Lose

Your
Life
to
Save
It
Reflections for
Lent 2019

By Dr. Alex Mikulich & Mary T. Yelenick

Published by Pax Christi USA
Lose Your Life to Save It
Reflections for Lent 2019
Copyright © 2019 Pax Christi USA
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Bible quotes have been updated for inclusive language.

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 Introduction
Dear Companions on the Journey,

Parents often remark that their children grow

up so quickly. However true that may be, no
child has grown up any faster than Jesus. Sixty
-five days ago we celebrated his birth as a
human child and now, in this short space of
less than 10 weeks’ time, he is 30+ years old and facing his
imminent death!

Life does go by quickly by adult standards and it is what we

do between our moment of birth and the mystery of death
that makes all the difference.

 Are we exercising good self-care?

 Are we living with grateful hearts for each new day?
 Are we nourishing that hunger for God that is embedded
deep inside us?
 Are we listening more than talking?
 Are our comfort zones too comfortable?
 Are we open to being transformed?
 Do our actions for peace with justice match what we pray
for?
 When was the last time I acted in such a way simply
because the Gospel demands it?
 Instead of bemoaning how different life is now than in the
past, do I ask myself how I have changed over those years?

These are but a few questions that I offer to all of us as we

begin our Lenten journey.

Know that we make this quest together, praying, encouraging

and affirming each other in the ways of nonviolent peace.

Sr. Patricia Chappell, SNDdeN

Executive Director

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 About the Authors
Alex Mikulich is a Roman Catholic social ethicist
and devotes his scholarship and activism to address
white privilege and racism in the Catholic Church
and society. He is co-author of “The Scandal of
White Complicity in U.S. Hyper-Incarceration: A
Nonviolent Spirituality of White
Resistance” (Palgrave, 2013 and 2015). He co-
edited and contributed to “Interrupting White Privilege: Catholic
Theologians Break the Silence” (Orbis, 2007) which won the 2008
Theological Book of the Year from the College Theology Society.
Alex served the Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team (PCART) from 2008
through 2015. He serves as a racial equity consultant for
educational programs and faith-based organizations. Each of Alex’s
reflections will be notated with “A.M.” to signify his authorship.

Mary T. Yelenick is a current member of the

Pax Christi USA Anti-Racism Team and is
presently serving as the team leader of the Pax
Christi International NGO Delegation to the United
Nations in New York. Mary credits her parents,
particularly her mother Maesel, with opening her
eyes at an early age to issues of anti-racism,
feminism, and social justice. Mary obtained her undergraduate
degree, magna cum laude from Colorado College in political science
with an emphasis on Latin America. She subsequently obtained her
law degree cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center;
clerked for two years at the Superior Court in Washington, D.C.;
then, practiced civil litigation for more than three decades as a
partner at a major law firm in Manhattan. Mary has served on the
boards of NETWORK, the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby and
Pax Christi Metro New York. Mary’s areas of focus at the United
Nations include the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
and nonviolence. She was privileged to attend the 2017 Vatican
conference on nuclear weapons as part of the Pax Christi delegation
for the UN. Mary is deeply grateful for the many ways her family,
spouse—Elizabeth, friends (including members of Pax Christi,
PCART, Plowshares, NETWORK, Jonah House, Witness Against
Torture, SOAW, the Catholic Worker, and others), UN colleagues
and mentors, and other individuals working for peace have opened
her eyes to injustice, and modeled ways of peace. Each of Mary’s
reflections will be notated with “M.T.Y.” to signify her authorship.

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 Ash Wednesday
March 6, 2019
Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

“Rend your hearts, not your garments.” Joel 2:13

We live in a time of “darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick

darkness [sic]” (JL 2:2). Our time is laden with the gloom of
corruption and breakdown in too many societal institutions. When
Joel calls the people to “rend your hearts, not your garments” he is
calling for an interiority, a contemplative orientation to God that
prepares us to open ourselves to how God transforms injustice into
peace. The Gospel of Matthew underscores this countercultural call
to contemplation when Jesus says, to put it in modern language,
“don’t make public theater out of prayer.” In other words, don’t
perform before God. Just be before God as simply and honestly as
you can. This is the disposition that prepares us to pray the prayer
Jesus gave us (MT 6:9-15) and practice almsgiving, prayer, and
fasting whereby God transforms our hearts from gloom to joy.

What helps you to be fully present before God as simply and honestly
as you can? (A.M.)

Thursday, March 7
Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Luke 9:22-25

“For whoever wishes to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses
their life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9:24

Jesus’s admonition to lose our life for his sake ought to remind us of
the Devil’s second temptation in the desert (Lk 4:6) to give Jesus all
power, glory, and dominion over the world. Jesus’ words go to the
heart of what it means to live nonviolently in ways that reject what
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. condemned as the triple evils of
militarism, capitalism, and racism. The countercultural call to
contemplative interiority that God calls us to in yesterday’s
readings needs to be joined with an equally countercultural public
witness that stands apart from the worldly success our culture so
seductively lures us into every day. For it is that desire for worldly
success in power, stature, position, and profit that fuels the violent
will to dominate others. Jesus calls us to an entirely different
spiritual and moral imagination that shifts our entire way of living
to solidarity with those who are oppressed in any way, including
the tiniest creatures that support local ecosystems throughout the
planet.
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How can I live my life to be more compassionate and present to the
suffering of others? (A.M.)

Friday, March 8
Isaiah 58:1-9; Matthew 9:14-15

“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with

them?” Luke 9:15

In my beloved home of New Orleans, the parades and celebrations

of Carnival end at midnight at the end of Mardi Gras. That midnight
moment is ritualized by a group of mounted New Orleans police
who theatrically clear Bourbon Street of revelers as the police
announce that “Carnival is over. It is the start of Lent and Ash
Wednesday.” A sharp contrast is struck at midnight between the
drunken revelry of Mardi Gras and the call to embrace Ash
Wednesday. Yet, too often Lent is misconstrued as a time to be
glum. Rather, as Jesus reminds us in Luke 9:15, we ought to be
living the joy of Christ’s presence within us and between all in God’s
beloved creation. This is why Pope Francis urges us to live the joy
of the Gospel even in the midst of Lent (see Evangelii Gaudium, #6).
Indeed, the way of the cross that we embrace in Lent is the way of
God’s love transforming us into the fullness of a renewed Easter
life.

How do your Lenten practices prepare you to embody the joy of the
Gospel? (A.M.)

Saturday, March 9
Isaiah 58: 9b-14; Luke 5:27-32

“‘Repairers of the breach’ they shall call you, ‘Restorer of ruined

dwellings.’” Isaiah 58:12

Inspired by the prophet Isaiah, a new movement called “Repairers

of the Breach” took shape in 2016 under the leadership of the Rev.
Dr. William J. Barber, II and the Rev. Dr. James Forbes, Jr. Drawing
upon Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for a moral revolution of values
and his leadership of the Poor People’s Campaign during the last
year of his life in1968, Repairers of the Breach published a “Higher
Ground Moral Declaration,” that outlines a national moral agenda
for 2018 and beyond. This social justice agenda includes voting
rights, poverty and economic justice, workers’ rights, education,
environmental justice, immigrant rights, criminal justice, LGBTQ

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rights, and ending war-mongering militarism. Like the tax collector
Levi (Luke 5:27-28) we are called to repair the many political and
moral breaches in our society by co-creating a lavish banquet
whereby all God’s people may fully thrive.

How am I participating in communal faith efforts to repair the moral,

political, economic, environmental, and spiritual breaches in our
society? (A.M.)

