<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:xx-large"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">---------- Forwarded message ---------<br>From: <strong class="gmail_sendername" dir="auto">Spiritual Wanderlust</strong> <span dir="auto"><<a href="mailto:hello@spiritualwanderlust.org">hello@spiritualwanderlust.org</a>></span><br>Date: Sun, Mar 2, 2025 at 7:13 AM<br>Subject: The Nun Who Fought the Nazis<br>To: <<a href="mailto:met191970@gmail.com">met191970@gmail.com</a>><br></div><br><br><div class="msg5217090311665697498"><u></u>
<div style="background-color:rgba(0,0,0,0);font-family:'Alegreya Sans',sans-serif;color:#000000;width:100%!important;height:100%!important;margin:0;padding:0"><div style="color:transparent;display:none;height:0;max-height:0;max-width:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;width:0">5 Lessons in Resistance from Mother Maria Skobtsova </div>
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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:16px"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt"><strong><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#000000">There once was a nun who refused to be tamed.</span></strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She was a twice-divorced, twice almost-executed, chain-smoking, anarchist Orthodox nun who smuggled Jews out of WW2 Paris–and died in solidarity with them.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">And lately, through the cracks of my shattered heart, Mother Maria has been showing me what it looks like to resist fascism with a fierce, maternal heart. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">If she was able to be a beacon of hope in the midst of hell, then it must be possible for me, too.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Here are five lessons I’ve learned from this maverick matriarch, lifted from her own playbook for resistance. (Number 4 gets me every time.)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">But first - who was she?</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"><br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:28px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#dbb20b">Meet Mother Maria Skobtsova</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Born in 1891 Russia, Mother Maria (born Elizaveta ‘Liza’ Pilenko) spent her prime years in the hotbed of the Bolshevik revolution. An atheist, poet, and political activist, Liza immersed herself in the intellectual world of St. Petersburg. However, their revolutionary ideas didn’t go far enough for this young idealist. She didn’t want to just </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">discuss</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> social change–she wanted to make it happen.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She found an active dedication to the poor in the unlikeliest of places: the Gospels. She converted to Orthodoxy and became the first woman to attend seminary in St. Petersburg.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Meanwhile, the revolutionaries were gaining power. Through a series of events, Liza was installed as the mayor of her town. (As a 27 year old woman! In 1918 Russia!) Violence and catastrophe was all around them. As she tried to maintain the city’s infrastructure, the White Army arrived. She was arrested for collaborating with the enemy and put on trial to be executed. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In court, standing before her accusers, she boldly defended her own case, declaring: “My loyalty was not to any imagined government, but to those whose need of justice was greatest, the people. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Red or White, my position is the same—I will act for justice and for the relief of suffering.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> I will try to love my neighbor.” </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">By some miracle, her life was spared. She knew she needed to get her family out of Russia.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"><br><br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:28px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#dbb20b">1. Transform Grief Into Love</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Together with her husband, mother, and children, Liza fled to Georgia, Turkey, Yugoslavia, and finally France. After all the horrors they had survived, Liza’s tipping point came with the illness of her young daughter, Nastia. After spending weeks by her hospital bed, Nastia died. Liza was absolutely devastated. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Later, she would try to put the experience into words.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Loss, she wrote, <br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"throws open the gates into eternity, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">while the whole of natural existence loses its stability and its coherence. Yesterday's laws are abolished, desires fade, meaninglessness displaces meaning, and a different, albeit incomprehensible Meaning, causes wings to sprout on one's back… </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Before the dark pit of the grave, everything must be reexamined</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As she reexamined her own life, Liza's heart opened in a new way. Rather than allowing grief to paralyze her, she sank to the bottom and there found a new identity. After her daughter’s burial, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Liza became "aware of a new and special, broad and all-embracing motherhood." She felt she saw a "new road before me and a new meaning in life, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">to be a mother for all, for all who need maternal care, assistance, or protection."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Haltingly and imperfectly, Liza grew into this new identity. She began to seek out those most ostracized by French society–people with addictions, mental illness, or the thousands of emigrèes looking for a safe haven.