Carla Mae's Blog

With reflections on Pope Francis’ Laudato si and Fratelli tutti behind us, (See past issues of Community Connections) we again put our ears to the heart of the Church. We begin to listen to what Francis is dreaming about for the Church and the world. I suspect we will be hearing some of this dreaming taking real shape as the Synodal Movement unfolds. This month we will just look at seven major themes that come from Let us Dream: The Path to A Better Future by Pope Francis in conversation with Austen Ivereigh. They will challenge us just be reading them. Next month we will start unpacking what they might mean as we enter a time of becoming a new kind of Church as the Synodal Movement is launched.   1.     To come out of this crisis better, we have to see clearly, choose well, and act right. Let’s talk about how. Let us dare to dream.   2.     We must redesign the economy so that it can offer every person access to a dignified existence ...

As women and men of the Word, as Dominicans, we’ve put our ears to the heartbeat of the Church’s ‘Sweet Christ on earth,’ to use Catherine of Siena’s reference to the Holy Father.   We’ve been listening to what Francis has been writing to the whole world.  We’re going to review where we’ve been this month, and then look ahead to where we will listen next. First, a review of Francis’ synodal approach to the world in Fratelli tutti : I.                “Dark Clouds Over a Closed World” Francis is no Pollyanna. In this first chapter he tells it like it is from the illusion of communication to information without wisdom and more. II.              “A Stranger on the Road” Using the parable of The Good Samaritan, Francis tells us there are no final ‘borders’ among neighbors. III.           “Envisaging ...

We arrive this month at the final chapter of Pope Francis’ Fatelli tutti, his addendum, really, to his Laudato si. For following that document on care for the earth, Francis then opens to us the way to realize it: we need to do it together. Chapter eight is titled, “Religions at the Service of Fraternity.” The focus is that religions, when they are true to their values, establish the ultimate foundation for human life. They tell us who we are. They affirm our identity as one community of children of God. (#271-280) Thus any persecution of authentic religion is an affront to all religions.  Francis warns that religious terrorism comes from teachings taken out of context, breeding hatred, contempt, and the negation of others. The result is distortion. (#282) The real sources of such contempt arise from hunger, poverty, injustice, oppression, and pride. The texts are then twisted to lend legitimacy to violent behavior.  The Parliament of World Religios has just taken place...

 Pope Francis has a vision. He shared it with us partially in his first encyclical, Laudato si. There he invited all of us to reposition ourselves in the midst of our wonderful environment. Because we belong to it, and it belongs to us, we need to care for it. Then he opened the lens further with his encyclical Fratelli tutti. Here we have seen he invites us to look at ourselves…for if we are not in right relations with all in our global family, we will never be able to care for the earth. We have reflected on the sorry state of things (Chapter 1). Then he grounded us in scripture with the Good Samaritan parable, asking us to check what role we play (Chapter 2). Next he shocked us into imagining ‘an open world’ (Chapter 3). And in Chapter 4 he dared us to open our hearts to the whole world.  What next? Well, in Chapter 5 he dares to talk about the forbidden topic: politics. He doesn’t shy away from it, nor must we. He calls for a ‘better kind’ of politics, one that puts th...

 The season of longing is here. We know what heartache is. We so long for COVID to end. We long for its restrictions to be lifted. We long for the chaos at the border to be addressed. We long for Tegrey to get the food its people need…that the religious terrorism that now rules Afghanistan be gone…that Haiti have order…that our congress can once again really function…that the scars of our racism give way to a new order.  We stand with Mary as she longs to see the face of the mysterious baby that has come to make its home in her. We see our own baptismal call in the stark figure of John and he issues his wake-up call to set things right. We settle in with the barren trees and the leafless bushes and the cold of winter, and we wait. Love lights its lamp of faith and waits in hope.  Hope is expectant. It is built on the assurance that counts on promise. A promise has been made. We can count on it. We can count on the One who has given his word. The darkness of the absenc...

  With the Feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, we bask for a week in the glow of Christmas. Then with the Baptism of John, we enter the public life of Jesus, and a quite lengthy Ordinary Time this year. Ash Wednesday is not until March 2, so we have about eight weeks to watch Someone who is going to model for us how to be authentically human.  If we listen with our hearts to the scriptures we will observe this Human One, this Son of Man, doing a lot of the things we find ourselves doing. He talks with people, travels, eats, sleeps, puts up with difficulties, and with difficult people. It’s not what he does but how he does it that we need check out. He is constantly aware of who he is. He is Abba’s Beloved. This gives him a context to view everything going on around him.  Maybe that’s the clue for us as we listen to the readings of these weeks. Christmas has told us who we are…we too are the Beloved. What would happen if we thought of that and smiled each time ...

 We are into ‘Ordinary’ Time. It is a call to smile while we do ‘ordinary’ things…like the laundry, the shopping, filling up the car, and brushing our teeth. Why a knowing little smile? Because the Word who married our humanness thought it important enough to spend thirty years doing those ordinary things with great love. Those ordinary things were the bulk of his human life, as it is with ours. Reflecting on this gives a whole new meaning to what we consider the hum-drum. And so, the knowing little smile as we intentionally pour all our love into the day-to-day.  If we think of it, the liturgy of these weeks unwraps this like an extended flashlight beam, starting quite focused and then ever expanding. The child in the manger is the focus, seen first by Mary and Joseph. Then the expansion starts: the shepherds, then the Magi; Simeon and Anna and John and the Jews at the Baptism; then comes the apostles at the wedding of Cana, and finally the Purification in the Temple. Once ...

 Lent is upon us. I don’t know about you, but I look at others carrying huge crosses, and wonder how I got skipped. At this time in my life at least, I don’t suffer from a deadly disease that just isn’t going away, or not having a roof over my head, or enduring daily injustice because of the color of my skin. Am I alone in wondering about how I am to take up my Cross?  Then it dawned on me that I might be missing what is right before my eyes. Maybe just being human is my cross. Some days it’s pretty heavy. My car door is frozen shut, and no amount of coaxing is going to unfreeze it so I can get to church. I wake up and just don’t have any energy today. Cramps in my legs kept me up half the night…I need to get a haircut…will have to wear my mask…and on and on. Nothing big, nothing momentous, just being human…and chaffing at its heaviness.  The time after Christmas is like a light-beam shining on all the nooks and crannies of my soul. I blink often. All the little thin...