September 15, 2014
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
God's Ways Not Always my Ways
 

Through the prophet Isaiah God says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways." (Is. 55:8) Sometimes we may be tempted to think how WE would arrange things if we were in charge: no child trafficked or dying of cancer; no family destitute while billionaires accumulate more wealth; no mother's son or daughter killed in senseless war; no Ebola; no destruction of Earth for profit; as if God wills evil and suffering, which God does not. "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We want the Lord's Prayer to be answered now, according to our thoughts and ways.

 

The parable Jesus narrates in this week's Gospel provides a clear example of this. In another "the kingdom of heaven is like..." simile, he describes a landowner who hires day laborers to work in his vineyard, and at the end of the day pays the last workers on the job the same as those who worked all day. Because my father worked as a day laborer for a while during the Depression, I have some empathy for those who were hired at dawn and paid no differently from those hired late in the afternoon. If the parable was about worker justice there might be some validity to my empathy, but this is not the point Jesus is making. The landowner paid those early- bird workers what they agreed to, a just wage. But the landowner is also generous, so decides to pay all the workers the same wage. He asks the grumbling laborers, "Are you envious because I am generous?" And then, the punch line: "Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Mt. 20: 16a)

 

This scripture passage follows immediately after the scene with the rich young man who turns away sad, and Jesus offers the exact same message of reversal of expectations: the last first, and first last. He follows with this parable about the laborers in the vineyard to drive the lesson home. God's thoughts and ways are not always the same as mine. Francis of Assisi understood this well, asking "Who are you, O God, and who am I?" He strove to think and act in accord with God's thoughts and ways, while knowing that we humans fall short. The important thing is to acknowledge that God is God and I am a limited human person, to keep trying to see the world, my neighbor, and myself with God's eyes, mind and heart, and to act accordingly even though it may mean a reversal of our expectations. This weekend, thousands of people who care about what humans do to God's Creation will join the People's Climate March in New York City. Naysayers, polluters and corporate money seem to be winning this battle, but the first shall be last.


Paul gave his all in following God's ways, writing to the Philippians, "Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death...If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me." (Phil. 1:20c, 22) He goes on to say he is caught between wanting to live in order to labor for Christ or die and be with Christ, his preference. I cannot truthfully say I "long to depart this life," but I do long to "conduct (myself) in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ."

Sr. Marie Lucey
FAN Director of Advocacy and Member Relations 

 

Suggested Petitions:

 

We ask for God's blessing on the People's Climate March and pray that serious actions will be taken to care for God's Creation and address climate change impacts. Let us pray... 


That each of us may act with justice, compassion and generosity, let us pray...


Prayer: UN Environmental Sabbath

 

Gracious God, who made the covenant promise
with our ancestors,
we gather here today a rebellious people.
We want to act out your intentions for us,
but we keep getting mixed up by all the glitter
of the world around us.
You tell us to honor creation,
and we use other people and animals and plant life
only to meet our wants.
You offer daily bread to every living creature,
and we steal that bread from our brothers and sisters
in the name of our greed.
You promise us new life,
and we shrink back from it in fear.
Heal us, God, lest we destroy ourselves.
We need your presence among us.

Amen.

 

Register Now: Theodore Cardinal McCarrick Award Celebration

Patrick Carolan, Theodore Cardinal McCarrick and Fr. Jacek Orzechowski at the Fast for Families tent Nov., 2013

We hope that you'll mark your calendar and join us on November 7th at Trinity Washington University in D.C. as we help Theodore Cardinal McCarrick honor Fast for Families' Eliseo Medina.

Tickets are $100/person (suggested donation) and registration is open. Want to register by mail? Please complete the registration form and mail your check to: Franciscan Action Network Attn: Cardinal McCarrick Award PO BOX 29106, Washington, D.C. 20017

If you're unable to come but would like to be a part of the event, take advantage of being a 'Friend of FAN' by sending us a $50 donation and we will include your name in our Green Ad Book as well as our follow up newsletter.

Sponsorship opportunities for organizations and businesses are available.

For more information, email Jason Miller.

Send a Postcard to Congress on Behalf of Children     

  

Our friends and partners at Ignatian Solidarity Network have made postcards available to send to Congress on behalf of unaccompanied children from Central America. We are invited to make a donation to help with the cost.  

 

Engage your community or parish in advocacy for the rights of unaccompanied children with postcards calling on U.S. legislators to:

  • Ensure the well being of vulnerable persons are the driving force of a U.S.response
  • Maintain due process protections that allow children and families adequate time and opportunity to tell their stories;
  • Address root causes of forced migration from Central America

 

Order your postcards today!  

 

Make Calls to Support Immigrants   

 

To the disappointment and dismay of immigrants and those who support them, the President has decided against any administrative action until after the mid-term elections, due to pressure from some in his own party who are up for re-election. But all of us are urged to keep pressing the President and Congress to act on behalf of immigrant children and families.  

 

Here are two calls to make now:

 

Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: Call 866-473-5915 to remind the President he promised to give relief to immigrants, express disappointment in his decision to delay action until after the elections, and urge other administrative actions that can be taken now with little public attention.

