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Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me….

9/29/2019

I was lay leader at church today. Here is what I shared. (I sang the first line.)

Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me….

We gather here today knowing and believing that peace on earth begins we each of us and that it is strengthened when we come together as a community.

As the psalmist tell us,

Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
(Psalm 85:10-11)

Increase our faith O God, open our hearts to love so that righteousness will spring up from us and peace will look down on us all.

Today, right now, let peace begin with me, let it begin with each person here, in this town, in this country, and in the world.

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Prayer times in Florence

9/24/2019

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Prayer walks seem to be my prayer way here in Florence. I go into churches but they don’t hold the same power as walking along the Arno does. And yet, there was prayer as I entered the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and heard the liturgical music and viewed Michelangelo’s Pieta. Stay open, stay present.

(Still having trouble loading pictures.)

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Prayer walk at San Marco

9/20/2019

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I did it again. I can’t help but take pictures of Fra Angelico’s frescoes in the monk’s cells at the Convent of San Marco. I snap away every time I go there.
     As usual I arrived when the doors opened at 8:15, and thus pretty much had the place to myself. This year I spent more time looking, less time photographing. Walking slowly along the two corridors, looking in each cell, meditating on each fresco, became an inside prayer walk.
     A majority of the cells depict the crucifixion. The Dominican monks of fifteenth century Italy were expected to contemplate on Jesus’ suffering and death. I wouldn’t have wanted one of those crucifixion cells; my choice would have been the first cell on the corridor picturing Jesus in the garden with Mary Magdalene after his crucifixion and resurrection but before his ascension.
     When I was in college we studied Renaissance paintings from an historical and artistic perspective. We were NOT to tap into the religious story or attend to any spiritual feeling we might glean. That was the 60s and unless you were Roman Catholic school, there was no way to include both. In the classroom, art appreciation and religious decrement were mutually exclusive.
      Thank God I don’t have to deal with that any more.

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Morning walk along the Arno

9/19/2019

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In Rome I prayed for peace in thirty-six different churches. I will continue to do the same in Florence, but prayer walks are my preferred way in this city. I’ve always claimed that I go to Florence to walk around with God, and that still holds true. The Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.” How could I not say it as I walking along the Arno?
This morning I started out among clouds. I stopped for a cappuccino and continued on my way. God’s creation was changing. I stopped in a little chapel along the Arno. God’s love remained constant. (I'm having trouble loading pictures onto my blog, so for now I'll only offer one of the sunny ones.)

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Praying for peace in the churches of Rome

9/15/2019

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I’m in Rome to pray for peace for six days. My plan was to light a candle for peace in at least 100 of Rome’s 900 churches. However, I’ve ditched that 100-church goal. Most likely it would be impossible to reach, and it would definitely be nonsensical. I’d just be rushing in and out, snapping a picture and adding the church name to my list. I’ve decided not to light a candle, but to pray for peace in some intentional, visual, way. Contributing to peace is my goal.
     Yesterday morning I went to three churches, raising the count to ten. Sant’ Agnese fuori le Mura and Santa Costanza are in the same complex outside the walls. Outside the walls because Sant’ Agnese has as a catacomb, where early Christians were buried. Rome had a policy that no one could be buried inside the city. Then to gaze at Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa in Santa Maria della Vittoria. I’m glad I had my bus pass. In the afternoon I found myself praying for me in seven more churches. As of last night the count is up to twenty.
     My intention to pray for peace in churches has me aware of all the people I pass along the streets. The sheer numbers, the multiple skin colors, body sizes, ages, languages. I am not other; I am one of them. Our uniqueness makes us one.
      And then there are the obviously loving people, most likely parents, who accompany their children with special needs. At the altar at the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano a mom was supporting her adult son who was draped on her. As he drooled, she wiped his mouth. Then they walked on, arm in arm.
     As I sit in this little park in the early morning it comes over me that regardless of what praying for peace means to each of us, when we think peace we become aware of the equanimity between all people. In wanting peace for myself, I have to want it for everyone.

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Taking on the suffering of others

9/9/2019

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The other day I posted a quote by Sister Helen Prejean author of River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey. In this newly publish memoir Sister Helen tells of her childhood, of taking vows and joining the Sisters of St. Joseph of Medaille, and of her life fighting for the abolition of the death penalty. The book stops at1982 when she met Patrick Sollier, whom she had previously written about in Dead Man Walking. You may have read (or seen the film) of this riveting account of their friendship while he was on death row and when she accompanied him to his execution in 1988
And now the quote.
Now I’m learning that real praying means taking on other people’s suffering as my own, and letting the experience rouse me to action.

I love the idea of praying for people, but I’m not very good at taking on other people’s suffering as my own, at least to the extent that would drive me toward Sister Helen’s big time action. Thanks no excuse. There is plenty of little time action needed in my little world.

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Today's meditation: Fifty Verses on Helping the Stranger

9/1/2019

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By some accounts there are approximately 2000 Bible scriptures that tell us to welcome the stranger, feed the poor, and love our neighbor. Today my minister read 50 of those passages that he had selected from the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. Need I say more?

The sermon is not posted yet, but it will be on www.mccsudbury.com

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Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me….

Prayer times in Florence

Prayer walk at San Marco

Morning walk along the Arno

Praying for peace in the churches of Rome

Taking on the suffering of others

Today's meditation: Fifty Verses on Helping the Stranger

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