Especially on this day we need to reflect not on Columbus, but on the lives of the Indigenous people who first lived on this land…
When Holy Rosary Mission was founded on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota in 1888, many of the Jesuits and Franciscan sisters who established the mission learned the Lakota language. The missionaries believed this method of inculturation would be pastorally effective.
— Read on www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/10/08/indigenous-peoples-day-orange-shirt-culture-jesuits-boarding-school
This particular reading from the book A Year With Thomas Merton: Daily Meditations spoke to me after a day of work and reflection on who we are called to be and how we are called to love as God loves us.
Finally I am coming to the conclusion that my highest ambition is to be what I already am. That I will never fulfill my obligation to surpass myself unless I first accept myself—and, if I accept myself fully in the right way, I will already have surpassed myself. For it is the unaccepted self that stands in my way—and will continue to do so as long as it is not accepted. When it has been accepted, it is my own stepping-stone to what is above me. Because this is the way man was made by God—and original sin was the effort to surpass oneself by being “like God,” i.e., unlike oneself. But our Godlikeness begins at home. We must become like ourselves, and stop living “beside ourselves.” October 2, 1958
Thomas Merton’s Journals, volume III A Search for Solitude, (pp.220–21)
I came across the following quote from a letter that Thomas Merton wrote to Dorothy Day in 1961. She was knee deep in the fight for those whom society and the establishment ignored and abused in their quest for riches and power.
Persons are not known by intellect alone, not by principles alone, but only by love. It is when we love the other, the enemy, that we obtain from God the key to an understanding of who he is, and who we are. It is only this realization that can open to us the real nature of our duty, and of right action. (letter from Thomas Merton to Dorothy Day, 20 December 1961 from The Hidden Ground of Love)
The real nature of our duty and right action… we need to hear this challenge today. Yes, these are indeed challenging times for communities of all kinds. Tomorrow’s lectionary readings from the prophet Amos (Amos 5:6-7, 10-15) and the gospel of Mark (Mark 10:17:31) talk about division between the haves and the have-nots. They also point to a divide that was not created by God.
In verse twelve of Amos 5 we read the following: For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins– you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate. Instead of a community that supports and nurtures all members, there was division according to Amos. This was a similar challenge which Jesus faced during his ministry on earth.
When a man came up to Jesus and asked him how he could inherit eternal life Jesus said, you know the commandments. The man, thinking he was on easy street said, I’ve kept all of the commandments since my youth. The challenge Jesus offered was to look beyond himself by selling all that he owns and give the money to the poor. The man went away grieving because he had a great many possessions. I wonder if Jesus was being more than simply literal in his comment.
Yes, some have done just that in their faith journeys. Francis of Assisi is one individual who comes to my mind. The question is: did Francis do this for his own individual salvation or did he realize that focusing on “things” takes our focus off of our neighbor.
How do we move from a faith that is self-centered to a faith that is God and neighbor centered? Amos had the following to say in verse fifteen: Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate… establish justice for all, especially the downtrodden, those who have been denied justice by the ruling elite, including the church itself.
Perhaps the challenge of Jesus was about more than wealth. Perhaps it had more to do with what controls us. Do things control us? Does the need for absolute power control us? Does the need to base our self-worth by debasing others control us? These are questions that each one of us, including this Padre, need to wrestle with.
Coretta Scott King had the following to say about freedom, justice, and equality for all people—Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.
The challenge is to look beyond ourselves and look to the common good for all of God’s creation. Perhaps it is then that we will understand who God is and who we are called to be as children of God.
“Peace where: despair and divisiveness no longer threaten the human race, ignorance and injustice find no friendly place, vision and striving strengthen and thread human destiny, diversity of thoughts and ideas is a cherished treasure.
Peace where: reason and truths herald triumphs, dignity and justice are sacred rights, love transcends all colors and separating walls, hope and freedom are an eternal flame.”—excerpt of Sikh Prayer for Peace
“May we begin to reimagine a world where we see no stranger, where no person is disposable—and emerge from this pandemic ready to remake the systems that crush us.”—Valarie Kaur
Verse of the day
Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
– 1 Peter 4:10
Voice of the day
We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community (1939)
Prayer of the day As I follow the nonviolent Jesus on the path of peace and love, help me to claim my true identity as your beloved.
– Fr. John Dear
“Open unto me—light for my darkness.
Open unto me—courage for my fear.
Open unto me—hope for my despair.
Open unto me—peace for my turmoil.
Open unto me—joy for my sorrow.
Open unto me— strength for my weakness.
Open unto me—wisdom for my confusion.
Open unto me—forgiveness for my sins.
Open unto me—love for my hates.
Open unto me—thy Self for my self.
Lord, Lord, open unto me!”
—Howard Thurman
Verse of the day
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.
– Zechariah 7:9-10
Voice of the day
We must love justice and hate iniquity.
– Charles de Foucauld
Prayer of the day Help us to usher in a more kind and just era for all who bear your image.
The sun has set and the Vesper Lights flicker and glow
It has been a good day of recovery
The day ended much better than it began
My sweetheart made it back home safely
We spent a relaxing evening with each other
Now as my eyelids grow heavy I lift this humble prayer to you
Dona Nobis Pacem
Grant Us Peace
A wee prayer from the heart of your Padre…
“What I’m advocating here is something that requires courage—the courage to have a change of heart. The reason this requires courage is because when we don’t do the habitual thing, hardening our heart and holding tightly to certain views, then we’re left with the underlying uneasiness that we were trying to get away from. Whenever there’s a sense of threat, we harden. And so if we don’t harden, what happens? We’re left with that uneasiness, that feeling of threat. That’s when the real journey of courage begins. This is the real work of the peacemaker, to find the soft spot and the tenderness in that very uneasy place and stay with it. If we can stay with the soft spot and stay with the tender heart, then we are cultivating the seeds of peace.”—Pema Chodron
