Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.

By: Sister Sheila Briody

Opening Prayer

Loving God, you have called us as followers of Joseph
to stand open, receptive and expectant before You,
to know our dependence upon You,
to wait for Your grace in the Holy Spirit.
Liberate us to a radical sense of mission
through the rhythm of
contemplation and courageous action,
to be a healing presence in any and all situations.
Amen. (SSJ Federation Research Team, adapted)

Reading

‘Many spiritual traditions warn us against anger. We are told that anger provides fertile ground for seeds of discontent, anxiety, and potential harm to self and others. This is true. However, when systems of injustice inflict generational abuses upon people and communities because of their ethnicity, race, sexuality, and/or gender, anger as righteous indignation is appropriate, healthy, and necessary for survival. . . Until the killing of black and brown people stops, all peaceful methods of resistance are appropriate. Right now, our anger is our truth, and our anger is a sacred part of our humanity and our faith.’

Barbara Holmes, “Contemplating Anger,” “Anger,” Oneing, vol. 6, no. 1 (CAC Publishing: 2018), 20, 25.

Response

Prayerfully recite the litany below, placing each person into the hands of God.

Reflection

Now take some time for personal reflection.

In what ways is God calling us to respond for the sake of men and women of color whose lives have been unjustly targeted by structural racism?

Additionally, Summer offers us times for hospitality and relaxation. Name the ways God has offered that to you and you are called to offer that to others?

Closing Prayer

Gracious and Loving God,
Jesus models for us how to be faithful
to Your call in our daily lives.
May we be faithful to the grace and invitation
You offer to us in our daily lives to live full of Your love.
In You we live, pray, and work
for a more just and peaceful world. Amen

Reminder

“Our work is simply to be standing open and willing. God will do the emptying and the filling and God is very good at God’s work.” (Cathy Nerney)

Welcoming the Holy