intercession through the communion of saints, yes! (but for the right reasons)

This year's Bridgefolk conference (grass roots Mennonite-Catholic dialog) focused on the theme of the communion of saints and intercessory prayer.  Over the course of the weekend we heard multiple perspectives on the story of a Japanese Mennonite man, Jun Yamada, studying at a Catholic university in Japan, who was miraculously healed of leukemia a quarter-century ago, following the combined prayers of Mennonites and Catholics together.  This miracle was investigated and validated by the Vatican, leading to the canonization of St. Joseph Freinadametz (a 19th century Catholic missionary in China), whose intercession for Jun had been invoked by Jun's professor, Fr. Fauzone.  Both Fr. Fauzone, and Jun's brother, Nozomu Yamada were present at this year's Bridgefolk conference, enabling us to hear the story first hand.  The conference was held at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), in Elkhart, Indiana, where NozomuYamada had been a student when he received the call communicating the expected, imminent death of his brother, Jun.  We learned that at the canonization ceremony, Pope John Paul II remarked that "we should have this type of miracle more often," referring to the ecumenical nature of the prayer that led to the miracle. 

In the discussion that followed one of the presentations, one Catholic of Mennonite origin explained that seeking the intercession of saints had been one of the easiest of his initial objections to Catholicism for him to let go of.  In his view, the "cloud of witnesses" mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, coupled with Protestant willingness to seek intercessory prayer from living Christians, especially from those one considers to be holy, laid ample foundation for seeking intercession from faithful Christian witnesses throughout the ages.  Another Mennonite responded that it was still important to him to affirm that Christians can go directly to God in prayer, without the aid of an intercessor.

I appreciated and could identify with both comments.  I like the idea that when we die and go to live with God eternally, joining the cloud of witnesses, that God allows us to continue to cooperate with his salvation of the world through our prayers for and with those still struggling on Earth.  I find that more appealing than the thought of having my individuality merely absorbed into God after I die.

The second comment touched on my own distaste, not for the practice itself of seeking intercession from the communion of saints, but for the way it is sometimes explained and defended, suggesting that God is more likely to answer our prayers if they go through someone important, through someone holier than us.  This seems to present an image of God as distant and difficult to access, which runs counter to Jesus's story about the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican, and to his teaching on prayer, which presents God as eager to give us what we need, as a Father would give his son a loaf of bread rather than a scorpion.  Nothing I can think of in the Bible, portrays God as someone who is reluctant to answer prayer and who needs to be sweet-talked by those who are close to him on behalf of ordinary Christians.  To encourage Christians to entrust their prayers to a saint because that saint is closer to God than we are seems to encourage us to cultivate a greater sense of our own distance from God, under the guise of greater reverence for God. 

I see intercession as a gift that Christians give to each other.  It is an expression of love.  Sometimes the only thing we are able to do to help someone we love is to pray for them.  When we ask a friend to pray for us, it is not because we think that God does not hear our own prayers, but because we want the support of our friends.  We want to know that they are one with us in what we are asking.  There may very well be some sense in which God's grace is able to flow more freely when Christians pray together, united in their desire for God's work.  This may be true whether it is Christians alive today who unite themselves in prayer, or whether it is Christians on Earth today uniting themselves to Christians who are living now in God's presence. 

I have found that in times of great distress or serious illness I sometimes feel too overwhelmed to pray myself, and it is a comfort in those times to know that others are praying for me.  This was especially true when I underwent a bone marrow transplant for leukemia in 1997.  I remember expressing concern to my family and friends as I lay in a hospital bed, facing an uncertain future, that I felt unable to pray.  I was quite disconcerted about this, for it seemed to me that of all the times in my life, this was a most important time to be deeply engaged in prayer.  I was reassured by the words of someone close to me who said, "That's ok.  This is a time when you can relax in the knowledge that we are all praying for you."  And I did gratefully relax into that knowledge.

