Catholic Social Teaching: Subsidiarity Lectio Divina

“I’m sad to report that in the past few years, ever since uncertainty became our insistent 21st century companion, leadership has taken a great leap backwards to the familiar territory of command and control.” —Margaret Wheatley 

1884 God has not willed to reserve to himself all exercise of power. He entrusts to every creature the functions it is capable of performing, according to the capacities of its own nature. This mode of governance ought to be followed in social life. The way God acts in governing the world, which bears witness to such great regard for human freedom, should inspire the wisdom of those who govern human communities. They should behave as ministers of divine providence.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“If we choose the path of greater impact, our primary agent of change is going to be the courageous non-profit and public sector leaders who are willing to learn, adapt, grow and change. I’m a huge believer that what happens – happens because people make things happen. Investing in good leaders and helping them become great ones is the single best investment we can make.”

“I’m also seeing what a difference courageous leaders can make when they become more intentional in defining their approaches, more rigorous in gauging their progress, and more willing to admit and learn from their mistakes, and improving; all with the unrelenting focus and passion to improve the lives of others. We need to supercharge these leaders, support them, nudge them, reward them, enlist them to spread the Gospel to their peers.”

“I want to lay down a challenge to everyone here…the challenge for all of us is to determine, with rigor, whether our hard work is adding up to the kind of opportunity that I had, the kind of opportunity many of you had, and the kind of opportunity that every parent wants for his or her child. Isn’t that what all of this is about; our future?” – Mario Morino

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One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Mario Morino for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words from the teaching caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:6

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

How might we raise awareness and become more mindful of our own selfishness and indifference toward the common good?

In what ways are we creating isolated and self-referential virtual circles, in which dialogue is not constructive?

Are we becoming neighbors to others by overcoming prejudices, personal interests, historic and cultural barriers.?

In what ways are we co-responsible in creating a society that is able to include, integrate and lift up those who have fallen or are suffering?

How can we, without exploiting human weaknesses or drawing out the worst in us, be directed toward generous encounters and to closeness with the least, and promoting proximity and the sense of human family ? 

God bless,

Catholic Social Teaching: Solidarity Lectio Divina

“Is it too strong to say that one who cannot find the other in God cannot love the other as he or she is? I think not “ -Mary Aquin O’Neil

1939 The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of “friendship” or “social charity,” is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.⁴⁵An error, “today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly Father, on behalf of sinful humanity.”⁴⁶

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“Borrowing O’Neil’s line of reasoning, is it too strong to say that if we cannot imagine God being black we cannot truly love black human beings as they are? I think not”

“If God’s inner nature is known in God’s becoming one with the oppressed, God’s countenance will resemble the likeness of those most oppressed in our society. For example, to encounter God in prayer may suggest God’s female face as ebony and wrinkled with age as she embraces her grandchildren orphaned by AIDS. What would it be like to contemplate the face of God as poor, black, and female?”

“This prayer suggests not only our gazing at God, but also this black grandmother-God gazing at us. I believe God’s gazing upon us, with the pain of the world in her eyes, holds the power of healing the blindness of white privilege. The imprint of this gaze upon us has the power to make white theologians black with God.” 

“John [of the Cross] describes a God deeply at work to radically transform the human heart. The imprint of divine love upon the human heart subverts our sustaining involvement in relations of dominance and subordination. In his writings John of the Cross describes how God’s passionate drawing of the human heart transforms desire and affectivity. For John, it is the imprint of this ‘dark’ God in human consciousness that subverts deeply rooted attachments and frees human beings for love.” – Laurie M. Cassidy ^{(Interrupting White Privilege: Catholic Theologians Break the Silence)}

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One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Laurie M. Cassidy for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words from the teaching caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Matthew 6:6

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

How might we journey with God to experience life in solidarity with the oppressed?

In such a journey how can we realize solidarity as integral to our lifework and salvation?

How might we take seriously the unproductiveness of human will in overcoming social sin?

How can we open ourselves to the need for grace in the struggles to overcome the destructive blindness to our attachments, thus become free to love? 

