Mary van Balen

PHOTO: Mary van Balen
This morning I stopped at the grocery store on my way to work and bought boxes of animal crackers to share on Saint Francis' feast day.

The morning was lovely. Clouds filled the sky, and though they looked as if they might bring rain later, in the morning they shone with sunlight. I stepped out of my car and smiled at the store employee who was collecting shopping carts from the parking lot. Read More 

PHOTO: Thich Nhat Hanh, photographer unknown

On the back cover of "Living Buddha, Living Christ," by Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton wrote: "Thich Nhat Hanh is more my brother than many who are nearer to me in race and nationality, because he and I see things the same exact way."

Perhaps surprising from a Cistercian monk, but not if you have read much of Merton and Thich Nhat Hanh. I took "Living Buddah, Living Christ" with me on a trip to Thailand, knowing I would be staying in a predominantly Buddhist country. (On an earlier trip I read "Buddhism for Beginners" for the same reason: to understand and appreciate the people I would be living amongst.) Read More 

PHOTO: Mary van Balen
Over the past fifty years I have entrusted my heart, soul, and mind to entries in journal pages written in eclectic styles that include reflection, documentation, study, rant, questions, lists, drawings, and pasted bits of print, but whatever the form, the writing always ends up as prayer. At least my definition of prayer, which is presenting oneself to God in the very moment, aware, if only briefly, of resting in Divinity’s infinite self, breathing the Holy One's breath as my own.

In dusty boxes, my life’s journey is recorded between covers of various sizes and colors on unlined pages that allow my pen and mind free range. My fifth grade handwriting teacher would be appalled by the seeming chaos, with words scrawled right to left, up and down along margins, squeezed between drawings, photographs, and program notes. But as the Spirit hovered over the swirling masses of creation, she sometimes shows up and helps me make sense of life that has spilled onto the pages. Read More 

Life does not always provide opportunities to thank those who have made a difference in our lives, but when it does, the moment is one of grace. Last week I had the pleasure of welcoming into my home my high school Latin teacher who was in town for a class reunion.

The last time I had seen Louanna, she was called Sr. John Martha and wore the habit of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. More than love of Latin drew me back to visit Louanna during my first year of college. She had introduced me to the classics and through them to discussions of ageless themes that thread through human existence: friendship, suffering, faithfulness, old age, morality, common good, conflict, power, and the corruption that often attends it.  Read More 

PHOTO: Sky & Telescope / Dennis Di Cicco

I stayed up late last night and set my alarm for 3am this morning to watch the Perseid meteor shower, and, as Alan MacRobert of Sky & Telescope wrote in his blog, even in a big city, I was not disappointed. I stood in the driveway, leaned against the garage, and eventually laid uncomfortably on the wooden bench swing to watch brilliant bits of debris left by the Swift-Tuttle comet in years past streak through the sky. Mac Robert’s blog said that some filaments left by the comet centuries ago – 441 and 1479 – might come into play this night. My mind reels at the thought. Read More 

PHOTO:Mary van Balen
"BROTHER, SISTER, LET ME SERVE YOU; LET ME BE AS CHRIST TO YOU; PRAY THAT I MAY HAVE THE GRACE TO LET YOU BE MY SERVANT, TOO."

QUOTES: 'The Servant Song'by Richard Gillard, 1977 Text and Music copyright ©1977 Scripture in Song (Admin. by Maranatha! Music) Hear song sung by composer

My heart moved within me as I sung this song at Mass today. Truly, I have received grace to accept to gift of Christ given to me through many others in my life and especially over the past months.




"WE ARE PILGRIMS ON A JOURNEY, WE ARE FAMILY ON THE ROAD; WE ARE HERE TO HELP EACH OTHER WALK THE MILE AND BEAR THE LOAD."

The mile we walk and the load we carry changes as time flows by. The friends who walk with us at one moment are not always the same ones who companion us later, but their gift of support remains. We are strong support for others during some stages of life, and at different stages we need support in ways that surprise us.
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PHOTO: WORDPRESS


Open wide your mouth that I may fill it.
Ps 81, 11b




God’s instruction sounds so simple, but anyone who has tried to feed an infant or toddler who doesn’t want to eat knows better. Thus the silly games we play, making the spoon into an airplane, train, or other method of transport to deliver the food to the hanger, station, or whatever. We cajole, distract, and plead, all to no avail if the child refuses to open her mouth.

