LCW Spring 2015 Newsletter

 The Lamb Catholic Worker

Spring 2015 Newsletter

       The greatest news we have, that should be proclaimed from the rooftops, is that in March Pope Francis declared a year of Jubilee coming, beginning this year on December 8, 2015, instead of at the traditional 25-year mark (2025), calling for a Holy Year of Mercy. It is of no surprise though, from the pontiff of great mercy, love, and humility.

Blessed Pope John Paul II opening the Holy Door
 (which is opened for the Jubilee year alone, the door to the right of the
 main doors at St. Peter Basilica) Christmas Eve 1999

       We recently celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy on the Sunday following Easter, instituted by Blessed Pope John Paul II at the inspiration of St. Faustina. This amazing feast day is an entire day of pilgrimage and of atonement for our sins and the sins of the whole world.  We Catholics pray fervently, typically all in the same day - with mass, confession, Eucharistic Adoration silence, the rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and singing - all calling down God's mercy upon everyone everywhere, especially those who need it the most. And Jesus, who said that from now on, we not only cannot kill, if we even grow angry at another we will be liable for judgment, so great is His mercy and modeling, shows us how critical it is to not harbor anger and hostility toward another person.  It is such an exquisite event that Pope Francis has announced to continue this theme of an outpouring from God and from Christ-followers, of genuine mercy to all, and raise it to a level of Jubilee!  Thank you, Dear Papa!  

        Another smaller miraculous movement of the Holy Spirit happened recently when attempting to announce online a retreat given by Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, a world renowned spiritual leader especially in the area of Christ's nonviolent modeling and way in the world.  A quote from St. Patrick was used on this LCW site, "Killing is not of Christ," which had nothing to do with the retreat specifically, since it had not taken place.  There was no knowledge that he would even use this quote at all, which put into question using it.  Well, at the retreat the only gift given to all the retreatants was an icon picture of St. Patrick with this quote!  The picture below is the holy card given.

On Back:  Violence is not the Christian Way,

violence is not the Holy Way,

violence is not the Apostolic Way,

violence is not the Way of the Gospels,

violence is not the Way of Jesus.

Saint Patrick,

Pray for us.

     Some of the most powerful words of Rev. Charles McCarthy:

• ... Jesus has to tell us how to live among evil and death and to conquer it.  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, ... all things were made through him... the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  God incarnate becomes one of us and lives among us to tell us how to live, how to reach eternal live, ... Not just for ourselves but for everybody
• Why do you say that "Jesus is the way?"  Because Jesus said it!  "I am THEEEE way ..." Jesus is the Son of God [not the relativism of various religions, "prophets," etc, but He alone is God's Son]
• Jesus' words and His deeds cannot be separated from His person.  They are INSEPARABLE. His actions are the same as His person and deserve exactly the same level of adherence as His person and His words
• If Jesus calls God, "Abba," then that is what God is, not something else.  Nothing can be truer than the Word of Truth.  Jesus is not only the Word Incarnate, but Truth Incarnate
• The only time in Jesus' words that He uses the emphasis that this particular act will PROVE, or be the proof or mark, that you indeed are children of the heavenly Father is if you love your enemies. This will call you children of God, as opposed to children of this god or that god of various beliefs.  It is what singles us out in the world as different. We must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, who makes his sun and rain shine on the good and bad alike
• Jesus said that if you want to get it right, to live in Truth, it is summarized as Jesus said it is summarized:  Love God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind and your whole strength and to love your neighbor as yourself - neighbor being everyone outside of oneself

Rev. Charles Emmanuel McCarthy Retreat on the nonviolent
love and modeling of Jesus

"Jesus' words and actions are inseparable, with the same
 expectations of adherence"

HAPPENINGS OF THE LAMB

     There is no real news to tell at this time, besides the live liver donor surgery coming June 9.  Monica is giving up to 69% of her liver to a needy relative in end stages liver disease.  She will offer any discomfort or pain associated with this for God, the Harvest-master, to send workers in the field, willing to embrace voluntary poverty and live in community in the Catholic Worker tradition of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.  She also offers it up for purification of the Catholic Worker Movement, of houses and communities, and for the canonization of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin together.
     God-willing, once she heals, she will begin taking in battered women and children of foreign descent into her home, beginning on a small scale.  The plea is out for more workers in the field, dedicated to the mission and vision of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.
     We are still seeking donations to obtain the properties for this 3-house Catholic Worker model, with abandoned city lots in between for city gardening.  Happy feast day of St. Joseph the Worker yesterday, the patron of the Catholic Worker! Mother Mary, St. Joseph, Dorothy Day, and Peter Maurin, please pray for us!

Purify the Catholic Worker, Jesus, to be the Diamond of Its Founders

By Monica,  The Lamb Catholic Worker, Columbus, Ohio

The "Collect" of the Divine Office in the Lauds for yesterday was:

"True light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ,
as you enlighten all men for their salvation,
give us grace, we pray,
to herald your coming
by preparing the ways of justice and peace."

