Word of the day, via Abbie Amico: In the Filipino language of Tagalog, there exists a word by the name of Kapwa. Literally translated it means “I’m not me without you” but as with other words, the English language does not do it justice.
PSC member Madeline Buthod is on an Inter-Faith Peace Builder’s delegation and offers us the following testimony…
Today we went to the Tent of Nations, a hilltop farm just outside of Bethlehem. To get there we all piled in the tour bus and headed down an Israeli highway. I’d like to take a minute to explain that the bus has yellow Israeli license plates so we are allowed on these roads which connect illegal settlements to each other and to Israel. It is illegal for Palestinians to use these roads. Having these plates also allows us to go through check points with ease and without being stopped-a luxury not awarded to Palestinians who must show IDs and have proper permits depending on the checkpoint. Read the rest of this entry »
Mev: Did you suffer any threats?
Ilza Mendes: Yes, they would harass me on the streets or encircle our house. Sometimes I’d come home and find 30 men standing outside my house, all with revolvers in their belts. They’d lift up their shirts to show the revolvers, trying to provoke us. This police station near our house was their hideout. We could see the gunmen go straight from our house to visit their friends at the police. They followed every move Chico made and studied when would be the best time to grab him. The police who were supposed to be protecting Chico shared their information with the gunmen; even the civil police helped. Read the rest of this entry »
My copy of The Book of Mev arrived at the most opportune, and the most inopportune time imaginable. I was living in the Peter Claver Catholic Worker House in South Bend, Indiana and was being exposed to solidarity with the marginalized and contemplative living for the first time. I was overwhelmed with the ideas of radical theology, nonviolent direct action, and the grace that sprung forth from every meal. I was learning that my relationship with God wanted out of the box in which I had placed it, and so did my need for community. This attraction to intentional poverty put me in a place of peace and a place of restlessness. This is where I met Mev for the first time. Read the rest of this entry »
Sometimes you encounter people who are so pure, beautiful, and content. They give you the impression that they are divine, that they are actually saints or holy beings. What you perceive in them is their awakened self, their Buddha nature, and what they reflect back to you is your own capacity for being awake.
–Thich Nhat Hanh, Your True Home
Mirrors
Not pedestals
I need to see…
Eyes meeting eyes
Yours to mine
Not looking up
At you
For that distances us
Your being awake
Nudges me
To being awake
Or at least
Come to see
That there’s a better way to go through life
Than sleepwalking Read the rest of this entry »
Picking up the mail from the floor
I vow with all beings
To open and read each personal letter
With calm appreciation