Gn 20:17 Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimilech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children.
13 June 2011
Dear Anne,
“Then Jesus said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property.” Lk 165:1
Because I had only one hundred and five cents it finally occurred to me that I should sell my wares. So I wrote up a brochure for Spicer’s store of tricks and skills and went selling door to door on the forth and third floors. One customer at first said, “But there’s a lot of stores man” and then excusing himself from the phone “Hold on baby, man’s selling skills.” He looked at my list that says Do you need computer skills? and was hooked. Another customer said “Oh, you hussling, I see.” For a few minutes to fill out an online application he accepted a price of $4.00. At $10.00 for a half hour a customer wants a Spanish lesson. For twentyfive cents a customer got a
quick lecture on the organization of creation in Genesis chapter one. For two helping of spiritual conversation, r fifty five cents, a customer asked me first to interpret Luke chapter 16, the parable of the cunning manager, and then whether ethically one who could do good with the money is justified faking a sickness to a doctor in order for a medical benefit. All listened with interest as I delivered my sales pitch. One recommended a special case of need, a guy locked up for ten years who types with his index fingers groping for the letters—I knew—I had helped him in the lab computer lab actually. I showed him how to use the cursor on the mouse to highlight a group of words, how to use the cursor keys and showed him about the backspace key, how to save and print—his resume. And one signed up for a course on the Book of Genesis tomorrow at 10 AM. Tonight I study special paper folding problems for a man studying to be a carpenter. Oh, and I was hired to type up a guy’s book For $0.17 per page, I’ll profit from exposure to this man’s intimate portrait.
Anne, tonight’s learning reminded me that many people are accustomed to trade and barter for goods and services. It was a refresher of exchange theory of living or exchange economics. You and I relate out of our thirst for God, a desire that’s so intense for God, with gratitude, that we give ourselves freely. Yet I wonder if we might recognize the custom of some of our friends who may value what we do. Whether it’s because they see us as gifted in a radical way or just as inspiration, maybe they would like to be offered an opportunity to show their thanksgiving in a monetary measure.
Now thanks be to God I have no debts and no ambitions. Wrong! I feel so indebted to you, Anne, and if others could help me show you my gratitude I would greatly appreciate it. And I’m indebted to my parents, the St. Joseph’s of Seattle community, so many friends, so many new friends, members of the greater SOA Watch community in particular Judith Kelly, Mr. and Mrs. Phares, Nico DeGama, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, los campesinos of Arcatao, la parroquia San Bartolome and my home community the White Rose Catholic Worker. Most of all there’s the legions of behind the scenes, both living and dead, these prayer warriors who have aided my soul. You Jesuits, past teachers and companions. Oh God, if my act could not begin to express my gratitude and my love, so much more infinite is your love! Incomprehensible, most merciful and compassionate God, I thank you. And I continue seeking to serve you inspiring a faith that crosses the line.
Chris
Monday, June 20, 2011
Ah, to be in Mass
Gn 20:13 And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do to me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’”
13 June 2011
Dear Anne,
“Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” Ps 87:7
What a pentecost! Tuesday I received from Rosie R. a letter saying she’d be speaking about
Dorothy Day on Sunday at Loyola’s annual Thomas Merton Society event and wouldn’t it be great if the Feds sprung me so I could attend. That started the ball rolling and with event coordinator’s help sending an invitation letter, sure enough, I made it! Fr. Jim of the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane presided the Mass. Wow, just to hear my self in unison with so many, praying Credo. And it was overjoy when, because I sat next to Frank, a former Worker of Kansas City, when he and I both said “flesh” instead of “and the word became man.” His nuances surprised me! I like to say “She” for the holy spirit part and whadda ya know, Frank said it
too! And if I were alone no one would have corrected me, but the group prompted me to get it right—No, not “and the life of the world to come. First it’s “We look for the resurrection of the dead’ Silly and then we add “and for the life of the world to come.” But Anne, that’s not all. The
most amazing, most awe inspiring sight: Fr. Jim announced at the beginning how being that our Mass took place in a venue without kneelers, then at those Mass parts we wouldn’t kneel but rather stand or sit as we were able. Well, after this young woman had received the Eucharist, she took to her knees anyway. Only her. Yet she sat on her heels on the ground, eclipsed in prayer; she didn’t want to be seen and it seemed like she was just drawn to put herself closer to the earth somehow. Glory to God!
