Sr Kym Harris – Page 3 – Benedictine Monastery

August 1, 2020

Sin and Death have been conquered!…So?

“Alleluia! The Lord is risen! Sin and Death have been conquered.” The people at the Atheists’ Conference, taking place in Melbourne as I write this, could well think we are barmy. Sin is well and truly around, people are dying all the time – even amongst the Christians that acclaim Jesus’ victory. So just what are we Christians proclaiming at this time?

Let’s begin with death. By his return at the resurrection, Jesus transformed death from being a ‘dead end’ into a path to eternal life. In my experience of people, death holds a very tricky place in the understanding of life. Most people fear it until a short time before they die yet it is an impetus for living a richer life. How many have a bucket list of things to do before they die! Interestingly fostering new life is often high on their agenda. There are also people for whom the fear of death warps their lives, stopping them from taking healthy risks. Also, in our society, there are too many for whom death is sadly preferable to living. To all these differing groups of people, Jesus’ resurrection makes death relative. What seems an absolute, life defining moment becomes a doorway into something richer. Grasping what the change is cannot be done in theory but only in personal relationship with Jesus. He was “God with us” in his dying. Now he wants to be ‘with each of us’ as we face our dying.

Loving God, you know how death brings confusion, grief and fear to our hearts. Send us your Spirit that we may know that, in Jesus, you are with us in our dying, fill our hearts with the hope of his risen life. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

Easter Bunnies and Easter People

The time of the Easter bunnies and chocolate over-indulgence is upon us! I’m not going to knock that. It does make Easter special and trying to grasp what Easter really is about is no mean feat. When Jesus rises from the dead, God is not saying that ‘everything is alright now,’ as though Jesus has kissed everything better when he died. In a very real sense, sin, pain, difficulties and challenges are still around and within us. So what has happened? Jesus in his dying and rising has really changed reality, has overcome sin and offers eternal life, and wants to transform the world – but it is through us and through each of our individual lives. You and me, even if we think we are not very important at all.

How can we do this? By being kind with no expectation of return, by forgiving even when people don’t deserve it (knowing that forgiveness isn’t the same as putting up with abuse), by trying to act positively even in bleak situations, by hoping for change when nothing seems to be happening. In short, the power of “Easter” is to transform the lead of our lives into the gold of God’s grace.

Loving Father, send us your Spirit that we may know how to let the new life of Jesus shine in our lives. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

God loved the world so much…and so should we.

In the past week, I was thinking about a tin of salmon. From the person catching the fish in Alaska to me putting it on the bench, how many different groups of people co-operated with each other for this to happen? The number would be well in the hundreds – from the fishing crew, the boat builders, the various service agents, the label designers, the manufacturers of the printing dyes – at that doesn’t even get the tin out of North America. Hundreds of different groups of people co-operating with each other makes a miracle of social harmony symbolised in that tin of fish! And this social harmony happens every day with nearly everything we touch.

But you wouldn’t think so by following the media or listening to people. We tend to narrow our vision and focus on when the social harmony breaks down. In Lent, we are called to repent – to change our way of thinking. Recognising the co-operation that is integral to our life together as human beings is one area where we could change our thinking. The Son of God, was born, lived our life, died and rose again because God loved the world so much! God well knows the sin of human failure and dissension but continues to love the world, us, the seething mass of humanity, so much. So let us be God-like and set our minds and hearts upon appreciating the good that is around us and between us.

Loving God, send us your Spirit that we may recognise and appreciate the many, many times we work together in harmony. May we recognise the Spirit of Jesus moving through humanity teaching us to love the world as you did. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

Sharing Compassion

One of the greatest joys in life is sharing passion with another – think about it. Now when you thought about it, you thought about people very close to you – spouse, partner, children, very best friend. But when you consider the words we use in English for sharing passion – ‘compassion’ (Latin background), ‘empathy’ (Greek background), we see that the relationships in which we show these feelings reach a far wider group of people – even people we have never met. Compassion and empathy stretch our minds and hearts and school us into making friends with many people in a variety of ways.

During Lent, Australian Catholics support ‘Project Compassion’. This is the fund-raising drive of Caritas, the international relief, development and social service agency. Throughout Lent your children will hear about the people helped by the projects of Caritas. As they hear they will be invited to help these people, not only through fundraising but also through prayer and interest. For you, as parents and carers, it is an opportunity to widen the horizons of their hearts and minds, to teach them to care for people beyond their own circle.

Loving God, we are each and all your children. Give us the wide deep love of your holy Spirit that we may recognise all people as brothers and sisters in Jesus. May we share in his compassionate heart. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

July 29, 2020

“Sacramental Moments”

After the Russians sent the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space, Nikita Khrushchev claimed that though Gagarin had looked, he hadn’t seen God ‘up there’. Maybe that was because Khrushchev was expecting God in the wrong place – ‘up there’ not ‘here’ ‘now’ ‘in me’. In our lives there are moments when something greater shines through our physical and emotional world. Wonder, awe and love can overcome us at the birth of a child, the gesture of a grandchild, a tree or any of the myriad of things that can expand our mind, heart or vision. These are ‘sacramental moments’. The physical world becomes a doorway to the divine. As Catholics we treasure the physical so much that in our communal prayer, the Sacraments, we use the most basic things, water, bread, wine, oil, words, gestures, to convey the reality of God’s love.

So why aren’t we overwhelmed by the reality of God’s presence. We’ll maybe we are. Maybe we go through life like owls in the noonday sun, blinded by the light. Our ‘sacramental moments’ are when we notice a glimmer. Those moments we should treasure and ponder so that we can notice more often the God in whom we live move and have our being. We need to stop looking for God ‘out there’ and affirm the divine presence ‘here’ ‘now’ ‘in me’.