God bless,

Catholic Social Teaching: Human Dignity Lectio Divina

“In my experience, the most powerful argument against violence has been grounded in the notion that, when I do violence to another human being, I also do violence to myself, because my life is bound up with this other life. “

1931 Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that “everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as ‘another self,’ above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity.”³⁷ No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a “neighbor,” a brother.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

“Most people who are formed within the individualist tradition really understand themselves as bounded creatures who are radically separate from other lives. That model of the individual is comic, in a way, but also lethal. Acknowledging dependency as a condition of who any of us happens to be is difficult enough. If we were to rethink ourselves as social creatures who are fundamentally dependent upon one another—and there’s no shame, no humiliation, no ‘feminization’ in that—I think that we would treat each other differently, because our very conception of self would not be defined by individual self-interest.”

“If you’re part of a group that engages in violence and feels that the bonds of your connection to one another are fortified through that violence, that presumes that the group you’re targeting is destroyable and dispensable, and who you are is only negatively related to who they are. That’s also a way of saying that certain lives are more valuable than others.”

“Many people are excited by this kind of exercise of power, its unchecked quality, and they want in their own lives to free up their aggressive speech and action without any checks: no shame, no legal repercussions. They have this leader who models that freedom. Many people thrill to see embodied in their government leader a will to destruction that is uninhibited, invoking a kind of moral sadism as its perverse justification.” 

“In my experience, the most powerful argument against violence has been grounded in the notion that, when I do violence to another human being, I also do violence to myself, because my life is bound up with this other life.” – Judith Butler

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One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Judith Butler for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words from the teaching caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

What do we owe those with whom we inhabit the earth? And what do we owe the earth, as well?

And why do we owe people or other living creatures that concern?

Why do we owe them regard for life or a commitment to a nonviolent relationship?

What would it mean to live in a world of radical equality? 

God bless,

Easter: Lectio Divina Widow’s Mite

“Then Jesus sat down opposite the chests for the Temple offerings, and watched how the people put money into them. Many rich people were putting in large sums; but one poor widow came and put two small coins, worth very little. Then, calling his followers to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you that this poor widow has put in more than all the others who were putting money into the chests; for everyone else put in something from what they had to spare, while she, in her need, put in all she had – her whole life.'” Mark 12: 41-44

“Because we’re in the Passion narrative [it is Easter, after all], we know that Jesus will give his whole life. The widow, like Jesus, gives everything she has. She had two coins; she could have held one back. She doesn’t. Jesus could have resisted the suffering. He doesn’t. He could have resisted dying. He makes his decision to go to the cross.” – Amy-Jill Levine

“The widow’s story asks what we think we should be doing with our money, and what we should be doing with our time. It also reminds us that how much trust we have in God is sometimes contingent on how much trust we have in the community, particularly the people who claim that they represent God.” – Amy-Jill Levine

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Amy-Jill Levine for the teachings quoted in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

Doe we see the widow and look away?

Do we count the amount she is donating?

Do we concern ourselves with where she will receive her next meal, and the one after that?

The widow does not speak; what might she say to us today and what might we need to hear?

God bless,

Pandemic: Lectio Divina

“Life is hard”

“You’re not that important”

“Your life is not about you”

“You’re not in control”

“You are going to die”

“Those are the five great messages. They are not really negative. They are reality based. They are realism, just like Jesus’ Way of the Cross is [realism.]”

If we find ourselves on the other side of this pandemic “without a kick in the chest realization of the truth and the inevitability of [our] own death, [we] really [are] not initiated (Mark 10:38-39).”

“The point seems to be; if [we] don’t tell [ourselves] that life is hard [we’ll] do everything [we] can to make it easy for [ourselves.] [We’ll] seek comfort (Matthew 19:23-24); seek the top, not the bottom (Matthew 20:16); the big, not the small (Matthew 11:29); the rich, not the poor (Luke 6:20)… Go through the whole list (Mathew 5:1-12).”

“As we’re all realizing that this [pandemic] is moving around the world and no respecter of borders, or boundaries, or ethnicities, or religions, or genders, or richness, we as individuals are negligible. Jesus says; not a single sparrow can fall from its nest and God doesn’t care about it but {God] does allow a single sparrow to fall from its nest. We’ve got to get back to basics. Who are we?”

“John 12:24 – we have to experience our radical oneness with all of humanity and not keep defending and promoting this individual self. The only thing that exists is the common force-field. Now, our word for the common force-field is the Body of Christ. One way of saying that is that you are one instance, one moment, one manifestation, one epiphany of what is happening everywhere all the time. And there’re 6 billion other ones that are also another epiphany. And this is why we must love one another, because that’s the only way we can remain connected to the Christ.”