13 June 2011
Dear Anne,
“Singers and dancers alike say, “All my springs are in you.” Ps 87:7
What a pentecost! Tuesday I received from Rosie R. a letter saying she’d be speaking about
Dorothy Day on Sunday at Loyola’s annual Thomas Merton Society event and wouldn’t it be great if the Feds sprung me so I could attend. That started the ball rolling and with event coordinator’s help sending an invitation letter, sure enough, I made it! Fr. Jim of the Trappist Monastery of Gethsemane presided the Mass. Wow, just to hear my self in unison with so many, praying Credo. And it was overjoy when, because I sat next to Frank, a former Worker of Kansas City, when he and I both said “flesh” instead of “and the word became man.” His nuances surprised me! I like to say “She” for the holy spirit part and whadda ya know, Frank said it
too! And if I were alone no one would have corrected me, but the group prompted me to get it right—No, not “and the life of the world to come. First it’s “We look for the resurrection of the dead’ Silly and then we add “and for the life of the world to come.” But Anne, that’s not all. The
most amazing, most awe inspiring sight: Fr. Jim announced at the beginning how being that our Mass took place in a venue without kneelers, then at those Mass parts we wouldn’t kneel but rather stand or sit as we were able. Well, after this young woman had received the Eucharist, she took to her knees anyway. Only her. Yet she sat on her heels on the ground, eclipsed in prayer; she didn’t want to be seen and it seemed like she was just drawn to put herself closer to the earth somehow. Glory to God!
To UA or not to UA
Gn 19:29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in
which Lot had settled.
18 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Ps 23
Again my neighbor on the clutch with the Bible passage, saying, “It get’s me through
everything.” So Anne, wonderful wonderful news: It’s time for some agree contra action!! This little-engine that-could heart of mine has long been toying with the plan of refusing to take the
Urinary Analysis (UA). Agere contra-style, I’m going against my own will on this one. Though the desire to visit the prisoner of Cook County appeals to me, tonight I’ve found inspiration to go against it. Pablo Picasso said something about art being the result of the artist’s dominance over himself. Look what I’m seeing now: Yes, not submitting to the UA resists conformism to the system. Yes, it once more heightens the conflict of SOA? WHINSEC’s existence once again by consequence of my willingness to suffer. Yes, it once more dramatizes my love for the enemy by taking further the cross a second mile. Yes, it provides the condition for the possibility of relationship with the least of Chicago, knowing the forgotten as one-with. Yes, it problematizes the assumed guilty until proven innocent practice of the US Justice System. and Yes, it attracts the humbling likelihood of criticisms of me such as having a) a martyrs complex b) a lazy work ethic c) and/or it opens attack that I am a stupid, dumb protester d) that is, I probably have red eyes not from reading but because I must have smoked pot.
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in
which Lot had settled.
18 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Ps 23
Again my neighbor on the clutch with the Bible passage, saying, “It get’s me through
everything.” So Anne, wonderful wonderful news: It’s time for some agree contra action!! This little-engine that-could heart of mine has long been toying with the plan of refusing to take the
Urinary Analysis (UA). Agere contra-style, I’m going against my own will on this one. Though the desire to visit the prisoner of Cook County appeals to me, tonight I’ve found inspiration to go against it. Pablo Picasso said something about art being the result of the artist’s dominance over himself. Look what I’m seeing now: Yes, not submitting to the UA resists conformism to the system. Yes, it once more heightens the conflict of SOA? WHINSEC’s existence once again by consequence of my willingness to suffer. Yes, it once more dramatizes my love for the enemy by taking further the cross a second mile. Yes, it provides the condition for the possibility of relationship with the least of Chicago, knowing the forgotten as one-with. Yes, it problematizes the assumed guilty until proven innocent practice of the US Justice System. and Yes, it attracts the humbling likelihood of criticisms of me such as having a) a martyrs complex b) a lazy work ethic c) and/or it opens attack that I am a stupid, dumb protester d) that is, I probably have red eyes not from reading but because I must have smoked pot.
I wish
Gn 19.28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of
the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land giving up like the smoke of a furnace.
19 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son for it.” Jn 3:16
Riding home to Chicago! I’m giddy with so much to share, what a day! First of all my neighboring passenger selected the above passage excusing himself saying “I only know the classic ones.” “Fine. That’s fine!” I said. Isn’t it a perfect one too? Remember how the incarnation brought such joy! Speaking of which, I’ve not even told you that Bobby’s baby was born. No, I know, I didn’t even mention the expectation! Monday night after a conversation I don’t recall now, he sighed and with last breaths before falling asleep mentioned that he couldn’t wait ‘til Friday when the baby was coming. I was like ‘What!’
Then, two days early[1] his wife went into labor. He came in yesterday with his arms raised and said, “The sun is born!” I looked out the window and back at him. The sun had just set. “Huh?” I said. “The SON is born!”