       Many have believed, in recent years, that we are near Judgment Day (a concept believed by all Christians and Muslims of the world), or the end times, just after the rapture as Jesus described. It will come like a thief in the night. He explained that at this point, it will be sudden and two men will be working on the roof; one will be instantly taken, one will be left.  Two women will be making bread; one will be taken, one will be left.  This is to precede and spare His followers from the terrible things described by Christ in the Gospels (wanting the mountains to fall on us ...) and by St. John in his visions as told in the book of Revelations.
       Whether the time is soon or whether we have another thousand years, we are to live as if each day were our last in service to our sweet Savior, Jesus.  As I ponder the Collect above from yesterday, what comes to mind is, if we are nearing the end or even not, how exquisite a diamond Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin created, lived, and ushered into the world this last century - and to the Catholic Church especially - "heralding your [Christ's second] coming by preparing the ways of justice and peace" in the Catholic Worker movement. To sum it up for those who are not familiar, how they envisioned, dreamed and modeled the Catholic Worker ideals is as close to living the loving life of the early Church, on fire for Jesus, enflamed by the Holy Spirit, and engulfed in "profound poverty and profound joy", as you can possibly get.  And this is done mostly by lay people!
       Peter always said not to call him radical, but simply Catholic.  To him to be Catholic means to be radical, meaning going back to our roots ("radish" has the same stem) closest in timeline to Jesus, the Apostles, and the Early Church as possible, where the Way of Jesus was lived out most purely. It was an era  closest to Truth itself, which is Christ, and closest to those people who lived it out most fully.  Just as the Church has recently been moved by the Holy Spirit to correct, or embrace the actual wording of prayers and responses more accurate to what they were (and were always meant to be) in revising our modern liturgy to make it more authentic, so Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin redirected the living out of what it means to be Catholic, focusing on authenticity to Christ, His Apostles, and the Early Church.  Fr. Robert Barron emphasizes this as well - to be radical as Jesus was radical - in his Catholicism series (where he highlights the Catholic Worker in one of the CDs).
      My prayer this lenten season is for a purification of myself, as a marshmallow over flames, to become a more loving, gentle, kind, and compassionate Catholic Worker attempting to always do His bidding.  It is also for a purification of all Catholic Workers as well as of the Catholic Worker Movement, all those trying to live out Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin's vision: embracing Lady Poverty, intertwining with the poorest of the poor in a loving vibrant community, and promoting the TRUE sacredness and sanctity of ALL human life and lives in their pacifism (as the early Church did for the first 300 years, unbroken).
      Both founders embraced their Catholicism whole-heartedly and passionately, Peter having lived with the Christian Brothers for years before, and Dorothy becoming a Benedictine Oblate.  Daily both strived to receive consecrated bread and wine - Jesus' own real flesh and real blood, of the holy sacrifice of the Mass to feed and invigorate them; as well as to be fed on the Word there, which is Christ, in order to daily direct their paths.  They prayed the rosary daily for the powerful intercession of Mother Mary, strived to get to confession often (Dorothy once a week), and to meditate, read, pray, and converse in a multitude of other ways - focused on God, on community, on the poor, and on peace.
     As quoted in the lenten issue of "The Word Among us," Dorothy's top theme in all she strived for is of profound love, lived out in community:
"True love is delicate and kind, full of gentle
 perception and understanding,
 full of beauty and grace ....
There should be some flavor of this
 in all our love for others.
We are all one.
We are one flesh, in the Mystical Body,
as a man and woman are said to be
one flesh in marriage.
With such a love one would
 see all things new;
we would begin to see people
as they really are, as God sees them."

       Pray for me as I offer any and all suffering associated with a live liver transplant I am undergoing for a very dear close relative!  I offer it up to purify the Catholic Workers' witness to the world, for the Lamb Catholic Worker here in Columbus to begin, for intentions toward a child of mine, for women and children of foreign descent especially with nowhere else to turn, and especially, for the canonization of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.  It is also for several other people who need sacrifices for bigger problems.
      True story.  My spiritual director, Msgr. Marv Mottet, has had to listen to my laments about why God is not sending workers in the field, or the funding, or the properties, or support for this vision of a multi-house Catholic Worker community in Columbus for battered women and children of foreign descent (mainly but not exclusively). About three years ago when lamenting, he answered:  "Do you know the story about St. Charles de Foucauld?" He went on to explain that he wanted to found a

