Sr Kym Harris – Page 13 – Benedictine Monastery

July 19, 2020

Party Time

One of Jesus’ favourite images for the Kingdom of Heaven is of a party. Admittedly he uses the terms ‘banquet’ or ‘wedding feast’ but then these are just fancy words for ‘great party.’ When we look at how Jesus uses the image of a party, we realise that to be a follower of his we need to develop party skills.

Firstly, we need to be able to join in. That is, leave our work and our role behind and be free enough to be with people just as we are.

Secondly, we need to be able to celebrate, to be joyful. Nobody wants to party with someone who brings all their emotional baggage along. At these times, we need to be generous enough to leave our sorrows and preoccupations behind and share joy with others.

Thirdly, we need to look out for others. We need to notice and encourage the shy ones, pass round the food and drink, let the weary get a space to rest.

Fourthly, we don’t have to be the centre of attention. It is not ‘all about me’ but rather ‘about us’.

These skills can be used not only at parties but often when we are with our family, friends or community. As we hone these skills, we will discover that the Kingdom of Heaven truly is in our midst and that we are revealing the face of God to others.

Loving God, you sent your Son Jesus into our world that we may learn how to join in your life of joy and love. Send us your Spirit that we know how to share your joy and love with others. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

Love Changes Everything

What do we tell out children about the awful things that happen in this world? The reports about Sri Lanka flood our scenes with the people in that country fearful of a descent back into civil war. We don’t want them to learn from that. But when we look beyond the traumatic event, we can hear of other stories – people who chose to go back into the bombed places to aid others, the people of every religion that gave blood to help the victims. They are the people who chose to respond with love in the face of hatred. We have to take extra effort to find those stories but they are there.

Those who respond with love in the face of hatred are the people of the Resurrection. No matter how much pain and rejection Jesus had thrown at him, he responded with love. So how do we teach this to our children? By responding with love and goodness when we are neglected, used, and even abused. No, Jesus did not lie down and take it. He came back transformed. Children can so easily press out negative buttons and it often takes real grace and the wisdom of God to respond positively.

How we celebrate Anzac Day is another example of how Love can change everything. On the surface, the day could be seen as a celebration of war but listen to where the majority of people choose to look. Not at the ‘glory’ of war but at the courage, sacrifice and care that was shown by so many of those who served. We look to these that we might be inspired to do the same in our own lives.

Loving Father, let me know how to show my children how to be positive and creative in negative situations. May they learn how to draw on the loving strength of Jesus to respond to all with love. I ask this in his name, confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

‘Just think what they are going through.’

I am currently travelling through New Zealand at the end of a mild wet winter. In this landscape vibrant with green, inundated with showers, it is hard to imagine what drought would be like. Yet I must do that. Central Queensland is where I have come from and to where I will return and I am part of what happens to the people that form my larger community. Recognising what happens to those outside my personal circle is essential if I want to be a true compassionate human being, if I want to call myself Christian.

As God became human in Jesus, we can know that he knows what we go through, what we experience. But for us to appreciate what happens to others, we have to find out what is happening to them and to use our imagination to feel for them. When this is done, our help to others can be practical and sensitive. The project in our schools to help the farming community out west is an excellent example of this compassion at work. Drought doesn’t just affect the farmers, it also impacts on the town communities. The decision to give vouchers that can be used by local businesses helps not just individuals and families but the wider community.

As this project has been begun in our schools, what has happened is that the students themselves are coming up with creative initiatives to help raise funds. This is the marvel of good compassion. It not only stretches our hearts, minds and imaginations, it makes us into creative people. As we reach out to help, we become Godlike. Entering into the life and struggles of others, we become like Jesus and his life and love can flow through us.

Loving God, give me a wide heart and a good imagination and mind to enter into the suffering of others and to help them in sensitive and loving ways. We pray for those suffering from the drought, that they may have rain. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

Looking out for the other

Looking out for the other.

It looked impossible. Even the experts involved doubted that they would be able to bring out of the cave all the Thai soccer players and their coach alive. But they did. The rescuers were a diverse group separated by language and culture who joined together and achieved the impossible. The Thais welcomed the international help because the boys needed it. The Brits asked for the Australian, Dr Richard Harris, because the boys needed it. He asked for his diving partner, Craig Challen, because he needed him to be able to help the boys in their need. This whole group of people sunk their own needs in service of a group of boys they did not know. This selflessness has continued after the rescue when they seem to be vying to give the praise for the success to others. The amazing event happened because all worked together to care for others.

One of the last pieces of advice St Benedict gave his followers is that everyone should look out and work for the good of another. ‘What about me?’ our culture screams. But what do we get when we only look after Number 1? Too often a group of individuals who in working to get attention for themselves end up at loggerheads with each other. But what happens when we look out for each other? We form a community that in turn looks out for us, cares for us. We become part of a web of relationships that nurture and challenge us. Caring for others also sustains our heart as it is more important to our well-being to love than to be loved.

‘How good and how pleasant it is when people live in unity’, we pray in the Psalms. In Thailand, we have seen this. Now this day we can make it real in our families, our communities and our workplaces by looking out for each other.

Loving God, give me the wisdom to see the needs of others and the courage and strength to serve them in love. I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

Generosity of Spirit

Generosity of Sprit

I belong to the Emu Park Art Society, a small cooperative of artists who run a gallery in the township. How do we survive? By working together and manning the Gallery ourselves. Also, we offer workshops on our various skills to the wider public at relatively low cost. Currently, we rent the premises from the family of the founder for a very low rent. They have been generous but now we have to move on. The local Council is building a new Gallery, funded by the Queensland Government – which really means the people of Queensland. If you asked a hard-headed business person to rate the chances of our society surviving, they would put them at close to zero. But we have, for many years. How? By pooling our gifts and talents. We survive, indeed flourish because we share.

