“Migrations in their various forms are not a new phenomenon in human history. They have left their mark on every age, bringing about the encounter of different cultures and
giving rise to new civilizations.”
--Pope Francis with Sr. Norma Pimentel (my added emphasis)
This Saturday: Come meet someone who's
(Sat. Nov. 20, 2021 Sr. Norma Pimentel will be speaking LIVE & on Zoom (details and registration info were posted on Facebook and are included at the end of this post). Sister Norma has been passionately advocating for immigration reform and helping migrating families and their children in the border areas that include her Texas community.
There’s more about her important work included the end of this post.
FAMILIES JOURNEY OVER SCORCHING SAND AND BARBED WIRE
--two young female poets speak passionately to awaken us
15 moving immigration poems to read today (great works covering different places in our shared world – some include video)
--I selected the two above that because they spoke about our Mexican neighbors
Journeys Ended, Journeys Begun (04:02)
--features a cover of this wonderful work be the Monks of the Weston Priory in Vermont – a place Eileen and I and friends visited in our early years of pilgrimage. On warm summer days, the monks would remove the sides of their barn-like worship space and, in the company of the green hills, would dance in the Spirit…
MUSIC FOR OUR MIGRATIONS
--for over 40 years, he has been helping me, my family members and other pilgrims see below the surface of things
It’s both an exterior quest and an interior one…and how well we do the exterior one is fully dependent on how well we do the inner one…
In this first song, look carefully - you might notice some of your own ancestors…
Coming to America – Neil Diamond (04:17)
Caution: If we do not face our inner fears, they will follow us across the borders…
“Was many years ago that I left home and came this way
I was a young man, full of hopes and dreams
But now it seems to me that all is lost and nothing gained
Sometimes things ain't what they seem
No brave new world, no brave new world
No brave new world, no brave new world”
--classic and modern paintings amplify Leon’s questions about why can’t we live together…
“When the baby looks around him
It's such a sight to see
He shares a simple secret
With the wise man
He's a stranger in a strange land
Just a stranger in a strange land
Tell me why
He's a stranger in a strange land
Woah
Stranger in a strange land
How many miles will it take
To see the sun
And how many years until it's done
Kiss my confusion away in the night
Lay by my side
When the morning comes”
--another imaginative interpretation
When walking life’s journeys don’t get the lead out…add it in to your soundtrack…
Check out this next THORoughly amazing 11-year old Goddess of the Hammer…
The Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin - Boss RC 505 Loop - Fender Bass / Guitar - Ludwig Drum Kit (02:19)
--she’s got more online musical ammunition
Oh, BTW, here’s the original (04:08) 1972 and Live
WALKING MEDITATION FOR OUR JOURNEYS IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE OTHER
--by Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation
--for over 40 years, he has been helping me see below the surface of things
“One would think that people who insist on being monotheistic would be the first in line to walk across the artificial boundaries created by nation states, class systems, cultures and even religions. But often they are the last!”
“If our love of God does not directly influence, and even change, how we engage in the issues of our time on this earth, I wonder what good religion is. "God talk" becomes an opaque screen in which we see only reflections of ourselves -- instead of any kind of true enlightenment or Light. "Anyone who says she loves God, and hates her brother or sister, is a liar" (1 John 4:20). None of us wants to be a liar, yet the high goals of religion make deceit and denial almost inevitable for all of us. (Read Paul's attempts to describe this paradoxical phenomenon in Rom. 7:7-25). For all of us, the daily question is this, "Have I even begun to love?"
DEAD RECKONING HELPS GUIDE OUR FEET
“Strangers stopping stranger just to shake their hands…”
"Once in a while, you get shown the light
In the strangest of places if you look at it right"
The above welcoming words are from this next song:
Jerry and Donna in conversation...while the band plays on...and...on...and on...
Via con Dios, mis amigas y amigos y todos otros
tOM
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REGISTRATION/BIO INFO Spirituality of Accompaniment – Sisters of St. Joseph (brentwoodcsj.org)
“It’s about LIVES…not SIDES…”
“Spirituality of Accompaniment”
Sat. 11/20/21 10:00 am-1:00 pm (virtual & in-person)
Sr. Norma Pimentel has received numerous awards for her work in Texas with migrants along the U.S.-Mexican border and she can now add a new title to her list: one of TIME Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world!
She will be reflecting upon the Spirituality of Accompaniment as core to walking in solidarity with the other.
“It’s about LIVES…not SIDES…”
“People…not Politics…”
To register-send info in flyer to: spirituality@csjbrentwood.org
Virtual & In-Person:
Sisters of St. Joseph / Bldg 4 La Providencia Center
1725 Brentwood Road
Brentwood, NY 11717
Office: 631-273-1187, ext. 411
Due to the presence of many elderly sisters, registrants must provide proof of vaccination or a Covid-negative test result within 48 hours. As such, Eileen and I will be participating virtually.
Sr Norma Pimentel: A Beacon of Hope to the Refugees (12/29/20) (25:07)
