WRITEON FOR JUNE 10, 2020 sister alies. I believe in hope, the struggle of hope, not just a naive optimism that says everything'll be OK...you? It doesn't matter the kind of flower, they all must struggle to break through the earth to bloom. (pic Faith's daylily!) Christian Scriptures point us to hope, especially since we are born through a seed of struggle, in someone else’s pain. However, for example, “Hope does not disappoint us, because God's LOVE has been poured into our hearts...” (Rom 5:5) The Hebrew Bible, especially the Psalms, also send us to worship a God in whom we can hope! Will we break through the earth, mud, and debris of at least 400 years and find ourselves becoming the flowers we were invited to become? Or do we want the flowers but not the struggle? “The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of everyone; it takes up the hopes that inspire our activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of Heaven; it keeps us from discouragement; it sustains us during times of abandonment; it opens up our hearts in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, we are preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity. (CCC, 1818, pg. 447) We hear him try to scream: I can't breathe, and now we hear the chant: say his name, and we reply George Floyd. His 6yearold daughter says: “my daddy changed the world!” Peaceful protesters are people for resolution, fairness and hope. The looters and others are distractions. Why didn’t those gathering before St.John’s Episcopal or the St. John Paul II Memorial lead us in prayer for hope instead of photo ops, while the smoke of flashbangs hung in the air? Hope spurs people of peace on and though we are sure there's lots more gardening to do, can we be aware of progress made each and every day, each decade and the people who have suffered and died for us? Can we be a part of the hopers, not the looters? Looters not only steal our stuff, they steal our hopes and dreams, just like Covid, the looter, might have stolen the positive George Floyd. Can we treat one another with the highest respect? Can we deal with each pandemic that surrounds us by doing the simple things? Can we support those in the frontline work of redemption? Can we listen? Can we change? You bet! Remember this lily’s beauty and the hard work it took to bloom, and then look in the mirror. What do you see? Oh, there’s that other bit: pray for those 4 officers and others like them whose blatant disregard for human life invites God’s mercy. “It's always the right time to do the right thing.” MLK BLESSINGS.