St. Charles de Foucauld

Hermitage of St. Charles de Foucauld

  new religious community in a certain spot, in Algiers, Northern Africa.  He worked hard toward it, prayed hard, wrote often about it, solicited support, and spoke to anyone who would listen.  Eventually, he was killed by robbers at his hermitage before it came into being.  Afterward, three opened, forming the "Little Brothers of Jesus," from the writings of St. Charles de Foucauld.
     I asked Msgr. Mottet if I had to then get hit by a bus before this can begin (!). The seeds of the blood of the martyrs are one of the most powerful means for God to work.  Soo, as one could guess, I tried every other possible way to help God to get this going.  I will not go into it all, but when I hit a point in late November/early December, 2014, I lamented again why did God say to ask the harvest master for more workers in the field if He was not going to send them -- for years -- even after praying, trusting, asking, pleading, etc.?  That St. Charles de Foucauld story came to mind immediately.  I almost as immediately said, "Yes, I say yes to even this, now." A rush of great peace and grace flooded me, unexplainably, at that moment.  I feel this may be His plan. I voiced my "Yes" to Fr. David Schalk at the time - that I fully say yes if this is what is being asked of me by God.  About one month later I found out about this live liver donor program for me to give up to 69% of my liver to a family member in end stages liver disease.  It will most likely go very well, with a 100% survival rate for donors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  For all other hospitals that do this newer procedure, I was told by the Mayo clinic, there is a 1 to 200 to 1 to 300 ratio of dying for the donor.  Either way, it is a win-win for my relative and for The Lamb Catholic Worker!
          It is also for the canonization of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin together, which would truly take a miracle since she is far along in the process and Peter has yet to begin.  She always said though that Peter was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, not her - that it was his vision, his ideas, his design, but he only lived to see it in operation for 15 years while Dorothy did for nearly 50 as a prolific writer.
         Pray for us, please, especially for my nephew, Nick.
      Here is a gift before signing off.  It the Sonia Salas version of "Shepherd Me, O God":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXS3L-sdfPA

Ex-Marine's "American Sniper" Reflections

In the spirit of Pope John Paul II who wrote that "any and all pre-emptive [first strike] wars are immoral," in addition to his words that the Iraqi War was NOT legally nor morally justified, we reprint the article, "Former Marine on Chris Kyle, American Sniper, and Social Implications" posted on January 27, 2015 on Washington's Blog by Robert Barsocchini.

Ross Caputi, a former marine who participated in the US’s second siege of Fallujah, writes that the reason the American Sniper book and film have been so successful is that they “tell us exactly what we want to hear”: that US America is “benevolent” and “righteous”.  That, he says, is why the book and film are so popular; their popularity speaks volumes about US society, and signals more danger ahead for the rest of the world.

The killings for which Chris Kyle is idolized, Caputi notes, were perpetrated during his participation in the second US siege of Fallujah, which Caputi, from firsthand knowledge, calls an “atrocity”.

Specifically of the siege, Caputi notes:

“All military aged males were forced to stay within the city limits of Fallujah” [while women and children were warned to flee through the desert on foot]
“…an estimated 50,000 civilians were trapped in [Fallujah] during this month long siege without water” [since the US had cut off water and electricity to the city]
“…almost no effort was taken to make a distinction between civilian men and combatants. In fact, in many instances civilians and combatants were deliberately conflated.”
“The US did not treat military action [against Fallujah] as a last resort. The peace negotiations with the leadership in Fallujah were canceled by the US.”
“[The US] killed between 4,000 to 6,000 civilians, displaced 200,000, and may have created an epidemic of birth defects and cancers“
“[The siege was] conducted with indiscriminate tactics and weapons, like the use of reconnaissance-by-fire, white phosphorous, and the bombing of residential neighborhoods. The main hospital was also treated as a military target.”
In modest conformity with international law originally flowing from the Nuremberg tribunal, he says that neither he or Kyle should receive any “praise or recognition” for their actions against Iraq.

Further, he notes that Clint Eastwood, director of the American Sniper movie, made many changes to Kyle’s accounts of what happened.  For one, Kyle, in his autobiography, recounts shooting a woman who was taking the legal action of throwing a grenade at invading forces.  Eastwood changes this so that the woman gives the grenade to her child to throw at the invaders.  “Did Clint Eastwood think that this is a more representative portrayal of the Iraqi resistance?” Caputi asks. “It’s not.”  (Caputi gives Eastwood the benefit of our lack of knowledge of his thought process; he could have asked if Eastwood did this to try to dehumanize Iraqi mothers or Iraqis in general, or whip up US American xenophobic hatred of foreigners, a not-so-difficult feat which Eastwood accomplished with flying colors.  See The Guardian’s “American Sniper: Anti-Muslim Threats Skyrocket in Wake of Film’s Release“; many who see the film “emerge from theatres desperate to communicate a kind of murderous desire.”)

The US invasion of Iraq, Caputi concludes, was “the imposition of a political and economic project against the will of the majority of Iraqis. … We had no right to invade a sovereign nation, occupy it against the will of the majority of its citizens, and patrol their streets.”

Caputi “holds an MA in Linguistics and … is working on an MA in English Studies at Fitchburg State University.”

Also see Professor of International Affairs Sophia A. McClennan’s piece, where she says the American Sniper movie is “a terrifying glimpse” of a “mind-set that couples delusion with violence”.

Pope Francis, Dear Papa, Please Canonize Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and Oscar Romero, Modern Day Champions for the Poor!

