Our Own Land

Lectio Divina

They shall again live on their own land.

Jeremiah 23:8

Library

Ellsberg, All Saints on my night-table with the latest issues of America and Commonweal. Mumford, The City in History, on my desk. Peguy, God Speaks, in the chapel stall.

Log

About to head into chapel for the office of readings, meditation, and evening prayer. Planning to meditate on the above passage from the book of the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah. I believe this verse can help me understand the Lord's Prayer better where we say "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The reign of God is not just a state of mind. It is intended to take its place among us in this world. The hope of the exiles of Judah, who languished in a foreign land 600 years before Jesus, is the hope of all exiles, political and spiritual (and political as spiritual), who follow Jesus and the God of Israel today. The kin(g)dom of heaven is our nation; its territory lays a claim on us. And we seek it, not in an ethereal ever-after, but in this world. Its land is all the land of this earth. The kin(g)dom of God is our land, and to paraphrase Woody Guthrie, it was made for you and me. May all the nations on earth and their peoples cede their sovereignty to it.

This morning, concluded our class sessions on the Capuchin reform of the Franciscan movement. We will not have class again until Monday the 31st. This afternoon, worked on the newsletter. In between, sent out a few more Advent letters. Also sent an appreciative letter of encouragement to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Going offline for the next 24 hours for the day of recollection beginning this evening. It is being led by the provincial minister of the Capuchin Province of Our Lady of Angels, the California province.

Weather

Beautiful but cold.