Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Liturgy, Homily Starter, Aug. 22, 2015, Co-Presiders; Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, Dr. Marilyn Jenai

Liturgy: Celebrating New Life as Midwives of Grace

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP and  Dr. Marily Jenai c-preside at liturgy at
Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community

GATHERING SONG AND GREETING

Presider:  In the name of God, Midwife of Grace, and of Jesus our brother, and of the Holy Spirit, our Liberator.  ALL:  Amen

Presider:  My sisters and brothers, God loves us infinitely and is with us always.  ALL:  and also with you.

A Healing Litany for Dr. Alexandra Dyer

Together we lift our prayers to you, O God of love and healing.

Loving God,  you breathe life into your whole Creation.
Help us breathe deeply of your peace and presence.
Gracious God, you give us yourself to make our joy complete.
Help us give our fear, pain, and grief to you.
Compassionate God, you move through our lives in unexpected ways.
Help us move in concert with you, as we walk the labyrinth of our lives.   
God who is Goodness, Compassion and Love, accept our thanks and praise for all the blessings of this life, especially for those graces that in this time of our friend’s suffering are difficult to see.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Shed the light of your healing love on Alexandra, whose pain and suffering this day are beyond anything we can even comprehend.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
May she know deeply the love and support of her partner, Nelson … of her family … of her sister priests … and of all those whose hearts hold her tightly today.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Grant that Alexandra may have hope in her future, courage and perseverance as she walks her healing journey.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Bless all those medical professionals who will work with her; give them loving patience, wisdom, and skills during the many hours they will spend with her.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Hold us in the palm of your hand as we strive to move beyond the anger and the horror we feel toward the perpetrator of this crime, and keep us on the path of understanding and loving forgiveness.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
For these and for all other petitions that are too deep for words, we pray to you
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
You are the God whose promises never cease.
You are our brother, Jesus, whose presence never fails.
You are the Spirit who will brood  over our sister Alexandra, and bring her back into the fullness of life. 
We place Alexandra in your hands, as we place our trust in your tender, compassionate, and healing love.
AMEN.

PENITENTIAL RITE

Presider:  Let us pause now for reflection.  Place your hand over your heart and breathe in God’s passionate love for you…breathe out God’s, extravagant love for everyone….

Open yourself to Spirit energy empowering you…

Now let us praise God by singing Glory to God…

Song of Praise: Glory to God, glory. O praise Glory alleluia. 
Glory to God, glory. O praise the name of our God. (x2)

OPENING PRAYER

Presider: God of Love, Midwife of grace, we experience your grace drawing us to new life in the depths of our mystical souls and in our prophetic call .We rejoice with  our brother Jesus, through the power of your Spirit.  ALL: Amen. 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading

Responsorial Psalm

Second Reading

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia

Gospel:

Reader:  The good news of Jesus, the Christ!

ALL:  Glory and praise to you, Jesus the Christ!

                           HOMILY Starter followed by Dialogue Sharing

Meditation:

Take some deep, cleansing breaths and journey within your being…

Let the images from The River Jordon, speak to your soul and stir the mystic within…

(Play song)

River of  Jordan by Peter, Paul and Mary

“We are only one river,

We are only one sea

And it flows through you

And it flows through me.

We are only one people.

We are one and the same.

We are all one spirit.

We are all one name.

We are the father, We are the father

mother daughter and son.

From the dawn of creation,

We are one. (Repeat 2x.)

In the Gospel of John 6:60-69, we read the discourse on the Bread of Life and Jesus says: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”...

The early Christians saw Jesus as a wisdom teacher and identified his saving deeds and compassion with Sophia, Holy Wisdom...

According to  prominent theologian,  Elizabeth Johnson.”The prologue of John’s Gospel actually presents the prehistory of Jesus in terms lifted right from the story of (Wisdom)Sophia present with God in the beginning ...

Sophia is imaged as co-creator of the cosmos….

She is a radiant light that darkness cannot overcome..

She descends from heaven and dwells among the people...

She is rejected by some, but gives life to those who receive her...

So too does Jesus, according to the Gospel of John..

 In his parables, healings, exorcisms and meals,  (Jesus) he reflects the compassionate, healing, liberating, and  renewing presence of Wisdom Sophia.,,,

Then “Jesus, in the long line of Sophia’s murdered prophets, is violently executed.”

