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Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. – Ephesians 1:4 NLT
Heavenly Father, thank You for choosing me. Your love for me never diminishes and that comforts me as I navigate through these feelings of insecurity. The fact that You loved me even before You made the world fills me with so much gratitude. Humble my heart as I seek to be holy before You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
At the time of the Second Vatican Council, we Catholics were very self-confident. All indicators of numbers, vocations, money, and influence were positive and growing. There was no reason to reform or self-criticize. Our identity was clear, our boundaries were clear, our sense of the absolute was grounded and founded. We knew who we were and, ironically, we were therefore free to criticize ourselves, even from the very top.
The ability to self-criticize and own our shadow side is a clear sign of health and interior freedom. A historian of social change once told me that Vatican II was one of the very few times in all of human history that a strong institution reformed itself from the top—when it didn’t have to and wasn’t forced to. That’s a rather strong sign of the presence of God’s Spirit.
Before Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pope in 2013 and took the name Pope Francis I, the Roman Church, at the higher levels, had little ability to be self-critical. We felt that we had lost our boundaries in relation to secular culture, and we were trying to reinforce them by insisting that we were always right and had the full and total picture. This is called a “siege mentality,” which always emerges when a group has lost its former influence and feels that it is under attack.
We are all caught in these bigger zeitgeists (“the spirit of an age”). Every age has been. It is almost heroic to live above them, and we never really know if we are doing so.
Yet, the person with a great soul can move others toward the future with compassion and confidence—not judgment, paranoia, or accusation. We were very happy as Catholics when John Paul II (1920–2005) set a new tone in Jubilee Year 2000 and publicly admitted and asked forgiveness for many of the historic sins of Roman Catholicism. It seemed to give permission at all lower levels for honesty and humility about the Church.
John Paul II was surely one of these great souls on many levels. His tragic flaw might well be that he did not often trust anyone else to be a great soul or to initiate the grand gesture except himself. He could be ecumenical, but we at the lower levels had to exclude even other Christians from the table. He could make major political statements, but other bishops and priests, like the martyr St. Óscar Romero (1917–1980), were given no support when they did the same. It felt a bit schizophrenic, but the issues are so enormous today that only time will prove where wisdom lies (see Matthew 11:19).
Finger-pointing is usually just an avoidance of our own transformation. To continue to move forward calmly, with joy and confidence, is probably as clear a sign of God’s presence as I can imagine. It is also somewhat rare, but those, like Pope Francis, who can do so are the people who will reconstruct. These are the people who will lead us into God’s future. These are the people to whom it is worth.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. – Psalm 139:13-14 NLT
Lord God, You are intentional in how You’ve formed who I am, and I can’t wrap my mind around the fullness of Your workmanship. I’m so grateful You delicately created me and call me wonderful! Whenever I’m struggling with insecurity in this life and who I was created to be, may I cling to this truth. Amen.
We pray for a compassionate heart. Help us to be more understanding and empathetic towards others. Let us see the world through the eyes of those who are suffering and be moved to action. May our compassion lead us to help and support those in need.
Thank you for your compassion towards us. Help us to reflect that same compassion in our interactions with others. May we learn to listen deeply and to respond with kindness and care to those who are hurting. Guide us to be patient and non-judgmental, recognizing the struggles and challenges that others face. Help us to extend compassion to ourselves, understanding that we too are deserving of care and kindness.
We pray for a world where compassion is the norm, where people look out for one another and support each other in times of need. Thank you for the opportunities to practice compassion. Help us to seize those moments and to make a positive difference in the lives of others.
Father Richard reflects on how sitting with our own suffering allows us to extend compassion to others:
The outer poverty, injustice, and absurdity we see when we look around us mirrors our own inner poverty, injustice, and absurdity. The person who is poor outside is an invitation to the person who is poor inside. As we nurture compassion for the brokenness of things, and learn to move between action and contemplation, then we find compassion and sympathy for brokenness within ourselves. We, too, are full of pain and negativity, and sometimes there is little we can do about it.