By Monica, The Lamb Catholic Worker, Columbus, Ohio - Dorothy Day was a Benedictine Oblate and in this Year of the Consecrated Life, how powerful and catalytic it would be for teenagers and adults of all ages to see canonized two lay people who have lived exemplary, prayerful lives to the level of priests and sisters.  My prayer is that Dorothy and Peter are joined with Archbishop Oscar Romero, another champion for the poor in the same era, who was recently (January 15) deemed an official martyr of the Church, to be recognized in this manner.  Dorothy always said that Peter Maurin truly started and was the founder of the Catholic Worker, not her.  He only lived to see it happen for 15 years while Dorothy lived it for almost 50 years, as a prolific writer. In Fr. Robert Barron's Catholicism multi-DC series, it is Peter Maurin's face that introduces the Catholic Worker Movement, not Dorothy's. Thank you, dear Papa, for declaring Archbishop Romero a martyr.

"We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.”
― Dorothy Day, The Long Loneliness

"When we die we carry under our arm what we gave to the poor."

- Peter Maurin 

      One last note is on Benedictine Oblates, or Third Order Benedictines.  You commit to quite a rigorous and edifying prayer life, praying the Divine Office daily in addition to other things.  Amazingly, even though so rooted in rich Catholic tradition, it is humbly and ecumenically non-denominational.  I love that!  You go through a particular abbey, becoming somewhat one in communion with them, and meet monthly with others like yourself in your hometown, have Benedictine priests and monks come to join your groups at times, and go to retreats a couple times a year with the ultimate goal of seeking the presence of God every day.

      You can be as young as 15, which is also an exquisite feature.  You go through a year Novitiate, trying it out and seeing if it is for you, and then you commit.  Yes, you can marry if you have begun this as a single person.  What an incredible, solid faith-filled community of people you would be sharing your life with, sistered with an extraordinary group of prayerful men, the Benedictines.  I am beginning this process through St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana. Pray for me, please.  Already I feel the tug away, and understand why St. Benedict himself, wanting to bring monasticism to the world, felt such a forceful level of resistance from Satan that he was given by God the powerful prayers of the Benedictine cross and medal for protection! I have given hundreds of these away in the course of my lifetime to put under loved ones beds, T.V.s, computers, in cars, wallets, and purses, on desks, keychains, etc. not knowing I would one day become a Benedictine Oblate! I had never heard of one, nor even knew that Dorothy Day was a faithful one, Catholic Worker that I am.  What an accomplished orchestrator God is in our lives!
     Use any tool possible to keep Satan and his evil spirits away, who do indeed prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.  Someone scoffed at this recently and said, "Yeah, but we have God," meaning we do not need these things because God is on our side.  Observe how many, many times Jesus had to order Satan to get behind him!  It doesn't just happen, we have to call on Jesus often to get Satan behind and away from us when tempted away from His will and His plan for our lives.
      Finally, we encourage everyone here in the U.S. who are movie-goers to see the movie, " Old -Fashioned" purposely premiering on Valentine's Day to counter the movie, "50 Shades of Grey."  We need more Benedictine Oblates in the world!

Join the Franciscan Brothers Minor in Their Talk on Living the Life of Poverty, April 5

     Come join us on April 5th at The Lamb Catholic Worker, 531 Brookside Drive, for a humble dinner and talk on "Living the Life of Poverty" given by the Franciscan Brothers Minor.  RSVP for planning, please.  Reservations are not required though, and dinner will be at 5:30, not 5:00 - correction from "Happenings" in the Catholic Times.  Brother Chrispin will lead the talk on "Living the Life of Poverty."
      Also, celebrate with us our new ministry of lunches for family breadwinners who live in the two major East side trailor parks.  Sr. Nary of the Missionary Servants of the Word gives Bible studies in both parks, and now she has something else to offer as well, along with us.  Our hope is to go to most of these Bible studies to learn Spanish and to get to know the Hispanic communities in these.  Hopefully this trust and relationship will flower and we will have communication available for those being battered and abused, if this happens.  If you would like to help or donate just email us at: thelambcatholicworker@gmail.com.  Celebrate with us over 19,000 viewers on this site.  All of you, please pray for us!

Walk the Stations of the Cross with Jesus on Good Friday

The Lamb Catholic Worker, Columbus, Ohio

     Lucky for we Christ the King parishioners, Deacon Pete leads a varying and exquisite meditation of the Stations of the Cross every Friday of Lent.  If you have never done this, or are not Catholic, it is one of the most powerful and life-changing prayers possible.  We at the Lamb Catholic Worker encourage all Christ-followers to find a great publication as a tool to undergoing this most profound "pilgrimage" on Good Friday.  Be sure to include in this Good Friday pilgrimage the first day of the (9 day) novena toward the Feast of Divine Mercy, the Sunday after Easter!

     The traditional 14 Stations of the Cross are as follows (and you can typically find them along the walls of any Catholic Church):

1. Jesus is condemned to death

2. Jesus takes His cross

3. Jesus falls the first time

4. Jesus meets His mother

5. Simon helps Jesus carry the cross

6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

7. Jesus falls the second time

8. Jesus speaks with the women 

9. Jesus Falls the third time

10. Jesus is stripped of His clothing

11. Jesus is nailed to the cross

12. Jesus dies on the cross

13. Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in the arms of His mother

14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

     My favorite so far is a new publication, "The Challenge of the Cross," by Alfred McBride, O.PRAEM., by St. Anthony Messenger Press, Cincinnati, Ohio.  Here are excerpts from some of the stations to give you a sense of this beautiful meditation.  All the words are quotes, and those in quotation marks are from Scripture, quoted from this book as well.