In a similar manner, I have found comfort recently in entrusting difficult situations to the intercession of Mary, the Undoer of Knots.  Sometimes I find myself trapped in my own thoughts that go round and round without reaching clarity, unsure of how to move forward, and unsure, even, of how to pray.  In these situations, I may be unsure whether my prayers are genuine or self-deceiving, and I may be painfully aware of my own forgetfulness and inattentiveness to prayer throughout the day.  In these times, it can be comforting to entrust my need to the intercession of Mary or of some other saint I have read about who seems like they might understand my situation.  It's not that this replaces my own efforts to pray to the Holy Trinity, but it supports and complements my own prayer, and comforts me knowing that others are praying for me during those moments and hours when I am too distracted or angry or tired or bored or confused to pray to God myself.  It is my hope that the intercession of the saints helps to sustain and develop my relationship with God by praying, when I am unable to do so myself, for precisely those things that will draw me back into a direct relationship of prayer with God.

There was a time when I wanted to ask my Catholic friends, "How do you decide when to pray to Mary and when to pray to God?"  I never had the nerve to actually ask that question, but today I would answer it for myself, that I pray to God whenever I can and as much as I can, and I ask for the prayers of friends living and dead when I feel stymied, unmotivated, blocked or unable to sense God's presence in my life--not because God is, in fact, distant, but because I feel distant from God and desire the support of others to help facilitate my reunion with God.

mirror with water spots

I guess this proves I am communally challenged




can't even keep  a decent discussion going


what the hell is my problem

i also found this beautiful poem

Also from 
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17431

Subject: Lyr Add: JE VIS AVEC VOUS, MA PROMISE (Louis Riel)
From: Q
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 03:54 PM

Lyr. Add: I Live With You, My Betrothed
Louis Riel, 1881, translation Paul Savoie

1
I live with you, my betrothed
Though Mother Church's holy blessing
Has not yet been bestowed
On us. Still, you wear my gold ring.
2
I wedded you. O my lover
In the year of eighty-one,
Close by the cockle-shell river.
Under common law, we were one.
3
If the circuit priest's intention
Is to honor our petition,
We will fly to Fort Benton
To gain our sin's remission.
4
Our hearts require ths blessing
To embolden our bond ...

5
For fifteen years, a lone man
God Almighty I petitioned
To grant me a good woman
Well-born, well intentioned.
6
*Father Primeau assured me
My prayers would be answered.
My loving Master surely
Would grant me what I desired.
7
Yes, His promise has held true.
I have found my heart's pride,
A woman who dispells all rue;
The woman biding by my side.
8
Because no priest was present,
My love, we were forced
To wed this way.
My love, there will be no shame.

(Original French will be posted later)

The formal vows were taken the following year, the ceremony blessed by Father Joseph Damiani.
*Primeau, John Baptiste, was Riel's confessor in Massachusetts.

The poem shows the deep religious feelings of Riel; few of his poems do not.
The poem also shows how Riel wrote his poems; they were dashed off as the thoughts came to him and only rarely corrected or revised. This has led some historians to call his poems doggerel, but they express his feelings and are necessary to the understanding of the man.
"Selected Poetry of Louis Riel," translated by Paul Savoie and edited by Glen Campbell, 1993, Exile Editions.

"The Collected Writings of Louis Riel/Les Ecrits complets de Louis Riel," Ed. in Chief George F. G. Stanley, 1985, University of Alberta Press, occupy five volumes; his poetry, over 500 pages, takes up volume 4 (ed. by Glen Campbell).

another old song

From:
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17431

Subject: Lyr Add: RIEL'S FAREWELL
From: raredance
Date: 25 Jan 00 - 10:09 PM

Ah, Riel's Farewell. This song was collected from a Metis in Lebret, Saskatchawan, who claimed that it was a letter that Riel wrote to his mother while he was in jail in Regina. Riel actually has a track record as a poet, having written a couple of songs, including Riel's Letter to his sister Henriette, that survived among the prairie Metis, and even published a small volume of poems in his early years. Thomas Flannagan, a scholar of Riel poetry, doesn't think that this one fits Riel's style. He thinks it was more likely written by on of Riel's followers using an old French tune. The English words are by Barbara Cass-Beggs who collected the song in Lebret.

