RC Woman Priest of Migrant Workers, Rev. Chava, Reflects on Christ The King

We thank Rev. Chava Reddonet for this beautiful reflection.

PLEASE  JOIN US in GIVING- CONSIDER SUPPORTING THE DREAMS OF THIS CHURCH THAT SERVES THE LEAST OF THESE WITH DIGNITY AND JOY so that LOVE WINS as Rev. Chava says.  Just click here to contribute: 

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Many thanks and blessings,

Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, RCWP

Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church
Bulletin for Sunday, November 22, 2015

Feast of Christ the King
Dear friends,

This week there was a short video on facebook of a father and son being interviewed in Paris after the bombings there. The little boy, about four years old, told the interviewer that now they were going to have to move. His dad said, no, this is our home. We’re staying. “But Daddy,” the little boy said, “There are bad guys! They have guns!”

“There are bad guys everywhere,” his father answered. “And they may have guns, but we have flowers.”  The father showed the boy how people were placing flowers and candles in memory of the people who died. And the boy said that he felt better.

Isn’t that pretty much what God does in the face of evil? Foolish, lovely things that would seem to have no power, but that give hope and that do, in fact, have the power to change us.

This weekend we celebrate the feast of Christ the King… the king who was born in a stable, little and powerless, no money, in a backwater country occupied by Rome… who became a refugee soon after birth… who grew up poor and unnoticed, and finally at the age of thirty started walking around telling people that the Kindom of God is at hand, talking about forgiveness and being light for the world… and then they killed him. THAT’s our king, killed like a criminal. That’s who we follow. And in rising from that death he showed us that death is not the end of the story – so there is nothing to fear. Love wins.

At St Romero’s the dream of a building, of Oscar Romero House of Hospitality, is like that, I think. One of God’s foolish lights. At the Rural and Migrant Ministries dinner, Gail Mott said to me, “What if one of the things you do at the house is pottery? You could do it in the barn.” I looked at her. I couldn’t believe she’d said that. “Gail,” I asked –“When you said that —- did you know I was a potter?” “No!” she said. It felt like electricity was running all through us. I have a degree in Studio Art and my concentration was pottery, and that was a dream of mine but I’d long forgotten it. What if —– what if our house was  — yes, a refuge, a place for celebrating Mass, and having suppers and English classes, and welcoming people — but what if it was also about abundant life? About exploring one’s creativity? About joy?

What if it was a place where the learning goes both ways? We could teach each other English and Spanish. We could share whatever we know how to do. I’ll show you how I make bread, and you show me how you make tamales. Our tag line as a church is “An Inclusive Church of Liberation, Justice and Joy.” Imagine if we were as much about joy as about justice. If we were about abundant life, for all of us. Imagine.

Scary things are happening in the world. Let’s increase the light, the foolish, beautiful loving light.

Love to all , Chava

“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Words used by Lilla Watson, Aboriginal elder, activist and educator from Queensland, Australia.

Oscar Romero Church  An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in Catholic Tradition   Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph’s House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
A member community of the Federation of Christian Ministries