     Jesus is Condemned to Death - They spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head (Matthew 27:3).  When I look at the unfair judgments endured by Jesus... I think of the judgments I have made ... I mistreat innocent people and sometimes, sadly, those closest to me.  I rush to judgment when patience is needed.  Even my own relationship with Jesus is marred by unjust thoughts... I need spiritual purification. I have also been hurt by false judgments made against me.  I have survived, but always need spiritual purification.  Standing beside Jesus when He bore my sinfulness  in silence, I experience a mix of regrets and a power flowing from Him into my soul.... I excuse myself too easily, forgive me, Lord. 
Jesus Takes the Cross - Jesus often spoke of the cross.  In effect He said, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).  What He preached, he practiced.  St. Paul writes: "He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). St. Paul often preached the cross, as he does again to the Corinthians: "When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:1-2)... like St. Paul's advice about our crosses: "I appeal to you ... to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1).  Facing my pain, disappointments, losses, betrayals, dreams unattained, I need to live my own version of Christ's Passion.  St. Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.  I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:12-13).  I do not suffer alone.  Jesus is with me in those who stand by my side.
Jesus Falls the First Time - "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16)." Jesus is now on His journey to Calvary.  In stumbling and falling, He identifies with our difficulties in reaching our destiny...  I won't forget that Jesus arose after each fall.  He is my secret power to do so.
Jesus Meets His Mother - Mary and Jesus exchange glances of forgiveness to those who created their sorrow, I see too that neither Mary nor Jesus shows the least sign of resentment or bitterness.  Both display mercy as the true road to the future.. Mercy is just what I want and need to give others... Lord, don't let Your love grow cold in me because of hurts I feel.  Jesus, help me give true love to those who harmed me... Through meditating on the gentleness of Your humanity, may I expand my capacity to love.
Simon Helps Carry the Cross - Simon would be the first man to carry the cross of Jesus, who had taught, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; ... for my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29-30)... I know times when I have been asked to give care to a loved one, a neighbor, a coworker, a stranger.  This role of caregiver can drain me in many ways -- straining my finances, patience, time, and energy.  I find sometimes that I want to say "no" when asked to give care, but soon I say "yes," [like Simon] and get on with doing what is needed.  I try to see the image of Simon .. [who] made it possible for Jesus to accomplish the final act of salvation at Calvary..."Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galations 6:2)... Lord, give me the courage to be a caregiver.  Jesus, show me the wisdom of the cross in being a caregiver... Lord, I pray for the graces I need to serve the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick, the elderly, the dying.  Open me to accept the challenges of the cross You wish me to carry.  Forgive me for my reluctance to bear your cross. Grant me the joy that comes from loving service to You in the needs of others.
Jesus Falls a Second Time - I am slow to recognize Jesus' humility in becoming human, so see Him in the midst of His self-emptying.  In our natural world, what goes up must come down.  In our supernatural world, what does down [humility] should go up... Jesus fell and got up for me.  I know love made Him do this.  Infinite love will do the unthinkable... That's why He experienced falls -- so that He could win for me my risings to carry on with my life... May I see in Your falls Your willingness to endure more self-emptying, even to the end of this life.  Open my eyes of faith and help me to identify the love that made it possible for you to rise after every fall.
Jesus Speaks with the Daughters of Jerusalem - "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23:27-28). As always, Jesus thinks of others before His own needs.  He worries about the future of these women and their children. 
Jesus Falls the Third Time - "We boast of our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (St. Paul to the Romans 5:3-4).  Paul did endure, as he later wrote, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).  In heading for His destiny, Jesus encountered a devastating fall that challenged Him to rise and move on... I remember Christ's last thrust to Calvary when the apostle James wrote, "My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1:2-3).  I tend to focus on the pain and find it difficult to notice the joy that James mentions.  I pray that I may imitate the attitude of Peter and his companions who faced persecution joyfully for proclaiming Christ.  Having just been flogged, "as they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name [of Jesus]" (Acts 5:41)... St. Gregory of Nyssa: "We must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, ... imitating His passion by our sufferings, and honoring His blood by shedding our own.  We must be ready to be crucified."
Jesus is Stripped of His Clothing - ... Now He identified with the poorest of the poor who barely have anything to wear.  His self-emptying reached yet another level as human beings tried to rob Him of His last shred of dignity... He is vulnerable, a word taken from the Latin vulnus, meaning "wound"... Why does Jesus allow Himself to be so vulnerable?  Because He intends to heal the hurters. I often strike back with insults, betrayals, and slights.  When I hurt Christ, He forgets the wounds and tries to heal me, the hurter.  To Jesus the real wound is in the one inflicting the pain.  Jesus assumes the difficulties of the hurter and offers healing by the therapy of forgiveness and love... Jesus welcomes me as a sinner into the chambers of His heart and lets me thrash about with my unruly passions.  Then He offers me the love that would cure me of irrational evil... Jesus was not completely silent ["...like a sheep lead before the shearers silent" (Isaiah 53:5,7)], that He spoke a few words: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)... For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corrinthians 1:18)... Lord, teach us the wisdom you witnessed as a wounded healer... for the gift of healing those who hurt me, Lord hear my prayer.  For the wisdom to love my enemies, Lord hear my prayer.  For the courage not to strike back when I am wounded, Lord hear my prayer... Lord, engrave on my heart the promise of happiness so I may live the words of Jesus, "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12).
Jesus is Nailed to the Cross - To think of the pain caused by the nails in Christ's hands and feet is almost too much to bear... Poor, sick, oppressed, and crushed people find comfort in the Passion of Christ... I hear and sing of the Passion of Jesus in the spirituals of the African slaves.  The pain of Christ symbolized the slaves' own sufferings. Jesus could understand their despised condition in an unfriendly and inhuman world...They were there with Jesus.  The slaves sang, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?  They sang their own reply, "Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble"... The most distant object I can see on a clear day is the sun.  But on a dark night I can see the stars millions of miles farther away.  Darkness has its spiritual value.  I think of that in my own times of trouble, when I tremble, tremble, tremble... I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)... Let us pray to meet the challenge of the cross. Lord, deepen my faith in the power of the cross in my life...for patience in times of personal pain..
Jesus Dies on the Cross - As the ninth hour approached on Good Friday afternoon, the sacrifice of the Passover lambs at the Temple concluded.  The high priest in Hebrew said,"Kalah" ("It is finished."). At that moment, Jesus the Lamb of God, said, "Kalah" ("It is finished") (John 19:30a). Jesus bowed His head and rested it on the cross.  A  great silence enfolded that moment, the silence of the Lamb of God.  In His death Jesus completed the perfect sacrifice needed for the forgiveness of all the sins of those who repent and seek His divine mercy.... When I think of Christ's death, I linger on my own future death.  I will not be able to choose the time and place of my death, but I can choose my way of life... My death will ratify the kind of life I have lived and the choices I have made.  If I have lived with love, that is how I shall die.  If not, that will be a tragedy.  As He was dying, Jesus gave His life calmly and lovingly to God, for that was how He lived.  He didn't leave any money.  He left an incomparable testament: divine mercy, future life, and sustaining hope... "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in His steps .." When he was abused, He did not return abuse; when He suffered, He did not threaten;... He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:21, 23-24).
Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross (and layed in the arms of His mother) - He placed a grown man in a woman's lap [we cannot picture the sword to Mary's heart as she holds her baby boy for the last time, seeing and touching up close, the immensity of His suffering that took place right before her eyes]. Blessed John XXIII [formerly Pope John XIII] was fond of quoting an old Italian proverb, "Sotto la neve c'e il pane" ("Beneath the snow there is bread").  Rural wisdom remembers that the seed under the winter snow will rise in the springtime.  Blessed John XXIII applied the saying to those overwhelmed by sorrow and unable to see beyond the pain. Using his picture I see the snow.  I do not see the bread of love growing quietly underneath the white blanket... For the gift of consoling those who mourn lost ones, Lord hear our prayer... Console me when I will need to grieve the death of a loved one while I retain belief in eternal life.