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Her tender, maternal heart soon became known throughout Paris. People lined the streets just to talk to her, eager to find this woman who would make them feel heard. She welcomed each person as if they were her own child. Not only did she invite them into her growing community house, but each night she ventured out—under bridges, into brothels—to find the most vulnerable and offer them refuge from the harshness of the world.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt"><em><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;white-space:pre-wrap">Reflect:</span></em></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;white-space:pre-wrap">Liza’s grief became the foundation for her life’s work. It was fueled by love for those most in need. When faced with tragedy, we too can find deeper purpose by letting our pain awaken our compassion. <strong>How might you let your sorrow spark love and action in your own life?</strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"><br><br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:24px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#0f7a65"><span style="color:#dbb20b;font-size:28px">2. Everyone is an Icon</span> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Eventually, the local bishop heard of Liza’s social work and suggested she found a new sort of monastery. By this time, she had been separated from her second husband for years. The bishop facilitated their divorce and within weeks Liza made her profession as a nun, taking the name Maria.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As a newly minted monastic, Mother Maria knew she wanted to “live the life of paupers and tramps”—a very different lifestyle from the typical Orthodox monastery. Instead of retreating into a life of prayer, she opened house after house of hospitality.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Her work revolved around a single belief: “</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">each person is the very icon of God incarnate in the world</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">.” </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She meant this quite literally. For Orthodox Christians, icons are venerated as a sort of window into eternity, into the Mystery of mysteries. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mother Maria wondered why we don’t turn that same veneration to the humans around us.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">God is incarnate in each person</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, she wrote. And we need to </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">accept this awesome revelation of God unconditionally, to </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">venerate the image of God in [our] brother.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Only when [we] understand that, will yet another mystery be revealed to [us] -- one that will demand [our] most dedicated efforts… [We] will perceive that the divine image is veiled, distorted and disfigured by the power of evil... And [we] will want to engage in battle with the devil for the sake of the divine image."</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In other words: the suffering of a refugee, a queer person, a single mom working three jobs–should compel us to offer our “most dedicated efforts,” for each person reveals the face of the suffering Christ.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Now the </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">extent</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> to which she reverenced the image of God in every person would raise many an eyebrow in Orthodox circles. As her community grew, she was known to attend liturgy the least, and when she did, would frequently arrive late or leave early as soon as a guest came knocking at the door. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">But Mother Maria had no patience for performative religion. "</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Piety, piety, but where is the love that moves mountains?</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">" While people were concerned with their personal prayer life, Christ went hungry and abused in the streets. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:#181818;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Social endeavors should be just as much of a liturgy as any communion,” </span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:#181818;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">she wrote.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><em><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:#181818;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Reflect:</span></em></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:#181818;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Every human is an icon of God. A window into the Holy of Holies. For Mother Maria, this mystery tied together the Incarnation. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:#181818;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In her words: “</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:#181818;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It is necessary to understand that Christianity demands of us not only the mysticism of communion with God, but also the mysticism of communion with people.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How can we live in the fruitful tension of the both/and?</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Both contemplative <em>and</em> active</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Both ritual <em>and</em> solidarity</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Both practice <em>and</em> organize</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Both human <em>and</em> divine</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"><br><br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:28px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#dbb20b">3. Oppression is a Call to Solidarity</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In 1942, the Nazis mandated Jews to wear the Star of David. Throughout Europe, many Christians looked the other way. The law didn’t apply to them, so therefore it wasn’t a Christian problem, right?