Pax et Bonum

The Online worship resource for St. James Parish

October 14, 2009

Hospitality should have no other nature than love.
---Henrietta Mears---
Gracious and loving Father, we gather to share the gifts of food we received from your bounty. We thank you for the example of your Son Jesus Our Lord, for it was in the act of hospitality that men eyes were opened. Open our hearts to be alert to embrace others who may want to participate in this wonderful ministry. As we prepare to share these gifts with the people you have sent our way, may we all realize that eye opening experience to know and to see you evermore clearer, through the love of your Son, Jesus our Lord; Amen.

Hospitality

Last night we held what will be the first of several Spaghetti Dinners in the Parish Hall. 175 people came through the doors of St. James to eat a fabulous dinner at an incredible bargain. In the kitchen were mixtures of three communities at work: The Men’s Organization, Entertaining Angels, and Christian Formation. The tickets were cheap, the food was great, and the dinner did exactly what we hoped it would: it brought together people from both sides of the house at St. James - the Parish and the Academy.

People asked Phyllis Breese, the creator of this event, why we didn’t charge more money for the tickets; why didn’t we make this event a fundraiser? And with those kinds of numbers, we could have made some good money for the parish. But, as Phyllis said, money was not the point: the point was to engender “Good Will.” The evening was an opportunity for fellowship, and for a good meal for hurried people for whom such an event was a blessing.

Jesus once remonstrated with a Pharisee who invited him to his house, but did not give him the usual courtesy of washing his feet. On top of his lack of hospitality, the Pharisee sat and found fault with a woman who did wash Jesus’ feet, not with water, but with perfume. The woman’s lavish gift not only affected Jesus – the fragrance of the perfume filled the whole room, and touched all within the room. But the Pharisee was unable to understand how important, and how blessed that act of hospitality was.

St. James has a reputation for being hospitable. I’m thankful to Phyllis and the Communities that helped her create a wonderful event. Here’s to more "Good Will."

O the comfort,
The inexpressible comfort
Of feeling safe with a person;
Having neither to weigh thoughts
Nor measure words,
But to pour them all out, just as they are,
Chaff and grain together,
Knowing that a faithful hand
Will take and sift them,
Keep what is worth keeping,
And then, with a breath of kindness,
Blow the rest away.
---George Eliot---

Contemplative Living: "Paradox"

"I have had to accept the fact that my life is almost totally paradoxical.
I have also had to learn gradually to get along without apologizing for the fact, even to myself."
Thomas Merton

I turn once again to Thomas Merton to guide our reflection on paradox. Merton wrote extensively on the contemplative life, which is itself a paradox, isn't it. For one who longed to enter the silent spaces where God speaks, it is ironic that much of what happened in that silence was the crafting of words about it!

If we are honest, I think most of us have similar paradoxes in our lives. We want to spend time in prayer, and yet we are pressed for time. We want to have a life that is serene, and yet most of us are in the midst of some kind of turmoil (sometimes of our own making!)

It is our paradoxical inclinations that bring us to our knees. Sometimes paradox can stop us and help us to see the circles around which we are running expecting them to be lines. Paradox cuts through excuse and leaves us with reality.

Paradox can be the fire that marks our pathways so that we can see the way that we fool ourselves into thinking that everything is all right.

Accepting paradox does not mean that I resign to its power to confuse and disappoint. It does mean, I think, that I acknowledge the reality of paradox in my own life and then pray for guidance.

Shaping a contemplative life requires willingness, flexibility and resistance. Like fashioning a clay vessel, the give and take of molding and shaping creates a new thing.

Raku pots are decorated by organic material wrapped around clay and then fired. The oxygen is reduced in this high firing and swirling streaks of color are the result of the interaction between flame and variation in temperature. Even the most expert potter cannot predict what the glaze on a pot will look like after it is fired.

The interaction between the stuff of life and our own desires for harmony creates paradox within us. Like Raku pottery, we are becoming beautiful when we allow the sparks of paradox to etch into us something new. Like the potter we cannot predict the gift and beauty of our own paradoxes and what they bring forth in us.

Blessings,
Debra

I weave a silence on to my lips
I weave a silence into my mind
I weave a silence within my heart
I close my ears to distractions
I close my eyes to attractions
I close my heart to temptations
Calm me, O Lord, as you stilled the storm
Still me, O Lord, keep me from harm
Let all the tumult within me cease
Enfold me, Lord, in your peace.
---David Adam---

Daily Morning Prayer

Daily Morning Prayer

This Week at St. James

Prayers Etc.

For those on our prayer list:

For Matt Rogers, our Postulant
For those who are deployed and their families.

In Closing:

What the soul has to do in the time of quiet
Is only to be gentle and make no noise...
Let the will quietly and prudently understand
That one does not deal successfully with God
By any efforts of one’s own.
---Teresa of Avila---

Pax et Bonum,
Loree+

<< BACK to Parish News