A Hymn

This is a hymn from the May Magnificat (Evening Prayer, May 2nd) that I found to be both beautiful and insightful. Enjoy!

Where briars grow, unwary sheep,
Befogged by hungry need,

Entangle fleece in thickets where

We only thought to feed.

The Shepherd comes to set us free

From snares of piercing thorn.

Released, we are made whole, but look-

The Shepherd's hands are torn.

On every bare and rocky height,
His sheep in safety graze.
God shelters us from wind and rain
And from the sun's bright blaze.
The Shepherd pastures us in peace,
To living waters leads.
All hurts now healed, we are at rest-
But see, the Shepherd bleeds.

For He has other sheep than these,
Who have not heard His voice,
But when the last are gathered in-
The heavens will rejoice:
The saints who crowd the gates of God
Stand waiting to extol
The last sheep found, for then, ah! Look -
The Shepherd is made whole!

Hallowed Be Thy Name

The first petition of The Lord's Prayer. This is a brief outline of the talk I gave on it tonight at our Reach Out meeting at church.

“Hallowed Be They Name”

God’s “Name” is the essential nature or character of God. Therefore, what is God’s name?

God is love, peace, hope, forgiveness, salvation, and beauty. God is Father, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. There are many other "names" for God, but these are some of the major natures or characteristics of God that we know and realize here on earth. His true name will not be known fully until we are with Him in Heaven.

These are God’s expressions of himself and ways that he is expressed through us and through creation.

Hallowed –> “holy”, “whole”, “wholesome”, “heal”, or “healed”.
This means that the nature of God is complete and perfect - altogether good. (Fox 156)

The Nature of God = CAUSE

From CAUSE comes EFFECT

Like produces like. A complete and perfect God cannot produce bad, imperfect things, since He is perfect. The Nature of God is Hallowed; therefore, everything that comes from Him must also be Hallowed.

Emmit Fox says that “Hallowed be Thy Name” means simply, “Thy Nature is altogether good, and Thou art the author only of perfect good.”

By stating that God’s name is Hallowed, we not only express Praise and Thanksgiving to God for being a perfect Father, but we ask Him that we might participate in His Hallowed Nature.
(Think of a son that sees the bad his dad does, learns from this, and does not do it when he grows up. The same son also sees the good his dad does, learns from him, and does these good things, and sometimes make these good things even better, as an adult/father. As sons and daughters, we ONLY see GOOD things from our Father in Heaven. Not only are these things good, but cannot be perfected any further! We desire to participate in these perfectly good things that we witness from our Father similarly to how we desire to be like/unlike our earthly father/parents/elders.)

How was God’s Name (and Nature) revealed?
Jesus’ words, teachings, healings and most of all ... his SACRIFICE!

“And we ask this daily, for we need sanctification daily, so that we who fail daily may cleanse away our sins by being sanctified continually. . . . We pray that this sanctification may remain in us.” (St Cyprian, De Dom. orat. 12)

In Summary (from CCC 2814)
“We ask God to hallow his name, which by its own holiness saves and makes holy all creation ... It is this name that gives salvation to a lost world. But we ask that this name of God should be hallowed in us through our actions. For God's name is blessed when we live well, but is blasphemed when we live wickedly. As the Apostle says: ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’ We ask then that, just as the name of God is holy, so we may obtain his holiness in our souls.
When we say ‘hallowed be thy name,’ we ask that it should be hallowed in us, who are in him; but also in others whom God's grace still awaits, that we may obey the precept that obliges us to pray for everyone, even our enemies. That is why we do not say expressly ‘hallowed be thy name ‘in us’' for we ask that it be so in all men." (CCC 2814)

Sources: "The Catechism of the Catholic Church" and "The Sermon on the Mount" by Emmit Fox.

Giving thanks in the less obvious of places

Giving thanks generally refers to many of the same things for most of us: our family, our friends, good health, a comfortable place to rest our head at night, and of course the delicious meal we are about to devour. How wonderful is it that we even take the time to give thanks for these gifts we have been given! Remember that they have been given to us and not earned … the only time that we will earn anything is the salvation after we expire from this earth; even then, it is through God’s gift of himself dying on the cross and His resultant rising into heaven that we can even earn this salvation!

Why is it so obvious to give thanks for Jesus’ suffering-the cross that He bared, but the crosses that we have bared, the sufferings we have endured, are viewed as bad things that we either regret or try to move past in our lives? Without these sufferings in our life, how are we to attend the resurrection? These "little deaths" are times in our life that we are at our lowest or have the most difficulty; however, they could also be times that were splendid or wonderful, but when looking back, weren’t really the holy, loving, and pure ways that we desire to live, now! It is just as imporant, sometimes more important, to give thanks to these sufferings than to give thanks for the more obvious gifts of God.

Reflect on these less than exalting parts of your life. Even if you have already endured your suffering and risen above it, it is still necessary to give thanks and remember where we came from.

God has given us these sufferings to help shape us to become who we are today and who we will be tomorrow … our sufferings are His will. Which gifts have really been most important in shaping your person? What gifts have brought you closer to God? What gifts do you take for granted?

Scriptural Reflection:

What was more important in shaping Peter to be the first leader of the Church? When he was able to declare that Jesus is "the Messiah, the son of the living God," despite others trying to identify Jesus as either John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Elijah or a prophet? (Mt 16:13-16) Or was it when Peter denied that he was a deciple of Jesus, even saying that he did not know Our Lord, three times before the rooster crowed the morning of Jesus’ death? (Mt 26:69-75)

What has done more for us to gain salvation into God’s kingdom? Is it Jesus’ teachings, sermon on the mount, parables, and healings? Or was it when Jesus was flogged, wore a crown of thorns, was forced to carry his cross on his back, then nailed to a cross and put to death … all without any resistance from his behalf?