Two other great Stations of the Cross meditation publications are:  "The Franciscan Way of the Cross," by Teresa V. Baker, S.F.O., St. Anthony Messenger Press, and "Mary's Way of the Cross" by Richard G. Furey, C.Ss.R., Twenty-Third Publications.

One Cannot Choose Life or Death for Another

By Monica, The Lamb Catholic Worker, Columbus, Ohio

     How pro-life is the Catholic Worker?  There are very few groups, even religious groups, who uphold the absolute and unequivocal sacredness  of all human life and lives - of all people everywhere, all the time, in every situation, even in the womb -as the multitude of Catholic Workers  from around the world. We believe unequivocally that all people, no matter how small, are sacred,  "made in God's own image and likeness," as Scripture tells us, having the "indelible stamp of the Creator" on each and every one, according to Pope Benedict Emeritus.  Celebrate with us over 18,000 viewers on this Catholic Worker website, sharing the same vision.
     Translated, this means that we are committed to never ever putting ourselves in any position to kill one other sacred human life, whether through abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, severe economic exploitation of the world's poorest and war.
     Dorothy Day put it most eloquently when she simply stated: "No one has the right to choose the life or death for another person."  It also follows from the Old Testament reiteration that God alone is the sole author of life and death, not us.  We usurp His supreme role and take matters into our own hands in any of these situations, deciding the very life or death of another person.
      It is a concept "so old it is new," going back to the first 300 years of the Catholic Church, particularly on not killing sacred human life in the Early Church's staunch stance on pacifism.  Peter Maurin wanted to originally call the Catholic Worker the Catholic Radical, because "radical" means going back to one's roots.  Dorothy wanted to name it after St. Joseph the Worker, and so it was.  Pope Francis has also repeatedly spurred all Christ followers in the world to become radical, to stir things up as Christ did, where there is complacency, where there is suffering and darkness, especially at the hands of others. His words on peace, on the preferential option for the poor, on the forgotten, and on being a great light to the world remind of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Thank you, Pope Francis!

