A Trinity of Gazes
A Trinity of Gazes
The Martyrs of Birmingham
Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows
John 19:25-27
????On the morning of September 15, 1963, someone tossed a packet of dynamite through the basement window of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and moments later four little girls were killed, and twenty others wounded.
???In this incident and all incidents of violence, we see around us is the continuing crucifixion of Jesus.
???In the celebration of Our Lady of Sorrows, we are reminded of Mary at the foot of the cross, and Jesus, asking the Beloved Disciple to take care of her--a Trinity of Gazes-mother, Jesus, and Beloved Disciple.
????They all three look at each other in love, and then Jesus turns his gaze out towards the world.
???God made a gamble in offering up Jesus to die, for in that death God was saying that there was a spark of herself/himself in each person, and that spark when enflamed could transform a broken world into one of love.
???We can see each other as simply a human being, an animal, that lives and dies, which means there is no hope of change, or we can see the spark of the divine in one another and nurture the flame within ourselves and others, and enflame the world with love. There is hope! Deo Gratias! Thanks be to God!
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Fr. River Damien Sims, D.Min., D.S.T.
P.O. Box 6426456
San Francisco, CA 94164
www.temenos.org
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