Margaret Wilson rscj  |
Listen to the Word of God….
The Lord says this: “I am going to take
the sons of Israel from the nations where
they have gone. I shall gather them
together from everywhere and bring
them home to their own soil. I shall make
them into one nation in my own land….
they will no longer form two nations nor
be two separate kingdoms. I shall
cleanse them; they will be my people and
… I shall make a covenant of peace with
them, an eternal covenant with them. I
shall resettle them and increase them …
I will be their God, they will be my people.” Ezekiel 37:21-24
(First Reading 5th Saturday in Lent) “As the Father has loved me,
so I have loved you.
Remain in my love…” John 15:9
Listen to the poet
“I believe in God, who did not create a
world incapable of change,
who does not govern according to a
natural order of rich and poor,
of expert and ignorant, or rulers and
subjects.
I believe in God who wanted us to
change the status quo
through our work and our politics…
I believe in Jesus Christ who rises
again and again in our lives
so that we will all be free from prejudice
and arrogance…
I believe in the Spirit that Jesus sent into
the world,
and in the brotherhood of all nations,
and that it is up to us what our earth
becomes –
A vale of tears, starvation and tyranny, or
a city of God.
I believe in a just peace that can be
achieved,
and in the possibility of a meaningful life
for all people.” Dorothee Solle – Theologian …and the philosophers
“White people, unable to see their own particularity, cannot take account of other people’s, and they don’t quite see that they thus construct the world in their own image.”
R Dyer, “White” Routledge, London and New York 1997
“If we bring up our kids the right way and set them in the right frame of mind and let them know we’ re all the same – that there’s no-one different in the world, that we’re all the same whether black or white – then if we can get that through our heads and everyone else’s – that we should all live as one race … well, that would be a good thing now, wouldn’t it?” Glenyse Ward: Wandering Girl, Magabala Books , Broome, 1987
“The traditional peoples of Oceania make up a mosaic of many different cultures: Aboriginal, Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian. Since the time of colonization, western culture has also shaped the region. In recent years Asian cultures too, have been part of the cultural scene. Each cultural group, different in size and strength, has its own traditions and its own experience of integration in a new land. In New Zealand, and even more in Australia, the colonial and post-colonial policies of immigration have made the indigenous people a minority in their own land, and in many ways, a dispossessed cultural group.” John Paul II: Address after the Synod of Oceania Nov 2001 Listen to our hearts
In the midst of conflict and division,
we know it is you
who turns our minds to thoughts of peace.
Your spirit changes our hearts:
enemies begin to talk to each other,
those who were estranged,
join hands in friendship,
and nations seek the way of peace
together.
Your Spirit is at work when
understanding puts an end to strife,
when hatred is quenched by mercy,
and vengeance gives way to forgiveness. Preface for Mass of Reconciliation II … and our vision
“For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
It will surely come, it will not delay. (Hab.2:3) The Apollo astronauts have seen our planets from above as
one beautiful and perfect sphere where life abounds and
where there are no boundaries. The vision of the heavenly
city descending in the book of Revelation also sees the world
as one great unity .
What one thing do you feel called to do to bring us closer
to this dream of unity?
Barbara Bowe rscj: Biblical Foundations of Spirituality, Sheed and Ward, 2003 Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Committee
Province of Australia - New Zealand Lenten Reflection: Week One
Lenten Reflection: Week Two
Lenten Reflection: Week Three
Lenten Reflection: Week Four
Lenten Reflection: Week Five
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