For
Sunday, November 5, 2017, 4th Sunday in the Season of Creation, Readings: Ephesians 4:1-6, Psalm
149, Romans 12:9-18, Matthew 5:1-12
I, Paul... beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. [Ephesians 4:1-3]
Praise the Lord! Sing to the LORD a new song, is praise in the assembly of the faithful. [Psalm 149:1]
Let love be genuine, hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. [Romans 12:9-10]
[Jesus] taught them saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit...those who mourn...the meek...those who hunger and thirst...the merciful...the pure in heart...the peacemakers...those who are persecuted...Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven... [Matthew 5:1-12]
Defining "saint" in this day and age isn't all that simple. For many of us, I expect, the mind-image that arises is of someone many centuries and continents removed from our everyday place and time in this world; someone who is an example of complete perfection in every facet of life that is unattainable, and, if we're honest, undesirably difficult for ourselves. Yet many saints and Saints, the ordinary and the officially designated, are/were flawed humans with real human frailties and struggles. What or how did their lives become exemplary? The best discussion I have found is from Sister Joan Chittister, which follows. This piece offers us some food for prayerful thought on ways we might discover our inner saint and seek to, at the very least, support the very basic tenets of the Greatest Commandment [Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-28].
"For centuries the church has confronted
the human community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when
what we really often mean to say is "icon," "star,"
"hero," ones so possessed by an internal vision of divine goodness
that they give us a glimpse of the face of God in the center of the human. They
give us a taste of the possibilities of greatness in ourselves. What qualities
will be necessary to live a life of integrity, of holiness, in the twenty-first
century? What models of those values, if any, have been raised up to show us
the way to God in a world that is more preoccupied with the material than with
the spiritual, more self-centered than selfless, more concerned with the
mundane than with the divine, more parochial than cosmic? (They) are male and
female, Christian and non-Christian, married and unmarried, religious and lay,
pragmatists and artists, named saint by a process or proclaimed saint by the
people who lived in the shadow of their lives. They are people like you and me.
With one exception, perhaps. In their eyes burn the eyes of a God who sees
injustice and decries it, sees poverty and condemns it, sees inequality and
refuses it, sees wrong and demands that it be set right. These are people for
whom the Law above the law is first in their lives. These are people who did
not temporize with the evil in one system just because another system could
have been worse. These are people who saw themselves clearly as the others'
keepers. These are people who gave themselves entirely to the impulses of God
for the sake of the world." ~ Sister Joan Chittister, Roman Catholic nun and former Prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA, an activist, author and speaker on a variety of subjects such as spirituality, religious life, peace, and justice among others. The excerpt is from: "A Passion for Life:
Fragments of the Face of God", Orbis, Maryknoll, NY, 1996
LET US, GOD’S PEOPLE, PRAY
Leader:
~ Lord of All Saints and All Sinners, we commend to You
and celebrate the everyday saints among us and the Holy Saints for the Ages. Grant
us the wisdom to seek the saint within our own flawed humanness, to persevere in
prayer, and discover again that we find You always in our midst.
Boundless,
Forgiving God
RESPONSE:
Arouse our hope in You
~ Lord of All
Saints and All Sinners, especially in these critical times, infuse us with the
courage and strength to direct the leaders of our World, our Country, and our
Community, to decry injustice, renounce evil, and encourage mercy, peace, and honor. We pray especially for: add your own petitions
Boundless,
Forgiving God
Arouse our hope in You
~ Lord of All
Saints and All Sinners, release from distress all whose spirits languish in the
pain of illness, anxiety, or addiction, and endow those who give them care with
patience, gentleness, and love. We now join our voices to pray aloud for those
in need…
Boundless,
Forgiving God
Arouse our hope in You
~ Lord of All
Saints and All Sinners, let us rejoice and be glad as those we love are welcomed
into their great, glorious, and eternal reward with You. We pray especially
for:
Boundless,
Forgiving God
Arouse our hope in You
~ Lord of All
Saints and All Sinners, we pause in
this moment to offer You our other heartfelt thanksgivings, intercessions,
petitions, and memorials, aloud or silently…
Boundless,
Forgiving God
Arouse our hope in You
~ Lord of All
Saints and All Sinners, we offer You our praise and thanksgiving for all who
have humbly accepted Your call to shepherd us toward Salvation in Christ. Guide
their steps as our faithful role models, that together we may taste and see
Your goodness in our lives. We pray especially for:
Boundless,
Forgiving God
Arouse our hope in You
The Celebrant adds: Loving,
Merciful God, open the eyes of our souls to see that our unique gifts from You, and the flaws we have developed, may all be used for Your eternal
purpose. Rebuild our hearts with
humility and peace, worthy to answer the call of the blessed life for
which we were created. We ask through Jesus, our Redeemer,
and in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, who live and reign together with You, as
One God above all, through all, and in all, for ever and ever. Amen.
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