Verse of the day
So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come. Your power and your righteousness, O God, reach the high heavens.
– Psalm 71:18-19
Voice of the day
Do what you can to show you care about other people, and you will make our world a better place.
– Rosalynn Carter
Prayer of the day
May we be like our elders who have proclaimed your goodness and justice to the ends of their days. We honor them, and you, by caring for each other.
“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”—The Talmud
“It is a testimony to the worship of private property that our nation does little to address the issue of homelessness. To provide housing for the homeless, citizens of this nation would have to believe that everyone has a right to shelter and that this right should be affirmed and protected by our tax dollars. Tragically, most citizens in the United States readily accept the notion that their tax dollars should support militarism that we are told will keep us safe, while ignoring the danger most people face when incomes are shrinking and affordable housing is lacking.”—bell hooks, where we stand: class matters
“You know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation . . . and that is called loving.”—Hermann Hesse
“Compassion is always, at its most authentic, about a shift from the cramped world of self-preoccupation into a more expansive place of fellowship, of true kinship.”—Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart
Verse of the day
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
– Psalm 107:1
Voice of the day
To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything.
– Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude (1956)
Prayer of the day
Move through our half measure of thanks and let us be, all through this day, more risky in acknowledging that we have nothing except what you give.
– Adapted from “At Thanksgiving” by Walter Brueggemann, in Prayers for a Privileged People
“I know I am not weaving my life’s patterns alone. Only one end of the threads do I hold in my hands. The other ends go many ways linking my life with others.”—Septima Clark
“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution that has to start with each one of us. When you begin to take the lowest place, to wash the feet of others, to love…with that burning love, that passion, which led to the Cross, then we can truly say, ‘Now I have begun.’” — Dorothy Day (Loaves and Fishes also found in the book Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and the Greatest Commandment: Radical Love in Times of Crisis, p. 68)
“Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will overcome the world. Let us not tire of preaching love. Though we see that waves of violence succeed in drowning the fire of Christian love, love must win out; it is the only thing that can.”—Oscar Romero
In his book, Sit in the Sun: And Other Lessons in the Spiritual Wisdom of Cats, Jon Sweeney says the following about cats and their grooming and self-care practices.
When you watch cats cleaning themselves, you witness the meditative: They clean thoughtfully, deliberately, mindfully, at stressful moments and also as a regular practice. Their humans can learn from this example. If we could all pause and care for ourselves with regularity and thoughtfulness, the whole world might reverberate with purrs and love. Loving oneself can be the most difficult practice of all. The great Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn taught that love is an energy that transforms the world. (p. 26)
When Stella came into our lives twenty months ago, she was a wee little homeless kitten who weighted about 2.5 pounds. We aren’t sure how long she had been on her own but the vet who examined her told us that if she hadn’t found us, she would have died within a week or two. She quickly made her way into our hearts and our lives. Technically she is a rescue but we aren’t so sure who rescued whom… it could well be a matter of the three of us rescuing each other.
Yes, I believe that she rescued us as much as we rescued her. She fills our days with laughter and sometimes frustration (the Christmas tree never got decorated last Christmas) but most of all she fills our days with love, even when she wakes her Mommy up in the wee hours of the morning to either play pounce on Mommy or to snuggle with her Mommy.
Jon Sweeney, I believe that you are on to something here and that we have a lot to learn from our sweet Stella.
