Water: we all need it, we all depend on it. Today, take a moment to think about the gift of water in your life. Take a moment to understand that a brother or sister you may never meet could really use your help in obtaining clean water. It is World Water Day.
Here are 2 videos to help you think about water and how you can make a difference:
Water. Water. Water. Please? That is what the chimes sound like today.
What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
being a protector … means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world … It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. –Francis, Bishop of Rome
Today at a Mass celebrating the start of his ministry as Pope Francis I, the new pope addressed those gathered with words remembering St. Joseph as a ‘protector’ of Jesus and Mary (and in later centuries, a protector of the Church). These words especially give me hope:
The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!
The entire homily (translated) is here: The real power of the pope is to serve the most vulnerable in La Stampa (an Italian newspaper).
The chimes sound both tender and strong today.
What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
The debate about free will and predestination is sometimes our discussion in the Sunday Morning Forum. Episcopalians tend to come into the church from a variety of Christian traditions which often provides lively discussion. The faith formation of our childhood and teen years really is “bone deep.” As adults we revisit and even question what we learned as children. Privileged to share in a group that cares, the questions and conversations invite all to keep learning.
This short essay in Religion News Service expresses the question in its basic form and the answer most of us are living with as Episcopalians: Father knows best: How do free will and predestination coincide? by Martin Elfert. Martin begins his essay with this question, “How do free will and predestination coexist?” posed by Free—or not so much (FONSM).
I encourage you to read the essay.
The sounds from the chimes seem to be asking a question today.
What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
In my lifetime this has been the official position of the Roman Catholic Church. What is new is that these are the unscripted words of a pope who has cooked his own meals, rode the bus to work, and walked in the slums of Buenos Aires. Perhaps the way the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church is daily lived by its pope is about to change.
Read how Pope Francis came to choose his name, and what others things he shared with journalists today (3/16/13) in Rome: How I would like a church that is poor, and for the poor by John Thavis on his blog.
Simple sounds, gentle sounds are coming from the chimes today.
What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
Thomas Reese (a Jesuit priest and Vatican observer) begins his short article in the National Catholic Reporter this way, “In picking the name Francis, the new pope sent his first message to the world, but what is that message? Four possibilities come to mind, and perhaps they are all true.”
He then describes the possibilities:
He concludes, “Yes, there is a lot to learn from a name.”
You’ll want to read his fuller description of each of these possibilities: Francis: What is in a Name? in the National Catholic Reporter. You will have much to think about; I know I did.
Do the chimes sing of hope and possibility today? What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi
As the conclave to elect a pope begins …Today (3/12/13) 115 Roman Catholic Cardinals will share the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Basilica at 10am CET. At 3:45pm CET the cardinals will file into the Sistine Chapel; shortly after they are seated those who processed with them will then be ordered out and the cardinals will begin their work to elect the next pope. Around 7pm the results of the first (and only) ballot of this day will be made known to the public via the black or white smoke leaving the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel.
This is an important election for all Christians, not just Roman Catholics. The man who becomes pope and leads the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics worldwide will influence, for better or worse, the work of all Christians. Please join me in praying for the cardinals as they work to elect a pope, and please pray for the man who is soon to be elected. May God be glorified in the work of electing and in the man who becomes pope; may the nurture and welfare of all God’s people and, indeed, all of God’s creation be a joyful ministry of the new pope.
To see a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel click here. This is where the cardinals will meet and pray and elect the next pope.
We know “the wind blows where it will” and the sound in the chimes defies prediction. How like the Spirit this is. What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
A “Going-home” PrayerYesterday (3/10/13) was the Fourth Sunday in Lent (Year C). Jesus, that great storyteller, spoke through the centuries with his story of a man and his two sons. For many years it has been called the story of the Prodigal Son. Within my lifetime the story has also been called: The Story of the Prodigal Father, The Story of the Loving Father, The Story of the Lost Son, and more. In sum, it is an amazing story. See Luke 15:11-32
Some have said that the point of the story is, “You can go home again.” I believe this is at least one of the points contained in this very rich story. As you consider this ‘point’ I offer a prayer for your meditation as you and I journey “home” together.
Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening, into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of thy glory and dominion, world without end. Amen.
Come home. Come home. You are beloved, come home. A most welcome song in the chime today. What do you hear? Please leave a comment.
Peggy Noonan, George Weigel, James Carroll, Michael Sean Winters, Mary Eberstadt, and Paul Baumann—popular columnists for various enterprises—offer their thoughts about the “new pope.” Their assessments about a new pope are available in The Wall Street Journal online. I encourage you to read the article: What to Look for in a New Pope.
Do any of these writers tap into your own beliefs about what a new pope needs to bring to the world and, in particular, to Christianity? Which of the images presented—Joyous Anyway, A Culture Warrior, A Catholic Gorbachev, Among the Poor, Ready to Play Offense or A Californian—really gets you excited? Leave a comment.
The chimes sound many possibilities today. It is an exciting sound.
What do you hear?
Image: Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis Pope Benedict XVI in the Wall Street Journal
Here is a prayer—a prayer I am using today—for all woman on International Women’s Day. This prayer offered by the Sisters of St. Francis to you and me and all who will work for the safety and equality of women.
Lord, make me an instrument of peace:
Bless all women who daily strive to bring peace to their communities, their homes and their hearts. Give them strength to continue to turn swords into plowshares.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love:
We pray for all women who face prejudice, inequality and gender disparities. Help us see and to face the discrimination against women in all the many forms it may take.
Where there is injury, pardon:
Comfort all women who suffer from the pain of war, violence, and abuse. Help them to become instruments of their own reconciliation and peace.
Where there is division, unity:
Forgive all women and men who let differences breed hate and discrimination. Let your example of valuing all of creation help us to see that we are equal partners in the stewardship of your world.
Where there is darkness, light; where there is untruth, truth:
Comfort all women who struggle in the darkness of abuse, poverty, and loneliness. May we stand with them in light to acknowledge their suffering and strive to remove the burdens of shame or embarrassment.
Where there is doubt, true faith:
We pray for all women who live in fear of their husbands, fathers, and forces that control their lives. Help them to be empowered to be their true selves through your everlasting love and faith.
Where there is despair, hope:
We pray for all women who live in the despair of poverty, violence, trafficking, slavery, and abuse. May the light of your love bring them hope.
Where there is sadness, new joy:
Help us to see the strength and goodness in all women and men. Transform our hears to celebrate the love and grace of all people.
And may we be blessed with the courage of St. Clare of Assisi to follow our own path of love for you and all sisters and brothers. Amen.
By Deborah Hirt, Intern at Franciscans International
As the wind blows through the chimes today it sounds like praise and hope for women. What do you hear?
Logo: 2013 International Women’s Day – The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum
Resources (print and video) for International Women’s Day past and present
Barely a whisper of wind today. But if you listen carefully, really listen, … what do you hear?
Which statement most resembles your current “prayer life”?
Brother Geoffrey Tristram offers a short meditation on prayer, silence, and listening. Consider it an invitation as you pray this Lenten season.
Image: Bouquet of the Desert by Алексей Мазницин on LensArt.ru
Hear what the Spirit is saying 