I feel it strongly: If our spirit is right, we shall overcome.

[summer_in_TX]

I subscribe to Father Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditations." This week the focus has been Liberation and Justice. Today's struck me as profound.

https://cac.org/daily-meditations/liberation-and-justice-weekly-summary/

Fight for a Vision!

An authentic faith—which is never comfortable or completely personal—always involves a deep desire to change the world.
—Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium

Simone Campbell is a Catholic sister and activist. She describes what drives her work for economic emancipation:

Touching the real pain of all is at the heart of the movement toward emancipation. But it can’t stop there. There is a second component to this journey toward freedom: fight! Too often we think of fighting as “fighting against.” I have learned that when you “fight against” someone or some policy, that person or policy may actually be reinforced. Rather, in this spiritual journey toward emancipation, we are called to fight for a vision that can be shared. We fight for a world that is inclusive of all creation. We fight for an economy of inclusion….

It is my experience that we realize emancipation when we combine radical acceptance with fighting for a vision. Embracing all with care and fighting for an economy that benefits the 100% will liberate us from the shackles of polarization and division. In my experience, these events become like a communal fire. There is a flaming-up of community dedicated to the good of all. It is fire in the warmth of the care we share with each other and in the commitment to make a difference. It is a fire that frees us from fear, judgment, and isolation, and opens us to the freedom of an abundant universe….

In our time of being shackled by income and wealth disparity, we are called to let God flame up in our lives. Emancipation happens when our contemplative journey takes us beyond ourselves into care for all and fighting for a vision that benefits the 100%.... The emancipation proclamation of our day is that together we must end the shackles of income and wealth disparity in our nation and around the world. This one body of creation is in a single great struggle….

Exactly right. It's a great conundrum to oppose Trumpism but to keep our focus on what we are fighting for.

It seems to me that having our spirit right is essential for the ability to overcome authoritarianism – and this points the way.

If we don’t deserve to prevail, because we are hate-filled, judgmental, unforgiving, can we possibly be rewarded by overcoming? And if we do overcome, will the fruit be good fruit? Or will it be rotten because of how it came about.

I see far too many posts by some who oppose the authoritarianism, who say things like, “I will NEVER forgive them,” about Trump voters. The NEVER FORGIVERS, is how I think of them. It troubles my heart immensely.

What we “fight against” can and does get reinforced. It's a spiritual struggle in which we can sink into toxic hatred or rise to the occasion and be part of a profound force to liberate ourselves and our fellow Americans and to create space for healing.

I think what Sister Simone said would find agreement from Timothy Snyder.

We need our own Truth and Reconciliation process.

[RainCaster]

1. Thanks for sharing this

I've never heard of CAC before, but I read a bunch and I like what I see. I think I will be adding this to my morning read list for a while. Far better than anything I've found on SubStack.