Loving God, in you we live, move and have our being. Send us your Spirit that we may relax into your presence and see you shining in the ordinary things of life. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

Compagination

I try to learn something new every day and last week I hit a winner – a new word. Compagination! It comes from joining compassion with imagination. Now that’s a change we could all do with. Compassion – it is so nice, so good, so boring. Imagination – so light, so full of possibility, yet often useless and wasteful. But put the two together and what do you have: doing good for others that brings joy to them and oneself. I think this is how Jesus must have lived. The Gospels are clear that ordinary people, as well as sinners and outcasts, flocked to him. They enjoyed his stories, they enjoy his presence, they enjoyed the way he treated them. They enjoyed his compagination. Once I thought about how this could work in situations that I routinely have to deal with, I found my heart lifting. So I suggest to you now, think of a person to whom you have to be kind. Now how could you do that imaginatively? Enjoy!

Loving God, kindness and compassion can often feel so boring and stifling. Send us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may love like Jesus is a way that is freeing and joyful. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

Missing the tap, but getting the point of prayer.

Earlier this week at home, I had to shift the car. I reversed it back into the shade and as I got out, realised I had just missed going over a tap. All the way into the house I prayed devoutly, “Thank you, Jesus, thank you!” Did this show a good trust in God, possibly, but possibly not? In the Gospel of Mark, which is being read at Sunday Mass this year, Jesus shows mixed feelings on people approaching him as a miracle worker. Yes, his amazing power does attract people’s attention but it can have a down side. We can expect God to be some form of servant, fixing up the problems we have in life. With such an attitude, we look to God to do our biding. Ouch! That’s hardly the basis for a relationship with a human being, let alone God. Where’s the respect? Where’s the love? So when we pray, it is not so much for escape from trouble and bother, but rather for the sense that God is with us in all the circumstances of life. To be devout, I would also have to thank God for being with me if I had run over the tap with all the expense, mess and inconvenience that would flow. (Still, to be honest, I’m still grateful the tap’s still there!)

Loving God, you desire to be with us in all the events of life. When your Spirit prompts us to pray, may we look to you as a friend and loving companion. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

July 29, 2020

Discerning Happiness

Last week, I invited you to consider the question Jesus asked of his first disciples: “What do you want? What are your desires?” Maybe you thought about it then let it slide out of consciousness. That’s a shame – these questions tend to get swamped by the demands of daily life yet those deep desires, when properly discerned and developed give energy and colour to our lives. Lacking energy? Feeling bored with life? Then perhaps you need to listen again to Jesus’ question: “What do you want?”

Have you noticed how some people seem to have so much energy to do what they want? For many, it will be because they have listened to their heart and discerned what it truly is that they want. The operative word here is discerned. Out desires don’t come out of our hearts prioritised with an accurate scale of importance with the amount of time we should spend on each element. They come out as a jumble and are more unruly than misbehaving children screaming in the supermarket. We must work to sort out which desires will bring fullness of life and foster love to others, to God and to yourself. Yes, that question of Jesus, “What do you want?’ is crucial for cultivating happiness in our lives.

Loving God, give us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may listen to the desires our hearts. With the love and support of Jesus our brother may those desires be a life-giving force in our lives. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

July 29, 2020

The Hope of Change

Beginnings! They offer the hope of change. Now that the rush of organizing the new school year is over, pause before the new year’s rhythm sets is. “What do you want?” Jesus asked this question of his first disciples and it is a good one to let him ask us? “What do you hope for yourself in this coming year? What do you hope for your children?” Of course you want good things but they don’t come about by drifting. Real change needs a decision, some practical planning and the belief that God is on our side.

At times, our lives can be messy, confused and difficult and we can feel that God is remote or has abandoned us. But maybe our expectations for change may be unrealistic. God is not does not act like a fairy godmother using magic to take away our challenges but rather works through our situations with us. That is why it is important for us to think, to dream, to hope for change. When we are clearer about what we want, we can give God the room to move in our lives.

Loving God, your desire for us is the fullness of love and life. As we begin this year, may we hear Jesus ask us “What do you want?” Give us the wisdom of your Spirit as we sift the desires of our hearts. May the Spirit strengthen and guide us to changes. We ask this in Jesus name, confident that you will hear us.

July 29, 2020

Christmas Calendars

When I was a child, there were Advent calendars on which doors were opened at each date, to reveal different religious scenes in preparation for Christmas. It was a simple way of teaching children the mystery of Jesus and the place of waiting for Christmas. Well this year they have made a come-back but what a different form – chocolate under the dates I can understand, but Bathurst 1000 pictures! Another strange one is at The Economist website (see http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/11/christmas-countdown).It gives graphs and data concerning different countries of the world. Amongst the data were the following: Australia has one of the highest rates of well-being and wealth and we have the highest rate of gambling loss in the world – by a long shot. So how come so many people who are ‘healthy and wealthy’ throw away so much money.

We don’t live on bread, or wealth or health alone. Deep in our hearts is a deep passionate need for something more. Quite simply we are made for God, and if we don’t seek God, we may try to fill that hunger with other needs. Why don’t people see this readily? Because love calls on us to transcend ourselves, to put others – whether it is God, a spouse or children – before ourselves and that is not easy. God knows this and so sent his Son, Jesus to show us how it is done and to be with us on the journey. As you seek to show love this Christmas, ask Jesus to be with you as companion and guide. Let each situation be like a little door which you can open and recognise that “God is with us”.

Loving God, send us your Spirit over this coming Christmas so that we may allow Jesus to come into our lives with his love and his life. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb