•     Scripture:      Matthew 5:43-48            (as translated in “THE MESSAGE”: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition,            Eugene H. Peterson, with William Griffin) "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best - the sun to warm and the rain to nourish - to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.“

•     Poems LET YOUR GOD LOVE YOU         Edwina Gately Be silent. Be still. Alone. Empty Before your God. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God look upon you. That is all. God knows. God understands. God loves you With an enormous love, And only wants To look upon you With that love. Quiet. Still. Be. Let your God— Love you. You are encouraged to watch this reflective version of Edwina Gately’s poem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwLiSPJ43TE   When it is over, you might choose to remain in the silence for a few minutes, attentive to what stirs. A BRAVE AND STARTLING TRUTH  (excerpts) Maya Angelou We, this people, on a small and lonely planet Traveling through casual space Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns To a destination where all signs tell us It is possible and imperative that we learn A brave and startling truth And when we come to it To the day of peacemaking When we release our fingers From fists of hostility And allow the pure air to cool our palms . . . . We, this people, on this small and drifting planet Whose hands can strike with such abandon That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness That the haughty neck is happy to bow And the proud back is glad to bend Out of such chaos, of such contradiction We learn that we are neither devils nor divines When we come to it We, this people, on this wayward, floating body Created on this earth, of this earth Have the power to fashion for this earth A climate where every man and every woman Can live freely without sanctimonious piety Without crippling fear When we come to it We must confess that we are the possible We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world That is when, and only when We come to it. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED SO FAR Mary Oliver Meditation is old and honorable, so why should I not sit, every morning of my life, on the hillside, looking into the shining world? Because, properly attended to, delight, as well as havoc, is suggestion. Can one be passionate about the just, the ideal, the sublime, and the holy, and yet commit to no labor in its cause? I don’t think so. All summations have a beginning, all effect has a story, all kindness begins with the sown seed. Thought buds toward radiance. The gospel of light is the crossroads of — indolence, or action. Be ignited, or be gone.

•     Maxims #11     “Always speak favorably of others and value highly the good in them . . .” #55     “When you work for the neighbor, do it with a very unselfish love which            expects no reward for its services, and aim at nothing other than helping            him or her. . .” #62     “Strive to be kind always to everyone and unkind to no one.”

•     Words of wisdom  worth pondering “Unity is diversity embraced by an infinitely generous love . . . Our sense of disconnection is only an illusion.”  -Richard Rohr “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”  -Teresa of Calcutta “We are held by an embrace of Love, a ‘love field’ sustaining us at every moment. This field of love is God, the hidden depth and core of being that makes wholeness of being possible.”  -Ilia Delio, OSF (in her book, THE UNBEARABLE WHOLENESS OF BEING) “Spiritual (transformative) leadership is the use of the power of our deepest vision, values and hopes as a creative force to strengthen ourselves and our communities, to bridge differences and to work for justice.”  -Source Unknown “ . . . I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness. . . .Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts. . . the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed . . .But this cannot be seen, only believed, and ‘understood’ by a peculiar gift.”   -Thomas Merton  (in his book, CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER)

•     Songs:    “By Breath” by Sara Thomsen   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HgOJiJRKMM “Room at the Table”, Carrie Newcomer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92OM5bdQ4N4 “I Dream A World”, Kathy Sherman, CSJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3I_CUfn3cU

•     TED Talk: “Compassion and Kinship”,  Greg Boyle, SJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipR0kWt1Fkc