“What we choose to validate by how we respond to life witnesses to a particular way of being. That can support and reinforce others making similar choices. This is why community is so important for real spiritual growth and transformation.”
—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness
What do you find most challenging in striving to live with integrity in all kinds of situations?
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The Spirit of God in us recognizes God in the world. The eyes and ears by which we see God in others are in fact spiritual sensitivities that allow us to receive our neighbors as messengers of God. Thus, to go to the poor is to go to the Lord.
“Compassion is not sentiment but is making justice and doing works of mercy. Compassion is not a moral commandment but a flow and overflow of the fullest human and divine energies.”—Matthew Fox
Verse of the day
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
– James 2:15-16
Voice of the day
When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now is that political or social?” He said, “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.
– Desmond Tutu
Prayer of the day
God, in the face of forcibly withheld needs, nurture any outrage we may have into determination to mutually aid one another as witnesses of good news.
“Be an active participant in making the world less terrible.”—Blair Imani
“We believe . . . That nonviolent and reasonable measures are stronger than weapons.”—Thomas Merton, Peace in the Post-Christian Era
“If we’re to give our endangered planet the time and pace to heal, we must begin to see nature not just as a backdrop against which the human drama is enacted, but as an integral part of our lives, as something we must respond to, respect, and actively care about.”—Lorraine Anderson, Sisters of the Earth, second edition
Verse of the day
For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light.
– Luke 8:17
Voice of the day
Now that we have come out of hiding, / Why would we live again in the tombs we’d made out of our souls?
– Khaled Mattawa, “Now That We Have Tasted Hope”
Prayer of the day
Living God, help us look past the flawed narratives we have historically hidden behind and seek genuine restoration instead.
Verse of the day
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
– Galatians 6:2
Voice of the day
Just remember that what you put on your pedestal will be your main influence in your life. I am hoping you place love for your family, friends, and humanity; service to your community; concern for human rights, justice, and human dignity on your pedestal.
– Yuri Kochiyama
Prayer of the day
Eternal Advocate, through your unwavering heart, let us expand our consideration of what we can love, and place this love at the forefront of our efforts to change the world.
When I relate to my past with remorse, shame, or guilt, the danger is that I will harden my heart and be unable to discern the divine presence within and without. When my heart is hardened, it is closed, unavailable, and cold. A hardened heart is a heart in which remorse has turned into morbid introspection, shame into low self-esteem, and guilt into defensiveness. When I keep thinking about myself and my motivations, constantly comparing myself with others and trying to defend my behavior, I am becoming more and more self-centered, and the divine love diminishes in me…. Awakening to the presence of Christ can heal the wounds of my memory. Opening our hearts to the divine presence in the present moment, thus transforming our emotions and healing our memories, is a great challenge of the spiritual life. The memory of the image of God in the soul can turn my stone heart into a heart of flesh, making it flexible, receptive, open, and free.
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