Thoughts on Faith as Protest by Sr. Ann Hayden

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Thoughts on Faith as Protest
Sr. Ann Hayden, MM – July 10, 2020

FAITH is a journey of learning how God’s active presence touches our everyday communal lives.  It is the energy that opens our hearts to listen for God’s sustaining love in the people among whom we live, their traditions, and in the events of life we encounter in solidarity. Living our faith is the daily effort to connect the mysteries and wonders of this life to God’s deep relationship of care with, for and among us all.   

God sees there is MUCH NEED for us to cry out for and with the poor, the immigrant, the trafficked, the sick, and the marginalized of our world. There is much in our society that we need to protest against and transform. When we hear the call to participate more deeply in this God/Human/Spirit Relationship as a communal quest, then our faith becomes a labor of  love and wisdom expressing itself within our life experiences. 

Protest, and the work for policy change that must follow, rises from a deeply lived faith within the nitty-gritty of life. It becomes the expression of our deep communal longing for unity, justice, and peace. Our faithful commitment to solidarity in protest and in graced transformation is the expression of our restless, free, and common search to encounter God with our body, mind and spirit in all aspects of our lives, and in every person we meet as neighbor and family within our common ancestry and home – Earth!                                                                      

                                     



 All Out of Africa


Behold the Human!

The women, the men, and the children formed

   Of stardust under the same hot sun and forged

   Of ancient coupled genes shared in fruitful life
   Of generations struggling to survive, to move outward


Braving the elements

   Of scorching desert sun, sand and scarce water

   Of pale sting of windy ice and snow

   Of weary mountain climbs and plentiful valley rest

Learning the magic words

   Of fire and story, of ritual, dance and song

   Of every custom, color, and communal care

   Of spirit lifted in prayer under the same moon


Behold the human!

   When did custom turn into exclusion?

   When did color turn into identity?

   When did compassion turn into hate?


Behold the human!
   How did struggle turn into war?

   Was it scarcity, abundance or greed?

   Was it jealousy, or pride that dealt the first blow?

Behold us!
   Have we forgotten our origin, and our purpose?
   Or forgotten our journey of shared solidarity?
   Is it our fear of death, or our fear of living as one?

Behold the choice – life or death!

   Creation is a universal grace always unfolding.
   The light is NOW always becoming.
   The way to truth and life is ours to choose.




Poem and Watercolor by Sr. Ann Hayden, MM
July 9, 2020

Comments

  1. Gloria HaiderJuly 19, 2020 at 10:07 AM

    Thank you Sr. Ann for your article, poem, and picture. I especially appreciated your poem with the words "Behold the human." Yes, what have we become?

    ReplyDelete
  2. All Faiths UnitedJuly 22, 2020 at 6:31 PM

    Thank you, Sister Ann, for your article on “Thoughts on Faith as Protest”. It is truly inspiring.
    As a society we truly need justice for all. So I would like to share this Excerpt from:

    A Message from the Baha’is of the United States dated 06/19/2020.

    “To create a just society begins with recognition of the fundamental truth that humanity is one. But it is not enough simply to believe this in our hearts. It creates the moral imperative to act, and to view all aspects of our personal, social, and institutional lives through the lens of justice. It implies a reordering of our society more profound than anything we have yet achieved. And it requires the participation of Americans of every race and background, for it is only through such inclusive participation that new moral and social directions can emerge.”

    May we keep working towards creating a vastly more just society.

    Peace and blessings

    Lolita Pagarani

    ReplyDelete

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