Design of Life – Page 3 – Benedictine Monastery

July 23, 2020

Are you the one?

A woman was searching for a birthday card for her husband. She saw one that read. “Darling, you’re the answer to my prayers.” Thinking this might just be the right one she opened it and read, “You’re not what I prayed for exactly, but apparently you’re the answer.” How true to life. We may pray for certain things and yet what we get may be quite different. Is that any different from our experience of parenting? We know in rearing our children that what they what and what they need are often two different things and that giving them what they want can sometimes be disastrous.

The Jewish people, John the Baptist included, expected a very different Messiah from the one they got. Some wanted a fierce warrior king who would expel the Romans and rule the people righteously with a strong hand. Others, John included, wanted a fierce judge who would smack everyone into line. All wanted the healing and liberation that Isaiah described. But nobody, nobody expected Jesus. He looked fairly, well, ordinary. He did not force people to follow him rather he lured them, he spoke to their hearts. What he wanted was not conformity to his rules but conversion to his way of loving. He calls, lures us today in the circumstances of life but don’t expect it to be ‘relaxed and comfortable’ rather he calls us into the fullness of life, and sometimes that takes a challenging path.

Loving Father, your desire is for us to come to fullness of life. Give us the wisdom of your Spirit to embrace all circumstances trusting that Jesus our brother is there helping us. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris,

July 23, 2020

The Opportunity of Change

Things change and now, with the end of the year, we have one of the regular changes of life. Some children, and even some teachers, will be changing schools, others changing levels. There are all sorts of reactions to change: from excitement at the new to fear of the unknown. For our children, change is the stuff of life.

But what about us adults? What can it mean to us? The newly beatified Englishman, John Henry Newman, said “To grow is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often”. Some people want change for the sake of change, others don’t want any at any cost yet change offers us possibility: we can become better people, or we can become worse. We can be open to life or we can close down on life. God’s desire for us is to fully alive, according to the style of our unique personality. When a change comes upon us, instead of just going with the flow, or reacting against it, we can stop and ask ourselves, how can I become more full of life in this new situation. Pray for God’s spirit to guide your imagination to see the different scenarios and when you choose your response, let the Spirit be the wind beneath your wings.

Loving Father, give us the wisdom, joy and creativity of your Spirit as when encounter the changes of life. With Jesus our brother, at our side, may we face all situations confident in your love. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris,

July 23, 2020

How to make a fool of yourself…and do it right.

If you are like me, and most of the human race, you dread making a fool of yourself. But we never learn anything and we never grow till we are prepared to look stupid…at least for a short time. The Gospel story of next Sunday has a fine story about this. Zacchaeus was a leading tax collector who had become rich oppressing his fellow Jews while collaborating with the Roman enemy. You can be sure he was hated by those around him. When Jesus came to visit his town Zacchaeus was too short to see but he really wanted to see Jesus. So he went out on a limb literally, he climbed a tree. He was prepared to look like a dork to get what he wanted. No doubt the people around saw this as the chance to ridicule him. But Jesus didn’t – he looked into Zacchaeus’ heart and saw the opportunity for growth and change. Zacchaeus was so moved by Jesus’ kindness that he became a changed man. He even offered to pay back everyone he had cheated four times over and give half his possessions to the poor!

We all have times when we are fearful of stepping out and doing something different. Maybe it is going back to church, or going for the first time. Maybe it is the first AA meeting. Maybe it is going to TAFE or Uni or taking anger management classes. To get over our fear, we need to keep our eyes on our goal, and know that God is with us in such situations Talk to God and ask for God’s love and grace to strengthen you as you step out into the unknown.

Loving God, your Spirit moves within us calling us to grow but our fears can often overwhelm us. May the presence of Jesus give us the courage to take new steps to grow in life and love. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris

July 23, 2020

Joy in Goodness

Joy in Goodness.

In the past week, two very different events have given much joy: the canonization of Mary MacKillop and the rescue of the Chilean miners. While they are unrelated, both show us how much joy goodness can bring, even goodness that may not directly involve us. Across Australia, the story of Mary MacKillop has been repeatedly told. While the media has mentioned the work she did for the poor, it often focused on the unjust treatment Mary experienced and acknowledged how she treated well those who treated her badly. When given lemons, she made lemonade and then shared it around. By treating all well, she began a chain of goodness that continues to this day.

