Blog (Page 33)
The promise and presence of God
February 21 Readings – GN 9:8-15; 1 PT 3:18-22; MK 1:12-15 In today’s readings, the stories of Noah and Jesus are linked. We encounter Noah after the 40 day flood emerging to start a new life with a promise and the presence of God. Then in the gospel, we encounter Jesus who was tested in the desert for 40 days who himself will emerge with a promise and presence. This promise and presence are ours as well as we embark…
Rupture and Repair
February 20 Readings – IS 58:9B-14; LK 5:27-32 If I had to recommend one reading to focus on in Lent, it might just be Isaiah 58. This chapter is such a powerful manifesto which articulates the heart of our faith as spoken through the prophets. And this is the faith that Jesus read and studied and embodied in his ministry. A broken, hurting world is not God’s desire. People made choices that made it this way, and many people continue…
Fasting
February 19 Readings IS 58:1-9A; MT 9:14-15 Fasting is the topic of the day today. As you may know, fasting is a very ancient spiritual practice that has been used in pretty much every major religious tradition in order to build spiritual power. It can take the form of self-denial (where we give things up that we don’t need) or refraining from doing things (that do not have a place in our lives but somehow found their way in). Whatever…
Choose life
February 18 Readings – DT 30:15-20; LK 9:22-25 Sometimes when I read the scriptures, it feels like they could have been written just yesterday. Moses saying to the people, “I have set before you life and death,” feels like a contemporary choice. Every day we are confronting choices and situations that have very real impacts of life and death in this world. The COVID-19 pandemic, the racial uprisings we witnessed all across this country and the January insurrection in Washington…
The journey begins (again)
Ash Wednesday JL 2:12-18; 2 COR 5:20—6:2; MT 6:1-6, 16-18 Welcome to the Lenten Journey. For the next 40 days, we will be retracing Jesus’ journey in the wilderness as we enter the wilderness of our own lives. Growing up Catholic, I always heard a lot about the requirement and obligation of Lent. And while these certainly have their place, I think more now about the opportunity of Lent. Lent is a time to pull back from our day-to-day lives…
Lena Gantt: A Gem I Should Have Known
Lena Gantt knew how to get things done in Rochester: She would call a legislator daily. She’d sit in a leader’s office until she got some face-to-face time. She’d take buses to and from meetings, getting there on time and leaving late into the night. Mrs. Gantt and her family came to Rochester in 1952, looking for a better life. Like other African Americans who moved North during the Great Migration, Mrs. Gantt moved from one place of struggle to…
A Strategy for Reform
We are at a pivotal moment to act together against the evil and disease of racism that has invaded our systemic and institutional life! So, where do we start?
Liz Nicolas: Anti-Racism Work ‘is an ongoing commitment to justice’
Liz Nicolas, whom I introduced briefly in my last post, is an attorney, coach, consultant, and anti-racism trainer who runs her own company, Black Amethyst LLC. I wanted to learn more about what a commitment to anti-racism looks like, so Ms Nicolas agreed to an interview by way of Zoom. This interview is recorded and linked here and below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqqJDJkBq5Y I have much to learn on this topic, but I appreciate Ms Nicolas’s honest and clear discussion. She says that…
Rethinking Privilege
With seven of us children, my parents struggled to keep the bills paid, and it was tacitly understood that we could not squander food or money. As for our house, we grew up in a modest Cape Cod in West Irondequoit. Though we had a happy life there, any one of us would say that the four-bedroom house felt crowded for a while, when we were all young and living at home. I never connected “white privilege” to that house.…
Unity And The Power Of Reading
Scroll down to the bottom not only to see today’s video interview with Melissa Parrish, but also to make comments and to see a suggested reading list posted in a previous blog entry. In today’s first reading, from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul proclaims a message of unity. And although he is talking to the Jews and the Gentiles, one could imagine Paul urging us today to unify in this manner, as we work toward racial justice. George Floyd’s…
What Am I Called To Do?
Many of us ask God in times of darkness, “What am I called to do?” In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Peter is in a prison in which he is double-chained, asleep between two soldiers, with guards outside the prison doors. Yet in a dramatic rescue that he thinks is a vision or a dream, Peter escapes. Peter then realizes that he has been rescued by an angel of God. This is the same Peter who…
Sharing the Burden
It’s common for those of us who are white people, perhaps awakened or reawakened to the racial injustice around us right now, to ask, “What can I do to help?” So I want to dedicate some of the blog entries to resources and people who can provide insights and wisdom. If you are not already familiar with the Spiritus Anti-Racism Coalition (SPARC), this group is “a coalition of Spiritus Christi parishioners, other faith communities, local activists, and concerned citizens with…