Racism can often be found in our hearts—in many cases placed there unwillingly or unknowingly by our upbringing and culture. As such, it can lead to thoughts and actions that we do not even see as racist, but nonetheless flow from the same prejudicial root. Consciously or subconsciously, this attitude of superiority can be seen in how certain groups of people are vilified, called criminals, or are perceived as being unable to contribute to society, even unworthy of its benefits. Racism can also be institutional, when practices or traditions are upheld that treat certain groups of people unjustly. The cumulative effects of personal sins of racism have led to social structures of injustice and violence.
Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love - A Pastoral Letter Against Racism developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church (USCCB) and approved by the full body of bishops as a formal statement of the same.
*Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect
Friday, Apr 16, 2021
EASTER WEEKDAY
A God of his word
Poor communication is the main reason relationships fail. If it isn’t clear what is being promised, then it is easy to become disillusioned when expectations aren’t met. People who lose faith in God often point to God’s untrustworthiness: They asked for something and didn’t receive it. Hence, they conclude that God is not to be trusted. But remember the promise of God is love. Look around; wherever you see love—even a love lost—you see God’s promise fulfilled. As Saint Augustine put it: “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of others.” Help embody God’s love today.
TODAY'S READINGS: Acts 5:34-42; John 6:1-15. “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
#takefiveforfaith
Gospel
John 6:1-15
Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.
A large crowd followed him,
because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
Jesus went up on the mountain,
and there he sat down with his disciples.
The Jewish feast of Passover was near.
When Jesus raised his eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in that place.
So the men reclined, about five thousand in number.
Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks,
and distributed them to those who were reclining,
and also as much of the fish as they wanted.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples,
“Gather the fragments left over,
so that nothing will be wasted.”
So they collected them,
and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments
from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said,
“This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.”
Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off
to make him king,
he withdrew again to the mountain alone. #dailyingodsword
Love this🙏
Racism comes in many forms. It can be seen in deliberate, sinful acts. In recent times, we have seen bold expressions of racism by groups as well as individuals.y Racial profiling frequently targets Hispanics for selective immigration enforcement practices, and African Americans, for suspected criminal activity. There is also the growing harassment of persons from Asian and majority Muslim countries. Extreme nationalist ideologies are feeding the American public discourse with xenophobic rhetoric. Finally, too often racism comes in the form of the sin of omission, when individuals, communities, and even churches remain silent and fail to act against racial injustice when it is encountered.
Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love - A Pastoral Letter Against Racism developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church (USCCB) and approved by the full body of bishops as a formal statement of the same. *Part of a sequential daily series to read and reflect
I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the one who takes refuge in him.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
-Psalm 34 #dailyingodsword
Every day, Lord,
you give me all the help I need:
to do what you call me to do,
to say what you call me to say,
to mend what you call me to mend,
to comfort whom you call me to comfort,
to go where you call me to go,
to stop when you call me to stop
to help whom you call me to help,
and to pray as you call me to pray...
Every day, you give me all the help I need
to live the life you call me to live,
so open my mind and my heart
to the grace you offer today day
- especially when I need it the most...
Amen.
I trust in you Lord🙏
Racism occurs because a person ignores the fundamental truth that, because all humans share a common origin, they are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God. When this truth is ignored, the consequence is prejudice and fear of the other, and—all too often—hatred. Cain forgets this truth in his hatred of his brother. Recall the words in the First Letter of John: “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him” (1 Jn 3:15). Racism shares in the same evil that moved Cain to kill his brother. It arises from suppressing the truth that his brother Abel was also created in the image of God, a human equal to himself. Every racist act—every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity, or place of origin—is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God. In these and in many other such acts, the sin of racism persists in our lives, in our country, and in our world.
-Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love - A Pastoral Letter Against Racism developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church (USCCB) and approved by the full body of bishops as a formal statement of the same.
This is Anne Sullivan, teacher. How humble that description seems, yet how noble and self-giving a vocation.
For Anne, who was Catholic, it was a calling she fought hard to fulfill, ultimately coming to fruition as she lead the young Helen Keller, who lived with both deafness and blindness, from the darkness of her world.
Today is Sullivan’s birthday - a fitting prompt to express our gratitude to our teachers, recognizing the difficult path that they and their students continue to navigate through this pandemic. 🙏❤️
📷Anne Sullivan with her student Helen Keller
MOTHER’S DAY
Mother’s Day is May 9th. Masses will be offered for Mothers on Mother’s Day through May 12th. If you would like your mother, living or deceased, to be remembered in the Mass intentions please add their names to the envelopes which are available near the doors of the church and in the Ministry Center and return in the Sunday collection or the Ministry Center.
Wednesday, Apr 14, 2021
EASTER WEEKDAY
Let your life be your witness
How do you live your faith? Some days may be harder than others, but rarely, if ever nowadays, will the effort to be a faithful follower of Jesus land someone in jail or cost them their life. Yet that was the fate of the early disciples who insisted on proclaiming the stories of Jesus’ life, death, and rising. There are 20th-century martyrs as well (Blessed Stanley Rother, Sister Dorothy Stang SNDdeN, the martyrs of El Salvador among others), but faith calls all of us to kindness to all people, fairness in the face of injustice, trust in God’s promised Spirit, and a constant willingness to see the face of God in our neighbors. Do people recognize you as a follower of Jesus by the way you live?
TODAY'S READINGS: Acts 5:17-26; John 3:16-21. “The men whom you put in prison are in the temple area and are teaching the people.”
#takefiveforfaith
