Tonight’s Olean Times Herald had a front page item that proclaimed that our new federal budget will break Medicare. The Times Herald is a pretty conservative paper. They have been unabashed apologists for much of the Bush agenda. Earlier today I read that for the first time in American history the defense budget has 12 zeros in it. That’s a one-trillion dollar budget for war. We’re not really defending anything except the status quo. The status quo in the United States is the military-industrial complex. We’re not fighting conventional forces yet we continue to fund battleships, aircraft carriers, submarines as if we were still locked head to head with the former Soviet Union. Continue reading “Guns not butter”
Jesus Wine of Peace
Today was very cold. I think it was about 7 degrees fahrenheit this morning as I ventured up to Mt. Irenaeus for Mass. The roads up to the mountain were snow covered but passable. My journey was very peaceful. There is something very contemplative in winter. A stillness that occurs when the earth and most everything on it is frozen. The chapel was full this morning. Mostly St. Bonaventure University students. They were Students for the Mountain, which is a ministry group organized by the Franciscan Friars who live at Mt. Irenaeus and minister on campus at St. Bonaventure. There were some familiar faces among the students there. Chris a senior at Bona and Monica a sophomore are old friends. There were new faces there too. Names I don’t recall. Fr. Dan Riley’s homily invited lots of comments. The mood today was both animated and prayerful. The communion hymn today was “Jesus Wine of Peace,” by David Haas. I love it’s lyrics and the melody. Jesus is truly the wine of peace and today these lyrics moved me deeply.
Jesus wine of Peace, wine of love, may we drink of you, may we taste your presence, your promise, our future. Drink well and live.
More true today than ever
Excerpts from a speech given at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in April of 1967, by one of the greatest prophets of my time. This man is a saint in my book, though he has never been officially recognized as one. Martin’s words ring as true today as they did then. Thank God for Martin Luther King. Peace and all good to you.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U]
Remembering Martin
We’ll soon celebrate Dr. King’s birthday. In the years since his death and especially since his birthday became a national holiday there has been a collective effort by government and the media to sanitize Martin’s message. This quote came from an article in this week’s National Catholic Reporter by Fr. John Dear and it’s attributed to Martin Luther King. This is the Dr. King I remember in the 1960s, a prophetic voice of non-violence.
“After we get there,” he said, “we’ll call the peace movement in, and try to close down the Pentagon. I don’t know what Jesus had as his demands other than ‘Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.’ My demand is ‘Repent, America.’ We live in a sick, neurotic nation, but this campaign is based upon hope. Hope,” he concluded, “is the final refusal to give up.”–Martin Luther King
Happy New Year
What will 2008 bring? Eight years ago we were supposed to be slain by the millenium bug. That turned out to be a non-event. No one can possibly know the future. Life is one day at a time and no one save God knows the future. I know I’ll be getting older, but getting older doesn’t have to mean getting narrow. Continue reading “Happy New Year”
The Shift Movie
I came across this great video after reading an article by Deepak Chopra on Huffington Post today. There is change brewing and this video gives some thought to that.
[brightcove vid=1135711486&exp=1125967605&w=425&h=350]
March in my name
I read this morning on one of the alternative news sites about a 60 year old man who is walking to Washington, D.C. to encourage Nancy Pelosi to put impeachment back on the table. He’s a professor and U.S. Air Force veteran. These used to be impeccable credentials until recently when the such people are routinely trivialized and ridiculed. Being a veteran used to mean that you had a star next to your name. Don’t you think its tragic that this man’s journey isn’t being covered in the MSM media. I’m calling on bloggers to bring this story to the web. I don’t give a damn about the Iowa caucus. I’ve heard enough of that foolishness. That’s just another distraction. This guy deserves the attention Iowa is getting.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVLPLSFWgkc]
In the beginning was the word
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Christmas is a celebration of the word made flesh that has come to dwell among us. The incarnation blesses the world because God loves the world and always has. Jesus was not created for the world. The world was created for Jesus. Continue reading “In the beginning was the word”
Namaste
This video captures what is in my heart for the whole earth and all of heaven too. Namaste, the ancient Sanskrit greeting literally means, “I bow to the divine in you.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgNJ7cgDVs]
Peace is every step..
I came across this video while searching for peace videos on Youtube. There is some footage of Claude Anshin Thomas of whom I wrote the other day. There is some of Thich Nhat Hanh and others who are committed to peace.
I am committing what’s left of my life to stopping war and working for peace. Our politicians don’t have the stomach but perhaps you and I do. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpyWD7y84ms]
“The truth is the truth, even when you are a minority of one”–Gandhi