Blessed be God who animates our lives and is the God in whose image we are made and is of Love always and eternally. AMEN In these difficult times in which we live I am reminded on a daily basis, even now a moment by moment basis, of two things: the world is filled with violence and injustice AND there are glimmerings of Love, God’s Love, God who is Love, which appear and fuel a fervent hope for peace, restoration and reparation and wholeness. I am also reminded that these are times not dissimilar to Jesus’ time and thus His divine teachings are ever relevant and essential. We come to church each Sunday and pray on a daily basis for God to take away our fears and restore our souls, to extend mercy upon mercy, grace upon grace.   Who are we to be to become that we might receive and offer such love ourselves?   The gospel answer is always…always LOVE. We are to become Love. We might need more than ever to develop deeper understanding of the how to and the power of divine ...

  “…without an ethic of love shaping the direction of our political visions and our radical aspirations, we are often seduced, in one way or another, into continued allegiance to systems of domination - imperialism, sexism, racism, classism.” bel hooks In these times of daily, hourly, lawlessness and cruelty, I feel battered, sad, and breaking. I believe in my deepest soul that the only answer is love…the only answer is love in its abundant and various forms of kindness, mercy, patience, charity, generosity, empathy, etc. And yet, I cannot help but feel no matter how convicted I am that seduction of greed and abusive power are winning.   They are not!   The global canvas may be cluttered with cruelty and irrational behavior but there are gentle strokes which abide and I choose to focus on blessing them and learning from them.   bel hooks’ quote jumped off the canvas and while I admit I am not sure what an “ethic of love” actually looks like, I believe in the power of...

  In Father Greg Boyle’s new book Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times, he reminds me of a Zen story as follows: A Zen master asked about the highest Teaching wrote the word “Attention” on the board. The student asked is there anything else? Yes, there is…and the master wrote the word “Attention” on the board. The student once again said there must be something more and a third and silent time the Zen master wrote “Attention” on the board. the board now read: Attention Attention Attention. That is all there is… Attention brings us to the present moment.  I am thinking now of Mary Oliver’s instruction to “pay attention”: to the iris, the grasshopper, the bear, …the lessons of an ordinary day, which become in that attention quite extraordinary. Some describe attention as the essence of prayer and hence the essence of relationship. It certainly connotes kind of respect for the dignity of another or of a situation.  Attention makes a good witness an...