“My old definition of suffering was simply; whenever [we’re] not in control. So, now we are being forced to suffer.” Thérèse (of Lisieux) “If you are willing to bear serenely the trial of being displeasing to yourself, then you will be a pleasant place of shelter for Jesus.“

“Isn’t the realization of your own death a confirmation that my life is not about me. You could make the case that all five of these messages become the same message, just from a different angle, of minimizing the imperial ego and getting it to participate in what Thomas Merton cals the General Dance. Once you get into the General Dance there is nothing to be afraid of.”

“May this be a time of global initiation…”

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Richard Rohr for the teachings quoted in this post. These were all found in the podcast Another Name for Every Thing released April 1, 2020.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and re-read the teaching and passages until the message is understood and the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. Ask yourself: What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me?

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the teaching again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

Read the teaching one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

How can your not being in control be a step into the practice of contemplation?

How can your willingness to embrace this time of constriction, and not just move into distraction, present an opportunity for attention to the present moment?

How can we recognize the reality that this pandemic represents?

How can we recognize the grief we are experiencing, and others are experiencing, and then lean into that a little bit more?

God bless,

Resistance: Lectio Divina Contemplation

“’Speaking of resistance, we must also resist the temptation to demonize the other.’ We are in this together and must come out as one nation in one world.” – Eido Bruce Espe

“I think it’s important that we use our skills to influence positive change.” – Jayna Zweimann

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Richard Rohr (homily given August 4, 2019) and Rev. Dr. Roger Ray (sermon given August 4, 2019) for the passages we will read in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and understand the passages below twice so that the the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me.

Read and understand the passages twice so that the details become familiar.

[Colossians 3:9-11] “What Paul is talking about in this reading is what Thomas Merton and I, and many others, call the true self versus the false self. He says you have taken off, he calls it here, the old self. We have to ask ourselves have we taken it off? If our obsession is still richer, fancier, sexier, louder, better, ‘I’ve got the best, I’m right, my country is the only true country.’ When every other country has a flag too. You do know that, don’t you? I don’t think a lot of Americans do. ‘We’re the best. We’re the best.’ Well, ask another country. Does anybody else believe that? ‘Well, it’s the truth!’ For some reason God gave us the truth, and not anybody else. ‘Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity,’ and unless you state this clearinghouse of what’s real and unreal we have the world we have today. And it just makes me wonder, what have preachers been preaching about that we have so much stupidity, and hatred, and fear in America, and all indications are just as much among Christians as anybody else. Look at all the gender fights we have today. All issues of gender apply to the false self. If we knew about the true self we wouldn’t judge. ‘Well, she transgender, he’s Gay.’ Who cares! Their true self, hidden with Christ in God, is the self that matters. Everything else is accidental. Everything else is passing. Christ is all, in all.”

“I have a bumpersticker on my car thats a variation of the – grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change – because I don’t believe that anymore. Grant me the serenity to change the things I cannot accept. I cannot accept 30,000 gun deaths a year. That is unacceptable, and we need to talk about it, and talk about it, until we can change it. But past that, we need to address handguns that are used in most domestic violence, most homicides, and almost all suicides. Handguns are used to shoot people. They were invented to shoot people. That is what they are for. You only need a handgun to shoot people. Do I have to tell you that you shouldn’t shoot people? But, in all of these matters the number one causative agent is the relative indifference and the short attention span of the American public. The best known practices that have brought down gun deaths all over the world must be enacted in America. Stop delivering sermons about magic and superstition and wishful thinking. For God’s sake stop giving sermons that are history lessons, about way back when on a continent far far away. That crap is a distraction from what is actually facing an American civilization that is currently on fire. Don’t ever deliver another sermon about the Hebrew translation, or the Greek root, of some word in the bible when what is happening here an now is costing tens of thousands of lives. If pastors would only speak openly and honestly about gun ownership and the sacred nature of life itself, we could get gun laws passed. If all you have is a pulpit, then you damn well better use your pulpit. Anything else makes you complicit.”

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the passages again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you. Have a conversation (prayer) with Christ.

Read the passages one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from me today.

[ECC 1:2] “Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!”

[Col. 3:9-11] “Stop lying to one another,
since you have taken off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed, for knowledge,
in the image of its creator.
Here there is not Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave, free;
but Christ is all and in all.”

God bless,

Contemplation: Lectio Divina Ethiopian Eunuch

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. In this post I would like to thank Art Dewey who wrote- Inventing the Passion: How the Death of Jesus Was Remembered

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and understand the passages below twice so that the the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me.

