Horseshoe crabs will no longer be used by Gig Pharma. We had a great night of rain to soften the earth after a long stretch of hot sun. And the weather promises to be a bit better this week. A nice way to start a week.
A nicer way to start the week is a trip to Finland – where the air is much cooler and the politics not as fractious. During the last presidential election, the two candidates walked around Helsinki and other parts of Finland, meeting people just as a local candidate would do. If there were bodyguards, they were not obtrusive.
When I return, these morning reflections will resume – a great deal changes in a week, and what we pray for is a reduction in violence of all kinds: gun violence in the streets, the violent rhetoric of political campaigns, a cease-fire in Gaza, a reduction in tension in the Middle East, some end to wars in Somalia, Sudan, Ukraine. We pray for peace.
Prayer for the Day
Frustrated and upset, we come to you, O Holy One,
Seeking mercy when we do not extend it to others;
Confused and often bewildered, we seek answers
But often we are not sure of what questions to ask.
Forgive us the anger we often hide inside ourselves;
And open us to a new way of being in and caring for others.
In the name of the One who shows us how to love,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience
Thomas Merton, monk, writer (1915-1968)
Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice; otherwise it will not last.. While we all hope for peace, it shouldn't be peace at any cost, but peace based on principle, on justice.
Corazon Aquino, Filipino President (1933-2009)
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
Jesus, from Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:9