Welcome

Welcome to All. This blog is a discussion site, looking at our lives through our experiences, our spiritual, and, not so spiritual lens, ....what our lives look like at The Front. We are and some would argue, always have been, in interesting times. Servants, past and present have been at constant struggle with whatever the issues of the day have been. Where do we even begin to name them: poverty, hunger, education, shelter, .... and did I mention poverty? Fifty-one years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, a war by the way, we're still fighting. Then again, we've always been at war with poverty, and yet poverty has remained steadfast. Jesus apparently got it right: "The poor will always be with you." But Jesus was a smart man. Did he mean what we think? Does poverty always have to be with us. Let's talk about this, and whatever else, in real and truthful ways. Let's view our lives from The Front.
If you have come to help me, then you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is linked to mine, then we will work together.
----(Anonymous) Australian Aborigine Activist
--mailto:--neilpitts@aol.com

Contemplative Action

The Rite of Initiation: You are going to die


A shocking statement. Perhaps. But the Franciscan Priest, Richard Rohr,,who has studied the Rite of Initiation has said the following::

"Every initiation rite I've studied had some ritual, dramatic, or theatrical way to experience crossing the threshold from life to death in symbolic form. Some ritual of death and resurrection was the centerpiece of all male initiation. It is probably why Jesus sought out and submitted to John the Baptist's offbeat death and rebirth ritual down by the riverside, when his own temple had become more concerned with purity codes than with transformation. It is probably why Jesus kept talking to his disciples, three times in Mark's Gospel, about the necessity of this death journey, and why three times they changed the subject (8:31-10:45). It is undoubtedly why Jesus finally stopped talking about it, and just did it, not ritually but actually. Death and resurrection, the paschal mystery, is the theme of every single Eucharist no matter what the feast or season. It takes us many seasons and even years to overcome our resistance to death.

"The transformational journey of death and resurrection is the only real message. It makes you indestructible. The real life, God's life, is running through you and in you already. But allowing it to flow freely doesn't come easily. When you do, the spiritual journey really begins. Up to that moment it is just religion. Everything up to then is creating the container, but you have not yet found the contents; you are creating the wineskins, as Jesus says, but you are not yet drinking the intoxicating wine."

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Trauma,.. again and again and again,.. When does it stop?

This masterpiece declaration and call to action was posted by a good friend of mine, Dr. Cameron Golden. I have known Dr. Golden to be a staunch advocate for public health issues. As a pharmacist, he is on the front-lines in the COVID-19 pandemic, but as a young African American healthcare professional, he and so many others are strong voices against the trauma being visited upon an entire generation. Please, read his post. These words should stand as an example of how we all need to unleash the pandemic of silence and then move to the direct action of advocacy. Evil does in fact prevail when good people do nothing.

"May being Mental Health Awareness Month, I feel it’s necessary for us to start speaking very plainly about an ongoing mental health crisis that’s not getting the recognition it deserves...the real-life trauma being experienced by Black men and women in this country. The trauma of having to witness the MURDER of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and the ATTEMPTED MURDER of Christian Cooper (Yes, intentionally lying to police and falsely claiming a Black man is threatening your life is attempted murder. Just ask Emmett Till). The trauma of watching a nation be outraged at a Black man kneeling to bring awareness to police brutality, yet be deafeningly silent when an officer kneels on a Black man’s neck as he draws his final breaths. The trauma of raising young Black children to be all they can be, only to send them out into the world with no reassurance they will return home to you the same way they left.

"When do we start dedicating the much needed resources to addressing this crisis (money, research, etc.)? When does advocacy for "Black Lives Matter" become part of national conversation and not just spoken of within minority communities? When do the criminals taking innocent lives get convicted for their crimes? When do Black people stop becoming immortalized in the form of hashtags and on the lips of protestors? When is it our turn to revel in the "inalienable rights" we fought for?

"We are in desperate need of these answers because I am tired of watching this cycle of trauma be passed down from generation-to-generation and I cannot afford to watch my future child become yet another victim."
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