First Sunday of Lent

March 10, 2019
Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

“All of this will be yours if you worship me.” Luke 4:7

Too often we forget that the United States is a white settler colonial
nation. We forget how this historical reality shapes basic
assumptions about the organization of time and space. It is a white
settler colonial state that led to the evictions, forced migrations, and
genocide of First Peoples. An internal colonial mindset shapes the
assumptions that all Americans are “immigrants” while too many
forget the history of genocide and slavery. Theologian Willie James
Jennings traces intimate historical connections between Christian
colonialism, abuse of First Peoples, and alienation from the land. He
notes the painful irony of how North Americans seek out First
Peoples to reconnect with the earth. When European colonists
stepped upon lands they assumed that they “discovered,” they were
ignorant of the fact that they were seen as both stepping on the skin
of the world and the skin of First Peoples. European colonists
walked as if “all of this will be yours,” fulfilling the temptation of the
Devil in Luke 4:7. As a capitalist society, we live as if “all of this” will
be ours while we forget that God sent Jesus “to proclaim liberty to
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed
go free (Luke 4:18).” Liberating ourselves from the assumptions of
a white settler mindset is integral to preparing ourselves for Easter
liberation.

What might be ways we can question and challenge the colonialist

assumptions of our culture that run counter to the Gospel? (A.M.)

Monday, March 11
Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18; Matthew 25:31-46

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 “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.” Matthew
25:35-36

Too often in American culture this Gospel is misconstrued by

reducing Matthew 25 to a purely individual ethic. That reduction
precisely misses the context of God’s judgment of the nations in
Matthew 25:31-32. Contrary to those who argue that “government
is the problem,” I know how a national institution practices
Matthew 25 beautifully. I recently spent time at the Royal Trinity
Hospice in London where my dear sister lived the last days of her
life. I was deeply touched in my heart and soul by the attentiveness,
compassion, professional care, and love that was demonstrated by
all nurses and staff during the last weeks of my sister’s life. The
great depth of their humanity and kindness demonstrates God’s
presence in the midst of a cold, uncaring world. This is the National
Health Service, not a privately paid service. We ought to live up to
Matthew 25 by creating governmental institutions that practice
loving care for all members of society in education, health care,
housing, and the criminal justice system.

How can I/we help to restore, renew, and repair governmental

institutions to live up to the social justice imperatives of Matthew 25?
(A.M.)

Tuesday, March 12
Isaiah 55:10-11; Matthew 6:7-15

“Your kindom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Matthew 6:10

Too often, it seems to me, we forget how the prayer Jesus gave us
concerns a collaborative, collective work of the faith community to
make God’s love and justice real, here and now. Another way that
linguists and biblical scholars translate Matthew 6:10 is: “Let what
you (God) have intended be so fully realized through us that every
moment, every place on earth is called heaven.” Rather than being
other-worldly or disconnected from daily life, this prayer calls
people of faith to collaborate with God and each other in the
collective work of making God’s loving presence become fully real
right here, right now. This is the work of following the way of the
cross, and it means focusing every fiber of our body, mind, heart,

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and soul to communicate God’s loving presence where we are here
and now.

How do I and we collaborate to make God’s kindom be on earth as it

is in heaven? (A.M.)

Wednesday, March 13
Jonah 3:1-10; Luke 11:29-32

“Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites so will the Son of Man be
to this generation.” Luke 11:30

While we like to think of ourselves as modern, that is, evolved

beyond ancient and medieval biases, Luke’s Gospel disrupts our
conceit. Not unlike the people of Ninevah or the people whom Jesus
addressed, we want proof of God’s existence. When we seek proof
or want a savior to make everything right in an instant, Jesus says
we are getting it all wrong. We have experienced a preacher far
greater than Jonah in Jesus, yet we still desire proofs and miracles
and great leaders who will make everything right. In other words,
wisdom far greater than Solomon or any of the prophets has been
revealed to us in Jesus, yet we still argue over evidence and tend to
assume we are in control. Against the way of Christian nonviolence,
we still hedge our bets on Jesus and put our trust in military power
to save us from the evil in the world.

What prevents me and us from wholly turning ourselves over to the

nonviolent wisdom of Jesus’s nonviolent love? (A.M.)

Thursday, March 14
Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25; Matthew 7:7-12

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the
law and the prophets.”
Matthew 7:12

In Black Catholic parishes we practice a call and response that

communicates the gift and grace of God in today’s Gospel. The call
and response is simple, clear, and powerful: God is good--All the
time--All the time--God is good. Yet our sinfulness is evident
both in the very best treatment we offer our children and in the
multiple ways our society gives stones instead of bread and snakes
instead of fish. Recent examples of social sinfulness include the
Flint water crisis in which state government officials knew that

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they were shifting from a clean source of water to the highly
contaminated Flint river. Another example is the Environmental
Protection Agency gutting clean air and clean water rules in order
to increase profits for fossil fuel companies. But even when we are
at our best giving our children all the goods they need to fully thrive
we fall short of God’s goodness. We should realize that the God who
conceived us in love is better than we can ever imagine. God always
lavishes good even to sinners. This is why we should always take
the initiative to do the good that we want others to do for us. The
strength and power of nonviolent love is that God is the ever-
present source for us to be the gift of God’s love in a wounded
world. All the time. God is good.

How can I and we practice the refreshing gratuitousness of God’s love

for others today? (A.M.)

Friday, March 15
Ezekiel 18:21-28; Matthew 5:20-26

“I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Scribes and
Pharisees, you will not enter into the Kindom of Heaven.” Matthew
5:20

Practicing nonviolence in the tradition of the Sermon on the Mount

is tricky. We need to be able to make judgments about good and
evil. However, in U.S. American culture we tend to live by deeply
held biases that equate whiteness with innocence and blackness
with criminality. Too often, sadly, our society has become painfully
punitive against people who are black, brown, and/or poor. Study
after study shows that punitive policies only intensify cycles of
violence. In fact, the punitiveness of our criminal justice system
goes far beyond courts, jails, and prisons into the earliest stages of
our school system, known as the “school to prison pipeline.” In The
Scandal of White Complicity in U.S. Hyper-Incarceration: A
Nonviolent Spirituality of White Resistance, my co-authors and I
articulate a way to practice nonviolent resistance based upon the
Sermon on the Mount. We argue that a key starting point for
practicing nonviolence is recognizing the depth and breadth of the
ways our society is imprisoned by a racial hierarchy of whiteness
over blackness.

How might I/we be imprisoned to violent assumptions of our

dominant society? (A.M.)

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 Saturday, March 16
Deuteronomy 26:16-19; Matthew 5:43-48

“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute
you.” Matthew 5:44

The acid test of Gospel nonviolence is whether or not and how we

love our perceived enemies. Loving people who have been
maligned as “enemies” begins with good intention but that alone is
insufficient. We can’t say we love our Syrian brothers and sisters as
the U.S. military supports bombing that has destroyed whole
communities and demolished any hope for survivors to reclaim lost
homes. We can’t say we love Black people and not risk our lives to
end multiple forms of violence perpetrated against Black people
every day. We can’t say we love migrants and allow the U.S.
government to separate parents from their children or make young
migrant children defend themselves in court. Prophets of
nonviolence like Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi witness to the reality
that we can love the people we think are our enemies because God
does. Love of enemy illustrates the central reality of the whole of
God’s creation: God gives the sun to warm and the rain to nourish
everyone, and God’s all inclusive love embraces all people and so
can we. Put in another way, our lust for domination is what
provokes a deep sense of separation from others and thus creates
the perception of “enemies,” but Love teaches us that there is no
difference between “us” and “them” for we all desperately need one
another. We are inextricably interconnected with everyone both in
good and evil; in recognizing and forging this connection more
deeply we all will be redeemed.

How do I/we nourish love for those whom we consider enemies?

(A.M.)

