“We have to do small things and believe a big difference is coming. It’s like the miraculous drops of water that seep through mountain limestone. They gather themselves into springs that flow into creeks that merge into rivers that find their way to oceans. Our work is to envision the drops as oceans. We do our small parts and know a powerful ocean of love and compassion is downstream. Each small gesture can lead to liberation. The bravest thing we can do in this world is not cling to old ideas or fear of judgment, but step out and just do something for love’s sake.” — Richard Rohr
“The problem with building your peacemaking on what you’re against and not what you’re for is that you’re always prepared for a fight and always looking for an enemy.”
— Osheta Moore, Dear White Peacemakers: Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace
“The ancient Celts used to have ‘threshold stones’ at the entrance to a sacred site, one on either side of the portal or passageway. . . The stones were markers and reminders that the soul was crossing over into a sanctified space.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
How do you mark the sacred spaces in your life?
“I believe that nonviolence has the power to melt the stoniest heart.” — Gandhi
Verse of the day
Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer.
– Romans 12:12
Voice of the day
To hope is to risk frustration. Therefore, make up your mind to risk frustration.
– Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation
Prayer of the day
To hope in this world can be frustrating; when the frustration is at its peak, remind us that this is the work of hope.
On November 10, 1958, Thomas Merton wrote a letter to Pope John XXIII in which the famous American monk shared with the new pope some reflections about the world and Church. In one part, Merton describes how he has begun to understand that being a cloistered monk does not necessarily mean withdrawing from the world in an absolute sort of way.
Instead, he has discerned the Spirit calling him to another form of ministry from within the walls of the monastery by writing letters, connecting with women and men that he might never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.
— Read on www.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit-blog/the-friends-of-thomas-merton/
Verse of the day
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
– Matthew 5:4
Voice of the day
… The lesson of Bloody Sunday is that truth delayed makes wounds fester. … we might be better served to reflect on three realities whose value to the process of creating a more humane society … empathy for those who suffer, the state taking responsibility for its own wrongdoing, and telling the truth in public.
– Gareth Higgins, “Bloody Sunday and Telling the Truth”
Prayer of the day
Lord, on this fifty first year since Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland we continue to cry out with the victims of violence throughout the world, “How long, how long must we sing this song? How long? How long?”
– U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
“How can justice be attained when, in the expiation of an old wrong, another wrong is to be committed? No reasonable creature would conceive of the idea of obliterating ink stains with ink, or spots of oil with oil. (How can) blood be washed out with blood?” — Bertha von Suttner
“The scriptures and ancient mystics describe the heart as the place of inner sanctuary where the spark of God lives within each of us. We always have this divine spark within us, but it can be often difficult to remember. “
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
Have you allowed yourself to slow down, become quiet within, and pay attention to how your breath opens the gateway into your inner sanctuary?
Verse of the day
“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
– Matthew 10:29-30
Voice of the day
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. … When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must … become the center of the universe.
– Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech
Prayer of the day
On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, help us to remember to love our neighbors more than our borders; let us not be lukewarm when it comes to defending human dignity.
