Category Archives: Peace and Justice

Empire, Agriculture and the Gospel

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The story of the garden is usually thought of as the story of original sin. Fashioning the Garden story into sin that we passed from generation to generation, Augustine left us with the doctrine of original sin. Is the story of the Garden about original sin?

Wes Howard-Griffin says that it is not. The story was written after the people had experienced exile to Babylon, in effect after they had been thrown out of the Garden. In Babylon they encounter a rich and varied agricultural society that used intricate canal systems to water the crops. On the way to Babylon, they saw many nomadic peoples who seemed to be thriving. They were hunters and gathers. The nomads did not know the surpluses of Babylonian agriculture. Continue reading →

Ash Wednesday

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Ash Wednesday

Joel (2:12-18) calls for a fast. He calls the people to repentance. Fasting is one of the three key Jewish practices. Prayer and almsgiving round out the set. Repentance is to be personal—rend your hearts. Change your attitudes. Change your ways of thinking. Change your ways of acting. Repent. Turn your lives around. Change your families, your communities and your institutions. Return to God. Joel does not call individuals to repentance. He calls the whole community even those who ordinarily would have been exempt. The community is called to confess its sins and repent in order to avoid further calamity. Continue reading →

Vatican II: Beyond Pietism

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The Gospel reading from Matthew about building our houses on rock is about building our lives on sound doctrine. Today in the church various factions babble like Pilate, “What is truth?” What is sound doctrine? What exactly IS the Gospel of Jesus the Christ?

Vatican II Catholics feel more and more alienated from the church they have come to love—a church that is built on the Gospel of Nonviolence and justice. Many are voting with their feet. They just walk away and tell no one because they do not believe anyone cares or will listen. Knowing that pious practices are not sufficient for building a firm foundation, they seek a church that practices justice—right relationships—both within the church and in the larger world they embrace as Christians.

Conservative Catholics are reveling in their new found hold on doctrine and practice. Seeking certitude in a very uncertain world, they retreat to the pietism which characterized pre-Vatican “spirituality.” They are joyful to the point of ecstasy that the New Missal will restore dignity and mystery to the Mass. If they had their druthers they would have us all “worshipping” in Latin. Continue reading →

Church Renewal and Reform

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We spent the weekend immersed in Church reform. First we attended and were inspired by the American Catholic Council Listening Session in Jacksonville. Being reminded of the immense promise of Vatican II for authentic Christian life in our Church, we left committed to working for reform and renewal in the Church. The, we switched gears slightly as we motored on down the road to St. Augustine for our meeting with the Pax Christi Florida State Council. Another challenge of immense proportions—working for justice in our Church and world. We wordsmithed until out little hearts were content in order to finalize a vision statement, a mission statement and an action plan.

The work of the weekend reminds me as I distance myself from it and take perspective of several important truths. Maybe it has a lot to do with the fact that wisdom—seeing the inner depth of meaning, seeing as God sees—is a GIFT. Knowing that all gifts come from God, we must then learn in God’s language—silence. We must step aside from planning and talking and wordsmithing in order to hear God, to receive the gift of wisdom. God’s ways are not our ways and we have to be attuned to God in silence. I love the symbol of God as the Good Shepherd. I also think that a more modern symbol is of God as my GPS—leading me and guiding me in God’s ways to the destination God has in mind. God is literally the small still voice guiding me.

Second, the work of the weekend and the ongoing work of Church reform and renewal leads me back to Merton’s big caution. It is something that all mystics know so well—we are not responsible for the results. Merton was wont to remind us to be faithful to the task and to leave the results in God’s hands. Knowing the authoritarianism of some of the clergy and most of the hierarchy, reform and renewal seem to be daunting tasks. We must again listen to God speaking within the depths of our being and calling us forth to love and justice. It is God’s work, not ours.

Third, activism must be supplemented by prayer. In the Gospels, Jesus told the disciples that they could not cast the demon out of the boy because “This kind can only come out through prayer.” Prayers of petition and fasting accompany the prayer of silence. We must ask God to do what he wants to do for the Church and we know that God wants mercy not sacrifice.

