My friends, I have often said in the past, that the season of the Church Year that we are in, “Ordinary Time,” should really be re-named, “Extra Ordinary Time” because of the great challenges that we are presented with during these months, basically, to be our best.  I believe those who named this time “ordinary,” were simply looking one-dimensionally, thinking these many Sundays aren’t about the major, reflective feast times – Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, thus just, “ordinary.”  It is my belief that living in our brother Jesus’ footsteps is never for the most part, “simple,” so “ordinary” doesn’t adequately name what should be happening during this time. 

   So, why am I spending time today discussing the “ordinary” naming of a time in our spiritual-religious lives, when so much, it seems, that is going on in our world, needs to be addressed?  My answer is, because the way we name our reality has at least something to do with how we act in our world. 

   If we fail to see that our presence in the here and now as followers of Jesus, as Christians is more than ordinary – ho hum, than we forfeit the strength and power that we have to make a difference in our present-day world that seems to be operating and stressing, from the top-down the lowest common denominator that we humans are capable of.  And please hear these comments, not as political – as it seems our world is moving, in its present configuration, way beyond that, showing us if we care to really focus, what is lowest in our common humanity:  arrogance, selfishness, lack of vision beyond the moment, pride, rhetoric filled with lies – lack of justice, caring for the least among us, and more…

And Jesus told his 1^st followers when they asked whether some people could be counted among them – “check the fruits” – if goodness, love, mercy and justice are present, then “they” can be considered part of us. 

   Looking then to the Scriptures, Isaiah tells us today that [our God] “is coming to gather the nations of every language” –to me, that says, everyone, everyone is welcome.  A present-day example for those who demonstrate on Winona’s main streets every Monday is the fact that there are no people of color out there because they know, in the times in which we live, that they are susceptible to the worst that we humans are capable of – yet these same people of color, drive by and applaud the action of demonstrating on their behalf. 

   The psalmist in 117 today would agree with the prophet Isaiah that “our God is coming to save us all,” as this person instructs those who are listening, [to] “go out to all the world and tell the Good News” – clearly, this is a statement that says, “we are all welcome!” 

   The writer to the Hebrews seems to seal the deal – “we are all God’s children.”  This begs the question then of why so many in positions of power within our country, who claim to be Christians, followers of Jesus, fail to act as we would expect Christians to act. 

   This is true for those who lead our Church as well.  Except for a few; the likes of Bishops, Peter Baldacchino in Las Cruces, NM, Gustavo Garcia-Siller in San Antonio, TX, and John Wester in Santa Fe, NM, who have been demonstrating at the borders about the United States present policies concerning deporting immigrants in our country, our bishops are silent on the abuses done to others in our world, and our bishop, Robert Barron is included here.  Any rhetoric about “uplifting the Eucharist” devoid of seeing Jesus’ body and blood in our world is useless in the long run! 

   So my friends, as we look at our human condition, our default stance, we could probably agree, is to take care of ourselves, and this is especially true when we are tired, discouraged, frustrated, thinking that we have no power to make change.  But the truth is, and we know this in a whole other part of ourselves, we are capable of so much more. 

   Many of us have lived long enough to realize that the time we have left is far less than the years we have lived.  This was brought home to our family rather clearly this past week, as we lost Joan Redig’s husband, Wayne, and two other of our brothers-in-law, ended up in the emergency room with age-related conditions.  If we have the personal habit of “reflecting on the past” in order that we might do better in the future, we are aware of those times when we have been our best, stood up for those “less fortunate” perhaps; and even though what we did in those times may have been hard, not knowing the possible outcome, it is those same times that ultimately gave us the most joy. 

   Jesus in today’s gospel tells us “to try and go in by the narrow gate,” a command that made perfect sense when he lived, as it was speaking about the “ease of a camel getting into the city through the Needle’s Eye Gate,” as opposed to a “rich person getting into heaven.”  Now the camel would have had great difficulty with the Needle’s Eye Gate, so we can take it from there. 

   I look at Jesus’ command that, “we try to go in by the narrow gate to simply mean, “try to be your best.”  Our world isn’t always accepting of that stance though: of not returning violence with violence, turning the other cheek, which may be about, “giving no power” to violence, but simply trying to love the one doing the violence, which becomes truly hard when that person may simply, drive us crazy.

