RELATIONSHIPS AS COUPLES AND FAMILIES
It’s Valentines Day!
Valentine’s Day doesn’t just have to be about romantic love. It can be so much more!
Valentine’s Day doesn’t just have to be about romantic love. It can be so much more!
This year, we have a rare occurrence, where Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday coincide. Some see these two occasions as competing and conflicting with one another. How can celebrating Valentine’s Day – which is often associated with special gifts and food – go together with Ash Wednesday – which is a day of fasting and abstinence? I would like to propose that this is actually a God-sent opportunity to give us a deeper insight about – and perhaps a bit of correction to – the beliefs we hold about each occasion. For both occasions call us to: Renewal in our journey to the destination of love.
Today, I want to summarise the heart /disposition behind Jesus’ call to non-violent resistance – love for our enemies! It isn’t for the faint-hearted, but a radical call for all those who would follow Jesus – with his grace – all the way.
Today, we continue with the third example that Jesus gives, that confirm his call to non-violent resistance: “And if one of the occupation troops forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it for two.”
Without humiliating anyone, without becoming a symbol of denial for anyone, Brother Roger believed that it is possible to embrace within oneself the attention to the word of God so profoundly lived in the Reform tradition, the treasures of the spirituality of the Orthodox tradition, and all the charisms of communion of the Catholic Church, all the while, daily putting one’s trust in the mystery of faith.
Today, we continue with the second of the three examples that Jesus gives, that confirm his call to non-violent resistance : “And if anyone sues you for your outer garment give your undergarment as well.”
In this series of posts, we are considering injustice, conflict and war in our world. And how I am contributing personally to these in my own life and relationships, when I allow my wounds to lead me into slavery to anger and violence. If I can’t deal with the violence in my own heart, how can I expect to deal with the violence of nations?
In my first post in this series, we ended with the question: What’s a third way forward which avoids the risks of both flight and fight? Today I want to consider the radical case for non-violent resistance.
The new pope is…like the son of Jacob who, meeting with his brothers, showed them the tenderness of his heart and, bursting into tears, said, “I am Joseph, your brother.” Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, seventy-seven years old and newly installed as Pope John XXIII, surprised the crowds gathered for his coronation Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica when he spoke these words directly to them. Rarely had a pope used such personal language before.
In this post, I want to consider how we experience anger as a result of wounding from injustice or another cause. And how that often moves us toward vengeance and violence in our hearts.
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