This lovely video was created by GA Serves America which I was made aware through my AOPA memmbership. I think it’s a lovely reflective piece and worth sharing. I hope you enjoy it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmMIZX6YQYU]
Can you imagine?
Some in our country love to point us back to the Bible upon which they say our nation was founded. Here’s a direct quote from the Bible that might not sell well with some of these same folks.
Every seventh year you shall grant a remission of debts. And this is the manner of the remission: every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a neighbor, not exacting it of a neighbor who is a member of the community, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed.- Deuteronomy 15:1-2
Can you imagine what might happen if every seven years we did this? Wall Street would implode, there would be cries of socialism. Justice is about restoring relationship with our neighbors and not about collecting from them. Can you imagine a nation grounded upon these principles instead of un-fettered greed?
He who is without sin..
We are surrounded by scandal. It’s all over the news and the pundits are having a field day. Lately it’s been Mark Sanford and John Ensign. Before that it was Larry Craig and Eliot Spitzer, Bill Clinton and the list goes on. Politicians have been trying to score points by claiming family values and the real issue is after all hypocrisy.
So when they continued asking him, he raised himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. — John 8:7.
Harsh judgement is really the issue and who is without sin. This week too we’ve been treated to another spectacle of harsh judgement by Senators so blinded to their own bigotry and ethnocentrism that they have been crucifying Sonia Sotomayor in the confirmation hearings. The senators are so concerned with Judge Sotomayor conforming to their standard of judgement which is primarily a white male view that they have missed the richness that this woman brings to the table and eventually to the United States Supreme Court.
I enjoyed Judge Sotomayor’s comments on the second amendment. For too long advocacy groups like the National Rifle Association have loosely interpreted the Constitution to mean that Americans have a fundamental right to “keep and bear arms,” without any regard to the overall safety of the rest of us. I believe that Americans do have the right to keep and bear arms but within the original context of the Second Amendment and that is as part of a militia or if you will the National Guard, Army Reserves etc. That I believe was the founders intent.
Taste of Buffalo
Today I made it to the Taste of Buffalo for the first time in my life thanks to my daughter. She’s working in Buffalo now and living close by and thanks to her invitation I actually ventured into the big city to taste some of the hundreds of different items there were to sample from Buffalo and Rochester area restaurants. It is the largest two-day festival of its kind in the United States. Fifteen dollars got me twenty tickets which in turn allowed me to sample a number of items. The more memorable tastes were “deep dish garlic bread” from Jack Astors, “Caprese skewer” from Cecelia’s Ristorante “Pork Slider” from Dinosaur Barbecue and a chocolate covered banana from Landies Candies. I completed my visit with a chocolate chip cookie which was delicious too.
There were thousands of people there today thanks to wonderful sunny skies. I think I’ll return next year and I’ll be happy to recommend the Taste of Buffalo to my friends. I’m glad our daughter lives in the Buffalo area and recommended the festival.
Sun Day
The sun is shining here today. We haven’t seen much of it this summer. Last night on my way home from South Dayton I drove through blinding rain. It was very difficult to see at times. Today, is a lovely though, not a cloud in the sky. I’ve been writing curriculum and lesson plans for the course I’ll be teaching in September. I’ve been writing a section on blogging and reading and commenting on blogs. As a blogger I’ve really come to appreciate the value of this medium for sharing ideas and inviting commentary from readers. Please pray for the development of this curriculum and lesson plans as I try to present a coherent curriculum that really invites these young students to get involved in the learning.
I don’t want to be a talking head. I want to encourage as much student participation as possible and truly be the guide on the side rather than the more traditional teacher/lecturer. I’m grateful for the sun. Thank you Brother Sun it is darned nice to see you.
New direction
I recently wrote about fear and doubt and how I was uncertain of my future and how that future might include retirement. I walked all the way to the edge and even jumped off into retirement only to be recalled by one of my supervisors. A week ago I was summoned to the principal’s office for what I thought would be a scolding and lo and behold the man wanted me to return to the classroom. I’m being re-invented and in September I’ll be teaching seventh and eighth grade students how to stay safe on the internet, use tools like Google Docs and use their cell phones as learning tools.
The request and the experience has left me with a beginners mind. I’m reaching out to other teachers who’ve taught at this grade level before and who have had this assignment. For the last several years I’ve been a proponent of the educational uses of cell phones. I’ve been at loggerheads with the administration on this point. I’ve come to believe that cell phones are really the present and future direction of computing. For years we’ve been talking about one to one computing and only an elite few districts could actually pull it off. Most lacked the resources. Adding to the proliferation of cell phones is the emergence of the Net Book platform. The near and far term will see a melding of the two and in a relatively short period of time I think we’ll see an almost total disappearance of the traditional desktop and even laptop computers in favor of net centric devices that connect to both traditional 802.11 wireless networks and cellular networks. Recent events in Iran prove the effectiveness of low bandwidth tools like Twitter and SMS to get the message out.