Second Sunday of Lent

March 17, 2019
Genesis 15:5-12; Philippians 3:20-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36

“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” Luke 9:35

The transfiguration of Jesus is both divine affirmation of the power

and glory of Jesus and a reminder of our need to be humble before
God. Too often our daily practical routines dull us to God’s presence
within and all around us. Cell phones and many other devices
distract us from noticing the gentle power and grace of God. It is

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very easy to forget that the most important time we spend each day
is orienting ourselves to God. Silencing ourselves and allowing our
whole self to listen to God takes time, energy, and focus. Too often
in conversation with another person we begin to formulate and
speak our thoughts before the other person even has a chance to
finish what they were saying. We seek control and the initiative of
speaking rather than being truly present. We cannot approach God
in this way, or we may miss the opportunity to truly listen to what
God is telling us. Listening to God’s chosen Son means turning
ourselves over humbly and entirely to be available for Christ to lead
and guide us on the Way.

How do I/we quiet ourselves to listen to God’s chosen Son? (A.M.)

Monday, March 18
Daniel 9:4b-10; Luke 6:36-38.

“Be merciful as your heavenly Parent is merciful.” Luke 6:36

This verse is the whole of the Gospel encapsulated in one sentence.

Be compassionate as God is compassionate. The English word
“mercy” does not fully communicate the metaphor that Jesus spoke.
The biblical scholar Marcus Borg explains that the Hebrew word for
compassion in its singular form means a woman’s womb. Jesus uses
the metaphor of God as a merciful Parent to introduce something
entirely new. Whereas the Pharisees and Sadducees were oriented
to the law and enforced the rules created to maintain the power of
religious and political elites, Jesus breaks open the moral and
spiritual imagination of the people. When Jesus speaks of God as
being compassionate he evokes an image of the whole of creation as
being like a woman’s womb. Rather than being fundamentally
oriented to rules, the God of Jesus Christ calls us to the gift of
intimate love. God feels compassion for all God has created and acts
out of that love; we too are called to nurture a depth of love within
ourselves that we feel in our womb or our gut. But that is not all.
Living the Gospel is not just about feeling. Being compassionate as
God is compassionate means both feeling the love within and acting
upon that love for all others in how we live our lives. The image of
God being like a woman’s womb invites us to care for the whole of
God’s creation with intimate care and concern for the tiniest
creatures, the air we breathe, and the earth we walk upon.

How do I daily orient myself to be compassionate as God is

compassionate? (A.M.)

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 Tuesday, March 19
2 Samuel 7:4-5A, 12-14A, 16; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22; Luke 2:41-
51A

“Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been
looking for you with great anxiety.” Luke 2:48

While many people associate the parades of Mardi Gras with New
Orleans, the city I live in, my favorite celebration is the Feast of
Saint Joseph. Parishes throughout southeast Louisiana create
elaborate altars honoring Saint Joseph that include an abundance of
Italian bread, fava beans, fruit, and a variety of Italian cookies.
These altars celebrate how Joseph is fully present to the abundance
of God’s love in the Holy Family. As Pope Francis put it in his
reflection on the Feast of Saint Joseph in 2013, Joseph is our
“protector,” because he heard God’s voice and was open to guidance
from the Spirit. I especially relate to Saint Joseph as an adoptive
father because he is so deeply sensitive to all the people entrusted
to his care. And Saint Joseph has helped me to understand God as
our parent and how we too, can cause “great anxiety (Luke 2:48)”
for God. Luke’s Gospel also conveys how Mary and Joseph were
practically pulling their hair out in frustration as they pursued their
search for their son whom they feared was lost. Joseph’s loving
kindness and contemplative sensitivity for Mary and Jesus is
precisely the attitude we need to face multiple forms of violence in
our world, including ecological devastation.

How do I accept guidance from Saint Joseph to deepen in loving

kindness and contemplative sensitivity? (A.M.)

Wednesday, March 20
Jeremiah 18:18-20; Matthew 20:17-28

“Just so, Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28

Today’s readings remind us that following in the Way of Jesus

involves sacrifice and risk of our lives for the sake of love and
justice in the midst of empire. In our modern U.S. global empire, it is
very easy to succumb to the temptations and pleasures of a
consumerist society. If we become too comfortable we easily forget
that we are attempting to live the Gospel in the midst of an
inherently violent global U.S. empire. People of color, people who

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are poor or in any way vulnerable, women, people who are
disabled, First Peoples, migrants, and the entire ecological web of
creation are constantly trampled underfoot by U.S. empire.
Matthew’s Gospel reminds us that we too are called to become
prophets like Jesus whose witness ultimately means giving our
entire lives for God’s love and liberation.

Am I/are we spiritually prepared to be betrayed, mocked, and

possibly crucified for God’s way of love? (A.M.)

Thursday, March 21
Jeremiah 17:5-10; Luke 16:19-31

“If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets neither will they be
persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.” Luke 16:31

In 2015, the top one percent in the United States made as much
income as the bottom 99 percent according to the Economic Policy
Institute. A family needed an annual income of over $421,000 to be
in the top one percent, while nearly 30 million American children
face the risks of poverty, including lack of proper nourishment and
health care. About one third of all U.S. workers are living paycheck
to paycheck. Meanwhile, nearly half of the world—over 3 billion
people—live on less than $2.50 per day. The reality in which
Lazarus lives to “eat the crumbs off the rich man’s table” is a global
reality that is exacerbated by extreme consumerism and military
expenditures in the United States. As Pope Francis explains in his
encyclical on caring for our common home of the earth, Laudato Si,
the global environment is crying out for us to live a prophetic and
contemplative lifestyle (#222) that will enable all forms of life to
thrive for generations to come.

How do I and we continue to shift our lifestyle so that all creatures

may enjoy the abundance of the earth for generations to come? (A.M.)

Friday, March 22
Genesis 37: 3-4, 12-13A, 17B-28A; Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46

“Therefore I say to you the kingdom of God will be taken from you
and given to a nation producing its fruits.” Matthew 21:43

The story of the greedy farmhands contrasts the sinfulness of

empire especially in how people tend to live egocentrically and are
blind to the violence we commit to gain more and more land,

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power, and riches. Too often we are unaware of how people most
vulnerable in the world suffer the most devastating impacts of U.S.
military power and arms sales (study, for example, reports of the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute). Many in the
United States, including our most powerful elected leaders, enact
policies that exacerbate economic and social divisions, shift more
public revenues toward the affluent, while those who are poor and/
or vulnerable suffer from punitive policies in the criminal justice,
health, education, and housing systems. Matthew’s Jesus is blunt:
the issue is not whether or not you claim to be religious, the issue is
who will live out the values of God’s kindom of love. The people
who are blessed by God (MT 25:31-46) are nations who live
compassionately towards brothers and sisters who are hungry,
homeless, imprisoned, sick, or suffering any form of oppression.

How am I/are we creating God’s kindom of love locally and globally?

(A.M.)

Saturday, March 23
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:2

Table fellowship with sinners is a central feature of Jesus’s ministry

and discipleship in the first century. “Sinners” in first century
Palestine were not people whom modern Christianity assigns
subjective guilt to; rather, they were whole groups of social
outcasts who did not live up the Holiness Code (Leviticus 11:44-45
and 19:2) held by religious elites. Biblical scholar Walter Wink (see
Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of
Domination) explains that Jesus distinguishes between people who
were in fact victims of an oppressive system and people who were
true sinners because they sinned from the heart (Mark 7:21-23). By
welcoming and dining with sinners, Jesus enacts an entirely new
way of thinking about God. God is not concerned with clean and
unclean but rather loves the marginalized and rejected. God
passionately, tenderly cares for those who are in any way despised,
uninvited, or unloved. The way churches enact racial segregation
on Sundays and the ways American institutions perform anti-
blackness are contemporary examples of what Jesus rejects. Our
homes, places of worship, and all institutions ought to reflect the
inclusive hospitality of Christ Jesus.

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How do I and we witness to Jesus in welcoming people who are in any
way despised in our society? (A.M.)

