Giving Voice

I wonder how many women can say that about themselves...

Not really speaking of singing voices (although maybe some would say they love theirs), but instead, I am referring to that uniquely given- more than just the combination of sound and vibration that comes out of your mouth- "voice" that speaks your truth and your authentic self.

I can think of thousands of times when my voice was quieted, either by my own fear and anxiety or by someone else's dominance.  That feeling literally takes your breath away.

So perhaps it's fitting that Sacred Threads is supporting the sound of a woman's voice during this Lenten season.  We hope you can join us: Register here for our Women's Voices Lenten evenings of reflection.

Maybe it's time the voice of women resonate just a little louder.

Looking Inside

Sometimes winter, or especially February in Boston, forces us to stay inside.  This marks the third Sunday in a row where Mother Nature has shown her strength (although this time without the crazy snowfall amounts), and somehow it forces us to stop and collect ourselves. 

Is this "inside time" also time for me to look inside myself?

It's usually a scary process when we take the time to pause and reflect...how am I?  how do I feel?  am I on a positive track in my life?  is God somewhere underneath all this snow and messy streets?

Maybe it's a bit like uncovering this car...the slow methodical process of unburying to see what we were looking for...and hopefully discovering something beautiful. 

Being Fearful

The world can be a scary place.  Cold temperatures when you're homeless...violence in schools where children learn...car accidents that change your life in a moment...Sometimes it's a wonder we get out of bed in the morning.

But being fearful isn't the answer to coping with a scary world.  It might feel like the easiest solution- just turn away, hide, find someplace to escape.  But the world always has the capacity to open our eyes to kindness, compassion and comfort if we happen to notice.

The person who offers a blanket, a warm bed, or their own home to you in negative temperatures.
The teacher who shelters children to protect in the face of violence.
The survivor who reminds us to live more fully.

These are times when we can shake off the fear of living and recognize the capacity to be embraced by goodness and possibility.  Carpe diem.

Transformation

trans·for·ma·tion  

/ˌtransfərˈmāSHən/

Noun

1. A thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.
2. A metamorphosis during the life cycle of an animal.

A new calendar year always inspires change.  Perhaps transformation feels like a strong word, but what would happen if we became the people we always wanted to be...to transform into compassionate, thoughtful, intelligent, charismatic humans who see purpose and value of this life?

Some may argue it's enough to WANT to become different, but perhaps in the wake of significant violence, isolation and grief in our world, we can DO more than just want change.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. ~ Ghandi

Becoming Catholic, Again

 

Sacred Threads participant and Author Catherine Brunell has published her first book this fall.   Becoming Catholic, Again - Connecting the Faith We Were Taught with the Faith We Live  (Chicago: Loyola Press, 2012).  In her passionate voice, Brunell writes about the permission she found to be on the spiritual journey that her life is revealing.  In the memoir she attends to the details of her own path but, in doing so Brunell offers all of us a gentle way of living in and through our faith.  Here are two excerpts from the book :

When I hear people ask the question "Are you Catholic" they often respond, "I'm sort of Catholic," or "Not a practicing one."  People have disengage from the institution, and yet on some level, we have a nagging connection to it.  We judge ourselves based on others' rubrics of how our faith should look, and in doing so we remove ourselves from the only experience that we can actually have.  The judgement is a waste of time, because God doesn't care what kind of Catholics (or any religion for that matter we are); God wants us to be connected to one another and to God.  If we find these connections, we're simply being Catholic in the way that we need to be.  pg. 10

***

I really have no idea about everything the divine entails and what exactly religion should be. I also don't know what will happen as I come to the end of my life or what the church will look like in a hundred years. But I do know how to respond to the grace that moves in my life today. I try to keep my faith this simple, because ultimately this is what puts me in relationship with an incarnate God. When I say yes to what is before me in life, I know that I am saying yes to the sacred that is there, too. God is in the concrete, and concrete life is in God p. 85.

The book is available on amazon.com, b&n.com, and loyolapress.com

To read more about Becoming Catholic, Again:  www.facebook.com/becomingcatholicagain

Contact Catherine to schedule a book event for your school, church or friends:

catherinebrunell@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/becomingcatholicagain

@CatholicAsIAm

Insights & Outbursts: An election year breath of fresh air

     “We own what we build, but as human beings, we are also built, not primarily by government but by institutions that shape our character. Responsible self-governing citizens … are cultivated in families, religious institutions and orderly hopeful neighborhoods and government has a limited but important role in creating an atmosphere where community can flourish.” — Michael Gerson.

    The older I get, the more disgusted I am with the petty pursuits of political parties in an election year. Democrats claim Republicans are waging a “war on women” while Republicans rage against “ObamaCare,” ignoring domestic and foreign challenges that require compromise, not sound bites.