And this is what we are made for. In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus speaks about life within God – life between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. None of them ‘possess’ anything for themselves. Rather, all they have, they share. One could say that the essence of God is to give in love. We have an understanding of this because we know that is how good families operate, even if we sometimes fall short of the ideal. We also see it when school communities rally around families in need.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, the word ‘mine’ is repeatedly used- not as a way of saying ‘I hold this for myself’ but rather as, ‘I am a conduit for passing this on.’ We also appreciate what a person with a generous spirit is like: open, vibrant and a sense of freedom. We want to be like that. In this coming week, think of one gift or talent you have and work out a way to give it away, in joy and generosity.

Loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, your life is one of giving in love. In this coming week, may we reflect your life and love in our generosity to each other. We aks this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

Just to be is a blessing…

Give yourself a break.

Amongst the most attractive words of Jesus are the following: ‘Come to me all you who are heavily burdened and I will give you rest.’ Few reading this would not feel over-burdened. It seems to be the nature of our society: run, run, run…achieve, achieve, achieve. How we want a break, a rest from it! So how do we get it? Jesus goes on, ‘Shoulder my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart.’ ‘Shoulder my yoke…’ he says – not the myriad of things that burden us. When I stop and think of it, I wonder how many of our burdens are of our own making, or rather come from taking on the expectations of others. How many things do we do because we are fearful that other people might think less of us! The only thing worse than other people’s expectations on us are our own. Some of us are very hard task masters.

But if I stop and ask, ‘What is the yoke Jesus wants me to bear?’ everything shifts. I don’t have to live up to anyone’s expectations, not even my own. I just have to accept the unique gift of myself that God is giving me and fulfil the destiny involved in that. So what does this usually entail for us? The very roles we already have: being a parent, a friend, a son, a daughter, a workmate. Of course there will be challenges in loving and serving. (This call has come, after all, from the same Jesus who calls us to carry our cross.) But these will be challenges that bring life, not a sense of being over-burdened.

Loving Father, let me be the unique person you have called me to be. Let me live, love and serve in the special way you want from me. Let Jesus be with me as I take up this yoke and may his kind and gentle heart transform my own. I ask this in his name confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

Give yourself a Break

Give yourself a break.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

People of Spirit

Drs Richard Harris and Craig Challen inspired us. They were highly qualified and trained in their field of work and maybe even more so in their field of play: underground cave diving. When asked, they stepped into that most dangerous of rescues, that of the Wild Boar 13 in Thailand. They did our country proud and deservedly they were named Australians of the Year. There is a spirit within such people that transforms challenging situations into something positive, something within them that makes every post a winner. Personally, I am even more inspired by the people who deal with their addictions to alcohol, drugs or gambling. Each day, every day, they have to humbly face the crack that runs across their heart just to maintain normalcy. We do not see how heroic their lives are when they are successful, because they seem so…. well, normal.

We are inspired by these people because we too want to be people of spirit. No matter how ordinary we are, something in our hearts desires greatness. And this is what God wants for us too. We weren’t created in God’s image and likeness just to be ordinary. We are to be works of divine art. For most us, this art lies within our family relationships. These long-term relationships can humble us but they can also be our glory. To love and to be loved, deeply and humbly, is the greatest human achievement: it is the work of God in our lives. Each day, every day, God’s Spirit comes to us offering grace, divine help, so that we can love as God loves.

Loving God, help us to live our lives in your love. Filled with your Spirit, we can show the face of Jesus to all who we love, and from them we can receive his love. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

True Importance

“For the most important person in the world – you!” Whenever I see an ad with a line like that in it, I feel like taking a gun to the TV or ripping out the page. What a terrible attitude to expose children to. Anyone living by that philosophy is condemning themselves to an unhappy, selfish life.

We are important…but as children of God. Made in God’s image, we are made to love and love is expressed as care. Image a community where everyone aimed at doing what was best for each other. Now you have some idea of the dance of love that goes on within God between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Many of you would have experienced a taste of that passion when your new born baby was first placed in your arms. The surge of care and responsibility towards this infant is a taste of true love.

The challenge as parents is to continue that love and care, day in and day out when you often don’t feel like it. But there is a greater challenge: to teach your child/ren to love and care in the simple daily tasks of family, school and community life. Rather than looking after ‘number one’ they need to learn to be like God and look after each other. Fostering habits of helpfulness will lay the foundation for true happiness. Small acts of daily service help them to grow into large-hearted people – true sons and daughters of God.

Loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you call us to join in your dance of love. Give us the wisdom to show our children how to truly love you and to care for each other. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 19, 2020

Ritual and Community

I was in Africa recently and was struck by how integral dance was to their society. Dance wasn’t primarily for entertainment, nor for self-expression, nor for show – rather it was a ritual by which they made community. Whether an event was the opening of the Sunday Mass, the greeting of guests or a presentation of gifts, the celebration would begin with a small group dancing. The steps were usually simple with the rhythm inviting all the onlookers to join in at the very least by clapping in time. In a very real sense, we joined in the dance coming together as one community.

Ritual always had an important place in the practice of our Catholic faith – it is integral to the way we pray together as a community. Simple gestures done together, like standing or blessing, let others see that we are joined together in this faith. Simple things like water, wine, bread are used to reveal the presence of God in ways that are too deep for words. They may mean different things to different people at different times, but the simple symbolic rituals can hold us together as a community. Held together by ritual and symbols our differences, instead of being divisive, can be a source of richness.

Next time you are at Eucharist, ponder the simple rituals and symbols used and wonder how they bring you together, into communion, with the other people present.

Loving God, forming a community of love is often difficult. Send us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may appreciate the role ritual plays in holding us together in love in spite of our differences. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb