[Propertalk] Proper 19 c 2016 - part 2

Sat Sep 10 01:17:41 EDT 2016

Part 2

	 “I don’t think so. It’s a great prayer. It expresses
wholehearted commitment, a desire to imitate Christ, a generous
spirit, and a readiness to work hard–all sentiments associated with
Ignatian spirituality and the Spiritual Exercises. They fit Ignatius
perfectly. You feel like he _could_ have written that prayer, just as
St. Francis could have written the prayer attributed to him.

	 “Maybe Ignatius didn’t write the Prayer for Generosity in the
16th century. But the spiritual movement he started was healthy enough
in the 20th century to produce a prayer that sounds just like him.
_That’s_ impressive.” 2

	 One of the paradoxical things that Jesus teaches, that Christianity
seeks from us, is to be able to see needs, to see things that are
missing or could be done better, and to live, and to move, and to
exist to draw others in the loving state of finding God’s peace; to
do this before we worry about ourselves or what the cost may be.

	 There have been arguments over the years about what the parables
Jesus told, especially the ones we heard this morning, what they mean,
because they don’t seem to make any sense.

	 You have a hundred sheep – and you know what sheep are like –
but somehow you’re willing to leave the ninety-nine to search for
the one you discover is missing. Is that lunacy, or is it lunacy?
Certainly one sheep is important. But aren’t the ninety-nine
ninety-nine times more important?

	 If one person in the congregation is sick; if one of our sisters and
brothers is going through a rough spot; if someone chooses not to come
together for spiritual and physical nourishment; if one doesn’t find
the energy to take part in communal events, do you tack a note on the
door of the building and say, “Come on in. Make yourself at home.
Sing a few hymns, flip through the Prayer Book. And at least some of
you know where the coffee and tea are kept n the kitchen.”

	 Does the leader go off to spend time with that one, leaving the
others to their devices? Yet, if Jesus said, “Feed My sheep,”
surely He didn’t exclude any of them, regardless of their behaviour,
of their belief system, or any other characteristic.

	 Somehow, we have to be compassionate and sensitive enough to notice
when one person, one system, isn’t present or isn’t fully engaged,
or performing properly. Somehow, we have to try to remain alert, yet
we know that we can’t forestall every crisis before it happens.
Therefore when something goes off the rails, when someone because
invisible, we have to seek to find out why this happened and to try to
induce that person to come back.

	 The Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, wrote, “9/11 was a
catastrophic event on American soil, but it has affected the whole
international community. Sixty-two countries lost people in this
devastating attack. The ramifications have been global and put the
world on alert for a new form of destructive, annihilistic terrorism
which has sprouted groups like Boko Haram, ISIS and Al Shabaab.” 3

	 This isn’t to lay blame. The parables of Jesus barely touch on
that. Just one brief note after the second story about recognising
that there may be, somehow, some responsibility in permitting or
causing a loss, a separation, a tension to have occurred. Jesus merely
talks of the joy in discovering unity once again

	 This anniversary, just like any other, isn’t to become an exercise
in blame, in self-congratulation, in bitterness. Perhaps, if anything,
just as in the action of individuals to bring the herd to completion
or the monetary account into balance, today and every day should be an
opportunity to discover how individuals work for the common good, for
the healing of relationships, for the rebuilding of society.

	 Nicholas Kristof wrote about what really inspires him, what gives
him hope, what helps him to have faith that all will be well.

	 In his mind, “It is not the bureaucracy that inspires me, or
doctrine, or ancient rituals, or even the most glorious cathedral,
temple or mosque, but rather a Catholic missionary doctor in Sudan
treating bomb victims, [1] an evangelical physician achieving the
impossible in rural Angola [2], a rabbi [3] battling for
Palestinians’ human rights — they fill me with an almost holy
sense of awe. Now, that’s religion.” This, Kristof said, is what
Jesus would do. 4

	 This, perhaps, is where we CAN give thanks for individualism – the
bringing of life, and comfort, on behalf of the whole community, one
person – each one of us here, one at a time, reaching out to bring
health and a sense of meaning, even when things seem to be crumbling
about us.

