True Fasting
“Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes?…
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!”
from today’s 1st Reading for Mass, Isaiah 58
Hate Disguised as Faith
In today’s meditation entitled “A Toxic Image of God,” Franciscan Father Richard Rohr makes the comment that, “it’s much easier to organize people around fear and hatred than around love.”
That seems to be the most effective strategy these days in American politics. And it’s certainly what’s happening in Florida now. The so-called “Pastor Protection Act” has advanced in the Florida Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7-3. The proposed law is very brief. And while I”m no lawyer, it seems to me, the only thing this bill does is provide a forum to advance and promote public disdain for LGBT persons. If you doubt that, then watch what this so-called “pastor” has to say. Citing a tragic homicide, he basically claims that gay people are killers and do not deserve legal protection of their rights. Yes, “it’s much easier to organize people around fear and hatred than around love.” I wonder what Jesus would say about this man’s testimony??
A Rainbow on St Kitts
Lovely to see a rainbow over the island of St Kitts as we made our way back to the ship after a “Rail and Sail” excursion on this island of former slave-labored sugar cane plantations.
Rainbow on St Kitts
Full Cold Moon +1
One day after December 25’s Full / Cold Moon – Dec. 26, 2015 (Bonita Beach, Bonita Springs, FL)
The First “Bible” is Nature and Creation
Two men holding hands
To those who say that same-sex attraction is “unnatural” or is contrary to “biblical teaching,” remember that even before there was the written Word in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, there was and is the Word of God written in Creation.
LGBT people know in the core of our being that we are beloved sons and daughters of God. We know that our love is just as natural, just as God-given as the love of our straight brothers and sisters. It is this knowledge — borne of profound self-awareness and a respect for our own Nature as created by God — that tells us that the Church’s theology of human sexuality is limited and incomplete.
Read Richard Rohr’s Wisdom Lineage Summary for a more complete discussion of the sources of wisdom.
Thought for the Day: Step by step
Bonita Beach Sunset, Bonita Springs, Florida
“Your outer journey may contain a million steps; your inner journey only has one: the step you are taking right now.” – from The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle (p. 73)
Two Rainbows — What Is and What is Yet To Be
Double Rainbow
“But some things you know deep in your heart: that all human beings are made in the image of God…” That’s from Andrew Sullivan’s wonderful essay on yesterday’s historic Supreme Court ruling. It also includes a phrase that is the title of these pages and expresses a belief I’ve “known in my heart” for as long as I can remember. The new header above — a double-rainbow after a Spring thunderstorm here in Florida just a few weeks ago — seems to me symbolic.
The lower, brighter rainbow is more clear, more brilliant. It seems closer to the Earth, closer to home, and for me symbolizes the wonderful progress God’s LGBT children have made in seeking recognition and acceptance within civil society. The upper rainbow — less clear, less brilliant, but still there — to me symbolizes the progress that has yet to be made within the Church. I pray for the day when both rainbows will be brilliant and bright, expressive of the full diversity that is within God’s human family, and the welcome, love and acceptance that all People have for one another.
The Eyes of Love
“There is no secret moral behavior required for knowing or pleasing God, or what some call “salvation,” beyond becoming a loving person in mind, heart, body, and soul yourself. Then you will see all that you need to see!”
From today’s meditation by Richard Rohr, OFM:
The Sensus Fidelium of Catholic Ireland
(Source: The Irish Times)
Ireland is a country with a huge Catholic majority. Though recent data indicate a decline in those who identify as Catholic, at least 84% of the population still do (Central Statistics Office Ireland, 2011). Ireland has also just become the first nation in the world to approve same-sex marriage by popular referendum. This historic change came about not by legislation passed by elected officials and not by judicial decree. It came about through the most democratic tool available to a free people.
Termed a “national act of inclusion” by former tánaiste (deputy prime minster) Eamon Gilmore, in Catholic theological language Friday’s vote can also be seen as an act expressing the sensus fidelium (sense of the faithful) in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country where religious faith is deeply embedded in the lives and culture of the people.
Is there a lesson here for Catholic leaders both in Ireland and around the globe? Perhaps this vote is telling the world that as Catholic Christians, Irish men and women have a deeper understanding of the Gospel than those whose role it is to preach it. Perhaps this vote is telling the world that the Gospel of Jesus — so strongly interwoven into the everyday lives of a faithful, evangelized people — challenges people everywhere to recognize that all persons, regardless of sexual orientation (or race or ethnicity or language or skin color or….), are children of God called to live lovingly, openly and honestly — just as God created us.
As an Irish-American, I am so very proud today of the country where my grandparents were born; so very proud of my many cousins and “relations” whose grandparents never left “the auld sod” and today are part of a new Ireland that has spoken loudly, clearly and forcefully.
Image and Likeness 