Third Sunday of Lent

March 24, 2019
Exodus 3:1-8A, 13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9

“But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.”
Luke 13:3

The demand of discipleship to turn away from sin and turn toward
God is, perhaps, unprecedented in the need to turn away from
attitudes, habits, and ways of living that run counter both to the
Gospel and caring for God’s creation. In its latest report, the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global
authority for assessing the science related to climate change,
warned that the global environment is in a far more precarious
situation than previously thought. “Limiting global warming to 1.5
degrees Celsius would require rapid, far-reaching and
unprecedented changes in all aspects of society,” said the Chair of
the IPCC, Mr. Hoesung Lee at the October 2018 release of the
report. Co-Chair Hans Otto Portner continued to explain that “Every
bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5C or higher
increases the risk associated with long-lasting or irreversible
changes such as loss of some ecosystems.” Turning to God at this
point in history involves radical changes in how we care for the one
earth that sustains all life. The Catholic Climate Covenant,
www.catholicclimatecovenant.org, provides a wealth of
information, resources, and organizing tools to help us individually
and collectively take steps to limit and stop human destruction of
the one global climate that sustains all of life as we know it. There is
no time to despair. Now is a time to join in movements that
radically change our way of living for the sake of the one earth we
share in God’s love.

How am I working to reduce my household’s carbon footprint? How

am I contributing to larger efforts, like that of the Catholic Climate
Covenant and others that address the larger sources of climate
change? (A.M.)

Solemnity of the Annunciation

March 25, 2019
Isaiah 7:10-14, 8-10; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38

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 “May it be done to me according to your word.” Luke 1:38

On the Feast of the Annunciation, the Church celebrates God’s

infinite power, Mary’s unique role in salvation history, and her
holiness. I am most attracted to Mary’s openness and availability to
God. If I am honest though, I fear her openness too, because I fear
losing my freedom in that kind of relationship with God. In fact,
however, making ourselves available and open to God’s
providential guidance is how we may yet fulfill our deepest
vocations. When we open ourselves to God’s personal call, we
develop our own understanding of God, and we allow God to heal
wounds within us and the whole world. Our Mother Mary, source of
Wisdom, gently guides us towards fulfilling our unique calling to
participate in God’s redemption of the whole of creation, but we
have to remain open and available to God.

How do I nurture a relationship with Mary and openness to follow

God’s call? (A.M.)

Tuesday, March 26
Daniel 3:25, 34-43; Matthew 18:21-35

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Luke 18:22

Like the call to love enemies, the call to always be forgiving is

perhaps the most difficult part of discipleship. We tend to be much
like Peter when we wonder: how many times should we forgive
someone who sins against us? We calculate whether or not
forgiveness is worth the loss of pride or humility it will take to
forgive. We calculate whether or not forgiveness will help people
whom we might forgive. Sometimes I find myself wondering how I
could ever forgive someone who sinned against me in an egregious,
life-changing way. Yet again, the way Jesus answers Peter entirely
flips our egocentric way of thinking upside down. Jesus is
essentially saying that forgiveness is incalculable, and we must
always forgive because that is the very nature of God’s love.
Conversely, if we are not forgiving or if we calculate who and how
to forgive, then we harden our hearts and entirely miss the way of
God’s love and justice.

What grudges or judgment do I hold of myself or others? How do I ask

Jesus to help me always approach others and myself with loving
forgiveness? (A.M.)

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 Wednesday, March 27
Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9; Matthew 5:17-19

“I have come not to abolish the law but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17

Sadly, too much of Christian history has been a story of rejecting

Judaism, which often leads to falling into anti-semitism. I recall too
many homilies where the priest seemed to be wholly ignorant of
Vatican II and the witness of Saint John Paul II to the acceptance
and promotion of interfaith solidarity. While Matthew’s community
certainly seeks to separate itself from dominant forms of Judaism in
first century Palestine, Matthew is also clear that Jesus is not
rejecting Judaism. Christianity is intimately rooted in Judaism, and
Jesus is wholly aware that his purpose is not to abolish Torah but to
fulfill it. I am always delighted to participate in Shabbat with Jewish
friends because they too are filled with, and witness to, the love of
God. I love the way Shabbat dinner helps us remember salvation
history and reminds us of our prophetic vocation to witness to
God’s love and justice in the world. If you have not already, find a
way to listen and learn from our Jewish brothers and sisters. The
God of Israel is the God of Jesus Christ.

When and how do I listen to and learn from my Jewish brothers and
sisters? (A.M.)

Thursday, March 28
Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather
with me scatters.” Luke 11:23

Luke’s community of faith finds solace in Jesus’s words (Luke

11:23) in the midst of the hostility of the powers and principalities
of their day. We too live in the midst of U.S. empire that is hostile
toward people of faith who resist any form of domination and
injustice. However, in the midst of this hostility, we too can take
comfort in the love Jesus pours upon us and the world. God’s love
for us through Christ Jesus nourishes, nurtures, and encourages us
to journey forward toward a way of love and justice that we have
never imagined.

How do I nurture love and comfort for myself and others in Jesus?
(A.M.)

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 Friday, March 29
Hosea 14: 2-10; Mark 12:28-34

“‘You shall love your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You
shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Mark 12:30-31

The biblical scholar Eugene H. Peterson, who has translated all

books of the Bible into contemporary American English, has a very
powerful way of conveying the message of Jesus. When we love God
with all our energy, passion, prayer, and intelligence and convey
that same energy, passion, prayer, and intelligence both for
ourselves and others, then we are “right there on the border of
God’s kingdom [sic].” The idea of being on the border of God’s
kindom is like saying we are right there, present to God's Love,
although not fully enacting it, when we give of ourselves and
participate in creation. Love is the entrance way. Love is a space of
new imagination, new possibilities, and transformation into deeper
relationships, healing, and freedom.

At this point in Lent it might be helpful to review my practices of

prayer, fasting and almsgiving. How do my practices join together
love of God, self, and others in preparation for Easter? (A.M.)

Saturday, March 30
Hosea 6:1-6; Luke 18:9-14

“…for everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled, and the ones
who humbles themselves will be exalted." Luke 18:14

However it may appear, no one has ever become who they are in
isolation. As human beings and creatures of the earth, we are bound
together in a host of networks, both visible and invisible, that form,
feed, and sustain us. In his illuminating work, “The Hidden Life of
Trees,” German forester Peter Wohlleben describes how even the
tallest, seemingly most self-sustaining trees are supported by
underground fungal networks that transmit between trees
information and nourishment essential to their survival. While we,
like tall trees, may appear to be independent of each other, we are
indeed inseparably bound. Each of us is who we are only through
the information and sustenance provided over the course of our
lives by others. Through humility, we must acknowledge the reality
that none of us is self-made; none of us has grown or acquired

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knowledge or wisdom in a void. We must break forth from our
individualistic self-importance, and embrace how much we are
connected and need one another.

Identify one person who contributed to making you who you are.
Have you taken the time to acknowledge and thank that person?
While there is still time to do so, acknowledge and express gratitude
for the nourishment this connection has offered your life. (M.T.Y.)

Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 31, 2019
Joshua 5:9A, 10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

“He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and
not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a
young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns…
for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’” Luke 15:29-30

I wonder what it would be like to live someone else’s life. What if

we could, just for a day, truly understand what factors and forces
have shaped another’s views and reactions? Would we also share
the attitudes and views held by that person? In her book “Strangers
in Their Own Land,” sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild traveled
from her liberal enclave in Berkeley, California to a politically
conservative bayou region of Louisiana. She spent five years
befriending and listening to people there describe their lives and
views. Hochschild was seeking to understand what she termed the
“Louisiana Paradox:” that despite living in one of the most polluted
places in the country, many of this region disparaged and rejected
EPA regulations and deeply distrusted the federal government.

Hochschild learned that in order to understand the seeming

paradox, she had to understand the specific forces and events that
had shaped the locals’ lives. She found they were confronting
severe economic dislocation, and their economic prospects were
worse than those their own parents had faced. This had happened
through no fault of their own; they had dutifully worked dangerous
and dirty jobs, just like their parents had done, to achieve the
promised “American Dream” all while being exposed to unhealthy
chemicals. Even so, the “American Dream” remained far out of
reach for them. The responsibility for that unfairness, the local
whites had concluded, lay with the federal government, which was
unfairly rewarding people of color and immigrants, who had “cut in
line.” This narrative, more than anything else, shaped their world

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views. Thus, without understanding this “deep story,” any
outsiders’ efforts to engage in dialogue and bridge building with the
local people were constrained.

