Food for the Soul | October 28th, 2020
10/28/2020
Dear Friends,
We are on the brink of a national election in which hope and anxiety run deep and the world feels locked in conflict. At the same time the pandemic is surging again. The mystic Julian of Norwich (1342~1416) once said: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” She must know. She lived through several pandemics of the bubonic plague. I think it behooves us to believe that all shall be well. At the very least it will calm our nerves and spirit if we truly subscribe to this thought. What else can we do? I always come back to Jesus’s commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. If we hold each other up in deep and true love we can live with the difficulties facing us. It will point us to the responsible and loving actions to do for each other. At this moment in time our most urgent civic responsibility is to cast our vote according to our conscience and what is best for the community.
I pray for peace after these storm-filled weeks and months. Seek serenity in the beautiful colors of fall. May God’s blessings be with you.
PRAYER
Prayer for the Election
Loving God, I ask you to guide me during this important election season:
Help me to understand the Gospels, in which Jesus Christ reveals his path of love,
Mercy and compassion, especially toward those who are poor, sick or struggling in any way. Instruct me on what the church teaches on the important issues of our day: abortion, racism, migration, war and peace, healthcare, the death penalty, economic justice, care for the environment and on all those questions I must ponder with your help.
Enable me to form my conscience so that I may vote wisely.
Loving God, I ask you to help me live peacefully with others:
Allow me to be open to the opinions of others with whom I disagree.
Fill me with a spirit of charity toward those who may oppose me.
Give me patience in times of struggle.
Loving God, I ask you to help me stand with those who are marginalized or persecuted:
Increase my courage so that I can stand up in times of danger.
Create in me a new heart that I might be brave in times of turmoil.
Make me someone who is ready to care for, advocate for and suffer with those on the margins.
Loving God, I ask you to aid our civic leaders:
Grant them good health and a spirit of wisdom.
Open to them paths of reconciliation.
Teach them your ways of love, mercy and compassion.
Loving God, I ask you to bless our nation:
Crown it with your compassion.
Support it with your care.
And nurture it with your love.
Amen.
- James Martin, S.J.
PRACTICE
LET’S DO JUSTICE
If you have already sent in your ballot, you can still help the cause by encouraging those around you to do the same.
“Voting is a right and a duty of all citizens in a democracy, it allows your voice to be heard as you cry out for justice. This week make sure you have planned out how you will vote on November 3rd: Have you checked your voter registration? If you are going to mail in your ballot, have you received it and know where to send it or drop it off? If you are voting in person, do you know where your polling location is? Do you know how to get there and when you go? Check if you are registered to vote, how to mail in your ballot or vote early, the status of your ballot, or where your polling location is. It is illegal for anyone to try to stop you from voting. If you experience intimidation, coercion, threats, false information about voting requirement, or encounter people impersonating poll workers, report it to Election Protection (866-687-8683) immediately. Learn more here.”
- From Vision and Viewpoint, by Joan Chittister
POEM
Autumn
I want to mention
summer ending
without meaning the death
of somebody loved
or even the death
of the trees.
Today in the market
I heard a mother say
Look at the pumpkins,
it's finally autumn!
And the child didn't think
of the death of her mother
which is due before her own
but tasted the sound
of the words on her clumsy tongue:
pumpkin; autumn.
Let the eye enlarge
with all it beholds.
I want to celebrate
color, how one red leaf
flickers like a match
held to a dry branch,
and the whole world goes up
in orange and gold.
—Linda Pastan