</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Mother Maria had no time for such terrible theology. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“There is no such thing as a Christian problem,” she shot back. “Don’t you realize that the battle is being waged against Christianity?</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> If we were true Christians, we would all wear the star. The age of confessors has arrived.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There is no neutrality in the face of grave injustice. As the adage goes, all that it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt"><em><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Reflect:</span></em></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How might we join in solidarity with those who are most impacted by the new cascade of policies? Our actions might not be grandiose. It could be as simple as taking an unhoused person to lunch, or checking in with your refugee center to see what they need most.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Because what is a Christian if not seeing yourself in the most vulnerable?</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"><br><br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:28px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#dbb20b">4. Enough Talk. Act.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As a teenager, Liza became enamored with the revolutionary spirit. As a poet and blossoming intellectual, she joined philosophers and artists in talking late into the night, dreaming of a new world.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">However, it didn’t take her long to grow tired of ideas.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">"</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">My spirit longed to engage in heroic feats</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">, even to perish, to combat the injustice of the world," she recalled. She didn’t see her intellectual friends taking action; their thirst for justice seemed satiated by all their ethereal plans they laid in the wee hours of the morning.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Thus, when the Nazi occupation began, Mother Maria wasted no time in doing what she knew how to do.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">When the mass arrests began, she organized a fundraiser to support the spouses and children of those left behind. Then they created escape routes to southern France.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">When Jews started coming round asking for falsified baptismal certificates, the answer was always </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">yes</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">When 13,000 Jews were arrested and detained in a sports stadium for five days before they were sent to Auschwitz, she worked with sanitation workers to </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">smuggle out children in trash bins.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">And when Gestapo officers began knocking on her monastery door </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">looking for Jews, she would simply show them an icon of the Mother of God.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><em>Reflect:</em><br>Mother Maria acted together with others. Like us, she wasn’t always sure of the best way to help. But she connected with the vulnerable, loved them like a mother, and responded to their needs.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Today, when we are tempted to scream into the void of social media or rage about policies–let’s not forget that acting and serving is what will bring about change.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How? </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"> </p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Consider:</span></p>
<ul>
<li dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Contacting your representative to share your discontent. They need to hear from you. (It concretely, statistically makes a difference.)</span></span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Asking local churches <span style="font-size:14.666667px">and charities who is organizing support for the families of people who have been deported</span></span></span></li>
<li dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:11pt">Donating to international relief organizations who are working to heal the gashes left by war</span></span></li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><br></span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It is normal to feel overwhelmed. But Mother Maria’s life shows us that action doesn’t have to be grand to make a difference. <strong>Start with where your feet are planted, and listen to the needs around you. </strong></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"><br><br><br></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:28px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;color:#dbb20b">5. Fortify Each Other in Community </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In 1943, Mother Maria and her co-conspirators were arrested. She was sent to the camp at Ravensbruck, where she survived for two years before being killed.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">To the very end, this anarchist nun was a blaze of love. Survivors recount how she was “full of good cheer” and became a mother to many, leading clandestine discussion groups and comforting her fellow prisoners.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">She took us under her wing,” </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">said one,</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> “and had</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> an enormous influence on us all.