Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
From the Center for Action and Contemplation
Week Twenty-four: "Justice"
"Cultivating Justice"Thursday, June 14, 2018
Jack Jezreel describes three additional essential aspects of following Jesus and creating a world of justice and peace. [1]
Take Time to Pray
. . . Prayer is a way of connecting with our source. It is about being centered, grounded, mindful of the holy, the presence of the sacred and the precious. . . . Prayer can help us to connect with the poor with open eyes and hearts. It is prayer that can allow us to educate with patience, love and understanding. It is prayer that can enable us to move to a simpler lifestyle. And it is prayer that will allow us to do this with conviction and joy.
And whether or not we pray is as obvious as whether or not we have put our clothes on. For example, the compulsive, frantic, angry, cynical, unintegrated rambling from project to project—even from peace project to peace project—may speak of good intentions, but also of an uneasy and untended inner life. It is possible . . . to do much harm because we have not taken the time to pray. . . .
Commitment to Nonviolence
. . . Violence is awful. Violence is ugly. Violence is the saddest of human acts. As [Pope] John Paul stated, “War is a defeat for humanity.” [2] . . . It is so very difficult to lead people into a willing critique of their politics, their country, their allegiances, without some awareness of how violence is so often the handmaid of greed and power. . . .
We are nonviolent, not because we simply eschew violence; rather, we are nonviolent because we are people who love like Jesus. When our lives are active and occupied in the name of doing good, there is little space for violence and doing harm.
Community
. . . Community is the most neglected and probably the most difficult ingredient for us to hold to in the U.S. context. And for the most obvious of reasons—we have come to worship at the altar of independence, individualism and autonomy. As much as there is a deep hunger for connection, common purpose, and kindred hearts, there is a merciless, deep-rooted entrenchment in the forces of competition, freedom and self-rule. . . .
As you might guess, when I say community I do not mean the bowling community, or even the church bowling community. Rather, I mean a community that makes very intentional commitments, including those I have mentioned so far: engagement with those of the margins, justice education or formation, simplicity, prayer, and peacemaking. [3]
[In closing,] we must imagine what God’s peace and justice look like on this earth, and we must begin the work of crafting structures, institutions, human realities that are the antithesis to division, hate, greed and scarcity, that anticipate and cultivate justice and goodness and peace.
Gateway to Presence: If you want to go deeper with today’s meditation, take note of what word or phrase stands out to you. Come back to that word or phrase throughout the day, being present to its impact and invitation.
***
[1] See the first three ingredients in Peace and Justice work, https://cac.org/justice-with-peace-2018-06-13/.[2] Pope John Paul II, Speech to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See (January 13, 2003), http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/2003/january/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20030113_diplomatic-corps.html.
[3] For more on Community, see Richard Rohr, https://cac.org/community-weekly-summary-2018-05-12/.
Jack Jezreel, “Culturing Peace in a Culture of Violence,” Phase 4, Session 19 of the JustFaith 2017-18 Program, https://justfaith.org/.
Image credit: Memorial Corridor at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice(detail), Montgomery, Alabama (800 six-feet-tall hanging steel monuments, one for each county where a lynching took place, with the names of the victims engraved on them).
***
Thank you for being part of CAC’s contemplative community. You are one of 289,248 readers worldwide (as of June 2018).
News from the CAC
Job Opening: Executive Assistant
As the Center for Action and Contemplation grows, we're looking for an experienced Executive Assistant to support our Executive Director, Director of Finance & Operations, and Board of Directors. The ideal candidate has a servant's heart and the skills to organize and anticipate needs before they arise to allow our Executives to focus on their essential work. Take a look at the position and, if it feels like a fit, apply today!
If this isn't the position for you, we need your help connecting us with the right person. Do you know someone who's greatest joy and talent might meet our needs? Share the job posting with them!
See additional job openings at https://cac.org/about-cac/job-openings/.
"Image and Likeness"
2018 Daily Meditations Theme
God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)
Richard Rohr explores places in which God’s presence has often been ignored or assumed absent. God’s “image” is our inherent identity in and union with God, an eternal essence that cannot be destroyed. “Likeness” is our personal embodiment of that inner divine image that we have the freedom to develop—or not—throughout our lives. Though we differ in likeness, the imago Dei persists and shines through all created things.
Over the course of this year’s Daily Meditations, discover opportunities to incarnate love in your unique context by unveiling the Image and Likeness of God in all that you see and do.
Each week builds on previous topics, but you can join at any time! Click the video to learn more about the theme and to find meditations you may have missed.
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations are made possible through the generosity of CAC's donors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation.
If you would like to change how often you receive emails from CAC, click here. If you would like to change your email address, click here. Visit our Email Subscription FAQ page for more information. Submit an inquiry here for additional assistance.
Inspiration for this week’s banner image: Our nation’s history of racial injustice casts a shadow across the American landscape. This shadow cannot be lifted until we shine the light of truth on the destructive violence that shaped our nation, traumatized people of color, and compromised our commitment to the rule of law and to equal justice. (Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director, The Equal Justice Initiative)
© 2018 | Center for Action and Contemplation
Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
***
No comments:
Post a Comment