gospel – julie vieira

Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops
Lectionary: 520/317

2 Timothy 1:1-8
Psalm 96:1-10
Mark 3:22-30

Many, many years ago, I was sitting in a high school classroom and delighted to learn that instead of religion class, we’d be watching a movie. Awesome! I thought. No lecture, no class participation, no big deal.

Fifty-six minutes later, my life was changed forever.

The movie was no movie. It was the documentary film Roses in December: The Story of Jean Donovan (1980) and it tells the story of Catholic lay woman Jean Donovan, Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke, MM, and Ita Ford, MM, and Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, OSU. These four women were murdered in El Salvador for working with the poor by government-sanctioned military extremists whose motto was «Haz patria, mata un cura» – “Be a patriot, kill a priest.” And not just priests. Anyone who sided with the poor.

I left that classroom stunned … and with a single question in my heart: for what would I be willing to give my life – and my death?

While today is not the memorial of these 4 Churchwomen (December 2), I can’t help but be reminded of them as we reflect today on two more holy people – Timothy and Titus – who also shaped the life of the Church. We have little time to review their biographies – not because no one likes long homilies – but because we are in a state of crisis. Here and now, we need both the Word and the Table to nourish us as we are called to act by praying and pray by acting.

Timothy, Titus, Jean, Maura, Ita and Dorothy – they stand right alongside the leaders of today who embody the gospel – leaders such as Episcopal Bishop Rob Hirshfeld. In a reflection on January 9 at a vigil for Renee Good in Concord, New Hampshire, Bishop Hirshfeld noted that “the message of Jesus’ love, compassion, and commitment to the poor, the outcast” was comprised when the church became linked to the empire by Constantine in the 4^th century. (source)

He says, “And we have lost that voice, and we are now, I believe, entering a time, a new era of martyrdom.” He cites the 4 Churchwomen as well as Oscar Romero who during mass “called upon the death squads of El Salvador to lay down their arms or risk excommunication”. He “was martyred the next Sunday at the altar.”

Hirshfeld goes on:

I have told the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness. And I’ve asked them to get their affairs in order—to make sure they have their wills written, because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.

And it may mean that we are going to have to act in a new way that we have never seen perhaps in our lifetime, except for these remote stories that I’ve just cited, to put our faith in the God of life, of resurrection, of a love that is stronger than death itself.

For what would I be willing to give my life – and my death?

Our response to this question, and to these witnesses of yesterday and today, will be expressed in a myriad of ways. Some are called to the streets of Minneapolis, Chicago, Portland and perhaps, one day, to our own hometown. Some are called to respond through the spaciousness of their contemplative heart. Some are called to be awake to the pain of broken relationships and broken trust. Some are called to create art and beauty in the face of desperation.

Stop. Listen. You will hear the call, and you will know how to respond.

Hear these words again from 2 Timothy 1:6-8.

I remind you to stir into flame
the gift of God that you have …
For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice
but rather of power and love and self-control.
So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord …
but bear your share .. for the Gospel
with the strength that comes from God.

image : Photo by Kerem Yücel | MPR News

“Clergy members and community activists protest Friday in extreme subzero weather at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, calling on Delta Air Lines, Signature Aviation and other companies to stop cooperating with the federal immigration enforcement surge. Police from multiple agencies detained protesters during the action.” (source)

Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 343

Acts 5:17-26
Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
John 3:16-21

On Monday of this week, Rev. William Barber along with two others were arrested while praying on the steps of the Capitol. Reverend. Barber – a public theologian and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign among many other things – he along with those gathered prayed, “We are here crying to you, Oh, God, because we have heard the cries of your people.” (source)

“We have heard the cries of your people” and for that prayer, for that proclamation of the most basic tenets of the Gospel, they were arrested and threatened with jail.

I can’t help but think of the Apostles in today’s readings:

“The high priest … filled with jealousy, laid hands upon the Apostles and put them in the public jail.” (Acts 5:17-18)

The Acts of the Apostles are not stories from a bygone era; they are Acts happening day by day as the People of God stand strong and true, prayerful and passionate, calling for – working for – peace and justice on behalf of the kindom of God.

What a reprieve the Apostles had in that man-made, hate-made structure meant to imprison not just their bodies but their prayers, their words and their actions! The angel of the Lord appears and sets them free. Free not to return quietly to their homes or to exile under the cover of night, but to go back in the light of day to pray, to speak words, and to stand for and with the people of God. They stood in the light of day, ready once again to proclaim, “We have heard the cries of your people”, and to risk imprisonment once again.

But what is the risk of imprisonment, when the risk of the life of the people – especially those who are among the most vulnerable and poor – is constantly under threat? And not just threat, but grave harm and even death?

The Acts of the Apostles in the early Church and the Acts of the Apostles today are not man-made, hate-made. They are the Acts of “Apostolos”, which is Greek for “ones who are sent out”. They are ones who are call for ecclesial and societal transformation in order to build the kindom of God, not the kingdom of men. They call for reform and they also call for a new way of doing things that is meant for all creation, including those who seek to imprison them.

They are people who have heard the words “God so loved the world” and wept. They know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that God sent God’s own Beloved into the world – not to condemn the world – but that the world might be saved. (John 3:16)

Saved by love. Not money or power. Saved by love. Not singularity or arrogance. Saved by love. Love stirs within the hearts of the Apostles. And it stirs within you and me. What Acts will you Apostles write today? What small acts of kindness — or resistance — will you proclaim with your lives this day?

image : Rev. William Barber speaking at a Moral Monday rally on July 15, 2013 ; photo by Ted Buckner

Tag: gospel

act by praying … pray by acting

the acts of the apostles continue