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">One survivor, Sophia Novich, recalled:</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“I once said to Mother Maria, that it was more than a question of my ceasing to feel anything whatsoever. My very thought processes were numbed and had ground to a halt. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-left:36pt;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">‘No, no,’ Mother Maria responded,</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">‘Whatever you do, continue to think</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. In the conflict with doubt, cast your thought wider and deeper. Let it transcend the conditions and the limitations of this earth.’”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">With maternal fierceness, she helped her fellow campmates </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">keep their spirits alive even as their bodies wasted away. By anchoring their minds in conversation, she “</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">provided an escape from the hell in which we lived. [She] allowed us to restore our depleted morale, [and] </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">rekindled us, the flame of thought,</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> which barely flickered beneath the heavy burden of horror.“</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Even in the darkest hour, Mother Maria continued to radiate with defiant love. She helped others grasp their interior freedom–a place where no man could enter.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><em>Reflect:</em><br>Today, it is easy to succumb to the “shock and awe” of the daily headlines. However, </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">we can’t afford to get lost in numbing bewilderment. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The immensity of pain is much more likely to turn to trauma in our bodies when we try to process it alone. We need each other to lean on.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Our medicine, to receive and to be for one another, is grounded tenderness, steady conversation, and even the fortifying mercy of levity.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> Like Mother Maria.</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">—</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Like a good Russian mother, Maria loved with a </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">ferocity</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. The image of her turning away Nazi officers with a painting of the mother of God is emblazoned in my mind. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It is an icon that reveals the meeting point of justice and mercy.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Perhaps what is most helpful about this image is that we can </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">resist with love</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">I don’t know about you, but as much space as I give to my emotions (horror, rage, heartache)–sometimes I need a fierce mother to grab my face and say </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“This is what they want. To numb you with horror. But you have your mind. You have your heart. And you have a community of people who are hurting. Sink to the bottom and find your motherhood. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-style:italic;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Now go. Love people back to their senses.” </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">While my heart and the world burns, Mother Maria shows me that that flame can be channeled into a passionate, active love.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Perhaps the deepest lesson is that love, even in its most rebellious form, is the fiercest form of resistance. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">–</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Want to <a href="https://email.kjbm.spiritualwanderlust.org/c/eJx8kMFu3CAQhp8GLlUsGIPxHDi0Sl313N4tDLO7JLZxAafN21dOdqWq2vbI9838aH63bePqFrLP7slN8aHUlOmU01rLw5ZT2H2NaeXBtpPqiThZaZRAaTopOS0uzmOgOb5Qfh1jsIAGDoVwsweUWvWIoNSVLVSKO9NYXzey72jKyQXvSr2OZCppz57u7hf6sdP6Lm9on97SPh-vT3-F3TMXKyeHSAJPAAS9dh6FACCBvlPBe8OjBQFatAIkyBZ0A63vFSp1CgbRaWJKPD9NS1O2mGPd3fzTrYHyvJfapHzms73UuhXWfmQwMBiKv6Q0_2ucweAYDCBVLwBRGgaD_2LU8uvxO79VVuhYGUNaXFztf3_PdqEqUaIRTInzcX7j08Iz-bhFWutbt1p3UiOYlpdYr3Ur00nd9S2v9lus9OHrI4P2D_xi4XcAAAD__4OlvJQ" target="_blank">immerse yourself in Mother Maria’s fierce love</a>? Join us for our upcoming mini retreat </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">March 8</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">. The world-renowned </span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:bold;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Rowan Williams will be teaching LIVE</span><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> (did you know Mother Maria is his favorite modern saint??). It’s wildly affordable, and the recording will be made available afterwards.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="color:#000000;font-weight:normal"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">If, like me, you need concrete anchors of hope during this year, this is a gathering you won’t want to miss.</span></p>
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<a href="https://email.kjbm.spiritualwanderlust.org/c/eJx8kMFu3CAQhp8GLlUsGIPxHDi0Sl313N4tDLO7JLZxAafN21dOdqWq2vbI9838aH63bePqFrLP7slN8aHUlOmU01rLw5ZT2H2NaeXBtpPqiThZaZRAaTopOS0uzmOgOb5Qfh1jsIAGDoVwsweUWvWIoNSVLVSKO9NYXzey72jKyQXvSr2OZCppz57u7hf6sdP6Lm9on97SPh-vT3-F3TMXKyeHSAJPAAS9dh6FACCBvlPBe8OjBQFatAIkyBZ0A63vFSp1CgbRaWJKPD9NS1O2mGPd3fzTrYHyvJfapHzms73UuhXWfmQwMBiKv6Q0_2ucweAYDCBVLwBRGgaD_2LU8uvxO79VVuhYGUNaXFztf3_PdqEqUaIRTInzcX7j08Iz-bhFWutbt1p3UiOYlpdYr3Ur00nd9S2v9lus9OHrI4P2D_xi4XcAAAD__4OlvJQ" style="font-size:18px;padding:15px 30px;font-weight:bold;color:#ffffff;display:inline-block;text-decoration:none;line-height:1.6;border-radius:4px;background-color:#1f84e2" target="_blank">
Learn from Mother Maria
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