RIEL'S FAREWELL

I send this letter to you,
To tell my grief and pain,
And as I lie imprisoned
I long to see again

You, my beloved mother,
And all my comrades dear.
I write these words in my heart's blood:
No ink or pen is here.

My friends in arms and children,
Please weep and pray for me.
I fought to keep our country
So that we might be free.

When you receive this letter
Please weep for me and pray
That I may die with bravery
Upon that fearful day.

C'est au cham de bataille
J'ai fait ecrir' douleurs
On couche sur la paille
Ca fait fremir les coeurs

Or je r'cois t'une lettre
De ma chere maman
J'avais ni plum' ni encre
Pour pouvoir lui z'ecrire

Or je pris mon canif
Je le trempis dans mon sang
Pour ecrir' t'un vieu'lettre
A ma chere maman

Quand ell' r'vevra cett'lettre
Toute ecrit' de sang
Ses yeux baignant de larmes
Son coeur sera mourant

S'y jett' a genoux par terre
En appelant ses enfants:
Priez pour votre frere
Qui est au regiment

Mourir, s'il faut mourir,
Chacun meurt q son tour;
J'aim mieux mourir en brave
Faut tous mourir un jour.

(yes I know the French does not contain the proper accent markings)
rich r

IF TODAY YOU SHOULD HEAR HIS VOICE

conference    #  8






FR TIMOTHY  began by expressing the gracious gift he had recieved in praying the psalms with us the rhythm the pauses the intentional moments of listening for god he went so far as to suggest that he had recieved something far greater than what he had given to us in our conferences

it occured to me while he was speaking that we are in this flourishing time everything around us is in a  flourishing state i see young women who are pregnant i see the forests burgeoning with growth i see flower gardens literally bursting with color and greenery the air is fresh and cool not much sun but the life in the flora is a regular collective madness of flourishing power the birds are regaling everything not much insect life clouds which threaten to douse us once again in a flourishing storms of rain we  are drinking in lots of rain around here...i have this deep sense of some flourishing going on in my life...sometimes i feel i could burst with joy....this resulted in some tears




our flourishing in religious life is sustained by the recitation of the psalms
the psalms are a seedbed for the gardens of our lives
what are we doing singing and reciting these ancient poems
what do we think we are up to
to be to be do be do to    day -in- day -out   bringing these prayers
around in an endless cycle of continuous utterance the world round???

our earliest christian brothers and sisters adopted
the psalms immediately
most likely there was some form of collective psalmody going on
before the rites of eucharist took on recognizable form
from the time of Jesus' death to the the time of the writing of Mark's gospel
or    "peter's"  gospel  those marked by  the WAY
sustained their witness with the psalms in what became
the greatest witness to HOPE

at one level our engaging in the psalms is selfish
we find these chapels to be
places we like very much
we like the prayer and we make it a habit
and we pretend to own it to some degree
but really what we are doing is for others it is for
everyone else in the church it is a true charitable service
it is the ever flourishing garden
no matter what else goes down or awry in the church
the orders dedicated to the divine office will go on singing the psalms
each one is a song each one even when recited is a song
we are engaged in concentrated singing
this is why
MONASTERIES ARE FOUNDED FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHOIR
this takes priority

a little different from the world at large

although it is interesting to think about how important recorded music is in the life of people
 people take on a personal ownership of  "their music"   i have   "My"  music but

the divine office is the one true gem the one thing the treasure we cannot forsake in all of christendom

we keep alive this very public very ancient very drone-like method of prayer a nearly hypnotic form if it weren't for  mind -boggling  statements that wake us up
 or the wrestling match of anyone's particular struggle
the recitation of psalmody could easily descend into inanity...yet it has almost universal concensus that it is powerful and it is beautiful and it has its own perpetual motion...the  HOLY SPIRIT  if you will

herein fr timothy recounted two stories of people he new at the very end of their lives still conscious just before death requesting music requesting the last string quartets of beethoven or a haydn symphony for the other person