God is calling Israel to fidelity, reminding them of their delivery from Egypt, and lamenting their stubbornness. The Psalm ends with a mother’s hope for a softening of their hearts: “But Israel I would feed with finest wheat, satisfy them with honey from the rock” (v. 17).

The gift of Divine Self is always being poured out. It is a fountain of Love whose Source is inexhaustible. God’s desire is to find hearts open to receive it.
© 2010 Mary van Balen Read More 

PHOTO: MARY VAN BALEN
While he was praying his face changed in appearance and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem. As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, on for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But he did not know what he was saying. While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him." After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. Lk 9,29-31; 33-36a

When I see something that gives me a glimpse into God's glory, I want to hang on to it, like Peter. Sometimes when I am watching the sun set over the ocean, I want the sun to stop right where it is, and delay its inevitable disappearance behind the waters. Read More 

PHOTO: MARY VAN BALEN -MOON,VENUS, JUPITER OVER COLLEGEVILLE INSTITUTE

After writing about the Kepler Mission, I remembered an article my Trappist friend, Fr. Maurice Flood, sent to me years ago. It was from the July 1994 issue of Sky & Telescope and told the story of Trappist sisters at Santa Rita Abbey in Arizona who shared the love of contemplating the night sky. One in particular, Sr. Sherly Chen, a graduate of Yale, shared her thoughts with author David H. Levy.

Levy was struck by the connections between science and religion as he listened to the sisters, experienced their prayer, and gazed with them at the clear night sky. I remembered that Chen had shared a poem she had written after considering the distance starlight had to travel to be seen by her that night. I found the article and poem in my old office:

Light

which left the Pleiades
2,000 years ago
arrived just when
a Mayan's eye
peered upwards
through the stone shaft
of the Temple of the Jaguar Sun.

Other rays

began their earthward Journey
before I even existed
to meet my eye
in the expanse of desert sky
after Vigils.

Grace

sets out from God
before I need it
rushes light-years toward me
meets me at the very moment I fall.

When it arrives
I am there.

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CLAY NATIVITY SCENE: GENEVA HARDING VAN BALEN; PHOTOS: MARY VAN BALEN

Leaning back in my chair, I smiled, ready to concentrate on Christmas. I sent out some fee-lance magazine articles yesterday; now my students' final grades were posted. I had spent the past couple of days reading papers on "Sacrament" and realized that the assignment was appropriate to the season that celebrates the Incarnation.

Besides looking at the seven ritual sacraments of the Catholic Church, our class explored the broader understanding of sacrament as a visible or physical sign that points to something beyond itself, which in our case, was to God. Karl Rhaner said that all grace is mediated through the material things of the world, and many of the students' papers illustrated that fact.

A number of students wrote about people, particularly family members, who had been a "sacrament" to them. A parent's unwavering support during life's upheavals helped more than one student become aware of God's constant presence. Others experienced God's mercy through forgiveness received from a spouse or friend. For some, a friend who faced serious illness or unemployment with peace, borne of deep faith, inspired them to reconnect with God in their own lives. Nature, sport, music, and art all made appearances in the papers.

Learning that Jesus is the primordial sacrament, the Sacrament from which all others flow, was exciting for some students and is what we celebrate at Christmas. In order to communicate infinite love and desire for unity with creation and human beings, God needed to “speak our language.” We are part of a material world and God became part of it. If Jesus had not become one of us, we would never have “heard” the fullness of God’s voice or known the fullness of Divine Presence.

Fr. Michael Himes of Boston University expounded on these ideas and explained grace as “Love outside the Trinity.” God is already a relationship of persons but desired to draw us into that “family circle.” Jesus is our invitation, our means of arriving there, our Sacrament.


I am finally ready to concentrate on the season. As much fun as shopping can be, the activity easily becomes overwhelming, and we think less about appreciating family and friends and more about beating someone to the checkout line or the hours we have left to go. The best way is most likely not hurrying from store to store, but taking some time to reflect on how God’s grace is mediated to us through people and places, through talents shared and time enjoyed. We can read Scripture and reflect on the amazing story of a young woman who was open to the most intimate experience of God’s mediated Grace: Jesus, God/man, growing in her womb.  Read More