"Your Tripod" reflects the personal Fourth Day journeys of its authors and editors. We are happy to have companions like you share in this project. Our prayer is that these reflections will invite and inspire your Fourth Day journey of Piety, Study and Action as much as writing or editing them inspires our journey and brings us all close moments with Jesus and our neighbors.
Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.”John 16:1-3
Piety
“Never despair of God’s Mercy.”
The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter Four
Study
The following passage is quoted for this week on my Benedictine desk calendar.Each week offers a reflection from the “One-Minute Monk:” series by Abbott Placid Solari, O.S.B. of Belmont Abbey.
In Chapter Four of his Rule, St. Benedict reminds us, “Never despair of God’s Mercy.”This important phrase catches us by surprise because he slips it in at the end of a long list of good works we should practice.St. Benedict is reminding us that, when we have done all we are supposed to, we must entrust everything finally to God’s mercy.We believe that God is so merciful that He sent His Son to suffer and die in order to restore the beautiful creation we had disfigured by our sin.Only God’s mercy can, in the end, repair all the evil and hurt that we inflict on one another.If we can just remember that mercy in times of trouble, we can bear these difficulties and look forward to that day when all will be healed.
St. Benedict seems to be echoing Jesus and these departing words he had for his disciples before heading off for the trial and execution we know was his Passion.Jesus wanted to help his friends get ready for whatever sins the world would commit against them.If they did not have Jesus around to plot against, betray and put on trial, Jesus knew that they would turn to his closest associates.
One of the key reasons for such violence and hatred is lack of knowledge.Jesus explains that this will happen because they “have not known either the Father or me.”That is why our study is such a vital component of the Cursillo tripod and our faith journey. We never know how we will be tested. Because by our study (supported by our piety), we will not be intimidated from active love by the sin around us because God’s mercy will shine forth through it all.
Action
God’s creation is being spoiled once again after the catastrophic accident on the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.Please consider supporting the people and organizations who are trying to protect the GulfCoast from Louisiana to Florida as they work on cleaning up the oil that is in the water and on the fish, birds and beaches. Also, please pray fro all those who died in the explosion which caused this accident on April 20 and the workers trying to shut off the flow of oil that is polluting the Gulf.