The moral of the story is that we need to be present and listen to

people and communities with whom we don’t have personal
familiarity and whose views seem inexplicable. We need to see how
experiences and narratives shape others’ attitudes and political
beliefs so we can have better compassion and understanding. Being
present with others will improve our ability to respond and react
empathetically to those we disagree with.

Seek out and read a book about a person or community you aren’t
personally familiar with the intention of being understanding of their
narratives and values. These are good sources of literature:
www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/other-cultures and
www.ayearofreadingtheworld.com/thelist. Here’s a resource for
relationship building with people of cultures different than your own:
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-
competence/building-relationships/main. (M.T.Y.)

Monday, April 1
Isaiah 65:17-21; John 4:43-54

“See, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; the former things
shall not be remembered nor come to mind.” Isaiah 65:17

Have you ever said something to someone in anger or frustration

that you later regretted? How did you deal with that regret? Did
you permit that episode forever to impair the relationship? Well, it
is never too late for repentance and reconciliation. One of the
greatest graces in my own life came from someone I had earlier
given a negative employment review – a review triggered, I later
recognized, not simply by that person’s subpar performance, but
also by my own need to appear to be “in charge” in a challenging
situation. Years after the review, I continued to regret my behavior,
and so, I tracked down the address of my former employee and sent
a letter of apology. In response, I received a gracious letter of
forgiveness and gratitude reassuring me that the review had not
been as hostile or debilitating as I had remembered. In the end,
thanks to repentance, forgiveness, and grace, mutual goodwill
prevailed.

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Do you have an unresolved conflict with someone? If so, write a letter
to that person, acknowledging and apologizing for what you did or
said that made you or that person feel bad. Send the letter without
expectation of response but know you will have at least directed some
humility and good will into a world sorely in need of both. (M.T.Y.)

Tuesday, April 2
Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12; John 5:1-16

“Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can
multiply shall live, and there shall be abundant fish, for wherever this
water comes the sea shall be made fresh." Ezekiel 47:9

Each of us is in a position daily either to enhance or stunt the lives

of those we come into contact with. Every encounter is an
opportunity for making things just a bit easier for someone else and
thus, for ourselves. When we accept people as they are, they are
able to breathe more freely; when we reflect to them their own
inherent goodness, they are able to become even better. However,
when we focus only on another’s mistakes or shortcomings, that
person’s own self-image, and capacity to surmount those traits, are
diminished—thereby only confirming our circumscribed view. If
we wish to live in a world in which all are living to their full
potential, then we must use our extraordinary power to call forth
that potential, in every encounter. We must flow through life like a
river, bringing life, hope, and healing to all whose paths we cross
each day.

Each morning, upon awakening, make a conscious promise to make

every encounter that day a time of affirming others. Each night
before going to sleep, recall one instance that day in which you were
able to treat someone in the way you had hoped. Mentally send that
person a special remembrance and blessing as you fall asleep.
(M.T.Y.)

Wednesday, April 3
Isaiah 49:8-15; John 5:17-30

“…saying to the prisoners: Come out! To those in the shadows: Show

yourselves! For God comforts God’s people and shows mercy to the
afflicted.” Isaiah 49:9a, 13b

Among the United States’ worst abuses of human rights is the

abduction and incarceration of men in Guantanamo, through

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several administrations (both Republican and Democratic) and
without charge or trial following September 11, 2001. It is difficult
to contemplate the utter desperation that those imprisoned must
feel, one that has driven some to suicide. Our nation’s lofty rhetoric
about “liberty” and “freedom” are exposed as mere platitudes, when
measured against our violence – including inflicting repeated near-
drownings (“waterboarding”) and other forms of horrific torture on
these men. The legal safeguards and proprieties that we as a nation
have erected to wage war “legally” – with the ability to declare war
entrusted to a Congress that has refused, repeatedly, to exercise its
legal responsibility and accountability, and expansive promises that
“due process of law” is promised to all – lie in tatters.

There are some Americans, though, who have rejected the atrocity
of Guantanamo prison and sought justice. They include attorneys
who have risked their own professional careers to represent these
imprisoned men, and the people of the organization, Witness
Against Torture. Witness Against Torture has traveled to
Guantanamo so the imprisoned men would know that there are
Americans who abhor their plight. They also engage in an extended
public fast, vigil, and teach-in every January outside the White
House modelling the love of God, for whom no one is expendable,
forgotten, or sacrificed for any nation’s prejudices or fears.

How does the situation of Guantanamo square with your own

spiritual or political beliefs? Take time to learn more about this
injustice, and the efforts calling the United States to remain
accountable to the principles of liberty and justice. Witness Against
Torture, www.witnessagainsttorture.com, is a good place to start.
(M.T.Y.)

Thursday, April 4
Exodus 32:7-14; John 5:31-47

“They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,
making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it…” Exodus 32:8

The United States continues to build a deadly empire worshiping its

own false idols—its golden calf being nuclear weapons. Vast swaths
of the country are devoted to the production, storage, and
maintenance of nuclear armaments. A 2017 Congressional Budget
Office Report projected the expenditure by the U.S. of $1.2 trillion,
more than one-million-millions of dollars, over the next three
decades, on its nuclear arsenal. Resources that could otherwise

23
feed, house, clothe, and educate untold millions of desperately
needy people are being diverted instead to “modernizing” these
high-end weapons. Modernizing nuclear weapons is just a code
word for rendering those weapons ever more portable, more
usable, more lethal, and consequently, the ultimate prospect for
survival of all creatures on our fragile planet far less secure.

Learn more about our nation’s deadly obsession with nuclear

weapons. Daniel Ellsberg’s 2018 book, “The Doomsday Machine” is a
good place to start. Helpful fact sheets can be found at
www.armscontrol.org. Write and call your Congressional
representatives and urge them to support the United Nations Treaty
on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons which the United States has
refused to sign. For current information about the status of the
Treaty, see www.ican.org – the website of the International
Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (“ICAN”), the international
coalition (whose longstanding and active members include Pax
Christi) that, in recognition of its dedicated efforts to secure passage
of the Treaty, was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. (M.T.Y.)

Friday, April 5
Wisdom 2:1A, 12-22; John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

“God is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in

spirit God saves.” Psalm 34:18, (Responsorial Psalm)

We sometimes rather cavalierly or self-protectively dismiss

another’s burdens as being "known only to God," effectively
distancing ourselves from that person’s problems. But if we are
honest with ourselves, no human being's suffering should be known
"only to God.” For that simply means that we, as fellow human
beings, have not sought sufficiently to examine the causes of that
suffering, and whether there is any way that we might help
eliminate or ameliorate it.
We as individuals, and as a nation, have historically denied, and
persist in denying, the fact and causes of others’ pain – even in
situations in which we have directly caused, sanctioned, or
benefited from that suffering.
Reparations movements advocate for the payment of monetary
compensation to those who have suffered grievous harm at the
hands of others – such as the descendants of African-American
people brutally abducted and enslaved by white Americans; Pacific
Islanders, whose very bodies have been burned and irradiated by

24
U.S. nuclear testing over the years; inhabitants of island nations
who, despite having lived humbly and in harmony with the earth
for thousands of years, are now witnessing their ancestral lands
being steadily swallowed-up by the seas, as a result of decades of
irresponsible and rapacious carbon emissions by wealthier,
industrialized nations; communities tormented because of race,
gender expression, or religious beliefs; and others.
Are we willing to accept moral and financial responsibility for the
deliberate acts of our forebears or nation that have destroyed the
lives and futures of our fellow human beings? What responsibility
does knowledge and complicity impose on those of us who have
benefited in some way – either directly or directly, and whether
currently or historically – from the suffering of others?
Think of one person, or one group of people, that you know is
suffering, either as a personal matter or as the result of an historical
injustice. Do you feel any responsibility for that suffering? Have you
or your forebears or descendants benefited in any way from that
suffering? Is there some way that you could help alleviate that
suffering today, even in some small way? What would it take? A
personal phone call? A supportive note? Signing a petition? Writing a
check to an organization? Engage in one act today that will help
reduce another’s suffering. (M.T.Y.)

