Images of Grace

I find that the notion of grace is best expressed from experience.  When I think of ‘grace’ the first image that comes to mind is the beauty of the man who built ‘on-site’ our concrete water tanks down in Victoria.  Rarely have I seen a person so graceful, not a movement was wasted and everything he did, seemed without effort: spreading gravel, mixing concrete, climbing in and out of the half-finished tanks.  He exhibited a level of discipline and care that one would expect of ballet artists and when he finally finished by putting his ‘signature’, his phone number on the tanks, he stepped back and said: “They are beautiful!” So like God over creation: “God saw …it was very good!” (Gen1: 31)

Why does this come to mind as an image of grace?  Because this man recognised the deep dignity of his work.  He did not dismiss himself as a glorified concreter but rather he understood that every action can be precious and good, no matter how humble.  Was he religious?  I don’t know.  We only talked about his wife, whom he dearly loved, and his footy.  He was over forty and still played for the local senior side.  He kept on trying to retire but the team wouldn’t let him.  Why would they?  You don’t let spirit like that go. 

In this Year of Grace, I hope to occasionally describe images of grace that have touched me: people, moments, events.  I invite you to do the same and to share them with others – they can change your lives for the better.     

Loving Jesus, your grace comes to us through the experiences of life.  Send us your Spirit that we may realise when grace is happening and respond in love.  We ask this in your name, confident that the Father will hear. 

Sr Kym Harris osb

Being like God.

Being like God.

Over the past months we have seen very different sides to our character as a nation. We have been inspired by the extraordinary generosity towards those who have suffered natural disasters. As a nation we were united in our care.  On the other hand how different are the feelings concerning the grieving asylum seekers.  While their sorrow is recognised, our leaders don’t know how to act.  Where should the funerals be? Who should pay? Who should be allowed to stay?….and how will the voters react?  The situation is difficult, confusing and confronting.

While we each will have little influence, except at voting time, on that situation, it does provide us with a lesson for our own lives.  Helping people we get along with is relatively easy. For good family and neighbours, we will do almost anything.  But when we have to deal with people we don’t understand, people different from us, people tricky, demanding or unpleasant, we become confused and don’t know what to do.  We can try to ignore them or blame them for their situation – anything but face the challenge Jesus gives us.  He calls us to be like God and act in a loving manner towards them even if they don’t deserve it. This is a big ask, usually expressed in small actions: saying hello to the grumpy neighbour,  helping out the selfish relative, welcoming the new people in the street who are different to us. Even if our good actions bring about no change  we will have grown into our calling to be daughters and sons of our loving God.    

Heavenly Father, you call us to love like you even when we find it difficult. Give us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may love as Jesus loves and show your love to our family and community.  We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will here us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

Things I love about you!

Things I love about you!

This week we celebrated Valentine’s Day, which was also my parents’ wedding anniversary.  They were married 50 years before Mum was widowed. I say it that way because she misses Dad very much, everyday. He is part of who she is.  Both were strong personalities and they had an ‘interesting marriage’.  Amongst the things they loved, they loved free and frank conversations – especially with each other, and often to the angst of us children.  But that was their way of doing marriage and they loved it. The pretty pictures used to symbolise Valentine’s Day just don’t ring true with Mum and Dad’s relationship –  it was far more real than those pictures.  Being real, it was also messy, but in the midst of the messiness they knew there were things they loved and admired about each other and they let each other know what they were.  I think that was part of their success, recognising and conveying what they loved in the other.    

What is successful in marriage can also be successful in our relationship with God.  Instead of just drifting in that relationship, each of us can consider what it is we love about God.  We each have special things.  And we can ask ourselves what it is that God loves about us.  God had a unique glorious vision in mind when we were each created.  Ask God what it is that is delightful about you.

Loving God, you created us in love and we are made to love.  Send us your Spirit to guide our minds and hearts that we may discover and delight in what you have made in us.  We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb

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

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

Give yourself a Break

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

People of Spirit

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

True Importance

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

Lent or Owned

Lent or Owned?

Have you noticed how many people don’t take care of other people’s property as well as they do their own?  Whether it is public property or that of a friend’s, what is ‘lent’ is often not treated well.

Last week, we began the Church’s season of Lent. Yes, this Lent has a different meaning but ‘lending’ and ‘owning’ can be a way into the challenge of Lent.  We often lead our lives as though we don’t really own them, as though they have been lent to us.  We allow fashion, the prejudices of others, what everyone else is doing to dictate our lives rather than listen to the deepest needs of our hearts.  If we find ourselves indulging in excessive use of food, alcohol or gambling, in abuse of drugs, mindless TV or internet surfing, we need to seriously ask ourselves: what desires, what needs of the heart are we trying to dull?  It is as though we are trashing our own lives, rather than living them to the full.  This Lent, take time to reflect on who God has made you to be, so that you are no longer lent but rather come to own your own self, precious in the eyes of God.

Loving God, each year you invite us to reflect on the quality of our lives.  Give us the wisdom of your Spirit that we may know and follow the way that leads to fullness of life.  We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.

Sr Kym Harris osb