May your steadfast
love endure to those
Who know You
Your saving grace to
those
Who love truth and
justice!
Protect us from the
seeds of arrogance
The weeds of greed
drive away
Open the hearts of
those who live in
darkness O Beloved
that they might rise up
and live
in the Light of
Oneness
Psalm
36
Nan
Merrill
It has been quite sometime since I found myself in a place
where the imperative to write has been this strong. Life has marched on with its daily challenges
to be engaged in and present to the baptismal call to be “a holy nation, a
people set apart.”
Today, I am preparing for leading a Morning Prayer service
at the national gathering of Call to Action in Albuquerque, NM. I selected Nan Merrill’s paraphrase of
Psalm 36 as part of the service months ago. In this time of national transition, these
words touch me in a new way.
I hurt me at a visceral level to see the people I know and
cherish turning toward judgmental, shaming words focused on their neighbors and
friends. Many years ago, I lead hundreds
of high school students through an exercise that challenged them to pause
before having sexual encounters at a party by closing their eyes and seeing my
face. They all shrieked and laughed! (as
well they should.) It was a moment that brought front and center the idea of
“think before you act.”
Here we are at the open door of new leadership in the
United States of America. We know a
great deal about the groundwork being laid. We know Rudy Giuliani, Newt
Gingrich, Jeff Sessions and Chris Christy.
We may not all agree with them but we know them. To know them gives each
of us important information on at least the basic framework that is
emerging. This knowledge must begin to
shape how we will each move forward in the dialectic that we cherish in this
nation of ours.
The great challenge for the Catholic in the Diaspora as it
is for all the baptized is to close our eyes and before we make a statement
that demeans or shames, no don’t see my face (although that will make you laugh
and break the tension), look into God’s eyes. See the Love that makes this
moment possible and respond in charity.
Do not fall prey to
Ignorance lives deep
in the hearts
Of those who know not
Love;
There is not reverence
for Truth
Before their eyes
Public figure, public policy, laws and governments can only
modify the structures in which we live.
Fortunately, the rights of assembly and speech continue to be bedrock of
the USA. This freedom is extraordinary.
The change of the heart comes from another place. It is changed hearts that bring respect and
grace to any social framework.
Being agents of the heart in the framework of our political
process is the call of the baptized.
Keep looking into the eyes of the Loving One and believe those who have been called, whether they
are Jews or Greeks, slave or free we believe in
a Christ who is both the power of God and
the wisdom of God.” Be the living expression of the freedom that
is ours in baptism. It is the freedom of
those who
Rise up and live
in the Light of
Oneness.
Alleluia!
