Sr Kym Harris – Page 4 – Benedictine Monastery

July 29, 2020

Why bother with Christmas?

I recently read through the latest edition of a popular women’s magazine which had lovely articles on how families throughout Australia would be celebrating Christmas and, I must admit, I felt uneasy. Would that it were that simple! No, it wasn’t the exquisite decorations or the wonderful menus that made me uneasy. It was the image of happy families coming together with peace, harmony and joy. I wish them well and sincerely hope and pray that their Christmas is as it is portrayed. But for many families Christmas it is not like that. Christmas is a minefield where we try to make peace and harmony through many and various challenges. Estrangements, addictions, mental illness, grief from deaths through the past year are just some of the major hurdles that have to be faced. Then add the ‘lesser challenges’ of over-excited children, too much food, too much alcohol (leading to free and frank discussion) and one sometimes wonders why we bother?

We bother because that is the meaning of Christmas. When Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph did not provide the ideal conditions, – life was beyond their control – but they did the best they could. Those who worshipped, shepherds and foreigners, were despised outsiders, and the threat of violence was in the air. That is the world God chose to be born in – a world like ours with its mess, muddle and pain. God is comfortable there; God knows how to handle it. So when we feel overwhelmed, let us turn to God and pray: “Be born in us this day.” And if everything isn’t ‘happy families’ we can still know that God is with us – Immanuel. Come Lord Jesus, be born in us this day.

Loving God, you sent your son Jesus into our midst, experiencing the pain and challenges that we have to face. Knowing him to be our brother may we turn to him when our cares overwhelm us. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

July 29, 2020

So what sort of presents are you going to give?

Well, the wind-up to Christmas has begun with its attendant stress on present giving. Why stress? Because giving to people who already have more than they need of material things is a challenge. We want our gift to express something real, positive and meaningful yet we know that the thing we give is often superfluous.

May I suggest that a return to what we really are celebrating in Christmas could give us a way out of the dilemma? We celebrate the coming of God in our flesh. Jesus came to be with us, to experience the limitations and neediness of human life and transform them into a means of grace for ourselves and those whom we love. We each experience our neediness in different ways and we each need to turn to God and ask for the presence of Jesus to change our lives. Ask yourself what is it you would like to receive from the presence of God….then try to give that presence away? Do you need ‘joy’ then give joy, a happy act of kindness, an upbeat answer even when you do not feel like it. Do you need ‘peace’? Act in a peaceful manner even when you feel irritated. We can only truly receive a gift from God when we give it away. Only human channels that give freely can feel full.

Allow the presence of God to move through you giving ‘spiritual’ presence as you prepare for Christmas then when the time comes to decide on what presents to give, you will find it easier to choose something that will express your presence.

Loving God, teach us how to give with joy and fullness of heart. May your Spirit reveal the presence of Jesus in our lives that we may present him to all we meet. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

“All is Grace.”

I heard those words often recently when I was in West Africa…and they came from people whose lives were pretty tough and who were aware of people whose situations were even tougher than theirs. They certainly pulled me up short. I don’t think they were being naïve, ‘Pollyannaish’ or even trying to look on the bright side. Rather they were asserting that God can and does work for good, our personal good, in each and every situation. God is on our side.

So why don’t we see it? There may be a number of reasons. Sometimes we are in so awful a situation that it will take time and personal growth before we can look back and understand it.

But more often it is because we are not looking at the situation in the right way. I recently met with a friend whose life is a mess and who, I believe, is upset that God hasn’t gotten him out of it. What really amazed me is that there are a number of real choices he could make that would go towards dealing with his problems, but he will not take even one. His attitude is stopping change. He wants total (miraculous) change or nothing and he won’t recognise that most real change in our lives comes in small steps, building on the good things already present and, often, employing the help of others. In other words, he doesn’t recognise the good that is around him and so is giving no room for grace to move. When we actually count our blessings, see the good within our reach, we open ourselves to God and let grace move within us. And that is what I saw in the lives of those people in West Africa. Tough as life may be, by focussing on their blessings they allowed grace to work even in the most difficult situations.

Loving God, open our minds and hearts to the goodness around us. Let your Spirit work in our lives that we may follow the example of Jesus, offering grace and goodness to all. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

What’s your choice?

A woman died and wasn’t too sure as to whether she would be going to heaven or to hell. St Peter decided to give her a tour of the dining rooms in both places, as there was a little time before her judgment took place.

Into heaven’s dining room, he swept her and it was magnificent – the best food, OMG the wines, everything was extraordinary, except for one strange thing, the fork and spoons were over a metre long. Not wanting to show her ignorance and because St Peter was wanting to move on, she asked nothing.

Now she was swept into hell’s dining room and…it was exactly the same, right down to the strange cutlery. Now she couldn’t kept silent: “What the hell, or heaven for that matter, is going on? They are both the same!” “Ah!” said St Peter, “the places look both the same but the people are different. You see that cutlery that shows up people for what they are like. They are too long for a person to feed themselves (and they must use cutlery here). In heaven, the people feed each other, enjoy the banquet and each other’s company and love. In hell, they refuse to share, want to only feed themselves and so they starve in the midst of a feast. What is more they taunt and ridicule each other for their failure.”

“By the way, this is now your judgment. What’s your choice?”

Loving God, you desire all people to share in the fullness of your life and love. May we follow the example of Jesus and filled with your Spirit share with others the goodness you have given us. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

Reminding ourselves who we are…and what is important.