 In the words of St. Paul: “Christ crucified, the Wisdom of God.” 1 Cor 1:24)  ...

“Sophia’s characteristic gift of life is given in a new unimaginable way… Her Spirit seals him in life with God as pledge of the future for all the violated and dead…”

“The same Spirit is poured out on the circle of disciples….and they are missioned to make the inclusive goodness and saving power of Sophia God experientially to the ends of the earth…”

“New possibilities of relationships flower among the men and women who respond and join his circle. “They form a community of the discipleship of equals” ...

( Adapted from Elizabeth Johnson, Abounding Kindness, pp. 203, 205)

Listen to Peter’s profession of faith… Rabbi, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe; we are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Reflect on your profession of faith and what difference does it make in your life?

Dialogue Homily:

What do you believe about Jesus and what difference does it make in your life?

Share your thoughts and experiences according to your comfort level in our dialogue homily.

Profession of Faith:  ALL:  We believe in God who is compassion in our world. We believe in Jesus, whose death and resurrection reveals God’s infinite love. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of Wisdom Sophia, who energizes and guides us to live Christ’s presence. We believe in the communion of saints, our heavenly friends, who inspire us to live holy lives. We believe in the church as the people of God, living in faith, hope and love.

GENERAL INTERCESSIONS

Presider:  That we may bring new life into our world, we pray

Response: God of all, love through us

Presider:  That we may foster healing of our Earth, we pray.  R.  

Presider:  That the sick may be healed, we pray.  R.   

Presider:  That we may be forever one with our beloved dead in the communion of saints we pray. R.   (Other Intentions)

PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS

Presider:  Blessed are you, God of all life, through your goodness we have bread, wine, all creation, and our own lives to offer.  Through this sacred meal may we become your new creation.  (hold up bread and wine)

ALL:  Blessed be God forever.

(All come around the table to pray the Eucharistic Prayer, background music may be played) 

Presider:  God is with you, abounding in love

ALL:  and also with you. 

Presider:  Lift up your hearts in Christ who lives and loves , heals and empowers through you.

ALL:  We lift them up to God. 

Presider:  Let us give thanks to our God.

ALL:  It is right to give God thanks and praise.

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

Voice One:  Life-giving Love, You call all persons to be friends of God. United with You, we are one with all beings in the community of creation as we celebrate the new life occurring in our expanding cosmos. We join the angels and saints as we sing:

ALL: Sung “We are holy, holy, holy, you are holy, holy, holy, I am holy, holy, holy” chant by Karen Drucker

Voice Two:  Gracious God, you set the banquet table and invite all to the feast that celebrates your dazzling love in the universe.  As midwives of grace we are Your hands, lifting up those who suffer, the vulnerable and neglected in our world today

Voice Three: We especially thank you, Holy One, for Jesus, the Compassion of God, who came to show us a new vision of community where every person is loved and all relate with mutual respect.

Voice Four:

Jesus threatened the religious and political leaders of his time and so they put him to death.  As God raised Jesus to new life, we trust that your promise of faithful love will be with us in our suffering and raise us up to fullness of life. 

All: (please all extend hands as we recite the consecration together)

Let your Spirit come upon these gifts as we pray:

On the night before he died, Jesus took bread into his hands and said:

This is my body, he said. Take and eat .

 Do this in in memory of me.

Pause

At the end of the meal Jesus took a cup of wine, raised it in thanksgiving to you, and said:

”Take and drink of the covenant made new again through my life in you. Do this in memory of me.

Presider:  Now then, let us proclaim the mystery of the Christ Presence made new again through you:  

ALL:  In every creature that has ever breathed, Christ has lived; in every living being that has passed on before us, Christ has died;  in everything yet to be, Christ will come again! 

Voice Five:  .  We thank you for ordinary people in our lives who show us how to love tenderly and have revealed the heart of our God, especially  (pause to remember and name some of these holy women and men). 

Voice Six: And so, liberating God, Midwife of Grace, we hold our religious ministers and political leaders in the light of Christ Sophia, Holy Wisdom.  We pray for our pope and bishops, the young and the elders, and all God’s holy people.

Voice Seven:  We remember those who are sick and suffering.  May they be healed and comforted.  We remember Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary Magdala, Peter, Paul,  Junia, our patron saints.  We remember our loved ones and all those who have died, that they may experience the fullness of life in the embrace of our gracious God.

