Verse of the day
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
– John 8:12
Voice of the day
It is very important, friends, not to think of the soul as dark. We are conditioned to perceive only external light. We forget that there is such a thing as inner light, illuminating our soul.
– St. Teresa of Avila, “The Interior Castle” (1577)
Prayer of the day
Everlasting Light, when we are overwhelmed by the world’s darkness, enlighten us to the ways we can combat it, both in our surroundings and within ourselves.
“Each person, human or no, is bound to every other in a reciprocal relationship. Just as all beings have a duty to me, I have a duty to them. If an animal gives its life to feed me, I am in turn bound to support its life. If I receive a stream’s gift of pure water, then I am responsible for returning a gift in kind. An integral part of a human’s education is to know those duties and how to perform them.”—Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Verse of the day
For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.
– 1 Corinthians 4:20
Voice of the day
Power is not brute force and money; power is in your spirit. Power is in your soul. It is what your ancestors, your old people gave you. Power is in the earth; it is in your relationship to the earth.
– Winona LaDuke
Prayer of the day
Ingrain a true sense of what should empower us as we face every day.
Verse of the day
Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
– Romans 12:10
Voice of the day
Leaving no one behind means giving way for the most vulnerable segments of society to move from the back of the line to the front, so they can lead.
– Eddie Ndopu
Prayer of the day
God of the oppressed, may those who are usually left unheard be honored and at the forefront of discerning what a better reality truly means.
“In a nonviolent struggle, it’s not a, ‘me against you.’ It’s how do we join forces together to make things better, to back away from unnecessary suffering?”—Michael Nagler, The Nonviolent Moment
Verse of the day
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.
– Job 12:10
Voice of the day
Every life has its kernel, its hub, its epicentre, from which everything flows out, to which everything returns.
– Maggie O’Farrell, “Hamnet” (2020)
Prayer of the day
Living God, meet our outstretched hands with yours while we long for and labor toward restoration.
I have been reflecting a lot on the situation in the US and specifically the actions of our military off the coast of Venezuela. The more informed I become, the less sure that I am of the ethics and morals of an institution that I once was a part of… the US Military.
As a Chaplain, one of my key responsibilities was to provide moral and ethical advice and guidance to combatant leadership at all levels. I was called upon to do that a number of times throughout my career. It wasn’t always easy to “buck the system” so to speak, but at times I had to make that decision. Sometimes my questions or concerns were accepted and the commander took my advice into consideration. At other times I was essentially told to go back to the chapel and stay in my lane.
I’ve been retired and out of that world for over fourteen years now but this current moral quagmire has me wondering what in the blazes is going on in that institution (let alone in Washington, D.C.)and what sort of ethical and moral advice is being given and/or ignored. It’s at times like this that my mood darkens as I watch hope and love being snuffed out by hate and fear. Thomas Merton, as always, spoke to my heart concerning this matter.
I discovered the following quote from Thomas Merton’s paper Note on Civil Disobedience and Non-Violent Revolution which he wrote in 1968.
“The real focus of American violence is not in esoteric groups but in the very culture itself, its mass media, its extreme individualism and competitiveness, its inflated myths of virility and toughness, and its overwhelming preoccupation with the power of nuclear, chemical, bacteriological, and psychological overkill. If we live in what is essentially a culture of overkill, how can we be surprised at finding violence in it? Can we get to the root of the trouble? In my opinion, the best way to do it would have been the classic way of religious humanism and non-violence exemplified by Gandhi. That way seems now to have been closed. I do not find the future reassuring.” — Thomas Merton On Peace, p. 230
I admit it, quite often I do not find the future reassuring either. Yet somehow I know that I must continue to search for that light shining in the proverbial darkness. I don’t know how that’ll happen… yet I find comfort and promise in these words from Gospel of John: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it. John 1:5 (New Revised Standard Version Updated)
Dear reader, as we enter the season of Advent,ay that light not only shine, may it become brighter as we traverse these challenging times.
We are sent into this world to be people of reconciliation. We are sent to teach and heal, to break down walls that divide people into different categories of value. Young, old, black, white, gay, straight – whatever divisions you can come up with – Serb, Croat, Muslim, Jew, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist – beyond all those distinctions that separate us, there is a greater unity. Out of that essential unity you can live and proclaim that truth that every human being belongs to God’s heart, which beats from eternity to eternity. The mystery of God’s love is that when you know in your heart that you are chosen and blessed, you also know that others are chosen and blessed, and you cannot do other than embrace all humanity as God’s beloved.
“To allow governments to pour more and more billions into weapons . . . is one of the most colossal injustices in the long history of man.*“—Thomas Merton, Peace in the Post-Christian Era
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