    Thanks to fact-checking organizations, discerning voters know that both parties stretch the truth in election years. Only rabid Republicans and diehard Democrats can listen to campaign ads filled with lies and exaggerations and feel justified by their own prejudices.

    When I heard about a lecture series at Gordon College with Michael Gerson talking about “The role of citizens, government and civil society” in the Science Center on Sept. 13 and “Three Responses to Suffering” in the Chapel on Sept. 14, I attended both lectures, eager for mature political commentary. (Note: Both talks are available at www.youtube.com/user/GordonCollege.)

    As a PBS Newshour fan, I’ve enjoyed discussions between Republicans and Democrats, usually David Brooks and Mark Shields, but occasionally other pundits, including Gerson. All of them are able to disagree without demonizing their opponents, a rare trait in both parties these days.

    Michael Gerson was the head speech writer and a senior policy advisor to President George W. Bush and is a leading conservative voice on the national media stage, writing about politics, religion, foreign policy and global health and development twice a week in the Washington Post.

    He is a moderate Republican and like a moderate Democrat, doesn’t fit into “Tea Party” or “Occupy Wall Street” positions and I was impressed by his comments on the topic question, “Whose responsibility is opportunity?

    He said the good news is that we’re finally having a debate, but it’s a shallow debate between “two destructive mindsets” – Republicans talking about “a contest between the makers and takers” and Democrats viewing “every political decision as a choice between radical individualism and a federal program.”

    According to Gerson, opportunity should be “a shared national goal … a social achievement for which all of us are responsible in one way or another.” Instead Republicans talk about economic freedom and Democrats want the wealthy to pay more.

    Gerson believes we need government in order to make a decent provision for the helpless, stating that a third of American workers are unprepared “due to circumstances of birth…a massive disadvantage to those who did nothing to deserve it.”

    After the first lecture, I read Gerson’s Sept. 13 column in the Washington Post and respected his insights:

    “During a presidential election in which both campaigns seem mainly intent on turning out their most ideologically typical voters — through the endless application of construction metaphors (“We did build that!”) or abortion applause lines on demand — it is worth recalling that candidates have not always run and won in this way.”

    He mentioned two campaign speeches, Bill Clinton’s “New Covenant” address in 1991 and George W. Bush’s “Duty of Hope” speech in 1999, distinguishing them from current political rhetoric because both candidates challenged their own parties:

    “Clinton pressed for reform of welfare, which should be ‘a second chance, not a way of life’ and criticized racial quotas, saying, ‘I’m not for a guarantee for anybody. I’m for responsibility at every turn.’ And while urging corporate responsibility, he also defended corporate profits.     Bush was even more explicit in his criticism of generic Republicanism. ‘The American government is not the enemy of the American people … At times it is wasteful and grasping. But we must correct it, not disdain it. . . . It must act in the common good, and that good is not common until it is shared by those in need.”

    Michael Gerson is a breath of fresh air in an election year that has debased both parties.

~ by Eileen Ford, Rockport resident and regular Times columnist
From the October 4, 2012 issue of the Gloucester Daily Times

Mental Illness Awareness Week

As we complete Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 7-13), and prepare for the Sacred Threads Event on October 17th w/ Dr. Nancy Kehoe on "The Journey to Wholeness" we wanted to share this prayer:

Loving Creator, we come to you on this National Day of Prayer for Mental Illness

Recovery and Understanding because we know that you are a God of love and

compassion.

We come as people of all creeds and all nations seeking your presence, comfort and guidance. We come as individuals living with mental illness, family members, friends, co-workers and mental health professionals.

 We come this day because we believe that you, Divine One, love each one of us just as we are. You walk with us on our individual journeys through life. You see the ignorance and injustice that divide and separate persons living with mental illness and you weep with us.

Give us courage to face our challenges and open us today to the many ways you are

already working in our midst. Help us to identify mental illness as the disease it is, that

we might have courage and wisdom in the face of ignorance and stigma. Inspire us as we

seek to overcome fear, acquire knowledge and advocate for compassionate and

enlightened treatment and services.

Lead us as we open our hearts and homes, our communities and job opportunities, our

houses of worship and communities of faith. Enable us to find ways to include persons

living with mental illness in our everyday lives. Be with doctors, therapists, researchers,

social workers and all those in the helping professions as they seek to overcome

ignorance and injustice with care and compassion.

Sometimes, Divine Spirit, we feel discouraged and hopeless in the face of so many

challenges. Help us to see ourselves as you see us—persons of value and worth, persons

of creativity and potential.

May we come to understand the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit in bringing about health and wholeness. And may we go forward into our communities with a renewed sense of vision, hope and possibility for the future .Amen.

--Reverend Susan Gregg-Schroeder