Date Archives March 2020

This week is going to be rough for so many of us. This week we will continue to lose jobs, lose security, lose the illusion of independence. More states, towns, and counties will issue lockdowns. More people will be diagnosed with COVID-19 and more people will die. We are living in critical and difficult days.  First, I want to remind you that we are in this together. We always have been, but now we need that conscious awareness so that we work together, hold together and heal together. We are interdependent.  Second,… Read More

A Poem by Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM Lock down Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation. Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness. Yes there is even death. But, They say that in Wuhan (China) after so many years of noise You can hear the birds again. They say that after just a few weeks of quiet The sky is no longer thick with fumes But blue and grey and clear. They say that in the streets of Assisi (Italy) People are singing to each other across… Read More

The farther one goes,The less one knows.-Tao Te Ching Now many days into this global pandemic, it’s occurring to us that we are in this for the long haul. We don’t fully see where this is headed, but it feels scary and unsettling. Some of us have lost our jobs and have no income. Many of us are leading fragile companies, NGOs or churches who may go out of existence if this goes on as long as we fear. Our world is fundamentally changed. In times of deep uncertainty, we… Read More

I recently saw a beautiful reflection from Nichola Torrbett about these strange times in which we live:  Yesterday, walking in the redwoods with a dog, I decided to ask the trees about COVID-19. (This was a direct suggestion from Adrienne Maree Brown). Basically, what I heard from the trees is that even this virus has a message for us if we are willing to hear it. No, they were not saying that “God created a virus to punish us”–trust me, I checked, because I have not forgotten the 1980s. But they… Read More

COVID-19 is hitting the nation in full force. Companies are canceling their conferences. Faith communities are canceling worship services. Politicians are canceling rallies. For those who can, many are staying home in a self-quarantine made possible largely because we live in the age of the internet. Many of us can work from home. But many of us can’t.  Like all major disasters, the poor are the ones victimized the most. People working jobs that require them to show up to be paid face a future without income. Most are working paycheck to paycheck…. Read More