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

[Dwyer Sullivan]

Thank youi Greg. Peace, Dwyer

On Fri, Mar 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM Greg Gillis via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

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