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July 2008

Reflection by Martin Buber

Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, God, I do not suppose
You are very tied to titles,
You seem to revel more in creating and loving
than arguing like we do.

You are beyond any name,
beyond this group or that,
beyond ideas or any ability to
control You by definitions.

You are the Utterly Free One.
You are the Eternal I
that always allows me to be a Thou
whenever we meet.

You are the Speaker, I am the spoken,
so Love must be Your name!
which is always beyond words.

My favorite way to address God is…

Why is it important what we think about God and how we name God?...

June 2008

Do Not Be Afraid

When you watch TV or read the newspaper, one might wonder if there is anything right with the world. There are continuing stories of wars, violence, hunger and injustice of every kind. At such times of turmoil in the lives of the apostles, Jesus appeared in their midst and greeted them with the words: “Do not be afraid. Peace be with you!”

Fr. Pete Henriot, SJ, Director of the Jesuit Center for Theological Reflection in Zambia shared his thoughts on this subject and gave us permission to use  them for our reflection. St. Peter tells young Timothy to have plenty of confidence in enduring hardships in the mission of sharing the Good News. He can be confident because he can rely on the power of God and the grace revealed through Christ. 

We need to hear those words “Do not be afraid” in our families and communities, in our churches, where people are living in despair and poverty. Trusting in God’s love can be a great defense against fear.

We need to realize that God walks with us in the midst of all these difficulties. We need to hear the words “Do not be afraid” when we take a stand on justice issues and know there will be consequences. We can and must be encouraged by the voice of Jesus saying: “Do not be afraid.” He knows we need strength to keep following him faithfully day after day.

Questions for Reflection and Sharing:
What and who are we afraid of in our daily lives?
What challenges do we face in our trying to be responsible citizens?
What do I need to do in my faith community to be a more faithful and less fearful follower of Jesus?

Prayer:
We pray, Lord for the grace to trust that you will watch over all our needs. May we never lose hope, especially when we face difficult challenges in family, church or community? We pray for the strength to stand with those who are excluded or impoverished and never let fear keep us from acting justly. Lord, graciously hear us.

(Printed with permission of Fr. Henriot)

May 2008

Contemplation and Action 
By Fr. Richard Rohr

If your life is not moving toward practical action in the real, living world, with other people, with the not-me, don’t trust your spirituality. But your engagement must happen in tandem with contemplation, the inner disengagement with ego and openness to God. Contemplation is the Divine therapy that purifies our work and involvement. Action and contemplation are the two polarities that regulate and balance a faith-filled life. It saddens me that most Christianity is right in the middle. It is neither radical interiority nor radical engagement. You don’t learn much in the mediocre middle and you don’t have much to give.

(from Radical Grace, Christ the Transformer of Culture. www.cacradicalgrace. Org Printed with permission.)

• How do we ensure that our actions are rooted in contemplation?
• How do we get on God’s agenda?
• Do we simply ask God to bless our agenda?
• What can we do to live more consciously at the center? 

April 2008

Walking with God’s People 
by S. Mary Watson, OP

Often I hear people say they are working with the poor, or helping the poor. I think the place to begin is listening to people, hearing their hopes and fears, joys and disappointments. We need to be with them with our ears and eyes wide open. Listen to them articulate the power they experience and learn from them. Ministry is always a mutual ministry. We cannot approach people saying: “I know exactly what you need. Do it my way.”

Start in small ways by being present in a listening and learning stance. Realize people are seeking community, seeking people who will listen to their stories and needs and not rush in with answers. They want to be respected as people have who something valuable to offer as part of a community.

They are not seeking “power over” but “power with.” They will discover their own strength through the hope and encouragement we offer. In the meantime, we learn from their struggles and hopes and their deep faith that sustains them in their struggles. 

March 2008

A Call to Peace 

(This is a summary of a retreat day presented by Bishop Tom Gumbleton at SienaCenter on 2/23/08. Printed with permission.)

Our call as Christians to be witnesses to the Gospel and to be advocates for the poor and excluded. What happens inside of us is very important because the church and each of us are constantly in need of conversion through God’s action in our lives, deep within us. 

We are called to get back to the radical message of the Gospel, and need to be reformed in three important areas at this time in our history.

We are called to move from violence to non-violence and always respond as Jesus did, with love. Jesus taught us how to die, loving and forgiving the one who tortures us.
The second one is to examine poverty and wealth in our nation and world.
What does it mean to be evangelically poor today? How can we address poverty in a meaningful way that liberates both oppressor and oppressed?

We need a renewed understanding of authority and obedience, not a power of domination. We can refuse to obey in situations that are against the call of Jesus. 
We are called to conversion and have many examples of this:

o       Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a clear example of non-violence. He said: “We will love you no matter what you do to us. We will  wear you down by our own capacity to suffer and transform hate into love.”

o       Bishop Oscar Romero who preached the full Gospel message, knowing his life was on the line. He had hope in the face of a death threat. “If they kill me, I will rise again in my people…..I forgive and bless those who will kill me.”

o       Pope John Paul 11 pleaded with us to respond to the hatred and violence of 9/11 with love and not to respond with more violence. In our world, the power of evil seems to have the upper hand, the Pope said. How can we transform it to true peace? How can true peace prevail if our response is “Go to war.” How can we restore moral courage when subjected to violence? It can only be restored by justice and forgiveness, in order to build peace.

We have profound injustice in regard to wealth and poverty in our world. One billion people live in absolute poverty every day. One fifth of the world has 87% of the world’s wealth. God made the world for all to enjoy, not for a few. Every day, between 30 and 40 thousand children die daily from hunger and neglect and little attention is paid to it.

We are called to deep conversion in this area. This shocking imbalance in the world is wrong and a reason we do not have peace. Let us look at how we live and distinguish need from want and help build sustainable programs to lift people out of poverty. We need to examine structures of injustice and name them as sin. Many see no obligation to do anything about the situation. We are mainly focused on personal sin and neglect the social dimensions of sin.

We are called to look at the causes such as Free Trade Agreements that result in poverty and displacement for millions. Pope Paul V1 commented that we have 80 years of Catholic Social Teaching and 2000 years of hearing the Gospel of Jesus. We must admit we have not been very effective in putting it into practice in bringing about social change.

We need to pray and reflect on the real meaning of the Gospel, not on a watered down version, and open our hearts to true conversion and follow Jesus’ way of life and values. He neglected violence, prestige and power. How do we respond to each other? Do we harbor violence in our own hearts and minds? We must also remember the oppressor must be liberated as well as the oppressed. We must adopt the attitude of Christ and bring back the radical message of Jesus. What keeps us from doing that? It is not heard in most churches? Is it fear of what will happen to us, fear of losing membership support and money? We are sent to continue the mission of Jesus, to bring good news to the poor, liberty to captives and restoration of sight to the blind….

Popes and other church leaders have called Christians to commit to the task of bring peace to our world in light of the Gospel and say NO to violence of every kind. Jesus came to preach and make the reign of God happen. This calls us to profound conversion.

“We are the ones we are waiting for.” It is not enough to donate to a charity cause. We must bond with Jesus and with the poor and oppressed and together resist injustice and work to bring about the reign of God for all people.