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Showing posts from August, 2020

Time in with Haiku

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    During these chaotic times, it is necessary for me to stop and recharge.   I was lucky enough to stumble upon the St. Placid Priory, which offers online programs .    On August 18 th , 2020, I had the pleasure of participating in Sharing the Creative Spark , presented by Margaret D. McGee.   Margaret is the author of Haiku - The Sacred Art (Skylight Paths Publishing) and an experienced facilitator of prose and poetry writing workshops. Sharing the Creative Spark , was based in the working definition of haiku as, “a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.”   In addition, we were introduced to the tan-renga , a form of Japanese collaborative poetry writing.   In tan-renga , one person writes a haiku, which consists of 3 lines.   Then the second person finishes the poem by adding 2 lines. Tan-renga Sandstone porch wall shades blooming pansies from the hot dry wind    

Homily—20th Sunday in Ordinary Time -- August 16, 2020

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      Today’s readings speak of God’s absolute, all-encompassing, and inclusive love.   In the first reading Isaiah tells us, that God’s “house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples .”   The Psalm tells us that we should rejoice because God guides all the peoples of the earth and rules us everyone with justice and impartiality.     The passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, also addresses the inclusiveness of God.   At first glance, it might seem that Paul is telling the Roman gentiles that they (and we) only receive God’s mercy because the of the disobedience of the Jews.   But what Paul is saying would be better understood as, through God’s gift of free will, we have the choice to obey or to disobey God’s will.   Yet if we do disobey, God’s mercy and forgiveness are always available to all repentant hearts.   God is always calling us to return when we have strayed.   For as Paul writes, “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”     God’s love, justice

Pride Sunday: God's Love

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August 2 2020—18 th Sunday In Ordinary Time Homophobia, transphobia, racism, heterosexism and all the ‘isms’ are rooted in ideas of supremacy, abuse of power and control.   Jesus is called the king of kings and lord of lords. Yet, Jesus is the servant of all and the friend of sinners.   The so-called weakness and foolishness of God in Jesus Christ are greater than the so-called power and wisdom of human governments.   God’s sovereignty or supremacy should never be defined by analogy to the kings, rulers or ruling classes of this world who dominate, oppress, exploit, scapegoat and marginalize.   Instead, we have to migrate to an entirely new paradigm, or , as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “ a new creation ” in which old ideas of supremacy are subverted so that we can rise to a deeper understanding of God as pure light, with no shadow of violence, conquest, exclusion, hostility, or hate for anyone.   This is what Paul is trying to tell us in the second reading, nothi