Of course these tools can be dangerous in the hands of young people who frequently lack good judgement and use them to send inappropriate messages which put them and their futures in jeopardy. My assignment includes helping to change those behaviors. It’s a tall order but it’s one that’s got me excited and energized. I hope that you will continue to pray as I need those prayers and so do the students I’ll be working with.
Mountain Road
Today was Trinity Sunday and I really needed to hear Fr. Lou McCormick, OFM homily which included the importance of doubt in our lives. So much time is spent defining what we are and what we believe that almost no one ever gives voice to doubt although you can hear it too if only you listen. Without doubt there would be no faith. In the past nine years since I’ve come to Mt. Irenaeus and become a Secular Franciscan I’ve gone through a series of stages, the latest has been one of intense doubt. I had been thinking of chucking it all because I’m a very non-traditional Catholic and a non-traditional Franciscan too. I am connected to the church more by mysticism than by any other thread.
Today following Mass and Brunch I took a walk along the path called “The Mountain Road,” which winds from near the House of Peace to the highest point on the property and close to my favorite hermitage, La Posada. Posada is the resting place and I’ve spent several nights in its grasp in the past nine years. I’ve also spent other times like this afternoon resting there and listening. Once inside today and seated in a chair by the window, gentle tears came to my eyes and once more I was home. At one time La Posada was a place and it was on top of that low mountain in Allegany County. Today, La Posada is in my heart, it’s a gift that I carry with me, but it’s still neat to come here to this land and to walk intentionally, mindfully slow, listening for my heartbeat, my breath and all the life that surrounds me. The Trinity is about relationship and so are these woods and this path that I am on.
Fear itself
I began this experiment with public sharing of my thoughts a bit over three years ago shortly after I suffered a pulmonary embolism. I felt a need to write and discovered that I can write and some like my sister and son believe that I should continue. It’s been an interesting and informative way for me to reflect on what’s going on. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on my ideas that I would not have received otherwise. Some of the discussions have helped me to better understand issues or gain some insight I might never have gained otherwise.
Lately, I’ve been without words but not without thoughts, just the inability or unwillingness to express them. I’ve been thinking about retiring for nearly a year now. Some of the events of the last year pushed me in that direction and others have pulled me back. On Friday another such event led me to strongly consider the retirement option again. Fear is the only thing holding me back. Franklin Roosevelt said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Fear can cripple and it’s been crippling me. It’s in these moments that I am drawn back to the wise counsel of one of my spiritual advisors who years ago told me never to put limits on the power of God. Not the God of religion but God as I understood Him. This same guy gave me a book nearly twenty-five years ago which is still in my library, “The Conquest of Fear,” by Basil King. My friend’s wise counsel and King’s book have come to my aid many times and from it’s pages sprang the hope that makes even today possible.
It’s up to you to do this thing just as if you had all the facilities. Go at it boldly, and you’ll find unexpected forces closing round you and coming to your aid.–Basil King, Conquest of Fear
This morning finds me sitting in my hermitage, writing this reflection and reading the words of Basil King and considering too all of sacred scripture and all the other wisdom texts I know and love and what they have to say on this subject.
The least
I read this morning about an engaging young lady who will graduate from Notre Dame University today. She’s Brennan Bollman, and she’s this year’s Valedictorian. She’s got a 4.0 and more than that she’s focused like a laser beam on Catholic Social Teaching and the Gospel. I first learned of her earlier today from an editorial piece on HuffingtonPost.com. I did some research and found out that she’s not only headed to medical school, but that she worked at a Catholic Worker house and like me she’s Irish. What a wonderful combination? The best part of it all is that she gets it. By “it”, I mean the Gospel. The Gospel is not about kissing up to the rich and powerful and subsidizing their failures. The Gospel is about reaching down and out to help those around us and especially the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters.
My favorite quote from the Gospels and one that animates my life is taken from Matthew 25.
When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Godspeed to Brennan and all of her classmates.
Along the Erie Canal
I took a fairly long day trip today after Mass at Mt. Irenaeus and eventually I made my way to the edge of the Erie Canal near Bushnell’s Basin just east of the Village of Pittsford, New York. It was a beautiful day as temperatures reached the high sixties and many folks were either jogging, cycling or walking along the towpath on the opposite side of the canal from where I took this picture.
I’ve had a fascination with the Erie Canal that goes back to my childhood when I first began to read about it. My great-grandparents, Welsh immigrants to this country made their way to Upstate New York along this waterway. In fact, Richard and Catherines Owens might well have looked upon the spot where I stood today as they made their way from Castle Garden in New York City where they first entered the United States. My grandmother was their youngest child and she along with five of her seven siblings were born in the United States. Two of Grandma’s eldest sisters were born in Wales and made their way along this water route with their parents to Western New York. That was nearly one-hundred and twenty years ago.