Scratchpad Reflections by Brother Daniel

To all my faithful readers of Scratchpad Reflections  I will be cutting back a little in the next  few weeks and may not be able to post a daily reflections all the time.  Keep me in your prayers  while I work through ways in which to make these meditations better and better all the time.. Your prayers and words of encourgement will mean a lot to me and I look forward to hearing fro you, my faithful readers,

You can e-mail me: brotherdaniel@opwest.org

As you most likely aware, I’me having some problems with the posting of my Scratchpad Reflections.  Part of the problem centers around the dates getting mixed up and part is due to my own way of getting the reflections posted in the right slots.  for the time being, I will take a little break which corresponds with a trip that I’m making to the northwest.  A lot will depend on wether or not I have good access to internet connections so you’ll just have to bear with me especially while I’m in some unknown internet connectons areas.I’ll try to do my best and see what happens.  Thanks for being patient with my problems as I try to continue with daily reflections.  Thanks for your patience.

Brother Daniel

Saint for the day: Magdalen of Canossa (March 1, 1774 – April 10, 1835)

Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy

Acts 4:32-37 – Psalm 93 – John 3:7b-15

“God helps those who help themselves.” NOT!

“God helps those who have no one else to help them.”

 There are many Xtians who subscribe to that first statement, above, as if it were a quote from the Bible. But it’s not! Our Responsorial Psalm for today reminds us that “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.”

In these days between Easter and Pentecost we might tire of hearing the same themes repeated over and over. But I think that the Church does that in order that we see how necessary it is for us to renew our commitment to follow the resurrected Jesus on a daily basis. These early sections of John’s Gospel are often seen as more “theological” than “practical” and we long for the accounts of healings and miracles that come later. Everybody loves a miracle and John has a special way of presenting them. But he always gives and calls for much more than just the physical.

We are not called to follow a miracle worker. We’re called to follow Jesus who is one with the Father and fortified by the Holy Spirit. That’s why John spends so much time weaving that tapestry that portrays Jesus as part and one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Take a moment to pray that familiar doxology, “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

Again, this is a familiar part of our liturgical life and we might have a tendency to just whip it out with us being on auto pilot. Take some time to repeat that theological statement. It might help you get a better grip on what John and the Acts are presenting us with in these days. And back this up with the Responsorial Psalm refrain, “God hears the cry of the poor” – and helps those who have no one else to help them. Amen!

 Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy

Isaiah 7:10 -14 – 8-10 – Psalm 40 –Hebrews 10:4-10

Luke 1;26-38

 “Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.”

 Christian art down through the ages has probably done a disservice to Mary by portraying her as some “fairy-tale-like creature” who just sat around waiting for something important to happen in her life. Yet we know that life in her time was hard work and living in an unforgiving land of dust and dirt mere existence occupied a substantial part of ones daily life. When the scriptures tell us that “Jesus was like us in all things but sin” it also means that Mary was more like us than an angel.

Yet, despite living in a harsh land, she was still able to be attentive to God’s presence in her life.

I’ve often said, “God is smart enough to figure out anyway He wants to break into our world. But He does it in as natural a way as possible given the time and place of His Incarnation. When the Angel comes to Mary and tells her this “good news” she, very much like us, asks the question, “How can this happen…” but then makes the most important response ever, “be it done to me according to your word.”

Somebody once said, “God created us with two eyes, two ears and one mouth. He must have meant for us to listen and see, four times as much as speaking!”

At first Mary questions. And we all have questions about how God becomes a part of our lives. But then she quickly responds by saying, “Let it be!” “Fiat.” “Amen!” This is where most of us break stride with “the holy” and fall back on our human intuition by trying to reason with God about what’s happening in our life. We become more like Abraham in his dialog with the Angel of God about to destroy Sodom and Gomoriah, “… begging your pardon, Lord. But what if there are less than 50 just people…”

Listen, listen, listen. Don’t speak! Today’s Feast is about “Letting Go and letting God.” That’s the title of a little poem that might be good for us to hear: “As children bring their broken toys to us for us to mend. I brought my broken dreams to God because He was my friend. But then instead of leaving Him to work on them alone, I hung around and bothered Him with ideas of my own. And then I snatched them back and said, “How could you be so slow?” What could I do, my child, He said, “You never did let go.” Amen.

Today’s Saint: John John Baptist de la Salle (April 30, 1651 – April 7, 1719)

Scripture readings for today’s Liturgy:

Acts 4:13-21 – Psalm 118 – Mark 16:9-15

“Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature”

These words at the end of today’s Gospel are the “marching orders” for the early church and are based on the conviction of those who have encountered the Risen Lord. “What we have witnessed and seen with our own eyes we now proclaim to you.”

With those words firmly rooted in their lives they “go out” to all the world and proclaim “Jesus Christ, Savior of the world.” They didn’t spend years in seminary study and were simple people who were uneducated and probably couldn’t even read or write. But they had faith! This kind of faith takes us beyond all our ready-at-hand categories and we often speak of it as something that we “have.” We would be better to speak of it as something that we “do” or something that we “are” by God’s gift. Be that as it may. It was enough to get the early Church going.

I am reminded of the saying, “If you were arrested for being a Christian would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

Again, it’s not that Christianity has been tried and failed. It’s more likely that it hasn’t been tried with conviction. The early followers of Jesus were convinced of His resurrection so much so that they told the powers that be, “how can you tell us not to speak of these wonders that we have seen with our own eyes?”

We have 2,000 years of tradition behind our belief and yet some of us have still not translated that into a living faith. I don’t have all the answers to many questions but I still believe that God raised Jesus from the dead that – way, this far down the road of history – I, Brother Daniel Thomas, a Dominican Brother in the 21^st century can encounter this Risen Lord even if I have to say, with my name-sake, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!” It doesn’t take much of a spark of faith to cause a great fire to get going in our lives. But we have to accept it not just once. But every day of our lives.

That’s why we go through this “Easter thing” for seventy days! Amen!