Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well.
As we let Earth Day echo, today's Meditation is a tribute to Sr. Dorothy Stang shared with us by Ellen Kennedy. You may remember Jean preaching about Sr. Dorothy Stang a few weeks ago; this tribute lets the spirit of Sr. Dorothy keep speaking to us both in the youtube video and in the words below. Don't miss her screech owl.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in healthcare, in the workplace, in the Church--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time.
As Spring comes to birth, may you find peace, healing, hope, and the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron & Jean
Meditation 340: Sr. Dorothy Stang: You Live On
https://youtu.be/iJAxlYCcA2k
Care for Our Common Home
One month ago, we celebrated World Water Day. These two days go together. Everyday goes together.
We are reminded of our connectedness in Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si.
In 2015 Pope Francis published Laudato SI - Care of our Common Home. Does he really say or present concepts we do not know?
He very logically presents ecological realities previously written about by his Papal predecessors and obvious to the eye as well as predictable destruction.
The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes bringing the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that thing can change...humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home.
Long before Laudato Si, Sr. Dorothy Stang trekked with tenet farmers and their families across the northeast of Brazil to claim promised land offered by the Government to anyone who would populate the interior of the Amazon.
Her voice continues to echo across the Amazon for the good of the earth. Her voice continues to resound through the lives of the Amazonian farmers as they continue to till the land, employ sustainable farming practices and struggle for existence among loggers and ranchers determined to ravish the Rainforest.
Join us in the struggle for Care of Our Common Home
Sr. Dorothy's Owl
Xingu Screech-Owl (Megascops stangiae)
We are happy to share the discovery of a new species of a screech owl in the Amazon rainforest named after our martyred Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Dorothy Stang. A native of Dayton, OH, and a graduate of Julienne High School, Sister Dorothy taught in Illinois and Arizona before beginning her life’s work in the Brazilian Amazon fighting for the rights of people in poverty.
Below is a reflection written by Sister Teresita Weind, SNDdeN
Morphology in biology refers to the structure and appearance in living things. Distinct vocal and genetic variation in Amazon Forest Screech Owls led to the identification of the new species of the Xingu Screech Owl named after Sr. Dorothy Stang, Megascops stangie. In the same Amazon Forest, Sr. Dorothy faithfully raised her voice, making distinct sounds of protest and resistance to the presence of illegal loggers who cleared sections of the forest for illegal ranchers who planted grass for cattle. Sr. Dorothy’s voice resonated with the voices of the farmers whose land was illegally snatched and stolen from them. Sr. Dorothy’s voice was loud and clear as she warned the world that “The death of the Forest is the end of our lives”. She tried every sound possible to awaken the world to the fact that the Amazon Forest is the “lungs of the planet”.