Vine and Branches

"I am the vine; you are the branches," says Jesus to the disciples at the Last Supper (John 15:1-6.)  Because of our intimate union with him, we are able to bear fruit, able to tell others what Jesus means to us.

Without Church

St. Patrick, pray for us and for the whole world.
Even though his father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest, Patrick says that he wasn't a very religious child.  At 16 he was kidnapped from his family estate on the west coast of Britain and sold into slavery in Ireland.  He was made to look after some sheep.  Here all by himself without church, Patrick turned to God.  He tells us "Even when I was staying out in the woods or on the mountain, I used to rise before dawn for prayer in snow or frost or rain...."
With our churches closed because of the "virus" we can still grow in our relationship with God through prayer on our own.

Serenity

Only part of a large flock of swans across the Lake this week.  Clicking on picture enlarges it.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled." (John 14:1)  Jesus at the Last Supper is trying to comfort his disciples in the face of his leaving them.  He speaks to us, too, in our troubled times.  Jesus encourages us to have faith in God's firmness, like dropping an anchor in a troubled sea.

Love the Hallmark

This week's full moon near setting
I'm beginning to use for Bible meditation the long talk Jesus has with his disciples at the Last Supper in John's Gospel.  Today what struck me was "By this will all identify you as my disciples--by the love you have for one another"(13:35)  Jesus pushes me to love those in the parish with whom I disagree or whom I don't like.  (The translation is Father Raymond Brown's from his commentary on John, a 1200 page book that I bought in 1970 for $8.)

Everyday Mystics

I am keenly aware of God in such moments as this.  God was always there along the  road, in the trees, in the sun, but sometimes things come together in a way that startles us into a more vivid awareness of God's presence.

Thin Place

I like the suggestion about the Transfiguration in the newest commentary that I have, The Paulist Biblical Commentary: "It seems best to regard this occurrence on a 'high mountain' as one of those moments in the story when the barrier between the heavenly and earthly slips away for a time to allow his (Jesus') divinity to shine through."  For some years now I have come to imagine heaven as sort of a dimension separated from ours by a thin membrane.  I imagine Jesus as a kind of portal through to the "other world." 

Redeeming Humanity

This bleak mountain in the lush Jordan River valley is considered the desert where Jesus chooses not to be a spectacular Son of God, but a human being like us.  By trusting God to act in God's own good time, Jesus lives our life and makes our humanity holy.