   I don’t know about you, but when I give in to the “hate,” a word, by the way that I really hate, and don’t like to use, — afterward there is no satisfaction that I feel; whereas when I try “the narrow gate,” LOVE, there is peace. 

   Very often here I talk with you about living our spiritual journey, in search of God, trying to see this entity, however we personally see God, in bigger than black and white ways, breaking open the “small boxes” we have placed God in. When we keep our God “small,” we give ourselves permission to love in small ways too.  Keeping God small allows we humans to write laws in Church and state that direct us to the lowest common denominator of action in our human sphere.  So much of what I hear in the daily news is about this very thing…

• “I can’t trust because the other is untrust-worthy,
• I can’t stop going to war until they do,
• We can’t seem to do anything about the gun epidemic in our country because we consider the rights of gun owners more important than the rights of our children to stay alive,
• We can’t give the Body and Blood of Christ to others until they believe our narrow thought processes,
• We can’t respect how someone says they were created and called to love in our world, because it isn’t in our narrow way,
• Our Church hierarchy sees our loving God as loving very exclusively, and in narrow ways when it pontificates that God calls those who serve at our tables of prayer and blessing worthy only if they have certain body parts.”

And the list of narrowly loving, if at all, goes on. 

   Why do we as Christians persist in seeing and acting in our world in narrowly conceived, black and white ways, when as someone said, “Our God sees in technicolor?!  Amen?  Amen!

My friends, being that we usually don’t meet for scheduled “holy days” outside of our usual Sunday gatherings, I wanted to take the opportunity of remembering Mary, our mother, sister, and friend for the journey, along with the 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  It has often seemed to me, over the years, that Mary, being a woman, and remembered solely by men in pulpits, gets less than she is worthy of.  While it is wonderful to remember her as a “faithful woman” who said, “yes” to God, it is equally important to remember her strength of character – her willingness to proceed into the unknown, which was what her “yes” truly meant.  It took great strength and courage to give the world a son who would do much to change the entire world – one who we would say today was about making, “good trouble,” so that each of us, and all, could hopefully enjoy a good and meaningful life. 

   Jesus found his world, much as we find our world today –  the powerful versus those with no power – mainly women and children, and he said “no” to that! Of course that got him into trouble, and not, “good trouble” for speaking up against the “powers” of his time.  Life in our present-day world looks much the same, I think we all could agree. 

   Interestingly, Mary’s “yes” in being willing to walk-in-faith, not knowing the outcome of giving the world such an amazing son, who would challenge the powers of his time, would bring great “trouble” into her life as well. 

   Beginning with her conception of a child outside of marriage – something she could hardly explain in a way that would make her human neighbors understand anything other than that she was a wanton woman.

   Mary was complicit with her God in giving the world Jesus, and she had the strength of character to say, “yes” and stand beside her son through all the disbelief and misunderstanding of others, all the way to the cross, in order that, as we will sing again later, in the beautiful canticle – her Magnificat, [they] “would pull the mighty from their thrones.” 

   These are the actions of a strong, vibrant, and formidable woman, not one to place on a pedestal, out of sight and mind.  If one woman’s “yes” could bring the “powerful down,” this is not something those with power in our Church today would want to lift up going forward, thus we often, most often do not hear of this Mary.  And this reminds me of the double standard, not only in our Church, but in our world in general of seeing the strong actions of women in a negative way, whereas the same actions by a man are seen as positive – a point in fact that was quite well demonstrated in the movie, Barbie, which we viewed recently. 

   So, my friends, completing our thoughts on Mary – mother, sister and friend – I would like to lift up, along with her courage and strength as a woman, attributes our Church so needs today, her “purely human nature,” the reason that we can name her as, “a friend for our journey” whether female or male. 

   Beginning with the conception of Jesus, a reading we didn’t use today, we see her being extremely human, “How can this be, since I have never been with a man?”  Then, in the 1^st reading selected for today from the gospel of Luke, her pure humanness is seen again as she and Joseph lose Jesus for a few days on a trip to and from Jerusalem.  Jesus we need to remember was only 12. 

   When they finally find him, teaching the “learned men” in the Temple, we hear the very human Mary say, “Son , why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been so worried!”  Jesus’ response should not be seen as a smart-alec one from a teenager, but as a response that clearly shows his “otherness,” his unique mission on this earth, and I would submit that this is how Mary took what he said, as Luke tells us, “Mary treasured all these things in her heart, “ not truly understanding, which shows I think, her patient faith in awaiting God’s time.  Additionally, this patient faith, awaiting what would come next was something she and Joseph would deal with again and again through this “precious life” that was given into their keeping. 