ALL:  Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, all praise and glory are yours, Holy God, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

THE PRAYER OF JESUS

ALL:  Our Father and Mother . . .

and forever.  Amen.

THE SIGN OF PEACE

Presider:  Let us pray for the peace of Christ in our world as we sing and hold hands in a community prayer for peace (Peace is flowing or other appropriate hymn)

 LITANY FOR THE BREAKING OF BREAD

ALL:  Loving God, You call us to speak truth to power, we will do so. Loving God, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice, we will do so. Loving God, You call us to live as Your presence in the world.  We will do so.

Presider:  Behold the Body of Christ.  All are invited to partake of this sacred banquet of love. 

ALL:  Jesus we are worthy to receive you and become you for others.  We are the Body of Christ. 

Presider:  Let us share the Body of Christ with the Body of Christ!  ALL:  Amen.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Presider:  Life-giving God, You come to birth each day in our universe through suffering death and new life. Your Spirit is moving in us as we love passionately, and extravagantly to bring  your shalom to everyone equally especially the marginalized.

ALL:  Amen

CONCLUDING RITE

Presider:  Our God is with you.

ALL:  and also with you. 

BLESSING

(everyone please extend your hands in mutual blessing)

ALL:  Holy One, Midwife of Grace, we bless one another as we serve others with loving kindness .

DISMISSAL

Presider:   Go, bring forth life as midwives of grace in our world.  Let the service begin!  ALL:   Thanks be to God.

CONCLUDING HYMN

God, A Midwife: Psalm 22:9-10 “Yet You drew me out of the womb, you nestled me to my mother’s bosom; you cradled me in your lap from my birth; from my mother’s womb, you have been my God.”

                                                      Bridget Mary Meehan

Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests

http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/

www.arcwp.org

A Healing Litany for Alexandra Dyer, RCWP from Eastern Region of Roman Catholic Womenpriests USA

A Healing Litany for Alexandra

Together we lift our prayers to you, O God of love and healing.

Loving God,  you breathe life into your whole Creation.
Help us breathe deeply of your peace and presence.
Gracious God, you give us yourself to make our joy complete.
Help us give our fear, pain, and grief to you.
Compassionate God, you move through our lives in unexpected ways.
Help us move in concert with you, as we walk the labyrinth of our lives.   
God who is Goodness, Compassion and Love, accept our thanks and praise for all the blessings of this life, especially for those graces that in this time of our friend’s suffering are difficult to see.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Shed the light of your healing love on Alexandra, whose pain and suffering this day are beyond anything we can even comprehend.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
May she know deeply the love and support of her partner, Nelson … of her family … of her sister priests … and of all those whose hearts hold her tightly today.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Grant that Alexandra may have hope in her future, courage and perseverance as she walks her healing journey.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Bless all those medical professionals who will work with her; give them loving patience, wisdom, and skills during the many hours they will spend with her.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
Hold us in the palm of your hand as we strive to move beyond the anger and the horror we feel toward the perpetrator of this crime, and keep us on the path of understanding and loving forgiveness.
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
For these and for all other petitions that are too deep for words, we pray to you
Divine Healer, hear our prayer.
You are the God whose promises never cease.
You are our brother, Jesus, whose presence never fails.
You are the Spirit who will brood  over our sister Alexandra, and bring her back into the fullness of life. 
We place Alexandra in your hands, as we place our trust in your tender, compassionate, and healing love.
AMEN.

http://ncronline.org/news/people/attack-woman-priest-not-thought-be-theological-hate-crime

The Last Days of Summer: Good Shepherd Kids Start School Monday by Judy Lee, RCWP

https://judyabl.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/the-last-days-of-summer-good-shepherd-kids-start-school-monday/

II don’t know about you, but I can still remember the joy of summer as a youngster. The days were long and hot enough to fry eggs on city sidewalks but adventure and fun were everywhere. Playing outside with friends, having the leisure to read new books, going to the church Day Camp, church picnics, special trips with my Mom and friends, and outings to very special places. Then there is the anticipation at the very end when a new school year is dawning.  Our Good Shepherd Ministries and Inclusive Catholic Community try each summer to make sure that some special events happen and that all of our youngsters are ready for school.