in the end there should be music as we finish up our stay here our ministry
whatever it could be we must attend it and end it with beautiful music
and the church learned this early on
 that despite all  no matter what  to go on praising god
'tis the way to lend dignity to everything every event every consequence
it is very quiet understated and insistent HOPE

sing and walk onwards   -  admonishes augustine of hippo

it is godly duty we perform the godly duty of doing it
just doing it day after day just doing it for no other reason
that to just do it
and the psalms as we know appeal to almost every imaginable emotion
every deep thought of mankind is imbedded somewhere
in the expressions in the psalms terrible anger anguish fear
horror laughter worry shame but always the acknowledgement of
transcending in the enduring hope of god
 we too are his hope after all
his language to us is intimate love talk



the   4   point structure of the prayer day:

EVENING
is the true beginning it is a moment of recounting
what has transpired that day and of looking onward in hope
to the next day
we let the day go
MASS is best in the evening tis in the evening we reconcile

the last supper was a late afternoon evening meal

NIGHT
is the time of truly letting go of the day of forgetting
of allowing everything to have its recourse in god
let us always bear in mind that Jesus
slept in the boat while the storm whipped up
compline is a beautiful prayer

MORNING
our tradition is that all churches face east
it is not so any longer
but up until the 20th century it was a standard
the rosetta windows were meant to be the
display of wonder in the morning every morning
announcing god's love for us
our eyes  AWAKENING  with the sun
in morning psalms we utter our deference to the possibility of life being new
a new day dawns we sing the glory this is the day if today you should hear his voice



DAY
day by day o dear lord three things i pray
the present of the present to be in the moment the only moment that really exists
present past - present present  - present future
all one each day the drama it is meant to be the time of flourishing
if at all possible      if we can flourish       if we can assist others
 in their flourishing or simply to flourish ourselves in the midst
of whatever flourishing may or may not be happening
sometimes religious life can appear pretty sterile
even from the inside
if we flourish in prayer we lend humanity to all of it

who is taking the pace         who sets the pace
jean vanier speaks of serving at the pace of a disabled person
allowing them to set the pace
let us not ignore the approach to time that the virtually helpless person
must assume


my brothers
         HE SO ENDED

let us pray











....

body and soul

conference   #7



"....everything you do in the flesh is spiritual...."   ignatius of antioch


a benedictine a jesuit and a dominican were all on a cruise ship and the ship
sank many died but the three priests all were able to swim to safety
and were together on a deserted island
after some weeks of basic survival they were visited by an angel
the angel said
i grant each of you one wish
wish it and god will grant it
so the benedictine said
i took a vow of stability and i desire to return to   st john's abbey
and whoosh he was gone
the dominican thought for a moment and said
the benedictines are always first they are the wise ones
i think i want to go back to black friars at oxford
and whoosh... he was swept away in a cloud
the angel then asked the jesuit what he desired
he said
you know i'm getting a little lonely here
i wish that my old friends the monk and the friar
 would come back here and be with me     : )

what does the  holy spirit do for us
the HOLY SPIRIT drove jesus out tot he wilderness
this seems to be the pattern
each of us can think about times in our ives
when we were in a wilderness a desert place
JEAN VANIER had a promising career in philosophy
he had won honors and had an academic career set out before him
then he met two troubled and disabled young men
and he was invited by the HOLY SPIRIT to go into the wilderness
of the DISABLED
it was in this wilderness that he could hear the quiet whispering voice of GOD

the trials of shame embarrassment scandal horror tragedy of the sexual abuse scandals
have forced the church into a wilderness of sorts
we've all had to ask ourselves where is GOD in all of this
...the best that we've been able to discern is that we can hear the healing words of GOD
calling us to be healers of all human sexual sin all the damage of misplaced intentions
in every aspect of sexuality...this seems to be our contemporary wilderness

the CARMELITE tradition faces right up to the phenomenon
of the DARK NIGHT
(  fr timothy confessed he'd never had a dark night experience he feels he's not strong enough
but he admits to quite a few very grey evenings  )

he described his struggle with   " acedia "
of going through bouts of blahzaisse approaches to everything
no sense of vitality no desire to pray days and weeks of
nothing

what is the difference between the believer in doubt
and the unbeliever in everyday life
the believer is willing to WAIT FOR GOD

prayer is the courage to
LET IT HAPPEN TO ME AS GOD WILLS

timothy related a moment when he was actualy in the garden of gethsemane
in jerusalem
it was there he was finally one day jolted out of his spiritual doldrums

