wounded Shepherd, p.195).

What’s the connection between the Pope’s message and our virus-induced misery? For one thing, the ecological crisis is deeply connected with our human and political crises. To come through all of these crises requires new ways of thinking and acting. Begone competitiveness and selfishness! Welcome cooperation, compassion and awareness!

Create a new heart in us, O God – new heart to save what Pope Francis calls our common home. A new heart can happen only through conversion – seeing with the eyes of God, listening with the heart of God and acting with the tender heart of Jesus. This will take work on our part and a cooperation with our attentive God.

If you haven’t read Laudato Si’, Google it and spend time absorbing Francis’ insights. He himself, when he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, experienced an ecological conversion. It became abundantly clear to him that human beings were not meant to dominate the earth but to live compatibly with other creatures.

As we suffer through the pain of this pandemic, the time is right for us to awaken to our shared responsibilities in bringing forth a massive renewal of the planet, which Francis calls our homeland – “one world with a common plan.”

Among steps to take, consider our “throwaway culture” with its emphasis on production and consumption. These pandemic days have shown us that we can do with less. We can also teach our children by our actions more than our words to value the earth. We can also pay attention and support the efforts of young people who are the conscience which calls adults to ecological conviction and action.

The Swedish teenager, Greta Thunberg, and Pope Francis met one day in April 2019 in St. Peter’s Square. With delight, Pope Francis told her “Go on, go on, continue!” And she in turn exuded joy at his caring: “Thank you for standing up for the climate, for speaking the truth. It means a lot.”

~Sister Joan Sobala