This week we celebrated the horse race that ‘stops the nation’. Well, most of the country did. I didn’t and I have my reasons. But before you think I’m not really Australian, let’s say I have other ways of reminding myself of what I am as an Australian. I do realise though that celebrating the Melbourne Cup has less to do with the horse race and more to do with being a way we recognise who we are as a nation. It is something we do to remind ourselves of who we are. That is what rituals are for. They regularly focus our minds and hearts of what is important in case we can get too bogged down in necessities, crises and the sheer ordinary details of life.

We need ritual in other areas of life but most importantly in our relationship with God. Rarely will God push into our lives making a big splash. Rather, in respect and love, God waits for us to respond in love. We need ritual prayer to remind ourselves of this loving, waiting God. The ritual can be as profound as Sunday Eucharist or as simple as a prayer made as the cake goes into the over. Time honoured rituals are prayer at the beginning and end of each day, and before meals. As believers, it is a good idea to ask ourselves what do we do to remind ourselves that we are people of God.

Loving God, we so often get caught up in the business of life, forgetting that your love upholds our lives. Give us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may regularly remind ourselves that your care surrounds us at all times. We ask this in Jesus’ name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

Life-Giving Duty.

There is something to be said for doing one’s duty. We tend to think that if we can chose to do what we want to do, we will be free and have a sense of fulfilment – that can happen. Conversely, we tend to think that when we have to do something we don’t like, we will not only feel put upon but be diminished as persons – not necessarily.

In fact, if we accept what has to be done with grace and get on with it, it can be quite a liberating experience. We are freed from the tyranny of our own likes and dislikes, freed from having to make all the decisions, freed from ourselves to get on with the task at hand. This situation happens so frequently in family life: walking the floor at night with a sick child, doing the rounds of the doctors with an elderly parent, being patient when the orange juice is spilt – you can think of a dozen instances in each day. It is in these situations that we experience one of the central teachings of our Christian faith: dying to self leads to life.

In the Gospels Jesus teaches that we have to die to ourselves to rise to the fullness of life. In his own life he showed how it was done. Now he has promised us his Spirit to strengthen and guide us. When we feel challenged, we can pray for this Spirit to come and help us transform that difficult situation into a place of grace and love.

Loving God, we often feel overwhelmed by the challenges of life, as though they are killing our spirit. Send us the Spirit of Jesus to guide us through the difficult and dark moments of our lives that we may bring the love of Jesus into our families and communities. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 2020

The Big Picture

The Sunday Gospels being currently read show Jesus in a number of difficult situations. Quite simply different people come picking a fight with him. By asking nasty, tricky questions they try to ridicule him and put him down. In each situation, he deals with the questions by taking the issue to another level and transforms it into something positive. Tricky situations are part of all our lives and we can learn a skill or two from what Jesus did.

When we find ourselves in a negative or difficult situation we can be badly affected by it and become difficult and negative ourselves. All sorts of things can throw us off course: defiance from a two-year old to marriage problems, difficult neighbours to uncertainty at work. When we feel that we are being overwhelmed, we need to step back and try to see the situation at another level. One way of doing this is to stop, breathe deeply and try and imagine three different ways of dealing with the situation other than the way you normally do. It doesn’t matter how silly, outrageous or impossible those imaginings are, the very act of trying to see it differently free us from the bog of negativity. We can pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to see how we can bring God’s grace and love into these dark and difficult places in our lives.

Loving God, we want our lives to be full of love, light and joy but so often we find ourselves overwhelmed by difficulties and failure, both of others and ourselves. Send us your Spirit that we may respond like Jesus with wisdom, wit and ingenuity. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 29, 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

July 25, 2020

Rest in your Love

Rest is so important, so sacred that it is one of the first practices God recommends to us. The capacity to rest and to enjoy life go closely together and they are linked with the ability to worship God. To sleep, to snooze, to stop and enjoy watching the kids play, just to watch the world go by, these are all important ways of becoming happy.

Strangely enough part of our ability to rest comes with the ability to appreciate our work. No matter how humble our work is, it is only demeaning if we take the attitude that it is. Even if we don’t like our work, that doesn’t mean that we can’t try to do a good job and then appreciate that. When we have done that then we can truly stop and rest. My grandfather’s last job was as a cleaner but he took great pride in his work and was one of the most contented people I knew – and that contentment made him a very attractive person. At his funeral there were so many friends of all ages who said he was so good to them. His goodness consisted in the ability to stop and be, to rest with people and show interest in them.

Heavenly Father, Jesus called us to rest in his love just as he rested in your Love. Send us your Spirit so that we may let go of the cares that distress our hearts and minds. May we share your peace and love with each other. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 25, 2020

3. God’s messengers

Comfort my people: speak to their heart.

This is the third in a series of reflections on God’s comfort and our neediness.

3. God’s messengers

So we really have faced our problems, looked honestly at some of our negative behaviours and turned to God for comfort and strength. Don’t you just wish God would take those problems away? But it doesn’t happen like that. Most of us have to struggle with our weaknesses to the end of life. But this isn’t necessarily a negative thing.

When we truly face our weaknesses, recognise that we need help God doesn’t wave a magic wand and take them away. He sends us other people. Maybe it is friends, a counsellor, a group, maybe the person over the back fence. It is in the depth of our weakness that we meet the strength of other people. Yes, we will know people who will put us down but we need not focus on them. Rather we should focus on the people who build us up and appreciate what they give us.

God’s comfort will come into our lives primarily through others. We are made for community and in the love and strength of others we will come to be that work of art God desires us to be.

Loving God, so often we feel overwhelmed by the challenges of our life. Open our eyes to the comfort you offer through the people around us and give us the humility and love to accept their comfort. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.