Pray-Study-Act during the 5th Week of Lent, Mar. 21-27

PRAYER - STUDY - ACTION

Fifth week of Lent, March 21-27

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Greetings of peace!

In Dorothy Stoner's reflection below for this upcoming 5th Sunday of Lent, she references in the first sentence how it has "become necessary to organize 'Stop the Hate' vigils." Her reflection is from our booklet from 2000 and the necessity to organize 'Stop the Hate' vigils is still upon us. Yesterday Pax Christi USA issued this statement in response to the shootings in Atlanta that claimed the lives of eight people, including six Asian American women.

Pax Christi USA has been moving more deeply into the work to stop gun violence, an issue on which many of our local groups have long been active. This past year I was asked to represent Pax Christi USA on the Interfaith Advisory Council of Everytown for Gun Safety. Days before this latest mass shooting, I had submitted this op-ed to the National Catholic Reporter, not anticipating the events that just took place in Atlanta. If you're looking for opportunities to act in response to this week's devastation, check out Everytown's website here and read the report from Stop AAPI Hate about the rising vulnerability of Asian Americans to hate crimes and discrimination over the past year.

During non-pandemic years, many Pax Christi USA local groups and state chapters organize or participate in local Ways of the Cross on Good Friday, public actions that call to mind the ways Jesus continues to be crucified today in our society among our sisters and brothers who are oppressed, suffering, marginalized, targeted, dehumanized. This week has been one of those stations of the cross. Every Lent is such a journey. Looking on the cross, we are still pleading, "Stop the Hate".

Below you'll find several resources to pray, study and act this coming 5th week of Lent.

In peace,

Johnny Zokovitch

Executive Director, Pax Christi USA

PRAYER

WE ARE ONE WITH YOU

By Thomas Merton

O God, we are one with You. You have made us one with You. You have taught us that if we are open to one another, You dwell in us. Help us to preserve this openness and to fight for it with all our hearts. Help us to realize that there can be no understanding where there is mutual rejection. Oh God, in accepting one another wholeheartedly, fully, completely, we accept You, and we thank You, and we adore You, and we love You with our whole being, because our being is in Your being, our spirit is rooted in Your spirit. Fill us then with love, and let us be bound together with love as we go our diverse ways, united in this one Spirit which makes You present in the world, and which makes You witness to the ultimate reality that is love. Love has overcome. Love is victorious. Amen.

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> Starting next week, Pax Christi USA will hold a monthly virtual Peace Mass for our members, friends and partners. The first Peace Mass will be celebrated by our Bishop-President Bishop John Stowe, OFM Conv, and dedicated to the memory of our Deputy Director Dianna Ortiz, OSU. Join us at 8pm on Thursday, March 25th. Future Peace Masses will be held on the 4th Thursday of each month at the same time. Click here for more information and to register to join us.

STUDY

A REFLECTION FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT

by Dorothy Stoner, osb (originally published 2000)

Jeremiah 31:31-34 | Hebrews 5:7-9 | John 12:20-33

“I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;

I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33)

In a time when it has become necessary to organize “Stop the Hate” vigils throughout the United States, the Scripture readings for today cry out to be heard. When a bureaucracy that claims to be rooted in the Wisdom of God can write and teach that some people are “intrinsically disordered” because of their sexual orientation, thee readings need to be heard. Because we know that an extremely disproportionate number of young black males are incarcerated each year, we need to be attentive to these readings.

As we remember faithful, reconciling ministers like Jeannine Gramick, SL and Bob Nugent, a Salvatorian priest, being forbidden to work with the gay and lesbian people they love because of what they hold within the privacy of their own consciences or because they don’t use the precise words required by authorities, we know we need to listen to these readings.

After reading and viewing countless news stories that report of angry, bitter crowds of people demanding the death penalty be imposed; of schools, churches, and individuals being targeted for acts of violence; of U.S. government policies being developed and implemented in such uneven ways; of ethnic and religious cleansing continuing day after day, in place after place, we are reminded that we need to learn from these readings...

Click here to read the entire reflection.

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> Watch the second panel discussion from the Advancing Nonviolence study circles, with Ken Butigan, Jean-Baptiste Talla and Pat Gaffney of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative addressing the topic, "Rediscovering Nonviolence, Reading the Signs of the Times".

ACTIONS

Pax Christi USA is one of the co-sponsors for the Virtual Way of the Cross for Economic and Ecological Justice, taking place on Good Friday, April 2 at 12pm ET. Based on the Economic Way of the Cross written by the Religious Working Group on the World Bank/IMF, the Way of the Cross for Economic and Ecological Justice provides a prayerful way to walk the steps of Jesus in this time of financial and ecological crisis. Each station symbolizes institutional roots of this suffering in government, in transnational corporations, in international financial institutions, in trade agreements, macroeconomic policies, and financial transactions that give shape to economic activity around the world.

Click here to register via Zoom. You will also be able to watch the presentation live on YouTube.

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PLAN YOUR OWN WAY OF THE CROSS

Traditionally, many Pax Christi USA local groups plan and stage a “Way of the Cross” event on Good Friday, connecting the sufferings of Christ during his passion with the suffering of our brothers and sisters at the hands of violence, greed, poverty, sickness and war. Because of the pandemic, we are encouraging groups to conduct these events either 1) virtually, 2) in observance of local restrictions in place for the safety and well-being of all, especially the most vulnerable, or 3) to join us for the Virtual Way of the Cross we are co-sponsoring explained above.

You can find resources for groups interested in undertaking a Way of the Cross in their community on Good Friday on our Lent 2021 page on the website. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the information. Also please let us know if you have a Way of the Cross planned in your community. We will list the names of groups, with contact information, which will be staging a Way of the Cross this year.

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> Register for the Pax Christi USA Young Adult Caucus Lenten retreat or encourage a young adult you know to participate. The retreat is taking place virtually over Zoom on March 27. Click here for more information.