Finally, we must read and WORD OF God. The only way we can know the will of God is by attuning ourselves to God’s word. Bible study and lectio divina help us to grow in wisdom, age and grace. This is critical because so much of what is put forth as defined dogma is not grounded in the scriptures. Is celibacy for the secular clergy mandated by the Bible? Is the ordination of women prescribed by the Bible?

I think we are right back at pray, study, act. We know that the Holy Spirit was the moving force behind Vatican II. To try to rollback—after all the church is not WalMart—the reforms and renewal of Vatican II is the ultimate sin—the sin against the Spirit! When we pray, study and act, the Holy Spirit will guide our actions toward the proper end.

Disturb the Comfortable

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Disturb the Comfortable

Thus says the LORD:
Share your bread with the hungry,
shelter the oppressed and the homeless;
clothe the naked when you see them,
and do not turn your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
If you remove from your midst
oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
if you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday. (Is 58:7-10) Continue reading →

Run the Good Race

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Brothers and sisters:
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

[Ignatius of Loyola, Francis and Clare of Assisi, Franz Jaggerstetter, Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King]

let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us

[Let us continue to grow in union with God who dwells within us as our deepest reality.
and persevere in running the race that lies before us.]

while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,

[Keep your eyes on the prize! Run the good race. Stay focused. Do not be way laid by the false promises of our consumerist society.]

the leader and perfecter of faith.
For the sake of the joy that lay before him

[Joy, unlike pleasure, perdures through the good, the bad, and the ugly.]

Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame,

[We are foolish to the wise and weak to the powerful. We are often despised and looked down upon as silly dreamers.]

and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

[Jesus now rules in power at the right hand of God. The Right Hand of God is love, service, compassion, justice, It is the opposite of tyhe Left Hand of greed, power, domination, exploitation, and selfishness–Michael lerner]

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,

[Pharisees, Sadducees—“religious leaders”—and imperial potentates. He ate with sinners. He allowed impure people to touch Him and He touched them. He welcomed all to his table.]

in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

[We live in the power of the Risen Jesus and His Holy Spirit. We ride on eagle’s wings! Eucharist strengthens us for the journey.]

In your struggle against sin

[More than personal sin—structural sin embedded in society which dehumanizes and takes us off task. We must challenge unjust structures! May God be with the people of Egypt and may they nonviolently throw off the yoke of oppression as the hands of self-serving wealthy rulers. They have the courage—the heart—to take on dominative structures and proclaim a new order based on justice.]

you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

[Some Egyptians have shed blood. We must stand over against empire and all its wiles and allurements. We must proclaim the Kin-dom without ceasing. We will take our lumps for doing so. We will take our lumps in society and, unfortunately, in the imperial, patriarchal church. Blessed are we when we are persecuted for the sake of Gospel—Kin-dom—values.]

Deer and Bald Eagles

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Deer Kissing

Last night around 7 I was grilling some Sockeye salmon. Darkness had fallen. Along the street, I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I looked intently until I caught the shadows of two deer darting across the neighbor’s lawn. I said, “Hi, guys.” With perked ears they stopped dead in their tracks and looked at me. From inside our fifth wheel, Joan said, “Who are you talking to?” I said, “The deer.”   Even though Spike, our nine pound Min Pin terror had to come to the door and bark at my friends, they kept looking at me.

I looked at them and they looked at me. I knew I was in communion with these two deer. I talked to them, “How are you doing tonight?” Then, honoring the divine in them, I bowed slightly and said, “Namaste.” We were at peace. We became one. After about five minutes they stopped looking and began to graze gently. Another gift from the Creator.

Earlier in the week, I received another gift. Walking out of the fifth wheel on a windy day, I looked up as a bald eagle, gracefully riding the wind, soared right over my head. Beauty in flight!

I am reading Brother David Steindle-Rast’s new book, Deeper than Words: Living the Apostles Creed.  Bringing the Creed to life Brother David, a Benedictine monk, teaches that life is about belonging and that the created world is an extension of ourselves.

All is one. Time and time again deer and bald eagles remind me that I am part of a larger Whole as together we breathe the very life of God.