Oh, but it felt bittersweet. He flipped onto his bottom bunk bed and groaned “I shoulda been there.” And in an upright world I hope he could have. He didn’t bother to ask for a furlough back
to Alaska. Even though he knew in former times inmates could routinely get furlough permission, albeit flanked with guards, in order to attend a birth or a funeral—he didn’t ask.
Chris
[1] Bobby told me that the date was set for a C-section because in the first pregnancy his wife had not dilated past a one. They had arrived at the emergency room only to discover that her water had broke long before. “I felt some mucousy stuff in my panties, “She told the nurse. It was okay though because he planned on seeing a future birth. “I ain’t done yet!” he said.
the Plain, and saw the smoke of the land giving up like the smoke of a furnace.
19 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son for it.” Jn 3:16
Riding home to Chicago! I’m giddy with so much to share, what a day! First of all my neighboring passenger selected the above passage excusing himself saying “I only know the classic ones.” “Fine. That’s fine!” I said. Isn’t it a perfect one too? Remember how the incarnation brought such joy! Speaking of which, I’ve not even told you that Bobby’s baby was born. No, I know, I didn’t even mention the expectation! Monday night after a conversation I don’t recall now, he sighed and with last breaths before falling asleep mentioned that he couldn’t wait ‘til Friday when the baby was coming. I was like ‘What!’
Then, two days early[1] his wife went into labor. He came in yesterday with his arms raised and said, “The sun is born!” I looked out the window and back at him. The sun had just set. “Huh?” I said. “The SON is born!”
Oh, but it felt bittersweet. He flipped onto his bottom bunk bed and groaned “I shoulda been there.” And in an upright world I hope he could have. He didn’t bother to ask for a furlough back
to Alaska. Even though he knew in former times inmates could routinely get furlough permission, albeit flanked with guards, in order to attend a birth or a funeral—he didn’t ask.
Chris
[1] Bobby told me that the date was set for a C-section because in the first pregnancy his wife had not dilated past a one. They had arrived at the emergency room only to discover that her water had broke long before. “I felt some mucousy stuff in my panties, “She told the nurse. It was okay though because he planned on seeing a future birth. “I ain’t done yet!” he said.
me vs we
Gn 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters, ‘Get up and leave this place,’ he told them; ‘the LORD is about to destroy the city.’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
13 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The Lord’s love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Halleluja!” Ps 117
Bobby’s shelf of books includes Farther than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook by Martin Pugort, Creeds Law by Kerry Newcomb, Revenge of the Mountain Men by William W. Johnstone, Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry, Longarm and the Heiress by Tabor Evans, Hondo by Louis L’Amour, as well as Milo Talon and May There Be a Road; The Devil Gun by JT Edson, Max Brand’s Pleasant Jim and Elmer Kelton’s Stand Proud. Then there’s High Druid of Shannaru Straken by Terry Brooks and The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
We’ve just been let out for the extension hour given Friday and Saturday nights. Bobby: “Now TO’s dead. They was gonna give him to the count of ten. Dude got to eight and shot him.’ He reads Gunn by Jory Sherman. Earlier he had told me the plot of how it’s Gunn versus a whole group. They resort to tactics like torture to get Gunn’s whereabouts. The friend who was captured tells them to go to hell. Under the torture he nods and nods so they take out his gag and he tells a lie that’s close to the truth: where Gunn used to be and where the group knew he used to be. But they hold on to him and when they get back they give him one last chance or else death, being kicked by a horse. He says, go to hell!
Anne, themes of individual courage fill these books, at the expense of the collective. Here, a whole group is no match for the individual. Unless, that is, the individual’s strength comes from something greater than himself. In this case the friend so loves Gunn he would accept his own death before he surrendered Gunn’s hideout. What greater love is there than a man who would lay his own life down for a friend? Where do you see the Guantanamo detainee in the story?
Chris
13 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“The Lord’s love for us is strong; the LORD is faithful forever. Halleluja!” Ps 117
Bobby’s shelf of books includes Farther than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook by Martin Pugort, Creeds Law by Kerry Newcomb, Revenge of the Mountain Men by William W. Johnstone, Boone’s Lick by Larry McMurtry, Longarm and the Heiress by Tabor Evans, Hondo by Louis L’Amour, as well as Milo Talon and May There Be a Road; The Devil Gun by JT Edson, Max Brand’s Pleasant Jim and Elmer Kelton’s Stand Proud. Then there’s High Druid of Shannaru Straken by Terry Brooks and The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.