Each time I was recovering from cancer, I had to sit with my own broken absurdity as I’ve done with others at the jail or hospital or soup kitchen. The suffering person’s pain and poverty is visible and extroverted; mine is invisible and interior, yet just as real. The two sympathies and compassion connect and become one world. I think that’s why Jesus said we have to recognize Christ in the least of our brothers and sisters. It was for our redemption, our liberation, our healing—not merely to “help” others and put a check on our spiritual resume. Rather, when we see it over there, we’re freed in here, and become less judgmental. I can’t look down on a person receiving welfare when I realize I’m receiving God’s welfare. It all becomes one truth; the inner and the outer reflect one another.
As compassion and sympathy flow from us to any person marginalized for whatever reason, wounds are bandaged—both theirs and ours. We’ll never bandage them all, nor do we need to, but we do need to get close to the wounds. That idea is imaged so well in the gospels with Thomas, the doubting apostle, who wanted to figure things out in his head. He had done too much inner work, too much analyzing. He always needed more data before making a move. Then Jesus told Thomas to put his finger inside the wounds in Jesus’ hands and side (John 20:27). Then and only then did Thomas begin to understand what faith is all about. [1]
Jesus invites Thomas and all doubters into a tangible religion, one that makes touching human pain and suffering the way into both compassion and understanding. For most of us, the mere touching of another’s wound probably feels like an act of outward kindness; we don’t realize that its full intended effect is to change us as much as it might change them (there’s no indication that Jesus changed, only Thomas). Human sympathy is the best and easiest way to open heart space and to make us live inside our own bodies. God never intended most human beings to become philosophers or theologians, but God does want all humans to represent God’s own sympathy and empathy. And it’s okay if it takes a while to get there. [2]
References:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr, Near Occasions of Grace (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993), 108–109.
A Blessing for Compassion May this day you see your world through God’s eyes and God’s heart. May you not turn away from the need and the suffering that comes before you. May you grow the seeds of forgiveness into the garden of your heart. May you be gentle with yourself when you fall short. May the image of God be in the face of everyone you meet. May you be safe, happy, healthy, and serene. May you pray these words for yourself and all whom you encounter: I wish you well. — Kaki Grubbs, Spiritual Literacy Certificates Program, 2024 Cohort
In reading a piece about the last judgement a woman in her eighties wondered, ‘If God has forgiven me, why is there a judgement?’ I could understand her question. Taking some theological liberty, I said that the judgement after death was for God to say again to each of us that we are forgiven, and to remind us of the good we had done and had tried to do. Her reply was, ‘Consoling for the once baptised who have fallen away’. Was she thinking not of herself, but of her children, most of whom were not churchgoers? I think so. Many people’s religious questions often cloak a worry they have about others.
Many parents and grandparents worry about the lack of faith in their children and grandchildren. It is a deep sadness for a generation that did their best in handing on faith and practice. Some nuggets of wisdom can help: ‘Let God look after them, he loves them even more than you do’; ‘We all find our own way to God and in life’; ‘Their faith will come at its own time’. It is consoling to think that much goodness –kindness, love for the poor, prayer, care and compassion –is passed on by parents, even if the faith of a younger generation might be expressed differently.
Mary and Joseph wondered what had got into Jesus to run off and leave them worried and anxious. His answer, ‘I must be about my father’s business’, is relevant also for us. Many people are about their father’s business in different ways than I am, or a parent is. The important thing is that somehow, somewhere, we are, in trying to live the good life, ‘about our father’s business’!
Donal Neary SJ, The Sacred Heart Messenger, January 2021
"Heavenly Father, I come before You with a heart full of gratitude. Thank You for the gift of life, the air I breathe, and the strength You give me each day. I am grateful for Your unwavering love and for providing for my needs, even when I don't see it.
Thank You for my family and friends, who bless me with their kindness and support. Thank You for the opportunities to grow, for the open doors, and even for the closed doors that protect me. Thank You for the lessons from disappointments, which help me trust You more.
Help me to never take Your blessings for granted and to live with a spirit of thankfulness in all circumstances, so that my life may be a reflection of my gratitude to You. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen".
Dear God, thank you for your boundless grace and the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness, and I invite Jesus to come into my heart as my Savior and Lord.
Please send your Holy Spirit to guide me and help me follow your path in all my decisions. Give me the courage and wisdom to live out your gospel by following Christ's example of love, forgiveness, and generosity towards others. Help me to walk in holiness, to bear the burdens of others, and to be a channel of your grace.