  And really, when we think about it, is this any different from what other human parents experience in raising their children? – one never really knows if what they teach and instruct their children to do, in order to “become their best” is what will indeed make this a reality. 

   We see that Mary and Joseph are blessed as “Jesus returned to Nazareth and was obedient to them” – an action that no doubt confirmed their faith and, “as he grew in wisdom and grace,” their hope as well. 

   So, what of us my friends – how are we to make sense of Mary’s journey as we reflect on our own, attempting to walk, not only in hers, but also her son’s footsteps?  In today’s actual feast, the 20^th Sunday in OT, we heard the writer to the Hebrews say, “Let us not lose sight of Jesus,” [so that] “You will not grow weary and lose heart.”  To this I would add, Mary’s name specifically, and Joseph’s name too, because as most theologians and Scripture scholars attest, “Jesus had to have come into this human would as we all do, as quite a blank slate,” and we can be sure that his mother and father taught him many good things for navigating in his world. 

   Last week we talked about how we each have a “creative spark” within us, given by God – we might call that our “spiritual self.”  And we can be sure that Jesus was so endowed. 

   Then, moving into the actual gospel reading for the 20^th Sunday in OT, we hear Jesus’ question to the people in his time, and to us, “Do you suppose I have come to bring peace of earth?” to which he basically responds, “I have not!” We can only imagine that Jesus’s words were disturbing when he first uttered them, and in all truth, we probably have to admit, these words disturb us too!  So again, what are we to see here? 

   We humans, even though, spiritual, tend to pick the easiest thing to do, another part of being human – basically taking care of ourselves.  The thing is though; we are spiritual beings too and that calls us to, a bit more.  Jesus, in today’s gospel from Luke 12 reminds us that following him, truly following him, will bring dissention in our families, putting sister against brother and so on. 

   This “Jesus-following,” walking a faith-filled, courageous life as his mother Mary did, will ask us at times, to stand alone in order that all of created life is respected and cared for.  And we can gain hope from remembering that our brother, Jesus, even at 12, “amazed” others “at his understanding and his answers,” speaking truth to power.

   So, I would like to conclude with a short, true story that happened to me this week, which points to us keeping the faith, holding onto hope in the face of what we can’t fully understand.

   I arrived home after making some visits and doing errands.  I was unloading the car when another car drove in behind me.  It was an extra for FedEx I believe and he had a package for me.  He noticed our yellow and blue colors representing Ukraine on our garage and asked, “Are you Ukrainian?  I said no, but we are supportive. He answered in an excited tone, “I am Ukrainian!” to which I said, “God bless you!”  Amen? Amen!

My friends, there is much wisdom and challenge in the readings the Church has given us this week – let’s take a deeper look.  The Wisdom writer says to the Israelite people, “And this was the covenant [you all] made with God – that the holy people would share all things – blessings and dangers alike.” A little play on the words, “holy people” would be to say, “people who are holy,” indicating I think, that action is required from those who are indeed, “holy.”  As the writer says, those who are “holy” share in both the [joys and sorrows] of others.  And as we learn in watching our brother Jesus, it is what we who claim to be his followers – Christians that is, are called to do!

   And granted, the days in which we are presently living challenge us as never before to be our best selves – naming the lies when we hear them, speaking truth to power, especially for and with those who seemingly have no voice.

   In today’s 2^nd reading we find confidence and strength for this awesome task in the writer to the Hebrews:  “Faith is the confident assurance of what we hope for, the conviction about the things we do not see.” 

   “Faith,” we know, is what allowed all of us to begin and/or form a community, which in our 17^th year is still attracting new people – and none of us knew in 2008 whether this venture would be something that would be good for people or not, but we “walked ahead” in faith anyway.  The “unbelievers,” primarily the hierarchy of our beloved Church said that we were “playing” at ordaining a women as priests, and that this action along with forming communities of believers was “confusing” to those not a part of us. 

   But yet, here we are, 17 years later and it would seem that the only ones “confused” were the hierarchy.  Faith, coupled with hope gave us the strength to move ahead, not knowing the end result, working at being, “holy,” at being our best selves. 

