March – April 2018

You know that the rulers of nations behave like tyrants and the powerful oppress them. It shall not be so among you: whoever wants to be great in your community, let him minister to the community. And if you want to be the first of all, make yourself the servant of all. Be like the Son of Man, who came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life to redeem many.

~ Matthew 20:25b-28

While the demand for justice is implied in love, still justice ‘attains its inner fullness only in love.’ For in justice, the other person can remain ‘another’, an alien. In love the other is a friend, even a brother or sister in Christ.

~ Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II) #305

One day, a new idea will arise and there will be an end to all wars. I die convinced of this. It will need much hard work, but it will be achieved.

The interior of Neue Wache in Berlin, with Käthe Kollwitz's sculpture “Mother with her Dead Son” – centerpiece of what is today Mutter mit totem Sohn , a memorial to “victims of war and dictatorship”

~ Kathe Kollwitz, Artist (1867–1945)

I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for others in totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others.

Cesar Chavez Day poster

~ Cesar Chavez, Farmworker (1927–1993)

The community of the church is the place where the rest of humanity should be able to see the beginning of God’s new creation. To be sure, the church is not always the perfect reflection of what it ought to be. To be sure, the church often falls short of living according to the new life that God has bestowed upon it in Christ. This said, it is the church that points to God’s new creation made possible by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Fr. Frank Matera

~ Frank J. Matera, Resurrection: The Origin and Goal of the Christian Life

Easter Joy

The joy of Easter is a joy born out of suffering and the cross… While Christmas activates the child in us Easter joy represents the adult experience of trial and suffering to emerge with the hard-won victory over death and darkness. Easter offers the experience of seeing things in a new light with new possibilities and endless hope. It helps us rise above cynicism and negativity to defeat all forms of death-dealing culture.

Columban Father Colmcille McKeating (1940 – 2015)

~ Colm McKeating, Peace at the Last: A Christian Theology of the Last Things

The anguish we feel from what is happening to our world is inevitable and normal and even healthy. So pain is very useful. Just don't be afraid of it. Because if we are afraid to feel that, we won't feel where it comes from. And where it comes from is love. Our love for this world that's what is going to pull us through.

~ Joanna Macy, Ecophilosopher, environmental activist and author