Horizons - The Scripture of Advent is rich, colorful and arresting: lambs and lions, floods and calamities, feasts with good wine, exhortations to repent. What are we to make of these paradoxes, particularly in these tumultuous times?
It has been 40 years since Archbishop Óscar Romero and the four churchwomen were killed in El Salvador. Later, in 1989, six Jesuits, and a housekeeper and her daughter were killed. My thoughts come from Isaiah on the kind of fast that our God wants.
Sr. Elena Jaramillo, a Sister of St. Joseph of Orange, California, had been in El Salvador for 30 years when I met her. Her manner of accompaniment caused me to imagine what the North American churchwomen martyrs would be doing today had they not been assassinated.
It seems the pope wants to take the church to a new place in the world, not as an authoritarian leader, but as an animator of the spirit. However, he has ignored the novel theology ushered in by the early Franciscan theologians.
We do this all the time: We sleep through darkness every night — it's no big deal. Somehow though, as we passed the autumn equinox this year, the coming of the dark time carried anxieties and dread it never did before.
Horizons - A global dearth of true leadership has marked 2020. But throughout this year, I have also experienced a surging of hope within me, due to the efforts of young people around the world.
I found out the trees in our lot were dying. Wildlife lived within: Where would they go? I told my students about it, and connected it to our school's Thanksgiving Drive. Then something unexpected happened.
The Catholic Church has spent the whole month of November asking everyone to pray for the souls of the deceased. This atmosphere of prayer is very visible and vivid in our parish cemetery.
Contemplate this - Reflecting on 2020, I found myself flooded with thoughts and images. A patchwork quilt emerged as a way to reflect on this time. Here are some of the patches that make up my quilt.
Horizons - As people of prayer and service, we go into dire circumstances and insist that God's goodness will be triumphant — all situations have potential. It may seem foolish, but that's the point.
When the government imposed national lockdown in March to contain COVID-19, millions of Indian migrants struggled to return home. Our community joined with others to help migrants survive and reach home.
Demographics don't matter in a roundabout. Not wealth or race or political party or creed. We're all just cars united in the brief activity of negotiating an intersection.
India's nationwide lockdown forced migrants to attempt a return to their homes. Many ended up stranded mid-journey. I managed to help several migrants by networking with government officials.
Who would dare think of the future when the present is marked with hunger, thirst, homelessness and a global pandemic? There seem to be more questions than answers, but we know that poverty lingers on.
Horizons - Each one of us will have learned lessons and changed during this time. What are the lessons you want to remember and implement into life after the pandemic?
Maria Thao, a Vietnamese laywoman with a paralyzed foot, believes she will be judged by how she serves others. She ministers intensely to those in need, and supports herself by selling her famous dried beef.
Benedictine Sr. Thomas Welder leaves an indelible handprint on the hearts of those lucky enough to have known her of what it means to be a servant, a leader, a person of faith and exemplary human being.
When the first signs of spring appeared outside my window in March, there also appeared a female cardinal in all her ruby-red glory. But she kept deliberately flying into the window.
Horizons - I wrote these words on Tuesday evening, before the polls closed, a love letter to our democracy, our imperfect collective experiment in government for, by and of the people.
I wonder what stories will be told about this time in our history. Years from now, what will be said of the response of the sisters in 2020, who were faced with the disease of COVID-19?