   Some of the early members of All Are One have “gone home” to God, and I believe are praying for all of us, still.  This past week I visited Sue and Bob in their home, and I shared about our Mary Magdala Mass on the Farm, to which they said, “We were with you in spirit!”  When I visit Jim at St. Anne’s in Winona and share that we continue to pray for him, he tells me that he prays for and remembers us as well.  Several weeks back I gave Patte, now living with her son and daughter-in-law in Cincinnati, a phone call and let her know too that she is still in our warm thoughts and prayers with her responding in like manner to Jim, that she remembers us too!  My friends, these attempts on our parts to stay connected to those of our community whose life situations have changed is all about, as the Wisdom writer says, “sharing in the blessings and dangers alike” – it is what “holy people” do!

   The writer of Psalm 33 today touches on another aspect of “this being holy.” Happy are the people who are chosen to be God’s own.  I believe most of us have heard this reading over the years, thinking of the Jewish people as the “Chosen Ones,” but in reality, we know from our brother Jesus, that we are all chosen.  The psalmist prays then for all of us, “May your love be upon us [God] as we place all our hope in you.” Before leaving this section, I think it is important to lift up, that it is one thing, “to be chosen,” but quite another “to respond,” to being chosen! 

   A  few examples from this past week that I noticed of some of the responses being made: 

• People lining both sides of the streets on the corner of Main and Broadway here in Winona, speaking their truth  — hoping for a renewed time when “lying will again be wrong,” when democracy, not autocracy will live again, when “kindness, not meanness” will be the action of the day, and when those in power will again act for the good of all.
• A group of perhaps 50 or more meeting this past week in Winona to organize a rapid response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or as some have labeled, “the Gestapo” coming into our community.  This meeting educated those present about the basic rights that anyone, citizen or not, have in our country. 
• A great many, folks meeting in a local coffee shop and eatery, writing postcards to all in power, asking them to live up to our Constitution – which they promised to be faithful to – basically serving all in our country. 

   There are, no doubt, more examples of people in our world trying to be their “best selves,” responding appropriately to the awesomeness of being “chosen” by our God to make this world better, but you get the idea. 

   We probably all smiled to hear today in the 2^nd reading from Hebrews, that from one woman and one man, “as good as dead” came descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.”  It is truly a great history that we are part of! Many of you, have, no doubt, traveled to the sea or even to a favorite beach and walked along the sandy shores as well as looking at the heavens in star-filled skies and know of the wonder of the above statement of the writer to the Hebrews.  Our brother Jesus has told us that “with God, all things are possible,” – good words to remember in the times in which we live when it seems that every day there arises an issue of greed, and selfish  meanness that we must address. 

   So, my friends, moving on to today’s gospel from Luke, we receive one more piece of wisdom from Jesus to point us in the right direction – “wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be.”  Said another way, attempting “to be holy,” we will strive every day, with all our strength, to be our best selves, which will not only benefit us, but all others who need us to act, to care, in this way.     Additionally, Jesus encourages us, “to be ready,” to do the right thing, not to wait for a future date, but to act now, today, and every day.

   In conclusion, when our faith and hope seem low and hard to hold onto, it would be good to once again remember our parents in the faith, Sarah, and Abraham, “as good as dead,” as the writer to the Hebrews says, but in actuality, began a family of descendants, “as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.” 

And finally, as our brother Jesus reminds in the gospel today, we have been given much, and “much is required” as well. It is what Christians are called to…

Amen? Amen!

My friends, at face value, after hearing our 1^st reading today from Ecclesiastes about “everything being futile,” we might feel inclined to say, “Bah! Humbug!”  But let’s look further.  This reading from someone named, Qoheleth, thought actually by many to be, King Solomon, known for his wisdom in ruling and making decisions, comes as I said above from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, which in its entirety, is classified as Wisdom Literature. 

   This reading, along with the other two chosen for today have the common theme of “trusting in God,” to lead us in good and just ways.  Qoheleth, or Solomon speaks of the “meaningless and emptiness” he sees in life without God – “of striving for worldly success.” Solomon continues, “putting our faith and trust in God helps us to find fulfillment.”  And, in all of this, I find myself thinking of “balance” – the joys to be experienced in our human existence, that our God intended for us; meaningful relationships of love and caring, procreation of the next generation, seeking after knowledge, and sharing it with others, enjoying the gifts of this world, food, travel, finding our calling in life and more…are all good and meaningful pursuits, but as with anything, taken to extremes, tend to lead us astray, thus the importance of balance, putting all in their right place.

