Shining Light into the Darkness
Like peacemaking, mercy is a habit of being. Conscious choice is the key to creating any new habit. Habits are the things we do repetitively. They are helpful to our being (such as exercise or meditation) or harmful (substance abuse or smoking). Habits are conscious or unconscious. To create peace we have to consciously choose …
Mercy flows from response-ability; the ability to respond. This story illustrates how we are intrinsically hardwired to respond to each other: Once there was an elderly couple who delighted in the little boy who lived across the street. They loved his daily visits to play on the tire swing they had put up for their …
Peace is impossible without truth and reconciliation. On December 29, 1890, soldiers of the US Army’s 7th Cavalry massacred 300 Lakota Sioux (including women and children) near Wounded Knee creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Tomorrow, December 29, 2015, Lakota elders who are descendants of the original seventy-five survivors (known as Takini) …
Here, then, is the reason for the Jubilee: because this is the time for mercy. It is the favorable time to heal wounds, a time not to be weary of meeting all those who are waiting to see and to touch with their hands the signs of the closeness of God, a time to offer …
Today on the first day of our Novena of Peace, Pope Francis invites us to “become islands of mercy in the midst of the sea of indifference!” Seeing the Sacred in all things will be the Spark that lights our way. Seeing with Merciful Eyes Changes Everything Our world is infected with religious fundamentalists who …
On the final day of our Novena of Peace, it is important to recognize that conscious awareness turned into compassionate action is the truest path to peace. We become instruments of peace by understanding our ability, responsibility, and power to embrace peace, become peace, and share peace. You can easily insert the word “love” in …
Dr. Martin Luther King knew a great deal about forgiveness and Opening Hearts begins Chapter 4: Pain, Compassion, Choice, Transcendence with this quote from him: “As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation—either to react with bitterness or to seek to transform the …
The second day of the Novena of Peace focuses on love. In St. Francis’ prayer to become an instrument of peace, we seek to love with our whole being. Lester Sauvage, MD has been an amazing example of that kind love. The quote that begins his autobiographical chapter in Opening Hearts is from the Jesuit prayer of …
The Servant’s Way Isn’t Easy The servant’s way is a challenging paradox; if it were easy, everyone would be following it. St. Francis understood the paradox of the servant’s way. Jesus mastered it. And teachers and prophets from many traditions teach the same paradox contained in the final words of the Prayer of St. Francis: For …
Where there is injury, pardon. I heard one of the most radical ideas about pardoning from Abbot David Geraets, a Benedictine monk who was my teacher at a school for spiritual directors. During a lesson about Healing the Family Tree he said that we must ask forgiveness from family members who have injured us because …