Monica and sisters: Lisa Evans + Maria Horn

Monica with son Josh

Monica's nieces and nephews: Joseph Horn, Maria Evans, Jotham Allwein, Josh

Monica's Nieces Maria Evans and Dorothy Allwein

Monica's nephews Jotham Allwein Tom Horn Brendan O'Rourke

      This was the first time I marched in almost 30 years at this witness for life, and seeing at least 200,000-225,000 people based on the MLK 25th reunion and other large marches in which I participated.  The procession alone at the Shrine of the Immaulate Conception was over 40 minutes long of Cardinals, bishops, priests, and seminarians, with many many religious orders represented.  Every nook and cranny floor space was filled with mostly young people on fire for the Lord and strongly desiring to stand up for this injustice against our unborn fellow citizens. 
     Most moving were the brave, teary-eyed groups with signs that said, "I regret my abortion," and "I am an abortion survivor."
     Our Lady of Guadalupe, Queen of the Americas and of the Unborn, please, please intercede for us! Your appearance is the only one, worldwide, of a pregnant Madonna, as shown in your black band around your waist. Protect these Holy Innocents and help Americans know that they have created a soul forever when they have conceived, that even if cut short here, will "dart about like sparks in the sky" in Heaven.
      Here are the walls of the side chapel at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D.C. where Dorothy Day poured her heart out to our Blessed Mother to help her know the way God had in mind for direct service to the poor and marginalized.  Peter Maurin was on her doorstep on returning to New York.  Intercede for us, please, Our Dear Mother!
     

    

The Way of the Lamb

   The Way of The Lamb

The Official Online Newsletter of The Lamb Catholic Worker in Columbus, Ohio                   Winter 2013-14  Issue 2

"We need to bring beauty into the midst of ugliness.  It honors and glorifies God to see such beauty from the dung heaps of a slum."   - Dorothy Day
"We have a 'rule of life' that is easy to follow, provided we listen to the wise counsel of such people as St. Teresa [of Avila] and St. Francis [de Sales].  St. Teresa understood that weariness of the soul.  St. Francis tells us to be gentle with ourselves." - Dorothy Day
Happenings of the Lamb  
        We, at The Lamb Catholic Worker are in a stage of expectant waiting, at one with this advent season encloaked in dark, cold days and nights, yearnings, restlessness, hopefulness.  We seem to take two steps forward and one step back; yet, slowly, steadily fulfilling Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin's vision of a Catholic Worker community here in Columbus mainly for battered women and children of foreign descent.  Our vision has widened two-fold into both the inner-city houses of hospitality with city gardens for the poor, as well as a farm to help support these houses of hospitality (and to possibly provide hospitality to a family here and there who need greater concealment).  Peter, with his "French peasant farming roots," emphasized this agrarian aspect, as has Msgr. Marv Mottet, our spiritual and community director from Iowa, who is also from French farming roots (French parents who were farmers in Iowa).  The good Lord even honored that in Peter by bringing him to his heavenly home forever on the feast of St. Isidore, patron of farmers.  
       This grand vision of ours has gained only one small donation outside of each others' to begin; yet, we wait in eager anticipation for funds, more workers in the field, and support for this valuable service to our city and community! We have flung seeds far and wide, by the grace of God and the intercession of Mother Mary, putting our first fall hard copy newsletter or an announcement into the hands of over 12,000 church-going Catholics through parish bulletins in the Columbus area, and have contacted all of the Cleveland diocesan priests, and some in the Philadelphia diocese, to get them into theirs as well.  Besides carefully placing these seeds, we are patiently giving them time to rest, germinate, and take root. We are encouraged by Fr. McSorley's St. Francis song he constantly sang with his eukele in the D.C. Catholic Worker houses: 
"If you wish to live life freely,
take your time, go slowly.
Do few things but do them well,
simple joys are holy.
Day by day,
stone by stone,
build your secret slowly.
Day by day,
you'll grow too,
you'll know heaven's glory."
We do not worry about our effectiveness, about outcome, all those trappings of modern society that are deemed measures of success, but only doing the Will of the Father.  His will alone is our delight.  And so, 
"Those that sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
Those who go forth weeping,
carrying sacks of seed,
Will return with cries of joy,
carrying their bundled sheaves."  (Psalm 126:5-6)
        Two more analogies of this waiting, wanting, advent stage of our community are the compost heap during winter, and the chrysalis.  We still trudge through the snow to the compost heap behind the garage - a giant pile of fall leaves, old weeds, fruit and vegetable fragments, eggshells, coffee grinds, pine needles, and the like, with a thick, snowy, icy roof over it.  We lift the top of a corner of the pile with a pitch fork, throw the new materials in, and put it back.  Some organic changes are happening, but we have them in place for enormous changes when the weather warms.  We cheerfully continue to work with it, knowing it will greatly enhance the soils in the gardens of fruits, vegetables and flowers.  Come Spring, all will explode with robust life - in full color and glory, reflecting the Creator and His wishes and Will. So, we await Spring's coming as we do our Savior's coming, and as we do the full birthing of this Catholic Worker.  The shortest day of the year, Dec. 21, will then begin to turn the tide toward more and more light, warmth, growth, and fulfillment of His designs.