With the Chilean miners, we saw a marvellous rescue effort that had people of different nations, giving their expertise to the local rescue workers. Working together, they did something that hardly seemed possible. And what a rush of joy went around the world!

Goodness brings joy. We may not be saints and we may not be able to do dramatic rescues but we can be a source of joy to our family and to our communities. The kind word, the generous act set off a chain of happiness. Try each day to praise someone outside of your usual circle, try to do an act of kindness to one who cannot pay you back. When we do such things we are like God, delighting in doing good.

Loving God, you delight in your creation and you want us to be good like you. Send us your Spirit of Joy that we may give to the world the love you showed in your Son, Jesus. We ask this in his name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris

July 23, 2020

Salvation anyone?

Catholics, as well as a number of other Christian groups, rabbit on about salvation. We want to be saved! But what do I need to be saved from? I, like most people reading this, am not an axe murderer. I have committed no serious crimes. On the whole, I think I am a reasonably polite person, who does various acts of kindness and even occasionally takes the shopping trolley back to the right place. Underneath this sense of well-being I recognise that if sufficiently provoked, if sufficiently stressed, I may do something heinous. But I doubt that this is going to happen anytime soon.

And it is from this attitude that I need to be saved. There are people who need to be saved from serious sins and disorders that only the help of a higher power, to use the term of AA, can give. But people, like me, need to be saved from complacent goodness. The problem with complacent goodness is that it really isn’t good. It is like living on a diet of jelly beans and ice-cream, forever sitting in front of the TV. If we think goodness is niceness with cleanliness added, we don’t know what goodness is.

Goodness means being like God and that is open and loving to all people. Being good takes discipline and work. It is like eating a healthy diet and exercising hard. It takes us beyond ourselves into another realm of being. Here’s an exercise for bringing goodness into your life. Think of someone you seriously don’t like. Now list 10 good points about them, well, alright 5. Now imagine having a conversation with them, where you can affirm their good points and raise the areas where you disagree with them. For me, to be able to do that would take the grace of God. When I can do it, I will have been saved. Till then, I’ll keep praying for grace of God’s salvation.

Loving God, you offer to all people the gift of salvation.. Send us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may follow Jesus’ call to the fullness of life – love of you and each other. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris

July 23, 2020

Attenshun!!!

Attention is one of the most important gifts we can give in a relationship. Work, presents, even time, can be of little value unless we give our attention to another. When we give it well, we give of ourselves. But why don’t we recognise its importance?

Did you notice that the title beginning this piece is spelt incorrectly? Of course you did! We seem to have an inbuilt radar for noticing when other people do things wrong. We then pick them up on it – even if we don’t say anything. Our attention exudes criticism not love. But imagine if we used that attentiveness positively. Maybe ‘Johnnie’ is playing up and you notice he does this just after his father has returned to a mine shift – then you can take steps to deal with his need. Or Susie is ‘out of sorts’ because she has probably picked up on grandmother’s serious illness – which no-one is telling her about. Or your spouse or partner gets cranky regularly – is that when they are tired? All these are little things but they are the small attentivenesses that transform a relationship.

In the Gospel Jesus tells a strange parable about a master returning from a trip. His steward has been waiting, not knowing when he would return but attentive all the same. When the master returns he is so impressed at how ready everything is, he takes over and serves the steward. Would this happen? Of course not. But by using such an absurd example, Jesus shows how much value God puts on attentiveness. God wants us to notice the good things in our lives and thank him. When we do this, our eyes are opened even more the love of God in which we live and move and have our being.

Loving God, open our eyes to your Spirit at work in the people around us – the love of our families, the kindness of friends, the politeness of shop assistants. In turn, may we be attentive to them, showing your love. We ask this is Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 23, 2020

What makes life wonderful.

I recently spent a week with my brother who lives on the Greek Island of Lesvos. Beautiful – its views would rival the Capricorn Coast’s. Peaceful – nothing like the images of violence coming from Athens. Safe – Lesvos is extra-ordinary, there is hardly any theft, the people are gentle but direct, divorce is unknown and personal debt is non-existent. Overall there is real contentment in people’s lives. These people have known poverty, in the not too distant past, but now, with some tourist trade, they have enough to be comfortable. They work well but not so hard as to disrupt their family and community life. They have time for each other. In the daily routine, one sees that the men and women have time to chat with each other. They are not chasing even more money or trying to be wealthier than their neighbours. They know when to say “We have enough things, building community is more important.”

