Fr. Stinissen Thoughts

 

Recently, I coincidently (but I don’t believe in coincidences) picked a small book from my bookshelf.  It was by Fr. Wilfred Stinissen (one of my favorite writers) titled: Bread That is Broken.  It’s only 100 pages, and I have underlined about a quarter of them.  I spent more time reflecting on them than reading them.  I probably have reviewed it here sometime in the past.  But then today I read Fr. Stinissen’s daily meditation:

Speaking Concretely

There is really nothing that doesn’t somehow speak of God.  This is one of the things that makes the Bible such a wonderful book.  The Bible portrays God’s presence and activity in everything, in the simplest events and the smallest details of life.

“I am the vine, you are the branches,” Jesus says.  “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).  This is a very simple image that even a child can understand, while, at the same time, opening inexhaustible perspectives.  A more intimate unity than the one between the vine and its branches can hardly be imagined.  The branches are really part of the vine.  If a branch refuses to be connected to the vine it is no longer a branch, but only a dry piece of wood, but the vine also needs the branches in order to bear fruit.  If there are no human beings to receive God’s work of salvation, his work remains fruitless.

The branch doesn’t have to worry about whether it bears fruit or not; it has no need to investigate whether the flowers bloom and the fruits have the opportunity to ripen.  The only thing the branch has to do is make sure it stays united with the vine.  Then the fruits will come on their own when the time is ripe.

The truth about our life in God is as simple as the words Jesus uses to describe the image of the vine and the branches.

 

I suppose I could write pages of commentary and reflections, but Fr. Stinissen says it concretely.

Is The Eucharist Food?

 

I stumbled across recently something that I knew, but didn’t KNOW.  I’ve often heard it said that the Eucharist, the consecrated host which has turned into the Body and Blood of Christ, is food.  Some have said that a Catholic mass is like a gathering around a dinner table of the altar, and we share The Bread of Life.  It’s said that the manna in the desert pre-figured the Eucharist; the manna kept the Jews alive in the desert.  Well, really, it wasn’t JUST the manna, for God also gave them water.  Bread and water are said to be the basic foods of life.  The question which came to my mind recently was: If bread and water are the essence of foods for life, why didn’t Jesus say over bread and water at the Last Supper:  This is My Body and This is My blood?  Did He instead consecrate wine as His blood because it was red in color?  If so, that seems a pretty petty reason.  Why bread and wine?

What I stumbled across recently was the importance of wine to the people of Jesus’ time.  You can see it at the wedding feast at Cana; Jesus’ first miracle was changing water into wine.  Wine was needed to celebrate the wedding.  You drink wine to celebrate.  So, when at the Last Supper Jesus consecrated bread and wine into His Body and Blood, He was giving his apostles basic food of life --- bread and Jesus --- and the means of celebrating that life --- wine and blood, which He gave to them from the Cross.  Jesus’ giving of His Body and Blood to us, at the Last Supper and on the Cross, is a thing to celebrate, for now Satan and the power of death were defeated; now the gates of heaven were open for us to enter.  Of course, there is lots more to be said about that, but the point which newly caught my attention was that reason for the usage of wine, versus water.  When I receive the Eucharist at mass, or when I go into the Adoration Chapel to adore Jesus’ presence in that Host before me, I will try to remember that He indicated this is not just something to be seen with reverence and awe, it is something to celebrate.  When we see movies about Jesus’ Passion, they are produced to cause us sadness at what God had to do for us, all the pain and suffering.  They rarely touch upon WHY He chose to do that, which is a cause for celebration.

We often forget that suffering FOR THE RIGHT REASON is a good thing.   There are lots of examples of common people doing this, heroes in war, bone marrow donors, or people who make financial sacrifices for others.  One thing many don’t understand is that even if we don’t see a reason --- why is this happening? --- we can create a good reason: “Jesus, I offer my pains to be joined with Yours for the souls of sinners.”  I’ve often heard it said that complaining about suffering is a waste; offer it up.

Well, I seem to have run astray from my original topic, but on a kind of related matter … I just listened to Fr. John Riccardo’s latest 20-minute podcast titled: Make Time for Beauty (#143 at www.actsxxix.org).  Fr. John is recovering from Covid and He had time to read and reflect during his illness, and one thing that he reflected on was Beauty.  In beauty, whether in sunsets, fall colors, or magnificent art (like The Pieta statue in St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome), all beauty can open our hearts to the awe we yearn for.  Beauty is a reflection of God, and yearning for it is part of how we were created.  It’s kind of a basic thing, like the eating of bread and water, only much more enjoyed when it is bread and wine.  It is awesome.  It’s a beautiful thing.

What Should I Pray For?

One of the first prayers I say each morning begins: “Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace, …”  I think in my heart I am saying “use me, Lord, to do Thy will.”  It is surely a good prayer, and reflects the humility I pray for each night.  But something else dawned on my today:  My prayer emphasized “instrument”, and implied being used in ways that perhaps I didn’t understand.  I know that is a good prayer, especially for me who so readily conceives of solutions to problems, and often thinks those solutions are best --- reflecting my pride.  But this morning I noticed a different word of that prayer: “peace”.  Not just any instrument, but specifically “an instrument of Thy peace.”

Being used as His instrument is overcoming my pride to proceed with His solution.  It is a good and needed prayer, and during the day I often pray: “Lord, what would You have me do (or say) in this situation?”  A good prayer for me, a saying of “not my will but Thy will be done.”  But, that word, “peace, …”

I’ve read some reflections and Gospels in recent days which emphasize that God that lives in each and every person.  They urged us to not focus on our anger or pride in dealing with people we meet ---- (“but their ideas are stupid and I have to convince them of the truth I know, so ….)”  Our dealings with others should not be focused on proving our point or trying to get them to understand our argument.  Especially in conversations on faith, OUR heart, OUR focus should not be on a discussion topic or viewpoint, our focus should be on the person before us, seeing him as God sees him, as His child.  Being an “instrument of Thy peace” means bringing the peace of Christ to the people we meet.  Yes, we can be His instrument in that He can inspire us in what to do and say --- and we should be open to that --- but if we are an “instrument of Thy peace” we also come with an attitude of not winning a point, but of meeting with a child of Christ.  That attitude of His peace is what I need to consider and reflect on more.  So often I meet with someone and bring my attitude or my thoughts, and I want to speak of them, but now I see that prayer I pray each morning says First:  Lord, let me bring YOUR attitude.  I think if I can do that, well, my prayer will have been truly answered.

Sometimes we pray, and don’t really reflect on what we are praying for, and what it means if we get it:  God will have intervened in our life.  That is a big thing.  Think of all the huge events of the Old Testament when God intervened.  We need to pray with humility, in asking the God of all creation for what WE want.  And perhaps we shouldn’t even ask for anything, but only pray that we can help do what He wants.

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I am praying a novena each night for God’s mercy on our country --- having no pre-suppositions on what that might entreat.  I trust in God.  But I do see the heavily biased and hateful relations among peoples in our country, and so perhaps as I pray my morning prayer to be “an instrument of Thy peace” I might be opening myself up to be some small part of that evening prayer, to be part of the mercy I pray to God for.

I heard a talk this afternoon on EWTN which stressed that we need a unity of all, an embracing of the other as good, noting the dignity of the human person as a truth, not an opinion.

“Unity requires truth to work.  Unity is from God.”

“That they all might be one, as You and I, Father, are one.”