       The other analogy within each one of us, is that of the chrysalis (or butterfly cocoon).  It appears dead - still, non-moving, dark inside.  Drastic changes are miraculously taking place though, in this full metamorphosis into a new creature.  Such a changing within can only occur by drawing in with the Creator, long spells of time in Eucharistic Adoration with our Lord and changer of hearts and souls. We are trying greatly to do this more and more, even in our busy schedules, with Christ as our role model.  Before beginning His public ministry, even He had to withdraw to the desert for 40 days to wrestle with His demons, to sort out all in His mind before the great leap.  For us, this silence with Him, paradoxically, creates more restlessness to hear His voice, the voice of our Beloved, to be a person after His own heart, like St. John of the Cross; and to let down our defenses and walls to allow Him to come to us and love us.
     Peter Maurin, was in this restless, prayerful state for more than 7 years, grasping the poetry welling up in his heart, getting down scribbles on paper of his "Easy Essays" that he knew would one day fully flower if he could find the right person.  This was all until he could not be contained in his chrysalis any longer - bursting forth to find that person to help begin all this.  He wandered from place to place as the ideas and spirituality germinated, talking to every person put into his path by the Holy Spirit.  He did not give up.  Finally, he met that special person in Dorothy Day.  Msgr. Mottet always said that if/when Dorothy Day is be canonized, Peter should be alongside her. She always said that Peter was the true founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.  This is coming, and we believe, our Catholic Worker houses of hospitality and farm are coming (16,000 hits online).  We wait in joyful hope.  
        We also await the humble, glorious coming of a fragile, vulnerable, helpless newborn once again, to save us.  Our community is in its infancy, and seeing that the Lord and Savior of the world began his earthly presence in so delicate and precarious a state gives us much hope!  Come Lord Jesus.  He speaks most tenderly to a waiting, expectant heart, and so, we encourage all of you to get to Eucharistic Adoration often this holy season.  Have that date with Jesus often.  We are too blessed to be stressed, and all other details truly do not matter as much.  Also, make 2014 be the year that you fully become a daily communicant, even if it means getting up very, very early (and with little sleep the night before). Seek out your Lover in the early morning.  Jesus constantly woke up before dawn to be one with the Father.  My role model is a mother at St. Catherine's who has rarely missed with many toddlers, young children, and babies in tow (and pregnant many of those times).  Yes, she has had to constantly deal with their antics throughout mass and up the communion line, but that never stopped her drive to be one with her Lover. It continues to be a fabulous role model for all of her children, also modeled so well by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.  Whatever you desire for your adult children to do one day, do it yourself right now.  Your Father in heaven wants it for all his adult children who have access to churches.  He multiplies time, then, in your given day, helping you complete all that you should while eliminating the rest.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!         PRAY FOR US AS WE DO FOR YOU!  Our model is very similar to a religious order - in our level of prayer commitment, of promises to poverty, chastity, obedience (to a Catholic Worker Rule), and to upholding the sacredness of all human life; and in our seeking to fully live together in community when we can get the properties.  Of course at the heart is hospitality to mostly Hispanic and Somali (yet others as well) battered women and children. It is distinct from a volunteer program in this manner - it is a commitment to community in regards to our time, talent, treasure, and being together. It is not to the level of the Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, nor even the Jesuit Volunteer Corps or the Peace Corps, but we are stumbling along, hopefully according to the Will of the Father for this mission. Please, please pray for us!  Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, Mother Mary, and St. Joseph continue to intercede for us!  
"Be sure to draw on his strength, his gentleness, and his patience -- because you will need it.  And remember: not only are you called to be patient with people but also with the Shepherd, who takes no shortcuts.  He has a perfect plan, and he will accomplish it in his own time." (Word Among Us, Dec. 10, 2013).

Saved By Beauty, A Spiritual Journey With Dorothy Day

     THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - This vibrant and vivid picture book (2012, World Library Publications) is written and illustrated by artist, Michael O'Neill McGrath and covers the life of Dorothy Day in a manner that even adults would greatly enjoy.  It truly emits a saving effect through its own beauty, in addition to the exquisite beauty and witness of Dorothy Day's life.  Her life was indeed like that of a Dominican, Franciscan, Carmelite, Peace Corps or Jesuit Volunteer Corps workers, seminary teacher or student, and convent teacher or student.  Who knows?  Perhaps there will someday be a Catholic Worker order!
       Thanks to Austin Schaefer, OSU campus minister, for this author-signed gift to the Lamb Catholic Worker! Below is a glimpse of the pictures. The many quotes from Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and the saints are just as amazing as the pictures.

     Our site has reached 15,000 viewers worldwide!  Thank you, Father, and thank you Dorothy Day for your intercessory prayers!  Keep interceding for Hana's continued miraculous healing from metastasized breast cancer into the brain, liver, and spine.  We so desire for you to be acknowledged as a saint by the Catholic Church and thus, your work with and devotion to the most vulnerable poor, acknowledged and honored.