Short Reflection on the 1st Sunday of Lent (B)

Dhikr for the 1^st Sunday of Lent (B)

Selected Gospel Passage: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mk.2 15)

Short Reflection: Lent is a special season to be more attentive to the “disclosure” of the kingdom of God as we journey through life… BELIEVE in the GOSPEL!

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...

Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1.    Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…

2.   Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips. 

3.   Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…

FRIENDSHIP IS LIBERATING, TOO

The conscience of Christianity has changed. Perhaps the most critical development within all of Christianity these past years has been the re-emergence of the idea that there can be no spiritual health without social justice. To be a healthy Christian means to pray, to live a good moral life, and to be involved with the poor

Why is it that a Christian may not, in good conscience, ignore the teachings of Scripture and the church regarding prayer and private morality, and yet s/he may, in good conscience, ignore the social teachings of Scripture and the church?

The church's teachings which have to do with sexual ethics (e.g. Humanae Vitae) tend to be seen as the deciding criteria determining who is good or bad as a Christian, while the church's teaching on social issues (e.g. Mater et Magistra), which have equal moral and dogmatic authority, can be largely ignored in good conscience. That's an imbalance in need of correction.

But there is still a further imbalance: Through much pain, we have come to realize that prayer alone is not enough, social justice is also needed. Now, through more pain, we are coming to realize that prayer and social justice, together but alone, are also not enough. To pray and to do social justice is to be prophetic. But that's a lonely and hard business. Prophets are persecuted, are powerless and are rejected. It is all too easy to get angry, to feel self-righteous, to fill with bitterness, to become selective in our prophecy and to hate the very people we are trying to save. Loving, challenging friends who can melt our bitterness and free us from the need to be angry are as critical within the spiritual life as are prayer and social justice.

What is lacking? In a word: friendship. A healthy spiritual life is anchored on three pillars, prayer, social justice, and friendship.

There are three key questions to ask ourselves when we are evaluating spiritual health:
- Do I pray every day?
- Am I involved with the struggle of the poor?
- Do I have the kinds of friendships in my life that move me beyond bitterness and anger?

(Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI)

Dhikr for the 7th Sunday of the Ordinary year (B)

Dhikr for the 7th Sunday of the Ordinary year (B)

Selected Gospel Passage: ‘Jesus immediately knew in his mind what they were thinking to themselves, so he said, "Why are you thinking such things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'? (Mk. 2: 8-9)

Reflection: Beware of what we, too, store in our heart… Often our judgment of our neighbors flows from what is in our heart. Cuidate!

DARE TO BE ONE IN A THOUSAND

DARE TO BE ONE IN A THOUSAND

Recently, I was giving a talk to a group of young adults preparing for marriage and was trying to challenge them with the Christian teaching on love and sexuality. They were objecting constantly. When I'd finished speaking, a young man stood up and said: “Father, I agree with your principles, in the ideal. But you are totally unrealistic. Do you know what is going on out here? Nobody is living that stuff anymore. You'd have to be one person in a thousand to live what you're suggesting. Everyone is living differently now.” I looked at him, sitting beside a young woman whom he obviously loved deeply and hoped to marry, and decided to appeal to his idealism. I asked him: “When you marry that lady beside you, what kind of marriage do you want, one like everyone else's, or one in a thousand?” “One in a thousand,” he answered without hesitation. “Then,” I suggested, “you'd best do what only one in a thousand does. If you do what everyone else does, you will have a marriage like everyone else. If you do what only one in a thousand does, you can have a one-in-a-thousand marriage.”

Our culture's demand that everyone be like everyone else is not so much malicious as it is despairing. The death of idealism is a child of despair, always. People are content to settle for an attainable second best only when, for whatever reasons (hurt, bad self-image, lack of hope) they have given up on ever attaining what is ultimately best. Today we need prophets. We need people who, when speaking of love, economics, values, sexuality and aesthetics, are compassionate enough to be empathetic to our real struggles. (Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI)

Dhikr for the 5th Sunday of the Ordinary year (B)

Selected Passage: “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”  (Mk.1: 35)

Reflection: We, too, need to find an appropriate time and place where, we can pray… It is so easy to get lost in the maze of everyday life…
Prayer is a privileged moment to listen with much attention to God or simply to sit before his presence with much devotion.

DHIKR SIMPLE METHOD...
Dhikr is an Arabic word for remembrance. In the “tariqa” (the way) movement, dhikr developed into a form of prayer… It is a prayer of the heart… following three simple steps:

1. Write in one’s heart a certain passage of the Holy Writ…
2. Make the same passage ever present in one’s lips.
3. Then wait for God’s disclosure on the meaning of the passage…that interprets one’s life NOW…!

It takes a week of remembering (dhikr)…or even more days to relish the beauty of this method…