While our smallest youngsters have one more outing planned, most of our Good Shepherd Ministries kids are starting school on Monday August 24th. Last Sunday we gave out initial school supplies and worked with parents around what needs each child would have. This trip to Zoomers, a local Amusement Park was the choice of all. Eleven young people, ranging in age from 5 to 22, and two of their parents had a wonderful time. As one parent said: I haven’t gone anywhere since I moved here two years ago, this day was a time to remember for both of us.

The younger ones thoroughly explored the park.

   

For the teens the biggest hit was the Speedy Racetrack and the Go-Carts. They were in their own heaven.

    
Our Pizza party and playing in the arcade were also a hit-especially when we had a winner! .

Then, the Roller Coaster provided enough excitement for all, including pastor Judy Beaumont.

  

And the splash of water in the Bumper boats ended the day on a cool note.

 As our young people return to school they need school supplies, including some expensive books for the older ones, clothing, shoes and many personal expenses that their families cannot afford. Additionally we are in need of a donated or reasonably sold van or large car for the ministry to continue serving our youngsters. Please visit our ministry website: http://http://www.goodshepmin.org to learn more about us and how to make a donation.

May God’s love bless you and keep you,

Rev. Dr. Judy Lee

Co-Pastor Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community,

Good Shepherd Ministries of SWFL,Inc a 501c3 Tax Exempt Organization

"Attack on Woman Priest Not Thought Be Theological Hate Crime" National Catholic Reporter

http://ncronline.org/news/people/attack-woman-priest-not-thought-be-theological-hate-crime

NEW YORK "

Alexandra Dyer, one of 210 women ordained by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, was attacked in the early evening on a Queens, N.Y., street Aug. 20 by a man who sprayed her face with a Drano-like substance. She suffered severe burns on her face.

According to the New York Post, Dyer, recuperating at New York Presbyterian Hospital, was attacked while she was walking to her car after attending a meeting at the Healing Arts Initiative in the Long Island City section of the borough.

Her attacker is still at large. Dyer is said to be in stable condition.

A spokeswoman for Roman Catholic Womenpriests said that, as of Aug. 21, there is little reason to believe that Dyer was the victim of a theological hate crime.

"There is no information that we have that it was related to her being a priest," Jennifer O'Malley, president of the Womenpriests board, told the National Catholic Reporter."

Media Release:Women Priests Urge Pope Francis to: Embrace Women Honor Primacy of Conscience Condemn Violent Attack on Woman Priest in New York

For Immediate Release:

August 21, 2015

Women Priests Urge Pope Francis to:

Embrace Women

Honor Primacy of Conscience

Condemn Violent Attack on Woman Priest in New York

From: The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) See: www.arcwp.org

Contact: Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 859-684-4247, rhythmsofthedance1@gmail.com

Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan, 703-505-0004, sofiabmm@aol.com See bridgetmarys.blogspot.com

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests offer our prayers and solidarity to our sister priests in Roman Catholic WomenPriests, another branch of our international women priest movement, after the attack Wednesday night in Queens, New York on Dr. Alexandra Dyer, an ordained RCWP.  We pray for her healing and that of her assailant.

http://nypost.com/2015/08/20/woman-priest-burned-in-liquid-attack-was-ambushed/

If the attack was motivated as a hate crime to defend the Vatican’s prohibition of women’s ordination, we call on Pope Francis to make a statement condemning all violence against us as faithful Catholic women priests and to affirm our primacy of conscience in living out our prophetic obedience to Spirit. Moreover, we urge him to take action by lifting our excommunications and all punishments against our movement and supporters.

Misogyny is a worldwide oozing wound. Everyday we hear of violence toward women who are challenging patriarchy within their religion, their homes and other aspects of society. Two-thirds of the world’s poor are women and their children.

By embracing women’s equality and voices, Pope Francis would begin the healing of Mother Earth and her children.

There are now 220 ordained in the international women priest movement in 10 countries and serving more than 60 inclusive Catholic communities in the US where all are welcome to receive sacraments including gays, lesbians, and transgender as well as divorced and remarried.

One in three US adults who were raised Catholics have left the church, according to Call to Action and other sources, citing disillusionment with the church’s treatment of women as one reason. 70% of US Catholics support women priests.

