[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: From Art Laffin-- A Lenten Message and Contemporary Adaptation of Isaiah 58: 1-12

[Greg Gillis]

In the Spirit of Peace and the Nonviolent Jesus, here is a powerful
reflection from a friend of our very own Dwyer Sullivan that is so
appropriate for this Lenten season in a world marked by so much strife.

Let us continue to pray and work for peace in all the world's trouble spots.

Thank you Dwyer and to your friend Art Laffin!

In Peace

Greg





Hello:
Here is a meaningful meditation for Lent that I thought you might
appreciate. It is from my friend and former colleague (Conscience Canada
board) Dwyer Sullivan of Kitchener. Dwyer started training as a priest but
got married to Sheila (now deceased) and they had a large lovely family.
Dwyer was a chaplain and world religions teacher at Catholic high schools.
He took students and later adults in a bus or van to the annual protest of
the ’School of the America’s’ (renamed 'Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation'), Fort Benning, Columbus Georgia. That school is
infamous for teaching Latin American student police and military in
counterinsurgency and combat-related skills since its founding in 1946.
This meant torture and death of those protesting for human rights in their
countries.

Prayerfully, Murray L

Begin forwarded message:

*From: *Dwyer Sullivan
*Subject: **Re: From Art Laffin-- A Lenten Message and Contemporary
Adaptation of Isaiah 58: 1-12*
*Date: *07March, 2025 at 2


Hello all,

Here is very meaningful meditation to consider throughout Lent. Art Laffin
is a life-tiime Member of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House in
Washington DC.  Their community provided hospitality for my van of 15
students for a week on 10 different occasions. They have continued their
weekly vigils to the Pentagon and White House for decades in putting their
faith and words into action. I am grateful that he considers me a friend
and fellow supporter of non-viiolence and promoting Jesus' message.


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Art Laffin
Date: Fri, Mar 7, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Subject: From Art Laffin-- A Lenten Message and Contemporary Adaptation of
Isaiah 58: 1-12
To:


Dear Friends,

Greetings of peace to you at the beginning of this Lenten Season.

Lent is a time for personal and societal repentance, radical conversion and
transformation. Living under the brutal occupation of the Roman empire,
Jesus declared: "The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in
the Gospel." Living in the U.S. empire, we need to heed Jesus' proclamation
of repentance and conversion now more than ever as we seek repentance and
conversion of ourselves, our society, and nation, as well as our churches,
to the Gospel mandate of love, justice, and a reverence for all life.

In today's Catholic lectionary the first reading is from Isaiah 58. Below
is a slightly revised version of a contemporary adaptation of this
scripture passage that I wrote a number of years ago.

St. Oscar Romero declared: "A Church that doesn’t provoke any
crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get
under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the
society in which it is being proclaimed – what Gospel is that?"

 Dorothy Day declared, "The greatest challenge of the day is: how to
bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with
each one of us." During this Lenten Season, let us pray that we and all the
people of God, can more deeply experience this revolution of the heart
which can lead to a nonviolent revolution and transformation of our
society and world.

In this time of peril and ruthless political upheaval, we need to dig deep
into the well of faith, practice repentance and resist the forces of
oppression, destruction and death. Let us thank God for the many people and
groups across the religious and political spectrum who are working
tirelessly for the common good and who are challenging and
resisting a power structure rooted in White Supremacy, Christian
Nationalism, systemic racism, oppression, and violence, and are committed
to bringing about racial, economic, environmental and social justice, just
peace and the abolition of war, nuclear weapons and all weapons and war.

In this time when genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement is
being perpetrated against the Palestinian people by the Israeli and U.S.
governments,  let us pray and live these prayers from our friends from
Sabeel, the Palestinian Liberation Theology Center:

*Christ the Liberator, you call us to the way of nonviolence—a love so
radical that it refuses to hate even in the face of injustice. Teach us to
see our enemies as fellow image-bearers of God, to resist the temptation of
vengeance, and to reject the lie that violence can bring peace. We confess
that we are all sinners, in need of your grace. Help us not to confuse love
with passivity or justice with revenge. Strengthen us to hold one another
accountable, especially those in power, without losing sight of our shared
humanity. May our resistance to oppression be shaped by truth and
compassion, so that in seeking justice, we do not become what we oppose.*

*Dear Lord, in this season of fasting and lament, we remember those who
hunger, those displaced by war, and those whose homes are turned to ash,
especially in Gaza and the West Bank. As we journey through Lent, deepen
our commitment to justice and repentance, that we may work to end despair
and suffering and help build a world rooted in your peace. *

*Divine Creator, as our Muslim brothers and sisters enter this sacred month
of fasting and prayer, we ask for your blessings upon them. We especially
remember the suffering people of Gaza and the West Bank, who are being
deprived of basic needs. May this Ramadan be a season of healing, and may
your justice break forth like the dawn.*
*Lord, in your mercy… hear our prayer*.
Inspired by the Holy Cloud of witnesses, let us work in solidarity with
sister's and brother's everywhere to create the Beloved Community as we
seek to redeem the times by making God's reign of love, justice and
peace a reality in our society and world, right here, right now!

In the peace and hope of Jesus,
Art



A LENTEN MEDITATION
CONTEMPORARY ADAPTATION OF ISAIAH 58: 1-12
by Art Laffin

Cry out, don’t hold back.
Lift up your voice like a trumpet.
Announce to my people their rebellion,
To the nation their sins.

Yet, day after day, the rulers and countless people invoke my name,
as if they practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of
their God.
They delight to invoke my name to bless their violent deeds.
They use my name to bless and justify their systems of power, structures,
institutions, wars and weapons.
We practice good religion, they say.
We pray and serve our country well.
We keep good law and order.

Look, you serve your own interests, not mine, says Yahweh.
You follow your religion of nationalism, materialism and militarism,
You are slaves to selfishness.
You know not my ways.
You don’t know how to fast-- your rituals are empty!
You assert an authority you say is rooted in morality.
You hypocrites!
Your morality is rooted in worshiping idols-- gods of metal, money, greed
and self-serving power.
You are desecrating the earth and destroying countless lives!
You worship false gods, not me!

Is not this the fast that I choose--the real act of worship that I desire:
to undo the thongs of the yoke, to renounce white supremacy, empire and all
systems of political and economic domination and oppression,
to resist all violence, racism, sexism, discrimination, torture, the death
penalty, and all killing,
to let the oppressed and captives go free,
to renounce nuclearism and abolish nuclear weapons, killer drones and all
weapons,
to end all injustice,
to reverence all life and to safeguard creation!
Is it not to share your resources with the poor, to offer hospitality to
the homeless, to welcome the refugees and immigrants, to clothe the naked,
and to provide quality housing, health care, food, education and work for
everyone?
Is it not to love your neighbor, to practice mercy and nonviolence, to make
sure that the dignity of each person is respected and to recognize that all
human beings are sisters and brothers, children of God?
Is it not to eradicate poverty, inequality, racial hatred, injustice and
abolish war so that people can live in justice and peace?

Then and only then shall your light break forth like the dawn and your
healing shall spring up quickly.
Then you shall call and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and
the Lord will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the
speaking of evil,
the demonization and scapegoating of your adversaries,
the profiling and targeting of African Americans, Muslims, Immigrants and
people of color,
if you offer food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
if you establish justice for the oppressed,  proclaim liberty to the
captives, and practice restorative justice,
then your light shall rise in the darkness and your despair be transformed
into hope.
The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched
places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt, you shall raise up the foundations of
many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to
live in.




-- 
Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly With Your God
    - Micah 6:8
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