   When we speak of “trust in God,” supposedly that God will “show us the way,” we realize that the “image of God” is probably different for most of us – what is meaningful for one might not be meaningful for another, and that is okay. 

   With this in mind, I would like to address the concept of “Lord” once again, that we have talked about in the past.  I have previously stated that we will try for the most part not to use this term because it speaks of “power over,” a concept that our brother Jesus often spoke against, living himself, apart from that idea, addressing our equality, one and all before God.

   Practically speaking though, aside from what the term linguistically means, many of us have used the word, “Lord” all our lives, as part of how we address God, and don’t necessarily think when using the word as God “lording” it over us, so to speak – we use it more, out of loving respect. 

   So, my friends, I have addressed the concept of a powerful God, as imaged in the term, “Lord,” but if that term is still meaningful to you, I don’t want to take that away.  Going forward, as I have done in past years, we will strike a balance of many different names for our God.  This reminds me of a book that I am presently reading, Freeing Jesus, by Diane Butler Bass, wherein she is basically saying that each of us needs to allow God-to-be-God, and in not putting God “in a box” of our own making, we will continue to discover this, Ever-watchful friend, Great Spirit, Creator, Revealer, opening up to us in many and varied ways. Again, balance.

   So, moving back to that original theme, seemingly tying the three readings together, that of “trusting in God,” we hear Paul telling the Colossians that through baptism, they have, “true life in Christ” – Christ being the way Paul knows Jesus.  He goes on to say that now, “Christ … is your life.” And because “Christ is now your life,” [you should]  “set your heart on higher realms.” And Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that this “Christ” has no distinctions in caring for us, “Greek or Jew, slave or free” – and we can add, “male or female,” as he had already added this in his earlier letter to the Galatians. 

   Before leaving the 2^nd reading to the Colossians, I would like to lift up Paul’s use of “heart,” to distinguish on “how” they live their lives – stating, “set your heart” on higher realms – anything we come at out of “love,” which resides, “in the heart,” always has a better outcome. 

   The writer of Psalm 95 would seem to agree, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.”  Today, when you arrived, you had the chance to take a stone to perhaps carry around this next week to remind you of this important piece of wisdom. And as we reflected earlier, look for God’s voice everywhere – not just in church, or when you officially pray, but out in nature, at home with family, or with friends – anywhere and everywhere! 

   I am just in the beginning chapter of the book I mentioned earlier, Freeing Jesus, wherein the author shares an experience she had at the National Cathedral in Washington where she said she distinctly heard Jesus speaking to her from an artistic representation on the wall. Jesus said, “Get me out of here!”  It took her a while to accept that, “in the silence,” Jesus was indeed speaking to her, and it would only be much later that she would attempt, “freeing Jesus,” allowing him/God to BE as God is!

   The final reading today my friends from Luke seems to speak to our free will, given by God to either trust in God’s wisdom to live our best lives, or to go our own way choosing what perhaps “feels good” at the time without taking any responsibility for the outcomes.  And even though God would want us to choose, “to be our best selves,” living “balanced lives,” God will not step in and take our free will away. 

   I have always loved this story in Luke’s gospel for today, and have smiled over the farmer’s answer to his great harvest – “I know, I’ll build bigger barns!”  — instead of being satisfied with “enough” and sharing the surplus.  Once again, balance. 

   Even though God doesn’t “step in” my friends, and choose for us, in the words of the Bible Translation, The Message, in the 23^rd Psalm, God will keep “chasing after us,” all the days of our lives,” setting people and messages in our paths, “to show us the way.”  So, once again, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts!”  Amen? Amen!

My friends, jumping right into today’s Scriptures, beginning with the 1^st reading from Genesis, I think we can see that if only one person had been found to be “faithful” in Sodom, our God would save the city for that one! We know this to be true from the stories our brother Jesus shared in his lifetime, as one of us:  something that Old Testament folk, such as Abraham were not privy too, thus, explaining his continual questioning of God about how many would be saved.  Had he heard Jesus’ stories of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 who were safe, in search of the one, lost, or the beautiful story of the Prodigal, and of the parent who would always welcome us back, no matter what we may have done, he wouldn’t have had to question God.  And in this vein, there is also the more feminine version of our loving God in the Woman and the Lost Coin, who turns her house upside-down looking for that lost one.  And to all of this, our response must be the same as the psalmist’s today, “Your love is constant forever.” 

