Brian McLaren 🌹

Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time 🙏
I will rejoice in your salvation, O Lord.
Psalm 9:2 🌹
Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr 🌹

Instead, he incarnates into the other, joins the other in solidarity, protects the other, listens to the other, serves the other, and even lays down his life for the other…. In each case, he moves victims of scapegoating and exclusion from the margins to center stage so their voices are heard.

I especially love the way Jesus challenges contact bias. Jesus reached out to the other at the table and put the other in the spotlight by giving the other a voice. On page after page of the Gospels, Jesus doesn’t dominate the other, or avoid the other…..

As prejudice persists, it becomes embedded in cultures and institutions, creating systems of racism and hatred, marginalizing groups who are stigmatized, dehumanized, scapegoated, exploited, oppressed, or even killed.

which means I will never have sustained and respectful interactive contact with them, which means I will never discover that they are actually wonderful people to be around. 
In this way, the prejudice cycle spins on, unchallenged across generations.

Think of the child who is told by people he trusts that people of another race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, or class are dirty and dangerous. 
You can immediately see the self-reinforcing cycle: those people are dirty or dangerous, so I will distrust and avoid them,

The Holy Rosary is the weapon of those who want to win every battle.
St. Padre Pio 🙏

When I don’t have intense and sustained personal contact with “the other,” my prejudices and false assumptions go unchallenged.

and those who have nothing.
Qur’an 4:36 🙏

Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time 🙏
We praise your glorious name, O mighty God.
1 Chronicles 29:10🌹
Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary 🌹

just as you did to one of the least of these who are members of the human family, you did it to me.
Matthew 25:38 🙏

Serve God . . . and do good to orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer that you meet,

The Holy Rosary is the weapon of those who want to win every battle.
St. Padre Pio 🙏

And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or saw you naked and gave you clothes?
Truly I tell you, just as you did to one of the least of these who are members of the human family,

That’s the great liberation. Everything matters. And you’re everything. Because everything is God, and that’s who you are. Nothing but Buddha.
Fr. Michael Holleran 🌹

Thursday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time 🙏
To the upright I will show the saving power of God.
Psalm 50:1b🌹

The Holy Rosary is the weapon of those who want to win every battle.
St. Padre Pio 🙏

Only the Divine matters,
And because the Divine matters,
Everything matters.
Thomas Keating, Abbot 🌹