Communication about issues of Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation among the Sisters of Christian Charity and Companions of Pauline and between the SCC community and others. Feel free to comment. Check back frequently for updates.
Just yesterday, we told you about the new book, Blessed Among Us, by Robert Ellsberg, featuring Mother Pauline on April 29.
Thanks to Sister Joseph, we were informed about another recent daily reflection book which contains a brief biography of Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt. The book is 365 Days with the Saints: A Year of Wisdom from the Saints by Carol Kelly-Gangi, who is the sister of Barbara Kelly-Vergona, the Registrar of SCC-sponsored Assumption College for Sisters. The Blessed Pauline entry can be found on April 30.
This is yet another way of making Blessed Pauline's life more widely known during this Year of Mercy and the year of preparation for her 200th birthday (June 3, 2017).
If you are familiar with Give Us This Day, a monthly publication with daily prayers and readings, then you are familiar with the work of Robert Ellsberg, who has provided the daily "Blessed Among Us" feature in that publication for the past five years. In these daily inspirational excerpts, we read about the lives of those who are included in the official canon of saints and others who are also among the "great cloud of witnesses."
Last month, Liturgical Press released a compilation of Ellsberg's daily reflections. Appropriately titled, Blessed Among Us: Day by Day with Saintly Witnesses, this book provides biographies of two "saintly witnesses" per day. What a great way to direct our lives toward acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humbly with God!
Especially noteworthy to the Sisters of Christian Charity and those familiar with the community is April 29, where a brief biographical sketch of Pauline von Mallinckrodt is included. How appropriate that this book includes the Founder of the Sisters of Christian Charity during the year in which we prepare to celebrate her 200th birthday. It is wonderful that Mother Pauline will be more widely known through this publication. Thank you, Robert Ellsberg and Liturgical Press!
The History Channel has produced a show about 9/11 entitled "15 Septembers Later." It consists of interviews with political figures, photographers, first responders, and others. Looking back at 9/11 from a "15-years-later" perspective, here's what some of them had to say:
"[9/11 was] . . . an extraordinary demonstration of compassion and generosity and volunteerism and the best of who we are as human beings. . . ."
"Fifteen years later, it's how we view that event -- that it's not simply looking back, but it's also looking forward. . . ."
"Courage and fellowship and honor and integrity can come from anywhere and everywhere. It's inside all of us. [We should not wait for] some moment or crisis in history to draw it out of us, but [we should] tap into it every day."
Today, as we pray in remembrance of that day and the lives that were lost, we also reflect on who and how we are now. Do we daily tap into the courage, fellowship, honor and integrity that the world needs in 2016? Do we look and pray forward in hope that the world we are forming and passing on to future generations will be one of peace?
"Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!"
A clip of "Fifteen Septembers Later" is available below. (Email subscribers: Please click here if you do not see a video embedded below.) The entire show is available on the History Channel's site until October 11, 2016.
You will recall our suggestion in August that we add the intention of the Presidential Election of the United States to our prayer and fasting on the 11th of the month. Click here to re-read that post and to receive suggested prayers and other resources for September 11.
You are invited to join the Peace Center at St. Joseph Shrine on the International Day of Peace, September 21, at 7 pm for a screening of the documentary, In Our Son's Name. The screening and discussion will take place in the retreat room at the Shrine of St. Joseph, 1050 Long Hill Road, Stirling, NJ 07980. According to Pax Christi New Jersey: "This documentary is an intimate portrait of Phyllis and Orlando Rodriguez, whose son, Greg, dies with thousands of others in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2011. The bereaved parents choose reconciliation and nonviolence over vengeance and begin a transformative journey that both confirms and challenges their convictions. They speak out against war in Iraq and Afghanistan, publicly oppose the death penalty of avowed 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and befriend his mother. As their search for meaning evolves they speak out against anti-Muslim actions and find peace in working with prison inmates."
More information about the documentary is available here.
More information about the event at St. Joseph Shrine is available here.
As we remember the 15th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, liturgical and other resources are available here and the USCCB's "Liturgical Considerations" for September 11 are available here.
