WE ARE FAMILY


    “I am fighting the world and the devil by myself.”

 “Community ends isolation.”

 “…Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil...
and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.”

These quotes are from, respectively, a recent conversation with a woman in a homeless shelter, as she struggled with issues most of us handle routinely and without thought; the philosophy of Earthlinks, a Denver-based social enterprise providing safe space and community for people experiencing homelessness and poverty (earthlinks-colorado.org); and from Matthew 4:1-11 – the Gospel for the 1st Sunday in Lent.  What, if anything, do they have in common?

I think they represent a progression – from a place of ‘being stuck’ in self-reliance and individualism, (in this case born out of despair), to a recognition that we are relational beings created in the image and likeness of our loving and relational God, to a fullness of life gained when we minister to others in their vulnerability and when we allow others to minister to us in ours, just as Jesus did.

As our Lenten journey quietly unfolds, may we truly recognize each other as sister and brother, as family; may our hearts be opened to see the angels among us.

Kathy Flynn OP
Sinsinawa, WI

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