In response to the growth of our movement, ARCWP will be ordaining three bishops on September 24^th at Pendle Hill, PA as Pope Francis visits the US.

On FB, Cardinal Dolan asks:: What would you ask Pope Francis to pray for? My Response: Dr, Alexandra Dyer's healing,

I just visited Cardinal Dolan's facebook page. He asks what would you ask Pope Francis to pray for?

I asked that he visit Dr. Alexandra Dyer and anoint her for healing. I would also ask Pope Francis to affirm women priests as beloved sisters and lift the excommunication against women priests and our supporters. The prohibition against women ordination is one such rule that is causing major damage to the church as well as to women who are called to serve as priests, Sadly, it appears that it may now be putting women priests in danger of physical attacks.

The recent violent attack that seriously burned the face of Dr. Alexandra Dyer, a Roman Catholic Woman Priest is a horrific example. . It is imperative that Pope Francis condemn sexism and violence against women, specifically this attack on a woman priest. He needs to name this violent act as evil and an attack on a sister in the Body of Christ, the church. http://nypost.com/2015/08/20/woman-priest-burned-in-liquid-attack-was-ambushed/

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

"Woman Priest Burned in Liquid Attack, Was Ambushed"/ .New York Post, , Sexism in Church is related to Abuse and Violence toward Women

http://nypost.com/2015/08/20/woman-priest-burned-in-liquid-attack-was-ambushed/

...."Describing her as a devout Catholic who loved doing ministry in the Big Apple, O’Malley explained that Dyer was someone who wasn’t afraid to help people that the Catholic Church would often turn a blind eye to. “She’s a very compassionate person, who works with people who the institutional church may exclude for any reason,” she said. “She often administers to those who might feel marginalized or turned away from the church.”

..Dyer has worked extensively with AIDS victims and the city’s homeless community, according to her LinkedIn profile page.

From 2005 to 2011, she served as the SVP and CFO of The Greyston Foundation, which is a self-sufficiency program in New York aimed to provide housing, employment, skills and resources to lift people out of poverty.

She then spent two years working as the executive director and CEO of the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center, which is described on its website as a non-profit organization whose mission is to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, HCV and other drug related harm among injection drug users and the community.

But O’Malley feels that all the good work in the world can’t change the horrible fact that some people can’t stomach seeing a woman in the priesthood.

“There’s certainly people that are very orthodox Catholics that are certainly unhappy with what we’re doing,” she said. “We are breaking Canon Law 1024, which says only a baptized male can be a priest.”

Rather than go along with the church, though, O’Malley says the Womenpriests movement believes the law is oppressive and deserves to be abolished.

“If (Dyer’s attack) was related to her being a woman priest, it fully emphasizes the need for the church to allow and accept women who are called to ordination. As long as they continue to exclude us from the church, and the longer they continue to say that women are not fully capable to be priests or to hold other positions, than it will be much easier for people like this man or anyone else to say that women don’t have to be treated equally.”
Bridget Mary's Reflection
Our hearts and prayers go out to Dr. Dyer for complete healing. We give thanks for her courage and witness to love, and justice. The full equality of women is the will of God in our times.
While Pope John Paul 11 and Pope Francis have promoted equal pay for equal work, the Roman Catholic Church treats women as subordinates in its own house. 
Inequality is the norm. Women are excluded from priestly ministry, they are excluded as leaders or decision makers in the church's internal life: liturgies,  canon laws, doctrines and governing offices.  In the church, sexism is the norm as s men lead and women obey.
The hierarchy must make the connections between its sexism and abuse and violence toward women. According to the Bible, women are equal images of God, it is time for the church to behave as if this is a reality by changing its teachings, practices and policies. 
Our  international women priests movement is helping to heal the wound of sexism in the church's soul. It is  leading the way into a new day of justice and equality for women. .  In our inclusive communities,  we celebrate sacraments and invite all to the Banquet of God's love In the Gospels Jesus called women and men to be disciples and equals. Today, women priests, are saying yes to God's call to serve the church as priests. Like Dr. Dyer, we are living God's compassionate love in diverse ministries in the U.S., Canada, South America, Europe and Africa. 
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP

Homily at Holy Spirit Catholic Community, 21 Sunday, OT, Aug. 23, 2015 by Beverly Bingle, RCWP

