Creating a Civilization of Love

Dear Friends,  

Today’s first liturgical reading, the 4th Suffering Servant Song, lays out the mystery of suffering that has been the experience of people from earliest times. 

If there is any group of people who suffer, it is immigrants, who leave their homelands for a whole variety of reasons. The migration of people, which filled our newscasts in the 20th century, has carried over into this new time. Immigrants come to our own land from every direction. They come bearing the scars of war, torture, hunger, disease, the loss of spouses, children, whole extended families. Therapists, pastoral and social workers bear the sorrow of migrants as witness to their worth and dignity. It is true that some criminally-minded come, but by and large, immigrants are like you and me, ordinary people seeking to build life for themselves and their loved ones. In the words of Pope Francis, our faith calls us to “welcome them, assist them, promote them and integrate them” into their new land. Pope Paul VI said that, with them, we should work at creating a “civilization of love.” Pope John Paul II urged us to create “a culture of life.” All work to be done. All arduous. All worthwhile. 

Issues of migration are ancient. In the Sacred Scriptures, Joseph, Moses and Jesus Himself were foreigners at some point in their lives. From the very beginning, the Word of God has reminded believers to “remember you were once foreigners.” (Lev.19.33) 

We sometimes forget that the U.S. is a nation of immigrants from our earliest days, yet, today, we create limiting qualifications for newcomers – where they come from and who they are, what color they are, what they believe and how they get here. As a nation, we are weak in our sense of unity with all people when we think this way. But In Hebrews, our second reading today, we hear that, in Jesus, we “have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses.” We are not alone as we seek to be more welcoming. 

When we are closed to receiving others, or setting limits, our mindset is not the mind of God.  

Jesus, in the gospel, is the servant of His Father and does not claim power to name those who are on his right or left. Perhaps there are no special places at God’s banquet table. Maybe the immigrants whom we reject or denigrate – or, even worse, are blind to – will be with us at the banquet. Maybe even closer to the heart of God than we are. 

The liberation of many is a task that is greater than the lifetime of Jesus. It takes longer and demands more than the lifetime of any individual disciple. The community that is willing to give life and not measure the return is the community that has understood the mystery of discipleship. Migration is an opportunity to build the human community in unexpected ways. You and I are part of that community by virtue of our Baptism. Will we avail ourselves of the opportunity here and now, as we vote, reach out a hand to our neighbor, reach out our hand to God? 

~ Sister Joan Sobala

*Image above is "Welcoming the Stranger" by Michael Adams

Untangling Our Prayers

Dear Friends,

How is your prayer this autumn? When I begin my prayer, I am a woman with a tangle of yarn in her lap. Each strand, each knot, each bright unraveling is a concern I bring to God. 

The world is at war. A family friend is critically ill. Abuse victims wait for a settlement. The Synod agenda is not to my liking. Our family excitedly awaits a new baby. There is famine in Sudan. The patriarchy is thriving. This autumn day is gloriously blue and gold.

In this quiet, sacred time, I pray joy and lament, anger and peace. The colored threads clash and coalesce as I sit with them. I remember and worry. I ask for courage to walk with God and the neighbor. I hope and let go. 

Let us pray.

~ Susan Schantz SSJ

How We Decide Our Vote

Dear Friends, 

Next month on this date, the elections will be over. I hope you plan to vote. But how, in particular, will you decide your choice for president? 

What criteria will you use? Strict party line vote? On the basis of your pocketbook? On the basis of our future as a nation? On the needs of the many? Will you pray about your vote and consult teachings of your own faith tradition on thorny issues? On November 6th, who shall we be as Americans? 

Returning to Rome from Southeast Asia and Oceania two weeks ago, Pope Francis engaged in a news conference. One reporter shared that he had always written in defense of the dignity of life. “With the U.S. elections coming up,” he asked, “what advice would you give a Catholic voter faced with a candidate who supports ending a pregnancy and another who wants to deport 11 million migrants?” 

The Holy Father’s response, while not given in a formal talk, is worth considering. This is the Vatican transcript of some of his remarks.  

“Both are against life. I can’t decide; I’m not American…” 

“In political morality, it is generally said that not voting is not good. One must vote. And one must choose the lesser evil. Which is the lesser evil? [to vote for] That lady or that gentleman? I don’t know; each person must think and decide according to their own conscience.” 

Together, let’s think, talk over troubling issues, highlight the good in each candidate as we see it. 

May the choice of our vote be made with faith in God and the love of one another. 

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Bestowing God's Spirit on All

Dear Friends,

Would that all the people of God were prophets!
Would that God might bestow the spirit on them all!

Moses was meeting with seventy designated elders of the community, when word came that two men in the camp were prophesying. Some of the elders were upset at this news. Were not these seventy elders the ones called to prophesy? Joshua, Moses’ aide, even asked Moses to stop the two who were preaching without Moses’ approval. Moses responded:

Would that all the people of God were prophets!
Would that God might bestow the spirit on them all!

The September 29 reading from Numbers 11:25-29 describes a dilemma shared by many communities of faith. Groups develop practices about leading prayer, teaching the faith, preaching, and faith sharing. Some Christian communities, including Catholicism, have developed a hierarchical structure, emphasizing the continuity with Jesus’ first disciples through ordained ministers.

There are some periods, like this post Vatican II era, when the Spirit radically refreshes our understanding of the baptismal call of each of the faithful. The ordained are called to lead the faithful in being Christ for our world. Moses’ words can become our prayer for our Church:

Would that all the people of God were prophets!
Would that God might bestow the spirit on them all!

