3rd Sunday of Easter
Friends,
How has your week been? There are a lot of feelings in the air following the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden: sadness, jubilation, hope, relief, confusion. For me, remembering all the deaths these past ten years, those terrible deaths on September 11, 2001, and all the deaths in the wars since, the children, families, soldiers, so many many lives ended by violence and hatred and fear and now the death of bin Laden, well, as one of the young men who went to El Salvador with Eli and me said, it makes my heart hurt.
But there is something that has given me hope, as well. On Monday, person after person posted on facebook, "I can't rejoice in the death of anyone." That's God's response! "As I live, says the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live." (Ezekiel 33:11) God is always hoping that we will turn around and embrace life. God is love, remember, and we know what St Paul said about love: that it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and it never gives up. That needs to be our attitude with each other: don't ever give up on anybody. Ever. The deepest desire of God is for healing and life for all of us! No matter what we've done.
It was a beautiful thing, to read so many people expressing their confusion and pain as they watched people celebrating, and struggled with their mixed feelings of relief and sadness. I see the presence of God in our collective inner conflict, our struggle to know what is right. May that struggle lead us into the light.
Martin Luther King said, "The chain reaction of evil--hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars--must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." My prayer following the death of bin Laden is to break that chain reaction in my own heart. May all of us break the cycle of hate and revenge and turn our minds and hearts to finding ways to bring peace. It is possible but each of us must turn from death to life in our own lives and hearts, and we must also do it together. Life! May there be life, and love, and healing for all. Amen!
We took some steps toward life and healing here in Rochester last week, walking with Myra Brown, Roseanne Fabi and Mike Bleeg as they led us to various sites around downtown to talk with community leaders about racism. Walks like that do make a difference. They make each of us who participate more aware and more committed to change. They help to bring the conversation out into the open. For me as an educated white middle class woman, that walk helped me to be more aware of the privileges I take for granted, the acceptance that comes my way every time I walk into a store or a hospital the privilege that is part of the air I breathe. Thank you, Myra, Roseanne and Mike, for your leadership!
This past Sunday about ten people gathered in front of the Cathedral to demonstrate support for Fr Roy Bourgeois and for the ordination of women. It was a peaceful and friendly demonstration and I'm grateful to Marilu Aguilar who organized it. It was for me a good way to mark the first anniversary of my ordination. I love being a priest and am grateful, grateful, grateful for every opportunity to serve --- and for this lovely community, Saint Romero's.
If you would like to join Mary Wilkins and me on Wednesday mornings at 8am at Pat's Coffee Mug on Clinton Ave, to eat breakfast and practice speaking Spanish, you are most welcome!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction."
Martin Luther King, Jr
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Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
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