Joshua calls the people to choose, and they do:
it makes sense to them
to turn away from the gods of the Amorites,
in whose land they dwell,
those Amorites with power and control and sinful ways,
and to follow the God who has walked with them
on the way to freedom.
________________________________________
Jesus calls his followers to choose, too,
but many of the disciples find his teaching offensive.
They don't want to eat his “flesh and blood.”
That is, they can't accept the whole person,
the whole teaching.
They don't believe that his words, his way,
can lead them to spirit and life.
This is a hard thing, they say.
We would have to change our ways.
________________________________________
The news these days is full of comments
from people who still find Jesus' message hard.
They're ranting about Pope Francis' Laudato Si'
and its hard truths for our American way of life.
Scientists have been warning us for more than 30 years,
but we have kept on destroying the earth
that is our common home.
We are using up more than our fair share of the world's resources,
and we're doing it in ways
that have brought the earth and its inhabitants
to the brink of a crisis.
As Fr. Jim Bacik put it last Tuesday in his lecture on the encyclical,
the bottom line is
that we here in the USA
need a conversion of heart,
a cultural revolution.
We need a reality check.
We need to change our ways.
________________________________________
The very next day at Claver House
I heard that we need dish towels and dish cloths
so we don't have do laundry more than once a week.
I thought of Jim Bacik's talk.
At home that afternoon I opened my kitchen drawer
and asked myself whether I really need
21 years worth of calendar dishtowels,
that annual Christmas gift from my Grandma who died in 1983.
Sharing the extra stuff we have with people who need it
is just the beginning.
_____________________________________
Then there was the interview on PBS radio this week
about an easy way to stay trim:
stop eating when you aren't hungry any more
and only eat when you are hungry.
That makes sense—very traditional advice.
What followed that, though, was a comment
that encouraged waste.
They said: Don't eat it. Don't clean your plate. Throw it away.
Neither the interviewer nor the person being interviewed
considered not putting too much on the plate to begin with.
Billions of people are going hungry
and we're destroying the earth to grow food
that we throw away.
____________________________________
Or there's air conditioning.
In Laudato Si' Francis mentions it just once.
He says:
“People may well have a growing ecological sensitivity
but it has not succeeded
in changing their harmful habits of consumption
which, rather than decreasing,
appear to be growing all the more.
A simple example
is the increasing use and power of air-conditioning.”
The conservative-leaning Forbes Magazine
calls that “a perceptive paragraph,”
but the climate deniers are having a field day with it,
calling the Pope “out of touch” and “off the rails.”
____________________________________
I've found that I don't need to turn on the A/C in my house.
I don't have breathing problems or heart problems,
and it rarely goes over 80 here at night,
and the trees around my place cool it off quite a bit,
so that's an easy one for me.
So is recycling and composting
and growing some of my own food
and buying clothes at the Salvation Army,
and turning off the lights when I leave a room,
and planting trees.
_________________________________________
Not so easy is the gas furnace.
Or the car.
I try to organize my trips better.
I try to do those little things that save gas,
like turning the car off when I'm waiting for a train
and not using drive-throughs at all any more.
But I could do a lot better.
Like all of us, I have to.
________________________________________
Is it hard?
Yes.
Is it going to cost time or money?
Yes, it is.
Both.
But we have to do it.
As Pope Francis points out,
it's a moral question and a moral imperative:
we must change our “harmful habits of consumption”
for the common good.
_________________________________________
How do we start?
For each of us the answer will be different,
but the principles are clear.
First, not so much:
not so much waste, not so much hoarding,
not so much buying, not so much more.
Then, sharing our bounty with those who have less.
Then, mindfulness:
looking for ways
that we can change our habits
to ones of
simplicity in our own lives
and generosity towards others.
Bottom line:
instead of what’s in it for us,
we have to ask what's in it of God
and for our neighbors
and for our planet.
We are called to turn away
from the gods of the people who control the land we dwell in—
those who put profit above people
and sacrifice the future of our species
for their own comfort and gain.
We are called to follow
the God who is with us,
in us,
and among us.
Let's each of us answer that call, as best we can.

--
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
at 3925 West Central Avenue (Washington Church)

www.holyspirittoledo.org
Rev. Dr. Bev Bingle, Pastor
Mailing address: 3156 Doyle Street, Toledo, OH 43608-2006
419-727-1774