WATING FOR GOD IN SILENCE
PRAYING IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE SPIRIT ACTING IN   US
WE DO NOT PRAY ACTUALLY
THE SPIRIT PRAYS IN US

CAN I TRUST THIS

IS IT GOD OR ME ???

here there was a beautiful digression into the thought of CHARLES TAYLOR
i got so excited i almost fell off my chair
he pointed out that nobody in the 20th century has been able to focus in
on the problem created with the loss of imagination in a big section
of christianity
and the replacement  of   CONTROL  the society of CONTROL
the option for   REASON  has meant the option to control life
without much imagination at all

we must all ask ourselves
IS OUR CHURCH A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE WANT TO GO

( i found myself thinking about the abbey church
     not too many people go there to pray  )

in a retreat given to bishops fr timothy recounts his message::
the BISHOPS'  role is to make sure
that      GOD RULES
        -not the climbers
        -not the fearful
        -not the self assured
        -not the good ole boys

we pray at compline

INTO YOUR HANDS LORD I COMMEND MY SPIRIT

our basic question

DO I REALLY WISH TO BE HEALED LIKE THE LAME MAN
DO I WISH TO CLING TO PETER JOHN PAUL ALL THE SAINTS
DO I WANT TO BECOME HOLY

archbishop joseph cardinal bernardine was a well-trained
impeccable ecclesiastical bureaucrat
one day he was having lunch with three of his priests
they were talking about the spiritual life
the archbishop stated bluntly that he didn't pray all that much
the rosary once in a while yadda yadda yadda
the three priests took this very seriously and they challenged him on this
at one point he asked them if they were serious in their critique
it turns out they were passionate
they each in their own way insisted that he return to ardent prayer
and from that day forth he gave the first hour of every day to intentional prayer

it looks a little silly from the outside
but the common objective of all our prayer is
to ....    LET GOD BE GOD

there's a GOD-SHAPED hole in the human heart
that nothing else can fill....blaise pascal

how do i face a void
and emptiness in my life
can i let god sit there
on a little stoop in the empty place
in the prison cell of some hardly understood
mystery of my little life????

we are to TREASURE the empty spaces
in our prayer...don't fear them...don't run away from them

the conference ended with the story of   pere marie jean joseph  lataste  OP

this man in the late 1800s went into womens prisons in CADILLAC
and committed his life to serving them
he would address the women in his sermons as   "my sisters"
and this won the women over to him
they loved him and he sought their healing
many were women of the street or abandoned mistresses
who had gotten in trouble by basically being abandoned
and having nowhere to go
he initiated  the   DOMINICAN SISTERS OF BETHANY
who exist today as communities of women who provide a holy living context for
other women who have fallen on hard times for whatever reason

he was beatified and then canonized one year ago

praise GOD

everything you do in the flesh is spiritual






...

on freedom and truth

conference #6



do i believe that the TRUTH will set me  FREE??
i know i say that i know christ said it i know the
apostles were convinced of it
but am I  ??


the film    of gods and men     shows a very genuine
display of human imagination in the ideals and hopes
of the trappists...and it was in the sharing of their impending deaths
that the whole community was united in both truth
and their shared  imagination

TRUTH  flourishing in the BODY
....."glorify GOD in your body".....st paul

western society appears to be deeply  CARTESIAN
we are content to recognize one another as MINDS
and this has sadly compromised
what catholics always believed about
the goodness of the body

flourishing is stultified with ignorance of the BODY

the glorious truth of JESUS is that in his life and death
he expressed the inherent godgiven beauty of the body
and CHRISTIANITY at its bese GLORIFIES THE BODY
for we then see our bodies as gifts
not really ours in a direct sense
given to us so that we can give of ourselves
GIVE OUR BODIES AWAY  in  degrees of imitation
of the PASCAL MYSTERY

