Verse of the day
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
– Isaiah 58:6
Voice of the day
Isaiah reminds us that fasting is not about piety, but liberation. … At a time when social and political crises of all sorts loom, Lenten fasts are vital tools for individual and communal spiritual health.
– Jeania Ree V. Moore, “Why Fasting is Actually About Liberation”
Prayer of the day
This Lent, Lord, may we move away from viewing this season as a time for our personal piety but instead as a way to love and care for those in our midst.
Learn the discipline of being surprised not by suffering but by joy. As we grow old . . . there is suffering ahead of us, immense suffering, a suffering that will continue to tempt us to think that we have chosen the wrong road. . . . But don’t be surprised by pain. Be surprised by joy, be surprised by the little flower that shows its beauty in the midst of a barren desert, and be surprised by the immense healing power that keeps bursting forth like springs of fresh water from the depth of our pain.
“One of the central ways we [give ourselves over to more moments of Kairos time] is by embracing a seasonal approach to time, rather than a linear one.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE, Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
Do you make space in your life to surrender to kairos time?
To register for the self-study companion retreat to the book with extra resources and guidance click here>>
We visited San Francisco at the end of February in 2020. Little did we know what would happen a couple of weeks later when the world went into the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. My dad was so pleased that we were able to visit the city where he was born and would later earn his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of San Francisco in 1964. Visiting USF and Balmy Street murals visit were two of the many highlights of the visit. This mural was one of the many murals we experienced.
On Archbishop Saint Oscar Romero’s feast day, I believe his quote is particularly appropriate given the state of this nation and world.
I will not tire of declaring that if we really want an effective end to violence we must remove the violence that lies at the root of all violence: structural violence, social injustice, exclusion of citizens from the management of the country, repression. All this is what constitutes the primal cause, from which the rest flows naturally. – Archbishop Oscar Romero (Homily on September 23, 1979)
Violence is never an answer and as the quote attributed to Mohandas Gandhi says, “an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
“I think today we’re coming to understand that choosing nonviolence is a survival choice for our planet as well—the planet Earth. Because either we live in harmony with each other and the ecosystem or we destroy the ecosystem and then we destroy ourselves.”—Joan Slonczewski
Verse of the day
There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
– Galatians 3:28
Voice of the day
Any law that makes one group of people superior to another is a direct assault on these truths because it denies the full image of God in the group deemed inferior.
– Paola and Jeff Fuentes Gleghorn, “Will the U.S Finally Approve the ERA?”
Prayer of the day
All are made in your image God; may our laws change to reflect this truth.
“The day a child realizes that all adults are imperfect, they become an adolescent; the day they forgive them, they become an adult; the day they forgive themselves, they become wise.” — Alden Nowlan
“And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms, so we can reach out our arms to one another.” — Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”
“Every war leaves our world worse than it was before. War is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil.”—Pope Francis, “Fratelli Tutti” encyclical
Verse of the day
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
– Isaiah 58:6
Voice of the day
Isaiah reminds us that fasting is not about piety, but liberation. … At a time when social and political crises of all sorts loom, Lenten fasts are vital tools for individual and communal spiritual health.
– Jeania Ree V. Moore, “Why Fasting is Actually About Liberation”
Prayer of the day
This Lent, Lord, may we move away from viewing this season as a time for our personal piety but instead as a way to love and care for those in our midst.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 