Scripture Focus for July 2

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord. Ps89:2a

Are you righteous?

Are you welcoming Jesus?

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me…And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” – Jesus (Mt 10:37-42)

Giving and Receiving Christ

    The only real oneness possible [is] Christ in us….In Holy Communion, millions of small hosts are given to millions of people; this does not mean Christ is divided into millions, but that the millions are made one in Christ. {Caryll met a woman during a Mass where there were no Communion hosts to receive. A ragged woman told her to come and a priest would divide her reserved host for them both. Caryll went. She gave Christ to me, Christ’s Passion to the world.]

   At first sight, suffering seems broken up, unfairly divided. In reality it is the human race that is divided, suffering is a communion that makes us one, as sacramental Communion does. We can give Christ’s Passion to one another, as the poor woman gave Christ to me, and we can comfort Christ in one another in doing so…He gave us his Passion in his body, gave us himself, his suffering and his sacrifice, his heart full of compassion…In His hands we can offer our fragment for the world, just as the priest offers the Host at Mass….It is estimated that there are four elevations every second in every twenty-four hours. We see the Host lifted in the priest’s hands at our local altar. Who can estimate how many elevations God sees from the altars of man’s heart, in factories, kitchens, schools, workhouses, hospitals, ships, and camps all over the world.  – Caryll Houselander (d. 1954) excerpt from the Magnificat Magazine, 7-2-23 (from Lift Up Your Hearts, H.J. Taylor—1978)

Caryll is one of my favorite authors! She was ‘very aware of her oddness’ as a child. She was a mystic, poet, woodcarver and struggled with understanding that power greater than ourselves. She was strongly visual. As an artist and creative myself, I can appreciate her visions. This idea that hidden everywhere, whether in beauty or ‘degradation’, was an imprint of God and it mattered. She had an indescribable relationship with Christ. She was a spiritual writer. As I continue to delve into the unknown or unknowable, I appreciated her approach and intuitiveness. She endeavored to understand the human mind and the imbalance we find in ourselves. My favorite book is The Reed of God. 2 things I have tried to do myself: find God in Scripture, creation and others and to serve them with joy. In this way I serve God. Why not do it with joy and energy?

In this article, she is quoted, “I truly believe that the best way to benefit humanity is to make faces in the bus – slightly mad faces, or puttings out of the tongue suddenly at the person opposite. This of the thrill that gives to countless uneventful lives to whom nothing ever happens! Then they can tell everyone for weeks that they saw a mad woman on the bus, and they can exaggerate this to almost any extent. This form of charity can even be practiced on the way to work.” Doesn’t this make you smile? Years ago, I would practice smiling at others as I walked to and from work in downtown Chicago on Michigan Avenue, The Magnificent Mile. I hadn’t read Caryll’s quote yet. I wanted to do an experiment. Would people smile back? I ask you to try this in America. I understand that in some countries we shouldn’t look people directly in the eye because it is not polite? My experiment was interesting. Some people were shocked. They were in a hurry and didn’t expect a smile when they looked up. You have to look up eventually to see where you are going and watch out for traffic! My non-scientific research showed that while most people were unsure how to take my smile, there were some genuine smiles returned. I made there day. Someone noticed them and it changed things. I had been on a campaign to smile at people and change lives with laughter since I was little. I still do it today! After all the ups and downs, challenges of my life, I would rather choose joy than succumb to sorrow.

Let’s elevate or lift people up!

Challenge—follow the daily Mass to hear the whole story with a phone app or get your daily Mass Readings at http://www.usccb.org!