Saturday, April 6
Jeremiah 11:18-20; John 7:40-53

“I knew their plot because God informed me; at that time you, O God,
showed me their doings.” Jeremiah 11:18

For nearly four decades, members of the Plowshares Movement (a

name derived from the injunction in Isaiah that “they shall beat
their swords into plowshares”) have persevered – despite being
arrested and imprisoned, time and time again – in illuminating the
depths of our nation’s darkest shadows: our nuclear-weapons sites.

Plowshares peacemakers physically enter restricted military

facilities where nuclear weapons are maintained and deployed.
They then sprinkle the ground sacramentally with their own blood,
in testament to the destruction of life that these weapons represent.
They call out the hypocrisy of our nation’s insistence that other
nations dismantle their own nuclear arsenals, while continuing to
“modernize” (i.e., increase the mobility, and lethality) its own. And,
having boldly acted to counter the prevailing narrative of violence

25
in our nation, they then calmly await arrest and the near-certainty
of their conviction and extended imprisonment.

There are currently imprisoned a number of Plowshares activists,

whose nonviolent actions have been directed toward shaking our
nation’s deadly complacency and denial about nuclear weapons. To
obtain contact information for the courageous prophets currently in
jail for opposing nuclear weapons, and to support efforts to end
nuclear proliferation, subscribe to “The Nuclear
Resister” (www.nukeresister.org) and/or “Nukewatch” (https://
nukewatch.org.) To learn more about some of the more recent
Plowshares Actions, read Dan Zak’s 2018 book, “Almighty,” and see
the film “The Nuns, the Priests, and the Bombs.” Today, write a letter
of gratitude, support, and encouragement to one or more of these
imprisoned Plowshares people. And share financial support, as well, if
you are able. (M.T.Y.)

Fifth Sunday of Lent

April 7, 2019
Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11

“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her.” John 8:7

The angry and heated political rhetoric in recent months targeting

refugees seeing shelter in the United States is distressing as much
for its avoidance of historical realities as it is for its
vehemence. Presidents and pundits heap blame upon the individual
parents and children desperately scrambling to enter this country,
ascribing to them desperate selfish motives, cunning, or greed.

Yet what is never mentioned is the reasons these people are fleeing
their homelands. Never mentioned is the millions of dollars spent
by the United States over the past three decades to reverse or
scuttle land reform, or workers’ rights, or common ownership of
national resources. Never mentioned is the series of violent coups
and invasions, in country after country – Guatemala, Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Panama, Honduras, and others in Latin America –
financed by American tax dollars, to prevent local people from
sharing in the bounty of their countries. Never mentioned is the
ruinous impact on the local economy of Mexico of U.S.-subsidized
corn flooding the local markets, following NAFTA – destroying local
farms, economies, and jobs. Seemingly ignored or forgotten is our
nation’s wanton destruction of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya; our

26
active involvement in starving and slaughtering the people of
Yemen; our support of policies leading to the suffocation of Gaza;
the coups we supported in Iran and Chile; our brutal theft of people
and resources from the African continent.

Learn more about the global policies and interventions of the United
States that have directly precipitated the violent breakup of
governments, communities, and families across Latin America and
elsewhere across the globe. With respect to Latin America, two classic
books – Eduardo Galeano’s “The Open Veins of Latin America” and
Penny Lernoux’s “Cry of the People” – are good places to start. The
School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) (www.soaw.org) is an
organization dedicated to educating people about – and engaging in
public witness against –- the role of U.S. foreign policy in
undermining local control of national resources, arming violent
dictators, and fomenting mass migration from Latin America. Share
what you learn, in conversations with your colleagues, friends, and
legislators. Help shape the conversation. Help rectify our
wrongs. (M.T.Y.)

Monday, April 8
Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62; John 8:12-20

“Whoever follows me will not walk in sadness, but will have the joy of
life." John 8:12

The purpose of every human being is to learn how to live with

ourselves and with each other. We all make mistakes, repeatedly,
but if we are honest with ourselves, we can learn from each mistake
and live more in keeping with who we are: the beloved people of
God. Yet, as much as we expect others to sympathize with our own
personal challenges and forgive our own mistakes, we do not as
readily extend such latitude to others. Through conversion, we can
embrace the call God has placed in our hearts to encounter others
with sympathy and forgiveness. Life is too short for gloom and
separation from our loved ones; through reconciliation we will
experience the joy of life.

Is there someone you are currently angry with and resistant to

forgiving? What is stopping you from reaching out to mend the
relationship? Remember a time when you hurt someone else. Had you
intended to do so? If so, did you later regret it? Did the person whom
you hurt extend forgiveness, or a second chance, to you? Be willing to

27
pass on that same blessing now to the person who has wronged you.
(M.T.Y.)

Tuesday, April 9
Numbers 21:4-9; John 8:21-30

“But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people
complained against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up
from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water?’”
Numbers 21:4-5

Today, as well, as in biblical times, people fleeing horrific

persecution are stranded in our own nation’s deserts, lacking food
and water. We know the conditions that are leading these people to
flee into the desert, and we know, for the most part, the desert
paths these people are taking. Yet we ignore and abandon them.

One searing photo circulated on social media displays dozens of

rosaries that once belonged to despairing refugees staggering
through the desert. To whom were the prayers, uttered by parched
mouths and desperate dying breaths –sunburned hands clenching
these rosaries – directed? Are we to blame God for the fact that
these people’s desperate, anguished pleas were ignored?

Several groups – including No More Deaths

(www.nomoredeaths.org), Tucson Samaritans (http://
www.tucsonsamaritans.org), Humane Borders / Fronteras
Compasivas (https://humaneborders.org), and Border Angels
(www.borderangels.org) – work tirelessly to prevent the deaths of
refugees making the arduous, hazardous journey across the broiling
deserts of the Southern United States. Among other things, these
compassionate and resourceful groups, while facing criticism and
even prosecution for their efforts to save lives, set up water stations
across the desert. Each time you fill a glass of clean water from your
faucet, remember those who will die today in our nation’s deserts for
lack of water. And consider adding your support to these efforts to
save lives. (M.T.Y.)

Wednesday, April 10
Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; John 8:31-42

“…the truth will set your free.” John 8:32

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The “New Poor People’s Campaign, a National Call for a Moral
Revival,” is a national movement co-chaired by an African-
American Evangelical preacher, the Reverend Dr. William Barber
(who first gained national prominence for his weekly “Moral
Mondays” lobby visits to the North Carolina legislature) and a white
Northern cleric, the Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis of Union
Theological Seminary in New York. The New Poor People’s
Campaign is modeled on the earlier Poor People’s Campaign led by
the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King (but which ended following
his assassination in 1968), who denounced what he termed the evil
triplets of racism, militarism, and materialism.

The Campaign views our nation’s bloated military budget,

unfettered racism, rampant ecological devastation, lack of
affordable housing, substandard education, inadequate healthcare,
lack of access for people with disabilities, and other issues
impacting the poor – as being inseparably interrelated.

The New Poor People’s Campaign – through vigiling, lobbying,

education, song, prayer, public testimonials, and direct nonviolent
action nationwide – seeks to encourage state governments across
the country to adopt budgets that address urgent human needs. All
participants in the Campaign must sign a pledge of nonviolence.
Recognizing that it is individuals’ personal stories, as opposed to
sterile research papers or arguments, that are more likely to change
hearts and minds, the New Poor People’s Campaign provides a
public platform for the voices and personal testimonies of
individuals who have themselves directly suffered as a result of
unjust public policies.