the  LAST SUPPER is the great drama the model
for christian marriage
this is my body
this is my blood
i give to you

even for professional religious
unmarried
we are to GIVE our bodies our very lives

for thomas aquinas
TOUCH is the human of the senses
it is intrinsically good
it distinguishes us for other animals
what we affirm by touch is our intimate connectedness
to the rest of the world

man is made in the image and likeness of GOD
christian life is to be formed into the image and likeness of JESUS CHRIST
an ever new image and likeness one complete with mystery and beauty

i do not recall her name
i do know that she was a contemporary of anne frank
she was jewish
before she died she wrote about the christian gesture of kneeling
... she felt in her body the desire to kneel

the church's mission began
with the healing of the LAME  MAN in
ACTS 3
clear evidence that CHRIST intends to glorify the BODY
(numerous examples from the gospels)

the story is told about a young woman
developmentally disabled and challenged
in the    L'ARCHE  community in OTTOWA
she was given to self mutilation and violent gestures
outwardly
JEAN VANIER had the idea to begin to find nice dresses
to offer to paint her nails
to give her little smellgoods
nice shoes etc
and this changed her
over time she became a smiling person
when she could accept her body as beautiful worthy of beauty
she lost her monsters she became sweet and enjoyable

the christian transformation of the world began with the words
"the TEMPLE of the HOLY  SPIRIT"

"the face is the soul of the body"    -   ludwig wittgenstein


WE CANNOT FLOURISH BY OURSELVES
we are meant to love we are meant to be with others
it is in this context that christians have always hungered to see GOD'S  SMILE
and this is the christian mission which began in ACTS 3
peter conveyed he SMILE OF GOD and it was transposed onto the healed man
every good miistry begins with this GAZE OF AWE

how different is this GAZE this SMILE
from the faces that dominate the  "bully"  culture of modern politics


the tough domineering totalitarian hard gazes of warped idealisms


the christian ministry is as simple as a deliberate gaze
infused with the love of god
when our faces then are most beautiful

the beauty of the FOOT
a beautiful practical design
26 bones comprise the foot
the foot is designed for walking
this walking marked the life of christ
it was emulated by the first christians
even though many settled into communities
it was expected that a long pilgrimage
would be part of the life of a believer

christ's gesture to WASH the feet
was actually a very old custom amongst nomadic peoples
and even in the households of the jews
to receive a vistor without the obligatory washing of feet
was considered tantamount to an insult

to the man he healed in  ACTS 3
peter says
STAND UP AND WALK

the name  TEKAKWITHA :
she who walks groping her way
(  this is thought to be related to the fact that she was partially blind
      after contracting the   'white mans'   illness   )



the WORD became   FLESH AND BLOOD


500  yrs ago we became quite dull we forgot to pray with our bodies
a whole intricate body choreography of hands gesturing kneeling bowing
kissing was nearly wiped out
it survived in the post-tridentine church out of sheer stubborness
(  it's by no means lost in the african american churches  )

the cured man in ACTS 3 rises up and runs to CLING to peter and john
the healing has given the man freedom and he clings in love
to the man who has given him the ability to walk again

the LAME MAN now cured is moved in his body to relate to peter
and john to be with them it's as if the only thing that could make sense to the man is his
being with those who have healed him

we are made to depend on one another down to the very reality of our bodies


the story of   VINCENT   the   BLIND   DOMINICAN

one day vincent was visiting liverpool for the first time
it was most disconcerting but he was dedicated to
negotiating the streets and sidewalks on his own
(  fr timothy relates the huge gift in his DOMINICAN house
      the bodily dependence they have had to agree to
         because there's a blind person in the house  )
well vincent arrives at a street crossing and hears the
walking assistance beeps but isnt' quite sure about things
until he hears two sets of steps approach and he blurts out
excuse me could you help me across
why certainly says the voice
they make it to the other side
and vincent expresses his gratitude 
and the reply comes
o not at all... thank you...really... I'M BLIND



THE TRUTH OF CHRIST INCARNATE IN THE TRUTH OF OUR BODIES












.