Slavery, many Americans believe, ended with the Emancipation Proclamation. For the most part, that was the end of chattel slavery, when a person was treated as another person’s property, to be bought, sold, inherited, and controlled. Yet, if you define slavery as the condition in which humans are forced to work, under the threat of violence, for no pay beyond enough to subsist, it is rampant in our world.
June 27th….I volunteered about three months ago to write this blog. I’ve never written one before. So I figured I would wait for inspiration from the Holy Spirit (makes sense, right?). I got a little impatient two and half months in, when I realized it’s not about prayer or a current event or any other topic I was thinking about throughout the day. I like to be in control, but I didn’t have it; I like to know, but I didn’t know; I like to plan ahead, but this was looking more and more like something that would get done later, not sooner. I got lots of “Nope, that’s not it! Keep looking and listening!” from God, but not a clue about what it would it be about until I arrived yesterday at the train station and was trying to make the last part of my journey to retreat. Continue reading →
Recently, I was on retreat and the theme was Mercy. The symbol used was the one for Pope Francis’s call for the Jubilee Year of Mercy. The image of a father carrying the son, or is it a brother, stranger, Samaritan? There are two faces looking out at us and they are so close together, you see only three eyes. One eye is shared and it looks right at you, it is larger. The caption reads “Merciful Like the Father.” This shared eye is the eye of God. Mercy is looking out at our world with God’s eye.
New Orleans, LA – This year, despite a sizzling hot June, the Peace Center hosted the second annual Peace Camp for 19 children, ages 7-10, who would not have been able to have a camp experience because of economic circumstances.
Thirteen boys participated from June 6-10 and six girls enjoyed the camp from June 20-24. The children traveled to Rosaryville Spirit Life Center in Ponchatoula, LA, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, where they experienced canoe rides, the archery range and the wonderful swimming pool. The campers enjoyed a delicious, healthy lunch each day. The Sisters also took all the campers to Rock ‘n Bowl, New Orleans; each week there was at least one camper who had never bowled before and also campers who were quite experienced.
While our minds and hearts are focused on Orlando, we are not immune from crime and violence in our own communities.
I live in a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood with very little crime. But Columbus is not immune from crime and violence. It occurs most often in low-income neighborhoods. So we have two cities, one safe and one not very safe.
“If you want peace, work for justice,” Pope Paul VI said.