And the composition of the Campaign itself – which is led by, and
includes, people of different races, ethnicities, religious beliefs,
social classes, geographical backgrounds, and personal experiences
– is itself transformative, both for the people involved in the
Campaign, and for the legislators and other audiences the
Campaign seek to address.

Join The New Poor People’s Campaign! Sign up at

www.poorpeoplescampaign.org. (M.T.Y.)

Thursday, April 11
Genesis 17:3-9; John 8:51-59

29
 “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is God who
glorifies me...” John 8:54

In the highly-polarized political climate in which we are living, we

tend to retreat into silos and reverberation chambers – in which the
only words that capture our attention are those that mirror or
support our own positions and beliefs. Yet the views we hold are
shaped largely by our own personal life experiences: the
composition and dynamics of our birth families; the education,
books, media, and discussions to which we have been exposed; the
hardships that have befallen us; the unearned gifts that we have
been given; the breadth of our exposure to other ways of living; the
people with whom we have been in relationship. We may, whether
by virtue of personal privilege or personal deprivation, have
experienced life in a way that few others have. And so our views
may not, accordingly, be widely shared. Yet they are our views.

And others’ views are their views, too – and result from their own
lives’ constellations of events. How different would our
relationships across the political abyss be if our interactions with
each other were modeled not on trying to prove the other wrong,
but with the open interest of a news reporter: "what do you believe,
and why do you believe that?” We may not, ultimately, embrace the
other person’s position, but we will surely know more about that
person. And knowing about others is a first step to caring about
them. And caring is why we’re here.

Invite someone with whom you deeply disagree on a political issue to

join you for breakfast, or a stroll. Don’t discuss politics; instead,
simply make it your goal to learn as much about that person’s life as
that person feels comfortable telling you. Later, privately, examine
whether your now-expanded knowledge and insight into that
person’s life helps you understand better why that person holds the
views that he or she does. Are you now able to be more
compassionate or understanding about that person’s views – even if
you do not agree with her? (M.T.Y.)

Friday, April 12
Jeremiah 20:10-13; John 10:31-42

“I hear the whisperings of many: ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! Let

us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for
any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,

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 and take our vengeance on him.’" Jeremiah 20:10

One of the most troubling and frightening aspects of our current

political climate is the rhetoric and overt actions aimed at targeting,
vilifying, and marginalizing groups of people based on their racial
or geographical backgrounds. Immigrants desperately seeking
refuge are characterized as “animals”; people from Muslim-majority
nations are described as constituting security threats. We have seen
this kind of language before, in the rise of totalitarian governments,
including Hitler’s rise to power. This harmful language can quickly
take deep root in the absence of active pushback.

Destructive language and concepts can readily take deep root in the
absence of active pushback. How do you respond when you see or
hear language denigrating and disparaging groups of people? Have
you ever written a letter to your elected representative or to the
editor of your local newspaper pointing out the impropriety of
language in an article or statement unfairly characterizing a group
of people? Make it a point to do so the next time you encounter it.
(M.T.Y.)

Saturday, April 13
Ezekiel 37:21-28; John 11:45-56

“If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will
come and take away both our land and our nation." John 11:48

We have seen how quickly we ourselves (in whatever realm we

may operate), our elected representatives, and our clergy, react to a
fear of loss of secular power. While we may, in a vacuum, proclaim
fidelity to moral principles, we are quick to jettison those principles
when we confront the loss of privilege, prestige, money, reputation,
social status, or freedom to which taking a moral position may
subject us.

Have you ever taken a public stance at odds with those of the crowd –
and suffered negative consequences? Have you ever been arrested, in
pursuit of justice? If not, why not? What are your fears or concerns? Is
there any issue or cause for which you would be willing to risk arrest?
(M.T.Y.)

Palm Sunday
April 14, 2019
Luke 19:28-40; Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Luke 23:1-49

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“Herod and his soldiers treated him contemptuously and mocked him,
and after clothing him in resplendent garb, he sent him back to Pilate.
Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had
been enemies formerly.” Luke 23:11-12

We are all familiar with the expression “strange bedfellows,” or

people who, while seemingly having nothing in common, unite in
common cause over a particular issue or position. What seemed to
bind both Herod and Pilate in today’s Gospel reading was a
reluctance to be the one who ultimately consigned Jesus to death.
How often have we joined cause with another person, not because
we believed in what that person thought or advocated, but because
joining forces with that person seemed the easiest, or most
expedient way of resolving a moral dilemma or solving a practical
problem? To what extent have we set aside our own deeply held
moral beliefs in order to avoid public approbation or humiliation?

Have you ever said something publicly that you did not personally
believe, because you were pressured to do so by another? Did your
statement or action, while representing at the time the “path of least
resistance” socially, inflict pain upon someone important to you? Did
it cause you to take a harsher view of yourself? Today, ask forgiveness
from anyone you may have hurt, including yourself, by such
statements or acts. Acknowledge your human weakness and frailty
and make a commitment not to be so easily swayed by social pressure
or views sharply at odds with your own conscience. (M.T.Y.)

Monday, April 15
Isaiah 42:1-7; John 12:1-11

"Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to
the poor?" John 12:5

Perhaps out of envy, or perhaps from a sense of offended

righteousness, one of Jesus’s disciples in today’s reading criticizes
the manner in which Mary, a friend and follower of Jesus, expresses
her care for Jesus. We often think we know what’s best for others –
without asking them. We judge someone to be in need of
something, and so enact policies and rules to enforce our own
views of what is needed for them, without taking into account the
narrowness and incompleteness of our own vision and
understanding. We presume people to be incapable, so we strip
them of capacity. We view people as being less caring or thoughtful
than ourselves, so we treat them carelessly and thoughtlessly. We

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need, instead, to let other people be who they are, to give as they
choose, and accept as they will.

Are you willing to put aside societal privilege and listen carefully to
those who have themselves experienced deprivation speak about
what they need? Or do you think you know what is best for others? Do
you purport to speak for others, expounding on your own view of
their needs? Is there someone in your life on whose behalf you find
yourself frequently speaking? Beginning today, step back and make it
a point to give that person space to speak for herself. (M.T.Y.)

Tuesday, April 16
Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33, 36-38

“Hail to you, our King, obedient to the Father; you were led to your
crucifixion like a gentle lamb to the slaughter.” Verse Before the
Gospel

Why do we often characterize the helpless among us as being

“gentle”? Do such people in fact refrain from expressing their own
views because of gentleness – or, instead, because they are resigned
to being ignored? Do they self-censor, recognizing the folly of trying
to fight back against a system, or person, possessing greater
physical strength or social standing than they do? Have they simply
exhausted themselves in a lifetime of futile struggle against more
powerful forces?

Whatever the reason for the “gentleness” of such people, we should

not equate their failure to object, or their lack of active resistance to
our actions or demands, as reflecting acquiescence.

Is there someone in your own life whom you take for granted,
knowing that he or she will never argue or disagree with your own
assertions or views? Do believe that that person, by consistently
refraining from disagreeing with what you do or say, necessarily
agrees with your actions and words? Or are you in essence negating
that person’s own views and beliefs, because you are in a superior
position, by virtue of family, economic, social, or community
dynamics, to feel free to impose your will upon that person?

Have you ever considered inquiring – openly, honestly, and in a non-

punitive way – what that person might really be thinking or feeling?
Does the possibility of such a mutual, honest exchange threaten you?
Why? Might such an exchange not only empower that other person –

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and change the dynamics of your relationship – but also add new
depth and dimension to your own thinking? (M.T.Y.)