~ Susan Schantz SSJ

Looking to the Horizon

Dear Friends, 

Do you remember the bent over woman Jesus encountered in Luke 13:10-17? She was crippled by a spirit and had been completely incapable of standing erect for 18 years. 

When she first encountered Jesus, all this woman could see was the floor they stood on together. Jesus never mentioned that this apparently incurable bend in her body might be because of some sin on her part. No. It was caused by a spirit – something from her experiences, her world that had weighed her down ceaselessly.  

I have always loved the tenderness in Jesus as he spoke to this woman, touched her regardless of the spirit holding her in thrall. But I had never articulated her bent over state the ways Pope Francis did in a talk he gave in 2017. Pope Francis said of her that she could not see the horizon. She was bound to a limited view of the present. No faces. No eyes that speak volumes of grace and love. She could not see ahead or above. No sky. Nothing of beauty to strike her with awe. Jesus set this woman free to see but also to go where the horizon beckoned. Where did she go? What did she experience? We don’t know anything more about her. All we know is, without Jesus, there was no horizon. With him she could see and experience life in new, breathtaking ways.  

These two things: release from being bent over and exposure to the horizon continue to be the gift of God in our world today.  

I saw these gifts played out recently in a film that is blessed in my memory, a Japanese film called Perfect Days (2023). The viewer walked with 40-ish Hiroyama who had left the home of his affluent, abusive father who kept him psychologically bent over. Hiroyama made his way in life, found a place to live and became a toilet cleaner in Tokyo – an apparently menial position, but one he did with care and enthusiasm. Throughout the film, Hiroyama looked to the sky, to the trees, to the Tokyo Skytree Tower that dominates the city for his encouragement and inspiration. Each day, with its routines, he was inspired by the horizon. Through a series of vignettes, we see how he lived his days with joy, how he came to serenity and accepted the Holy in his life according to his Buddhist tradition.  

What about us? Are we bent over and see only the present in a limited way? Do we accept the call to stand up straight and look to the horizon to see and choose goodness in our lives, however we find it?  

Given the challenges of this fall season, do we pay attention to Jesus bending down to us in whatever bent over ways He finds us and do we hear Him say: “Beloved, stand up straight.”?

~ Sister Joan Sobala

Thoughts and Prayers?

Dear Friends, 

My social media streams often include posts about illness, violence, and natural disasters. These posts may move readers to respond with an emoji, perhaps a heart or a symbol of praying hands. “Thoughts and prayers” is one phrase I’ve seen quite often.

During COVID's early months, most people felt vulnerable and helpless. Those posted offerings of thoughts and prayers began to draw some criticism or mockery. Out of the isolation and fear of those months most of us felt hopeless. Efforts by governments and health care felt inadequate. We need action not prayer, they proclaimed. What good are thoughts and prayers?

One of this Sunday’s Mass readings is a passage from the letter of James. Faith without works is dead. I know that James would understand the frustrated social media commenters. He understood the relationship of belief and action. He knew and followed the teacher who fed the hungry, welcomed women and children, and spoke truth to power.  

In our individual and communal prayer we join God in lovingly gazing at creation. Prayer in troubled times will certainly include lament and intercession, but it will also include openness to God’s call to action. Like James we follow a teacher who calls us to action. Thoughts and prayers can help us do what is in our power to do. 

~ Susan Schantz SSJ

Be Opened!

Dear Friends,  

Taking a fresh look at this Sunday’s readings, Joe Biden came to mind. Not Joe Biden the President, but Joe Biden with the speech impediment. He was a controlled stutterer, who nonetheless has achieved much in life. One of the incidents that I recall vividly was Joe meeting a boy, 7 or 8 years old, who revealed he was a stutterer too. Without hesitation, Joe interrupted his progress to another venue. He sat with the boy and gave him tips on living with this condition and growing through it. Joe wanted this boy to succeed in life. The boy needed a reversal of both thinking and acting. The readings from Isaiah and Mark today tell us that God brings about great reversals in life. They come from God through the healing attention of others. 

Let’s go back to the pertinent lines in Isaiah: 

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf be cleared. Then will the lame leap like a stag, and the tongue of the dumb will speak. 

We might think of this as beautiful poetry, but only poetry.  

But God, in the Scriptures, brought wholeness to people so they could see, hear, leap, sing.  

We see in Jesus the primary example of one who makes great reversals happen. There is something especially poignant about the sensitivity of Jesus in healing the deaf-mute in today’s gospel: 

Jesus drew him away from the crowd to save him embarrassment. As the deaf-mute watched, Jesus spat to communicate His intention to heal. Spittle was understood to be curative. 

Then Jesus touched the person’s eyes and tongue to underline His intention. Jesus looked up to heaven to indicate that what He did, He did through prayer. The man – a foreigner, no less – was made whole. 

Talking about deafness or blindness or any physical limitation of people is a delicate issue. Friends, like Father Ray Fleming, himself deaf, remind us that, for them, deafness is normal. For Joe Biden and the little boy, stuttering was normal. Jesus, in the Gospel, is not reported to have cured every sick person he met. Physical healing is not necessarily the goal. It is reversal that is important – and the gateway to reversal for everyone is in the phrase:

                                                     “Ephphata! Be opened.” 

“Be opened!” are wise words for us in this post-Labor Day time, when we settle into a more patterned way of life than we experience in the summer season. Be opened to the deeper meaning of the stories that people tell us, more opened to the changes at in our society that we experience, so that we can support or challenge them, be opened to those who are rendered dumb because people in power refuse to listen. 

Be opened, in our personal lives means that that we stop living on the surface of life and open ourselves to limitless hope, deep and compassionate love and the embrace of this God of ours who inspires great reversals in our lives. 

~ Sister Joan Sobala