	 “John Labriola, who had an office on the 71st Floor of the Tower
One snapped (the photo in the bulletin. It shows) firefighter Mike
Kehoe rushing up the Tower One as Labriola was evacuating. The photo
was taken just minutes before the tower collapsed, and when the _Daily
Mirror_ ran the next morning, the editors were uncertain whether he
survived or not. Six of his colleagues who went up the same staircase
died, but Kehoe survived, and the photo won him instant acclaim; …

	 “The photo perfectly encapsulates the dedication of 343
firefighters who perished, and thousands of other first responders,
law enforcement officials and ordinary heroes that day. But sadly,
their stories also represent the ephemeral nature of the unity
achieved on 9/11. A decade on, political horse-trading would lead to
the responders being denied medical coverage and compensation.” 5

	 One person, one at a time, reaching out, seeking the lost,
comforting the frightened, restoring hope – that’s what Jesus asks
of us. THIS is worth remembering.

	NOTES:

	[1] Br. Mark Brown Society of Saint John the Evangelist [4] 7th
September, 2016  ssje.org/word

2 TEACH ME TO BE GENEROUS - IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY [5]
WWW.IGNATIANSPIRITUALITY.COM › IGNATIAN PRAYER

	3 “Services to mark 15th anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks” by
Gavin Drake September 8, 2016 [Anglican Communion News Service]
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/09/08/services-to-mark-15th-anniversary-of-911-terror-attacks/
[6]

	4 _“__What Religion Would Jesus Belong To?” by _Nicholas Kristof
[7] SEPT. 3, 2016.

	http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pgyZ4A/A0UL7+dvCJorKS4Ke+ZZ3I3qiNaY/VMguvSMLnqHFISNEsS/PONJ2ylFLjSpayBI0L9ikEfPGNTAYnje2Jx3viJL437qz6BuJk0XYibG1ev5VcUsG9NpehnSEEoLmeq1HAw/NLLFw3r5Z+ZCg==&campaign_id=8420&instance_id=81539&segment_id=94572&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[8]

	5 _Iconic Photos [9] - __Posts Tagged ‘9/11’- The Day The Twin
Towers Fell [10]” _9/11 | Iconic Photos [11]
https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/tag/911/ [12]


Links:
------
[1]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-hes-jesus-christ.html
[2]
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/opinion/sunday/nicholas-kristof-a-little-respect-for-dr-foster.html
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/opinion/08kristof.html
[4]
http://ssje.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=344ed142b391b2b520df4080c&id=fb05b33b2d&e=d3bff814a3
[5]
http://mail2.charter.net/HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.COM/URL?SA=T&RCT=J&Q=&ESRC=S&SOURCE=WEB&CD=3&CAD=RJA&UACT=8&VED=0AHUKEWJHHIAC84PPAHUTZMMKHSWGC6UQFGGPMAI&URL=HTTP%3A%2F%2FWWW.IGNATIANSPIRITUALITY.COM%2F12297%2FTEACH-ME-TO-BE-GENEROUS&USG=AFQJCNFY8DKMQBVZ7URUSLOXDG5RR17SWQ
[6]
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2016/09/08/services-to-mark-15th-anniversary-of-911-terror-attacks/
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/column/nicholas-kristof
[8]
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pgyZ4A/A0UL7+dvCJorKS4Ke+ZZ3I3qiNaY/VMguvSMLnqHFISNEsS/PONJ2ylFLjSpayBI0L9ikEfPGNTAYnje2Jx3viJL437qz6BuJk0XYibG1ev5VcUsG9NpehnSEEoLmeq1HAw/NLLFw3r5Z+ZCg==&campaign_id=8420&instance_id=81539&segment_id=94572&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127
[9] https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/
[10]
https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/unmentionable-odour-of-death-offends-that-september-night/
[11]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=17&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjknpvt4PTOAhUK0WMKHXdaCa0QFghXMBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Ficonicphotos.wordpress.com%2Ftag%2F911%2F&usg=AFQjCNEX_dTGsTORGZIM5B9jO_fv986LVA
[12] https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/tag/911/

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