Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.
“To hold our tongues when everyone is gossiping, to smile without hostility at people and institutions, to compensate for the shortage of love in the world with more love in small, private matters; to be more faithful in our work, to show greater patience, to forgo the cheap revenge obtainable from mockery and criticism: all these are things we can do.”—Hermann Hesse
A friend of mine posted a portion of this passage on her Facebook page. We had been talking recently about the reasons why we cannot stay silent, even when it seems like nobody cares or is listening. With all that is being done on local, state, federal, and international levels to divide people and create an us versus them mentality, it is sadly too easy to fall into that trap.
Thomas Merton’s words below offer a reminder and a challenge to act differently and consider the inter connectional nature of this world. I am thankful for her invitation to consider these words of Merton. I invite you, dear reader, to consider his invitation to think and act differently, especially in these difficult times.
Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy.
Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God’s love and God’s kindness and God’s patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men.
Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialism, your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith. — New Seeds of Contemplation, p. 177
Verse of the day
It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way but that by my speaking with all boldness Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death.
– Philippians 1:20
Voice of the day
Body and soul: They hurt and heal together. Don’t forget your body, lest you lose your soul.
– Lisa Sharon Harper, “Returning to My Body After Trauma”
Prayer of the day
May we exalt Christ with our whole selves, knowing body and soul heal and hurt together.
Verse of the day
I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
– Ephesians 3:18-19
Voice of the day
Like God’s love for us, the love we show our neighbors shouldn’t be contingent on merit, safety, efficiency, time, money, energy, or even legality. This love of Jesus surpasses all knowledge, and will seem illogical by most standards.
– Stephen Mattson, “The Illogical Love of Jesus”
Prayer of the day
God, fill us with Christ’s limitless love so we may love others without conditions or fear.
“Know the ways of the ones who take care of you, so that you may take care of them.
Introduce yourself. Be accountable as the one who comes asking for life. Ask permission before taking. Abide by the answer.
Never take the first. Never take the last. Take only what you need.
Take only that which is given.
Never take more than half. Leave some for others. Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken. Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
Give a gift, in reciprocity for what you have taken.
Sustain the ones who sustain you and the earth will last forever.”
“What we need in the present crisis is creative imagination, not parity in military force, euphemistically called ‘peace through strength.’ We need the Prayer of St. Francis raised to the level of a political power, the power of reconciliation. . . . On the personal level we need to see the links between peacemaking in our homes and in our neighborhoods, and what goes on in the great arenas of decision-making which can impose death or new possibilities of life for millions.”—Sr. Mary Evelyn Jegen, SND, The Pacifist Vision
Verse of the day
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
– Psalm 23:4
Voice of the day
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
– J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Fellowship of the Ring”
Prayer of the day
God, when the road darkens, help us trust you are with us and keep our faith strong.
“Dr. King once wrote, ‘The aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.’ While violence may be effective in temporarily keeping us safe from harm, it can never create relationships. Violence can never heal the harm that has been done. Violence can never bring about reconciliation. Violence can never create Beloved Community. Only love can do that.”—Kazu Haga, Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm
Verse of the day
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
– Psalm 13:1-2
Voice of the day
Our children die before the silence of the world, and before the silence of God. How difficult is God’s silence!
– Munther Isaac, “God Is Under the Rubble in Gaza”
Prayer of the day
O God, in the face of unbearable sorrow and the silence of both the world and heaven, we cry out with the psalmist: How long will you hide Your face? — come near to the suffering and break the silence with Your justice and mercy.
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