Wednesday, December 30, 2020
12/30/2020
Joyce Antilla Phipps
Wednesday December 30, 2020
As we awaken to this morning, we hear stories of a mutant virus, arms and bomb sales to countries bent on using them in their proxy wars, and a Senate leader refusing even a vote on raising benefits to jobless workers. With political considerations rising above practically everything, we may ask ourselves: Has anything changed at all in 2020?
Why on earth does a country like Saudi Arabia need $290 million worth of bombs other than to cause untold suffering in Yemen? The United Sates is the world’s largest exporter of arms, almost $11 billion compared to Russia’s $6.4 billion. In the meantime, we have trouble securing sufficient PPEs for nursing staff caring for Covid-19 patients.
As we begin closing out this year, we need more than empty words from politicians who refuse to recognize what is going on here in America. Our first resolution for the coming year, just two days away, must be to really examine who we are as a Nation and to right our priorities.
Prayer for the Day
We confess, O God, that we are unsettled at your call
To create a world of peace and understanding,
For those in power tell us such dreams are impractical
And do not reflect the reality of our world.
But you, O God, call us to witness to the reality in the Gospel,
That the birth we celebrated only a week ago is more than a dream.
In the name of the One who gives us courage to create a new day,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves as if it were normal to sow destruction, pain, death. Violence and war lead only to death.
- Pope Francis
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must live it. One must work at it.
- Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to your word.
Psalm 119: 25