Open doors for me to share the good news of your kingdom in my workplace, among my family, and in my community. Give me boldness to speak your truth and proclaim the hope of eternal life.
Strengthen me, Lord, to take up my cross and follow Jesus, and transform me into the image of your Son. I pray all this in Jesus' name, for your glory.
Michele Dunne is the Executive Director of the Franciscan Action Network, an organization that seeks to embody Franciscan values in their work for justice for the earth and the poor. [1] In a recent issue of CAC’s the Mendicant donor newsletter, Dunne describes her deepening understanding of Franciscan witness:
“From gospel to life and life to gospel” is a phrase from the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order that puzzled me when I first read it. I felt called to join the Order in 2013, at a time of failure and crisis in my life. [2] As I studied the Rule, I thought I understood “from gospel to life.” I was to read the gospel of Jesus and apply what I found there to how I lived my life. But “life to gospel”? What might that mean?
As I worked on those words from the Rule, those words worked on me over several years. Through his writings and example, St. Francis taught me about living in kinship with all humanity and all creation. My new spiritual path urged me to make time to study more deeply and practice contemplative prayer more consistently.
My new Franciscan path also seemed to break open my heart. Hearing the growing calls for racial and economic justice, care for the earth, and many other issues during 2017–2021, I could no longer ignore them or believe they didn’t concern me. As I stepped out of my comfort zone to show solidarity—sometimes accepting legal or safety risks in doing so—certain scriptural passages glowed for me in a new way, resonating with my real-life experiences of activism and advocacy.
For example, while I had always understood Jesus’s teaching to “take up your cross and follow me” simply as a call to bear patiently with the suffering inherent in daily life, I came to a totally different understanding after a long, frigid day spent at a climate protest in December 2019. Rereading the story (in Mark 8, Matthew 16, and Luke 9) at the urging of my friend and teacher the Rev. John Dear, I suddenly understood that Jesus was not speaking about patience with everyday suffering. As he faced escalating pressure—including from his friends—to stop speaking out against injustice, Jesus made it crystal clear that following him would require self-sacrifice, inconvenience, and possibly danger. How could I have missed that before? Maybe this new way of hearing was what “life to gospel” meant.
The Franciscan path keeps the challenges coming but also supplies companions for the way. In 2021, I left a longtime career to join the Franciscan Action Network, where we are building an intergenerational movement for justice, peace, and creation rooted in the gospel and the examples of St. Francis and St. Clare. Our dozens of Franciscan Justice Circles across the country meet monthly in small groups, where we pray and take action together, discovering over and over again what it means to go from gospel to life and life to gospel.
References: [1] Franciscan Action Network (FAN) is a collective Franciscan voice, inspired by the Gospel of Jesus and the example of Saints Francis and Clare, seeking to transform United States public policy related to peace making, care for creation, poverty, and human rights. Find out how to join or form a Franciscan Justice Circle supported by FAN in your area.
[2] The Secular Franciscan Order is one of three religious orders formed by St. Francis of Assisi during his lifetime—the one for single or married people who would live “in the world” rather than as friars or sisters.
Michele Dunne, “Gospel to Life and Life to Gospel,”theMendicant15, no. 3 (2025), 2.
“I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Lord, help me to have the same perspective in my own life, treasuring the knowledge of You above all else.
I admit that, at times, I have allowed worldly distractions and selfish ambitions to pull me away from the path of righteousness.
I want to forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead, pressing on towards the goal to win the prize for which You have called me in Christ Jesus.
Heavenly Father, I humbly request the strength and perseverance to keep running this race of faith with endurance.
I know that the ultimate prize is the eternal life that comes through Jesus Christ, and I long to grasp it fully.
I also acknowledge, Lord, that I am far from perfect.
I have made mistakes and fallen short of your glory.
But I am comforted that my righteousness comes from faith in Christ.
Thank you for your grace and forgiveness that allow me to be justified through faith in your Son.
Help me, I want to know you more intimately, to experience the power of your resurrection in my life, and to share in your sufferings as a part of my spiritual journey.
As I conclude this prayer, I ask for Your guidance and wisdom to discern what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute.
Help me to focus my thoughts on these things and to live a life that reflects your love and grace to others.
