Let Your God Love You. Be Silent. Be Still. Alone. Empty before your God. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God look upon you. That is all. God knows. God understands. God loves you with an enormous love. God only wants to look upon you with love. Quiet. Still. Be. Let your God love you. — Monastery Mornings: My Unusual Boyhood Among the Saints and Monks by Michael Patrick O’Brien (p. 73)
Verse of the day
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
– Psalm 23:6
Voice of the day
Migrants and refugees, despite the pains and losses that come with our displacement, can rejoice. We, the displaced, are not alone. God is with us everywhere — in both the old country and the new, in both lamentation and praise, in both rootedness and displacement.
– Hannah Keziah Agustin, “What Does It Mean to Follow God in Our Displacement?”
Prayer of the day
You are the God of the displaced. Thank you for the promise that you will never leave us or forsake us.
“The communities that are grappling with the highest rates of gun violence are the very same communities with the least resources and are often the most policed. As city and state leaders recognize that a heavy-handed, law-and-order-style approach is not only ineffective, but also harmful to those who are disproportionately affected by gun violence, I am hopeful that we’ll start investing in the things we know reduce violence as a whole: Economic stability, health care, and education.”—Cicely Thrasher, Moms Demand Action activist
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”—Rosa Parks
“If we want to save our democracy, there is no substitute for an organized mass movement of people in the streets. Political and business elites are intolerant of dissent and use law enforcement to squash it. However, throughout history, in this country and elsewhere, social movements have challenged elite power—sometimes facing violence and repression—and won. If they hadn’t, Jim Crow segregation would still exist in the United States, the British Empire would still control South Asia, and South Africa would still be subject to apartheid.”—Basav Sen
Verse of the day
And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.
– Titus 3:14
Voice of the day
A higher rate of urgency does not imply ever-present panic, anxiety, or fear. It means a state in which complacency is virtually absent.
– John P. Kotter, “Leading Change” (1996)
Prayer of the day
Rid us of our complacency and fill us with a sense of urgency for justice. May we devote ourselves to good works and meeting each other’s needs
“Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his* grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge—from which new sorrows will be born for others—then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply.”—Etty Hillesum
Verse of the day
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
– Matthew 5:4
Voice of the day
It is impossible to grieve in the first-person singular. We always grieve for someone and with someone. Grieving connects us in ways that are subtly and candidly material. I am not yet sure which group I should join, where to envision myself, on whose shoulder to cry.
– Cristina Rivera Garza, “Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country” (2011)
Prayer of the day
May we mourn with those who mourn. Give us wisdom and patience to know when to grieve and when to comfort.
“War is unreality itself.”—Simone Weil
Verse of the day
And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?
– Luke 18:7
Voice of the day
To me, it’s clear we should follow the lead of many of these persistent students in using our own social capital — however much or little — to raise a ruckus in the name of those who suffer starvation, disease, and death-dealing violence each day.
– Brooke M. Foster, “Student Encampments Echo Jesus’ Parable of Annoying the Powerful”
Prayer of the day
Our persistence is powerful. You tell us that even the most unjust rulers can grant justice when they’ve been bothered enough. May we continue to annoy the powerful in the name of the marginalized
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