 

Urge Senators to Uphold Protections for Migrant Women and Children: 1-866-940-2439. Before the August Recess, the House voted on a supplemental funding bill that beefs up border security instead of supporting agencies that provide for the basic needs of women and children fleeing violence in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The House also voted to strike down a key provision in the Trafficking Victims Protection and Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008 that requires U.S. agencies screen unaccompanied minors from C.A. as possible victims of human trafficking.

 
Register Now: Earth Corps Servant Leadership Training

Rhett Engelking and Richard Rohr, who will skype in to the training.
FAN is pleased to announce a weekend experiential training conference for Earth Corps Chapter leaders nationwide. If you are a young adult (ages 18-35), we are inviting you to come to DC, activate your faith and experience Franciscan spirituality during the Feast of St. Francis. We are thrilled to announce that Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, author of Eager To Love: The Alternative Way of St. Francis has agreed to join us by teleconference during the weekend to discuss the uniqueness of the Franciscan approach to life and answer questions from the attendees. Here is a low resolution recording of video of Fr. Rohr discussing Francis and the Franciscan Earth Corps in January of 2013.

 

The weekend is scheduled for October 3rd - 5th, with the option of arriving October 2nd. The events will be held at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, which is where the FAN offices are located. This retreat-like setting will offer a peaceful, contemplative backdrop to the weekend. At this intensive training, attendees will be able to meet other leaders from around the country, share ideas, gather valuable tools to boost membership, and gain immediate servant leadership experience.

 

We encourage you to pray about it and make the time for yourself, so you can be a better leader to your chapter upon your return. Head to our website to learn ways to register.

 

Invitation to Assist Iraqi Dominican Sisters and Their People 


The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has received a number of inquiries about how people might support the Dominican Sisters serving their people in Iraq and offers two ways to help, one directly to the Sisters in Erbil via the Adrian, MI Dominicans and the other via Catholic Relief Services.

In 2008, Sr. Marie Lucey, now FAN Director of Advocacy and then staff for LCWR participated in a small delegation of Catholic Sisters to Lebanon and Syria, organized by CRS, for the purpose of witnessing the plight of Iraqi refugees and identifying ways to assist groups sheltering and assisting them. The delegation met with several Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine serving the needs of Iraqi refugees in Beirut and in Damascus. Now members of this community are assisting Iraqis in Iraq.

Franciscans often refer to Dominicans as our "cousins."Please consider offering assistance to a relative. Learn ways to donate.

Notes Requested for Border Detainees   

 

We have not received any positive updates regarding the families in detention. We continue our advocacy work to push for alternatives to detaining families.

 

In the meantime, the organization CLINIC, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., are working to provide legal orientations and screening of families in the detention centers. In their visits, they are seeing that the families, the mothers and the children, are feeling the effects of their detention-some are depressed, losing hope, and feeling very isolated.

 

If you would like to write a note or send a card with encouragement, the attorneys will bring them in to the facilities when they visit and share them with these families.

 

Please send your cards or letters to CLINIC; address them to:

Families

c/o Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc. (CLINIC)

8757 Georgia Avenue

Silver Spring, MD 20910

 

Please do not include anything in the card or letter (no small gifts), because they will not be allowed to be brought in to the facility. Do continue to tell your representatives in Congress that this is an inhumane response.  

 
On September 21st, Join the Global Chorus
  

It's time to send a message - as only faith communities can. Sunday, September 21st is the day of the People's Climate March in NYC and just before the UN Climate Summit. Together, we can make sure world leaders hear our urgent encouragement for action. Join the Global Climate Chorus. 

  

On Sept. 21st at 1:00 p.m. within their own time zone, faith communities worldwide will be making a prayerful sound outdoors. They'll be ringing their bells, chimes or gong, sounding their shofar, offering a call to prayer, chanting a mantra, or offering prayers outdoors.

The purpose is to create a global chorus of outdoor prayers and meditations for the climate, showing our concern about climate change and its impact on the most vulnerable and on future generations.

  

The Chorus is part of the launch of Our Voices - a multi-faith, international campaign for a strong climate treaty.  It's one of GreenFaith's newest initiatives - we'll share more soon.

Wherever you are located, I hope you'll join the Global Climate Chorus.  Together, if faith communities lift our voices, we can make a difference.  

 

Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath Alert


In March, 2014, thousands across the country participated in the Gun Violence Prevention Sabbath. The 2015 Sabbath was scheduled for March 19th-22nd. However, the Newtown Action Alliance asked Faiths United to Prevent Gun Violence, of which FAN is a member, to join with them in holding events on the actual date of the Newtown killings, December 11th. The Alliance hopes to have events in all 50 states. They can be small or large as in March last year. The March Sabbath website posts multi-faith resources.

FAN members are encouraged to hold an event on December 11th, 2014 or the following weekend. In March there will still be a service at the Washington National Cathedral in DC. If you plan to participate, please sign up and indicate Franciscan.

If one of these articles has touched your heart, please consider donating to the Franciscan Action Network.  
 
Mission Statement

Inspired by the Gospel of Jesus, and the example of saints Francis and Clare, the Franciscan Action Network (FAN) is a collective Franciscan voice seeking to transform U.S. public policy related to peacemaking, care for creation, poverty, and human rights.

 

 
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