We’ve just been let out for the extension hour given Friday and Saturday nights. Bobby: “Now TO’s dead. They was gonna give him to the count of ten. Dude got to eight and shot him.’ He reads Gunn by Jory Sherman. Earlier he had told me the plot of how it’s Gunn versus a whole group. They resort to tactics like torture to get Gunn’s whereabouts. The friend who was captured tells them to go to hell. Under the torture he nods and nods so they take out his gag and he tells a lie that’s close to the truth: where Gunn used to be and where the group knew he used to be. But they hold on to him and when they get back they give him one last chance or else death, being kicked by a horse. He says, go to hell!
Anne, themes of individual courage fill these books, at the expense of the collective. Here, a whole group is no match for the individual. Unless, that is, the individual’s strength comes from something greater than himself. In this case the friend so loves Gunn he would accept his own death before he surrendered Gunn’s hideout. What greater love is there than a man who would lay his own life down for a friend? Where do you see the Guantanamo detainee in the story?
Chris
Moments
Gn 19:5 They called to Lot and said to him, ‘Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them.’
7 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“Listen, my people, I will speak; I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold. For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. I know every bird of the heaven; the creatures of the field belong to me.” Ps 51
On Fridays and Saturdays after 10 PM lockdown for count we get another free spell until 11:30. Tonight I lay in my bunk in love with the sounds of the men at recreation. To Crow I put it thus, “I still remember being fifteen in love. We would lay side by side gazing into each other’s eyes.” I still remember the flecks of sunlight buried in her swirling blue irises. I didn’t need to go on about how as a celibate I look with love on my context. He was envisioning his girl again “That is one of the most intimate times,” he said.
Yes, and now the unit has locked down and still and moments unfold in mind. Yesterday. Today intermingling. Old Matt lies on his bunk talking with his dentures out, patting his belly. He returned from an attempted surgery to refasten the tendon of his bicep. “I was still groggy but I think I heard them say, 'Bring him on the 13th.’ They won’t tell you. You’re not supposed to know when they take you so you don’t call someone to meet you in the hospital.”
His injury supposedly happened since locked up, but who knows. When going to the hospital like this, he tells me, they take you to the hole. “Man I was dizzy with all that bright orange: the jumpsuit, t-shirt, boxers, socks—even orange slippers. They had regular sheets four years ago though…”
The main complaint of his was from having to fast prior to surgery, so before he got back to the unit at 6:30 PM he had no food since dinner the previous day at 4:30 PM.
7 May 2011
Dear Anne,
“Listen, my people, I will speak; I need no bullock from your house, no goats from your fold. For every animal of the forest is mine, beasts by the thousands on my mountains. I know every bird of the heaven; the creatures of the field belong to me.” Ps 51
On Fridays and Saturdays after 10 PM lockdown for count we get another free spell until 11:30. Tonight I lay in my bunk in love with the sounds of the men at recreation. To Crow I put it thus, “I still remember being fifteen in love. We would lay side by side gazing into each other’s eyes.” I still remember the flecks of sunlight buried in her swirling blue irises. I didn’t need to go on about how as a celibate I look with love on my context. He was envisioning his girl again “That is one of the most intimate times,” he said.
Yes, and now the unit has locked down and still and moments unfold in mind. Yesterday. Today intermingling. Old Matt lies on his bunk talking with his dentures out, patting his belly. He returned from an attempted surgery to refasten the tendon of his bicep. “I was still groggy but I think I heard them say, 'Bring him on the 13th.’ They won’t tell you. You’re not supposed to know when they take you so you don’t call someone to meet you in the hospital.”
His injury supposedly happened since locked up, but who knows. When going to the hospital like this, he tells me, they take you to the hole. “Man I was dizzy with all that bright orange: the jumpsuit, t-shirt, boxers, socks—even orange slippers. They had regular sheets four years ago though…”
The main complaint of his was from having to fast prior to surgery, so before he got back to the unit at 6:30 PM he had no food since dinner the previous day at 4:30 PM.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
My Conscience Speaks
4 May 2011
Dear Anne,
"While Paul was so speaking in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, 'You are mad, Paul; much learning is driving you mad.' But Paul replied, 'I am not mad, most excellent Festus, I am speaking words of truth and reason.'" Acts 26:24-25
Sunday has called my attention in a profound way. Two events coincided on that day that I recognized have a direct bearing on my soul. Most devastating was the news of another extrajudicial killing and the President's word admitting his policy of extrajudicial mass murder since last August. Because of a suspect of terrorism living in Pakistan the President sent unmanned aerial vehicles firing hellfire rockets throughout the region. Hundreds and hundreds of incidences of extrajudicial killing were warranted, according to the President's speech, because he had received intelligence of Osama bin Ladin's location in a compound deep in Pakistan. A suspect of terrorism is innocent until tried and proven guilty. the fact that the presence of one suspect alone could sanction indiscriminate invasion resulting in hundreds of innocent lives lost, the legitimation of Drone Warfare itself, deeply disturbs me.