   Moving into the 2^nd reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we see him, in his own way, sharing “for his followers,” another aspect of our great God—that of universality.  We must remember that Paul only knew Jesus as “the Christ,” not having met him in his human form.  The Christological Jesus, theologians and Scripture scholars tell us, “Is big enough” for all believers in God, and from all different starting points.  So, I think we can see that Paul could reach out to the wider world of possible believers in ways that the other apostles couldn’t.

   Paul simply says in today’s 2^nd reading, “In baptism…you were raised with Christ…”  Another way that we might look at these words would be to say, that following, “the way, the truth, and the life” of Jesus, unites us all, from different place, times and cultures. 

   The lovely gospel from Luke today, pairs nicely with the Genesis reading in that it shows the extent to which God will go for us. Jesus speaks of the goodness that human parents show toward their children, adding that God will not be outdone in that goodness.  We hear, “whoever asks, receives, whoever seeks, finds, whoever knocks, is admitted.” 

   Yet, hearing these words, I think we humans tend to think and even wonder at times if God hears our prayers, such as in the times in which we currently live, when for all our best efforts, working to change what seems to be simply, “not right,” where national injustice, selfishness and greed, among other bad things, seem rampant. 

   And my friends, I can only speak for myself, and because of my faith, that I truly believe that our God hears every prayer, and stands with us, encouraging, and strengthening us to do all we can to bring about the change we want to see.  Hopefully, my faith and my words can give you courage too, if yours is waning. 

   So, where does that leave us?  Just as my ongoing message to you and me that Ordinary Time is really more than “ordinary” in the challenges that it uplifts for us; the same can be said for us as Christians, as followers of our brother, Jesus.  If we are going to claim the title of “Christian,” we should always, or at least often, be standing outside of the crowd who would tend to act in ways that “don’t make waves.” 

   Granted, there is always more comfort in not standing alone, and doing what others are doing may be safer – “what would others think of me?”  But the truth of the matter is that we are called, often these days, “to be better than that,” “to be our best selves,” in fact,it iswhat Jesus did and asked us to do too!  So, in our day-to-day world, what might this look like? 

• Starting at the top – upon taking an oath to uphold the Constitution of our country, attempting every day to serve all the people, poor, and less poor, they should be looking for a balance that allows each, and all, to live in basic, and good ways. There should be the realization that they have been given the privilege of serving, and that their each and everyday duty, what they do in office, should never, ever be about whether it gets them re-elected or not!  I call these folks to task because 88% claim to be Christian! 
• In our Church, those called to serve should likewise see their calls as privileged, and as a result, it should humble them about their awesome tasks to lead, teach, and guide others. 

   Today’s world so needs the voices, the strength, and the leadership of clerics in the Catholic church, and in the Church Universal, in its many denominations to speak truth to power.  In our Catholic church, priests and bishops should be following the lead of Pope Leo who just this week stated, “It is disheartening to see…that the strength of international law and humanitarianism no longer seem binding, replaced by the presumed right to overpower others.”  Where are the clerical voices?? Can you imagine a world with all those in power standing together speaking a truth that it is wrong to systematically starve pregnant women and children, as is happening today in Gaza.   

   And the apparent “leadership” in Washington sees no need either to speak against these tragedies, but rather to travel to Scotland for yet, “another deal” and of course to check out his golf properties there.  We can’t underestimate the power of people standing together, whether in Church or State to bring about change.

   Some of you may recall that back in 2002, when Spotlight, the investigative wing of the Boston Globe, uncovered the massive coverup of child sexual abuse by priests in Boston, and the then cardinal, Bernard Law who was asked to step down because he was instrumental in the coverup. This only happened when 50 priests stood together saying that he must go!

   So, friends, what do we do in the face of all this as followers of Jesus?  The group, Pace Bene, meaning, “Peace and all good,” under the auspices of This Non-violent Life, daily shares a quote to inspire us:  Friday’s quote was: “Refuse to believe the lie that your small actions can’t make a difference, that nothing you say or do matters.  If someone can make you give up hope, they can control you.  Set aside the idea that hope is a feeling you’re waiting to experience.”  This quote was shared by Sharon McMahon.

   So, my friends, keep writing, calling, and demonstrating, keep showing up, doing your part – it all truly matters! Amen?  Amen!