Wednesday, April 17
Isaiah 50:4-9A; Matthew 26:14-25

“I gave my back to those who beat me…my face I did not shield from
buffets and spitting.” Isaiah 50:6

While nonviolent resistance to oppression is sometimes dismissed

as reflecting a more idealistic but less effective response to
violence, published research suggests that nonviolent resistance is
in fact far more effective than violent resistance. In their book “Why
Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict,”
authors Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan, having analyzed
numerous case studies from around the world, concluded that
nonviolent campaigns such as boycotts, peaceful civil disobedience,
and active non-cooperation are more than twice as effective than
violent resistance. Nonviolent movements attract larger and more
diverse (including by age and gender) segments of the population –
people loath to inflict, and suffer, violence – thus expanding the size
and breadth of the campaign. And by attracting broader segments
of the population, such campaigns offer more opportunities for
creativity and innovation.

Moreover, nonviolent resistance imbues its practitioners with an

aura of moral authority – witness the U.S. Civil Rights movement
and the Gandhian resistance in India, among a host of other
examples – contrasting markedly and favorably, in the court of
public opinion, with the violence of the oppressor. Finally, from a
practical point of view, fighting with weapons ordinarily favors
those who have the most weapons and to overcome this imbalance,
another form of resistance is necessarily required.

Members of Pax Christi, both locally and globally, have long been
proponents and practitioners of nonviolence. Pax Christi
International and Pax Christi USA work on the Catholic Nonviolence
Initative to encourage global nonviolence. Check out the Catholic
Nonviolence Initiative at www.nonviolencejustpeace.net. (M.T.Y.)

Holy Thursday
April 18, 2019
Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15

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 “If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you
ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow,
so that as I have done for you, you should also do.” John 13:14-15

A 2014 survey on values by the Public Religion Institute found that

seventy-five percent (75%) of white people in the United States
lacked even one non-white friend. By contrast, most People of Color
reported having several white friends – a fact only partially
explained by the greater number of whites in our country.

Our humanity is shared. Yet our daily experiences decidedly are

not. Even in nominally socially “progressive” cultural, political,
peace, and religious organizations, the dearth of committed
friendships by white people with People of Color persists.

It is easy for white people, by surrounding themselves by other

whites, willfully to avoid recognizing their privilege, and the daily,
deadly ramifications of that privilege in the lives of People of
Color. If we lack friends and confidantes of a different race, then we
will never learn their realities. Fears and racial stereotyping will
fester. Local and national policies that disproportionately harm
People of Color will continue to be implemented. Murders of People
of Color will continue to be whitewashed.

If you are a white person, have you been intentional about making
friends with People of Color? If so, how have those friendships
changed your attitudes and views? If you are a Person of Color, think
about the different white people whom you know. Do you consider
any of them to be a close friend of yours? If so, how did that friendship
develop?

If you are a white person who has no or minimal friendships with any
People of Color, why is that so? Have you ever made a commitment to
expanding your circle of friends to include people whose race and
daily realities are quite different from yours? If not, why not? Today,
take one step along the path of becoming someone whom a Person of
Color would like to befriend. And once you have been blessed with
such a friendship, listen and learn. (M.T.Y.)

Good Friday
April 19, 2019
Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18:1-19:42

“Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword into its scabbard.’” John 18:11

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The prevailing paradigm in our society – as evidenced by the
military empire with which our nation encircles the globe, and our
bloated yet ever-escalating military budget that diverts critical
dollars from feeding, educating, and housing our people – is that
violence is the only effective response to violence. Yet the reality is
that violence only begets more violence.

There is an alternative model, which has been proven to be more

effective than violence in countering violent situations: nonviolent
resistance. A number of global organizations are predicated on this
model; among the most effective of these is the Nonviolent
Peaceforce, or “NVP.” (www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org.) NVP
deploys, in active conflict areas around the globe (including the
Philippines, South Sudan, Myanmar, and the Middle East) trained,
unarmed civilians to accompany and protect local people. NPV
workers live and work in the local conflict areas; share their meals
with the local people; walk with the local people to collect firewood
or water; and get to know personally not only the local people, but
also the various commanders from all sides of the conflict. The
simple presence of these NVP workers – their accompaniment, their
status as an outsider, and their public witness – is highly effective in
keeping the local people safe. Murders, rapes, abductions, and other
atrocities that might otherwise occur in the absence of outsider-
witnesses are effectively prevented.

The remarkable, demonstrable successes of NPV, and of other

nonviolent-peacekeeper accompaniment missions – including the
Christian Peacemaker Teams (“CPT”) (https://www.cpt.org/) and
the Friendship Office of the Americas’ accompaniment project
(http://www.friendshipamericas.org/programs) – are steadily
gaining the attention of global decision-makers, including those at
the United Nations.

Learn more about nonviolent-accompaniment organizations,

including those identified above, that are helping effectively to
alleviate daily the pain, fear and suffering being experienced by so
many of our sisters and brothers around the world. Today, email one
of these organizations a personal note of gratitude for their work –-
and also send financial support, if you are able. (M.T.Y.)

Easter Vigil
April 20, 2019

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Genesis 1:1-2:2; Genesis 22:1-18; Exodus 14:15-15:1; Isaiah 54:5-14;
Isaiah 55:1-11; Baruch 3:9-15, 32C, 4:4; Ezekiel 36:16-17A, 18-28;
Romans 6:3-11; Luke 24:1-12

“At daybreak on the first day of the week the women who had come
from Galilee with Jesus took the spices they had prepared and went to
the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb… Then they
returned from the tomb and announced all these things to the eleven
and to all the others. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and
Mary the mother of James; the others who accompanied them also told
this to the apostles, but their story seemed like nonsense and they did
not believe them.” Luke 24: 1-2, 9-11

Who is believed, in our world? How much of our world’s suffering has
occurred because those who knew, firsthand, the most about a
situation were ignored, silenced, imprisoned, or even killed, in an
attempt to prevent them from speaking?

Has anyone listened to the people of the Marshall Islands, whose

lands and bodies were the target of nuclear irradiation? To the
Shoshone people of Nevada, whose sacred ancestral lands were used
by the US military to test nuclear weapons?

What if the police had listened to the person who begged them not to
shoot that child in the street, because she knew that the child was
holding not a weapon, but just a toy? What if they had listened to the
woman in the automobile who begged them not to shoot her beloved,
seated beside her, because she knew he was simply reaching for his
driver’s license, and not a gun?

What if our nation’s Congress had listened to the delegation of clergy

from South Korea, who traveled to the United States to implore this
country not to deploy its THAAD missiles on Korean soil, because
they knew that the presence of those weapons would only heighten,
and not resolve, regional tensions?

Whom do you believe? Where do you turn, in your own daily life, for
information? Do the people on whom you rely most for information
speak the same language that you speak? Are they the same color as
you? Do they live in the same country that you do? Are you living in an
echo chamber, spending time with only those who express similar views
to those that you already hold? If so, is there a way to expand the
people, and sources of information, on which you personally
rely? Today, reach out to someone whose views and ideas you
ordinarily disregard – and ask her for her view about something that is
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important in her life. Don’t take issue with what she says. Don’t try to
embellish or contradict it. Just listen. (M.T.Y.)

Easter Sunday
April 21, 2019
Acts 10:34A, 37-43; 1 Corinthians 5:6B-8; John 20:1-9

“Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough?”
1 Corinthians 5:6

It is the small, nearly imperceptible things – a glance, a grin, a wink, a

slight nod of the head by another – that can help us, when we are
feeling isolated or embattled, feel fortified and supported. So, too, can
a single word spoken in kindness change the direction of a heated
argument.

Striving to find some common ground with another – even if only to

concede agreement on a small point – can transform enmity into
engagement.

Just as death is transformed into resurrection, so too can a word of

support, or a simple acknowledgment of the presence or value of
another, resurrect one’s spirits, self-confidence, and self-image.

It doesn’t take much. We all have in us the “little yeast” that can daily
lighten others’ lives and loads.

Recall a time when a word or action by another lifted your load.

Remember a time when you directed a word or action to another, with
the same intent. Look for an opportunity today, and every day, to help
someone else rise. (M.T.Y.)

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