I am a child of the Catholic generation raised by Pope John Paul II. He taught us by example to be global citizens traveling the world: truly he exemplified a ministry of presence. My generation was made conscientious of the responsibility to lead faithful lives, a practice of small steps we took in pilgrimages during world youth days. On Sunday the church remembered his saintly life. I will forever think of his teaching of life in commitment to the neighbor known and unknown requiring risks to accept the burden of the community -- what Pope John Paul II called a virtue, solidarity.
Anne, I believe that I am called to witness solidarity in a unique way now. My heart senses the way ahead. Allowing myself three days of purification I sense the timing has come to demonstrate my love of enemy. This Mother's Day I will see my mom on a visitation, God willing, and then I will make my stand for love, for solidarity.
A more precise mind could formulate what I sense is wrong. When I look around at the men here serving their sentences and then be deported, I am struck again and again by the discrepancy where the government labels these men criminals for trespassing yet has its military, my military, myself, entering foreign countries against which no declaration of war was imposed. The office of the executive controls, enforces, but does it have a right to determine law? Currently it does. I therefore feel impelled to resist the powers that be. My heart mourns the loss of accountability representatives once had to check the powers of the President. As a citizen of this country I know my duty under international law to resist extrajudicial killing. The moment came Sunday when by Presidential decree all the previous drone warfare was excused. As a son of the Catholic church made bolder by the teaching of Pope John Paul II, I make the historic occasion one week from the day.
My conscience speaks. I may be imprisoned but my soul is free. Worship the true God with me, friend; resolute our object of solidarity shall never be LOCKED DOWN.
Chris
Dear Anne,
"While Paul was so speaking in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, 'You are mad, Paul; much learning is driving you mad.' But Paul replied, 'I am not mad, most excellent Festus, I am speaking words of truth and reason.'" Acts 26:24-25
Sunday has called my attention in a profound way. Two events coincided on that day that I recognized have a direct bearing on my soul. Most devastating was the news of another extrajudicial killing and the President's word admitting his policy of extrajudicial mass murder since last August. Because of a suspect of terrorism living in Pakistan the President sent unmanned aerial vehicles firing hellfire rockets throughout the region. Hundreds and hundreds of incidences of extrajudicial killing were warranted, according to the President's speech, because he had received intelligence of Osama bin Ladin's location in a compound deep in Pakistan. A suspect of terrorism is innocent until tried and proven guilty. the fact that the presence of one suspect alone could sanction indiscriminate invasion resulting in hundreds of innocent lives lost, the legitimation of Drone Warfare itself, deeply disturbs me.
I am a child of the Catholic generation raised by Pope John Paul II. He taught us by example to be global citizens traveling the world: truly he exemplified a ministry of presence. My generation was made conscientious of the responsibility to lead faithful lives, a practice of small steps we took in pilgrimages during world youth days. On Sunday the church remembered his saintly life. I will forever think of his teaching of life in commitment to the neighbor known and unknown requiring risks to accept the burden of the community -- what Pope John Paul II called a virtue, solidarity.
Anne, I believe that I am called to witness solidarity in a unique way now. My heart senses the way ahead. Allowing myself three days of purification I sense the timing has come to demonstrate my love of enemy. This Mother's Day I will see my mom on a visitation, God willing, and then I will make my stand for love, for solidarity.
A more precise mind could formulate what I sense is wrong. When I look around at the men here serving their sentences and then be deported, I am struck again and again by the discrepancy where the government labels these men criminals for trespassing yet has its military, my military, myself, entering foreign countries against which no declaration of war was imposed. The office of the executive controls, enforces, but does it have a right to determine law? Currently it does. I therefore feel impelled to resist the powers that be. My heart mourns the loss of accountability representatives once had to check the powers of the President. As a citizen of this country I know my duty under international law to resist extrajudicial killing. The moment came Sunday when by Presidential decree all the previous drone warfare was excused. As a son of the Catholic church made bolder by the teaching of Pope John Paul II, I make the historic occasion one week from the day.
My conscience speaks. I may be imprisoned but my soul is free. Worship the true God with me, friend; resolute our object of solidarity shall never be LOCKED DOWN.
Chris
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