Warming to the Saints

Lectio Divina

... thinking he was dead.

Acts 14:19

Library

Reading Johnson, Friends of God and Prophets, in the chapel. Very good for renewing my belief in the communion of saints. Finished the April issue of Hospitality. Also just read the latest issue of America. Confirmed this morning that my subscription to Commonweal was renewed.

Log

It is the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker, International Workers Day, and the 80th anniversary of the public debut of the Catholic Worker movement. Joseph of Nazareth, Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day, all you co-workers in Christ, pray for us. I hope that at this time next year, I will be in such a place and space as to celebrate once more in the streets with my sisters and brothers of the labor movement, in faith and solidarity, the glory of God made manifest in a people fully alive for justice, peace, mercy, and the common good.

Concluded our week of class sessions on the Capuchin Franciscan approach to ministry and mission. We devoted this morning to a look at our saintly Capuchin brother of Detroit, Venerable Solanus Casey. Having spent the first two days taking a deductive approach to our understanding of ministry, it was refreshing to take an inductive approach and learn from the personal example of one of our honored predecessors in the faith. You should check out the educational and spiritual center built in his memory. How refreshing that the Capuchins have chosen to present Solanus in a way that does not merely built a cult of devotion to him but instead points all comers to the One he followed, Jesus Christ.

Hermitage time this afternoon spent mostly at Old Mission Santa Ines doing theological reflection on ministry with our Capuchin brother, the Catholic chaplain at FCC Lompoc. This evening, relaxing with the brothers watching a film classic, The Wizard of Oz. In the opinion of the film critic for America magazine, the 1939 original has no comparison; and, unfortunately, no imitators.

Weather

Warming, warming. We expect to surpass 90 degrees tomorrow and/or Friday.