Stop here and read the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-39) twice at least. Read it as many times as necessary to become familiar with the story. Then return here and read the quote from Art Dewey below. Art will provide some context for contemplation.

Art explained that; “If, in fact, you were to ask an ancient person about the truth they would say look for a pattern and within the pattern you perceive an insight. Truth for them is not a fact. It is an insight. In doing that you become wise. Ancient history is written in order to provide patterns for people to live by, and get insight out of them.”

“A story pattern had been constructed by Jewish scribes. They had been dealing with the whole problem of Antiochus IV Epiphanes who was doing nasty things to Jews to give in to his “so-called” benefits. He renamed the God of Israel to Zeus. They couldn’t perform many of their traditional rites. He wanted to have pigs sacrificed in the Temple. The Maccabees went into revolt. Because people refused, especially the pious people, Antiochus had people killed. They literally got it in the neck for refusing to dishonor tradition. That raised a big question, at least to the scribes. These people who were keeping the covenant did so because they believed that God had promised them that if they kept the covenant God would be with them. God would protect them. Where was God? So the question of theodicy immediately arose, and the scribes came up with two responses.”

“The first response was the notion of resurrection. Resurrection was a response to innocent suffering and basically it was, in apocalyptic terms, that God would eventually send this heavenly figure to bring justice, right the wrongs and the innocent would be caused to stand again. That’s resurrection. They would stand again.”

“The second response was to tell the tale of the suffering innocent one. In this tale an innocent person goes through an ordeal, is put on trial, condemned, and sometimes is killed. Sometimes is vindicated before he/she is killed, or vindicated after he’s killed. Within the literature of inter-testamental Judaism around 160 BCE this material begins to emerge. What the writer is really doing is not telling us what really happened but this is the way you tell the story about an innocent righteous one. It is an insight to what the death of Jesus could possibly mean.”

“The courage of these anonymous Syrian Jesus followers who began to rethink, reimagine the death Jesus, and they used the suffering righteous story, a long well used Jewish story, to make sense of that. God does not forget those innocent victims.”

Now, read the words of Acts 8: 26-39 again.

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read Acts 8: 26-39 again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you.

Read Acts 8: 26-39 one more time and through contemplation ask; what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from you today.

“Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” When do you deny your neighbors, especially outsiders, access to the love of Christ?

Acts 8: 37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” What insights did you gain from the pattern of the story?

God bless,

Contemplation: Earth Lectio Divina

One of the best contemplative practices, for me personally, is Lectio Divina. This practice is not for everybody, but it really works well for me. I would like to thank Reverend Bill Wallace from Durham Street Methodist ChristChurch, New Zealand for the passages for our Lectio Divina in this post.

For those people who have not had the opportunity to experience Lectio Divina, here is a link to the Omega Center’s description of the practice. There are generally only four steps in this practice, but please make it your own.

• Lectio: Read and understand the passages below twice so that the the details become familiar.
• Meditatio: In the meditation ask, what does this text say to me, today, and to my life.
• Oratio: Consider prayer to be a simple conversation with the Cosmic Christ spirit within you.
• Contemplatio: Contemplation can take many forms, writing, drawing, sharing with others, etc. For the best results there should be a willingness to change, an openness and trust in Christ, and the decision to follow Christ’s spirit rather than our own ego. What conversion of the mind, heart, and life is the Spirit of Christ asking of me.

The following are the passages for our Earth Lectio Divina:

“All praise be yours, my Lord, through Sister Earth, our mother, who feeds us in her sovereignty and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.” “Since, Lord, I your priest have today neither bread nor wine, nor altar, I lift towards you in my hands the totality of the universe; and make of its immensity the matter of my sacrifice . . .” “God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.” “God is Spirit and only by the power of Spirit will people worship God as God really is”

Now, read the words again. In truth, read them as many times as necessary to become familiar with them.

In quiet meditation ask yourself what word or words caught your attention. What in the passages challenged you?

Read the passages again and speak directly to Christ who resides within you.

Read the passages one more time and through contemplation ask what conversion of mind and heart is the Spirit of Christ asking from you today.

How am I immersed into the ecosystem?

In what ways do I remember that the Earth does not belong to me but I belong to it?

How can I make my life a gift to the Earth understanding that while we cannot exist without the Earth, the Earth can exist without us?

Thank you for your time today. I hope this was a blessing to your life.

God Bless,