If we are to make a serious attempt at ridding ourselves and our country of practices that use people for one’s personal gain, it is wise that each of us, myself included, give Father Tim’s July 5 bulletin column a long and hard reflective look and use it as an examination of our own social conscience. To help us do this, I incorporated his reflection into this post, hoping that many of us will take some time to search our own hearts for personal “unfinished business” that contributes to present-day injustices or that is keeping us from doing more than we could be doing to expose and remove these injustices. Treat yourself to a real “Pause that refreshes” – not a Coca-Cola – but the real “Real Thing” – letting yourself sit attentively in the presence of your ever-present God. So pull up this post on your cellphone as you sit alone on your deck, by the pool or on the beach. Connect with the Spirit of God deep within and ponder.
Ponder each of these statements from Fr. Tim’s July 5 column and ask yourself: What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
Sister Loretta
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“Every July Fourth calls us to confront and admit the “unfinished business” that cannot be convincingly veiled by stirring myths of national self-image.” What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
“We rightly proclaim our ideals, but have to acknowledge that ‘the American dream’ has not been true for many people—African- and Native Americans, and successive waves of immigrants—largely because of unfair systemic forces arrayed against them.“ What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
“Evidence of persisting racism, in hostile attitudes seen in many of society’s structures, should shock us into renewed resolve to abolish slavery where it first exists, before it takes physical form: in the human heart, in a refusal to see our common humanity, denying the truth that we are all children of God.” What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
“An America that is really ‘great’ always needs to be born anew.” What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
“‘Happy Birthday, America’, we say, in hope for what ought to be, as much as in thanks for what is.” What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
“Jesus, in today’s Gospel, Matthew 11:29-30, is not suggesting an externally imposed slavery, but inviting us to commit ourselves freely in embracing His Way of meek and humble service. His is a simple formula for realizing our highest potential: ‘Take my yoke upon you’, He says, inviting us to share in His mission of willing self-sacrifice, in praise of God and with compassion for all His sons and daughters. He assures us that ‘my yoke is easy, and my burden light’ – not because it isn’t, in fact, hard and heavy, but because it is borne in love, which makes all things bearable and even a source of deep joy and peace.” What in this statement is God calling you to consider, acknowledge and address now?