Jesus warns us against letting our hearts be blinded by material possessions. It is so easy to get hypnotised by the ‘desire media’ who tell us our happiness lies in more and better things while we know in our hearts that it lies in love for our family and friends, for our community and our God. Consider your own life and ensure that you have time, on a regular basis, to just enjoy the company of the people you love.

Loving God, you desired to be with us so much that you sent your Son to be with us in the person of Jesus. Give us your Spirit so that we may know how to treasure our time with you and with each other. We ask this in Jesus’ name, confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris

July 23, 2020

Heart speaks to heart

“What do you want?” – these are the first words of Jesus in the Gospel of John. And the people who he asked were flustered when the question was put to them – just as most of us would have been. Constantly we are being told by the media, by family and friends, what we should need or what we should want. And more often than not, those things are not what we want. Pressured, quite often in a nice way, to agree we feel as though something is missing from our lives, as though we are a little lost, as though we are running on empty.

“What do you want?” is an important question that we should ponder. We need to make space in our heads and hearts and let this question sit there and echo for a while. We need to listen long enough to find out what we hunger for. Our hunger can tell us what is important. Nearly always what we truly want deep down is love, or courage, or security or peace or passion or some other quality of the heart. And all those Jesus offers to us. Uniquely. What I want in the way of passion or love will be just that little bit different to what you want. In listening to the need of my heart and opening it to Jesus, I will desire what it truly is that I want and what I was created for.

Loving God, our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Send your Spirit into my heart that I may truly know, embrace and celebrate the unique way you have made me in your image. With Jesus as guide may I embrace your love. I ask this in his name, confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

July 22, 2020

What is good for your soul?

A volunteer, lined up to go and help during the Brisbane floods a few years ago, was asked why he was there. He replied: “It is good for the soul.” Most of us knew exactly what he meant even though the task for him involved working in stinking conditions, for people he did not know and with no payment at all. It was good for his soul because he was giving of himself – generously. Across the country at the moment – in Tasmania, outside Melbourne and across Far North Queensland, we are hearing about many people doing good for their souls, though they probably don’t see their generosity that way.

How often do we stop and ask ourselves: what is good for my soul? What actions make me a better person for having done them? We all know what a difference healthy food makes to us, but what about life-giving, soul-fulfilling actions? We each have different things that work for us but one way that works for all is giving of ourselves (not our money) in a selfless way. Rarely will we have the chance to do a dramatic rescue or even clean up a city after a flood but we are offered many simply and ordinary opportunities: ringing an elderly relative, listening to your child’s reading when you’ve heard the story ten times before, offering to do a job your spouse usually does. These actions are good for our souls for they take us out of our own concerns and connect us with other people. We are made for this: created in God’s image we come to the fullness of life in profound passionate self-giving, even in the smallest events of life.

Loving God, we have been inspired by the many people who gave of themselves during the recent disasters. Led by your Spirit, may we follow Jesus’ example and their example in showing love, even in the ordinary events of life. We ask this in his name, confident that you will hear us.

July 22, 2020

Mosaic of Life

Some time ago, I did a mosaic workshop – my first. I went with a few possible designs, picked one, hoping perhaps to come home with a trivet. Our tutor was excellent but I still didn’t expect it to be easy. It wasn’t but while it wasn’t killingly hard, it was a challenge. As I went on, I realised that doing mosaics is a pretty good metaphor for much of life.

We start with a good design but as we choose and cut the tiles to fit, we find ourselves hedged by the limitations of the materials. Tiles are shifted around as we try to capture the sense of the picture and maintain a sense of flow. While fingers can be caught in the cutters or cut on the sharp edges of the tiles, the most deflating part is that in looking too closely at the work one loses the idea of picture as a whole. This makes one too critical which then deflates enthusiasm, leading to a sense of defeat and the temptation to give up. The trick to mosaics is, while giving care to the detail, to let the sense of the whole picture determine the work.

As we live our lives, we can become so swamped by its daily demands and duties that we can feel that we have lost the plot. When things get tough, this is the time when we most need to step back and try to see things in the big picture, and the biggest and best picture is the way God looks at our life, that is with love. In the light of that love, we can start to see the design that is being drawn in our lives and we will discover that mess and muddle is often the place of God’s best, creative design.

Loving God, give me a glimpse now and then of the big picture you are drawing in my life and let it give me the confidence to lovingly face my daily challenges. I ask this in Jesus’ name, confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb