Further Resources # 2: April-June 2015

December 15, 2015

The Further Resources published in Mercy E-News throughout 2015, grouped together for your convenience, can be found linked to this item. Resources for addressing the issue of human trafficking have been added to this list.

Worth Playing:

'Seigneur mon secours...ma vie repose entre tes mains' (Psaume 120) 'Help me Lord... my life is in your hands' (Psalm 120). The repetition of this melodic refrain creates a sense of calm and comfort. Watch/listen here (05:20)

'Here at this table'. In celebration of World Environment Day, John Rutter's For the Beauty of the Earth. Watch/Listen here (03:15)
Purchase on *iTunes, *Google Play, *eMusic

'Sing Allelu' by Fernando Ortega from The Odes Project, Volume 2. A thanksgiving reflection for the gifts of creation. Watch/Listen here (04:49). Purchase it here

'Bless the Lord o my soul, oh my soul, worship his holy name.' Lyrics from 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman. Watch/Listen here (04:21). Purchase on *iTunes *Google Play

'You Are Mine' - David Haas. Play/watch it here (04:53). Purchase on *iTunes *Google play

Hezekiah Walker – 'Every Praise' (video by Everton Reid) Watch/listen here to the energy and joy of this song of Resurrection. Rev. Hezekiah Walker is singing with a flash mob on the streets of Birmingham, Alabama (05:30). Lyrics can be found here Purchase on *iTunes *Google Play

Here is Marie Cox rsm (The Congregation) singing the well-known version composed by Elaine Deasy rsm (Americas) and Teresa Martin rsm (The Congregation) singing her composition with which we became familiar during the MIA 20th Anniversary celebrations. Play them here.
Note: Clicking on the downward arrow on each song will download the mp3 file onto your computer.

'Your mercy saved me, your mercy made me whole'. Lyrics from the song 'Mercy' sung by Casting Crowns, a contemporary Christian rock band. This clip features a series of powerful scenes from the film 'The Gospel of St John'. Watch/listen here. (04:57) Purchase on * iTunes *Google Play Mercy ["Misericordia"] - Subtitulada al español. (04:57)

'I know that my redeemer liveth' from the Messiah sung by Lynne Dawson, English soprano, with the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Brandenburg Consort & Stephen Cleobury. Watch/Listen here (05:52). Purchase on *iTunes *Google Play *eMusic

Worth Watching:

Oprah Winfrey, global media leader, philanthropist, producer and actress, delivered 2015 "Harry's Last Lecture" at Stanford University on 20 April 2015. Oprah told the audience that 'just being here matters' and that a spiritual practice is the foundation of a meaningful life. Without it 'there is no full life, no fulfilled, meaningful, sustainably joyful life'. Her advice -'choose love', 'live in the space of gratitude', 'step into the flow and grace of God'. Watch the 2015 lecture here (1:30:57).
In April 2014 Oprah spoke at Stanford Graduate School of Business on Career, Life and Leadership in a student-led interview . The 2014 lecture can be viewed here (1:04:03).

The presentations by the keynote speakers at the May 'Mission: one heart many voices' Sydney conference: Stephen Bevans SVD, Maryanne Loughry rsm (featured in last week's Mercy eNews), Denis Edwards and others, are now online on the conference site here

Eyewitness accounts of the effect of the Irish famine on migration to Canada in 1847-1848 are now available online online through a curation by NUI (National University of Ireland) Galway. The Grey Nuns, who cared for Irish famine emigrants in Montreal’s feve

Refugees

VICE News has produced a 3-part video series 'Drowning for Freedom' which includes chilling footage filmed by the Libyan coast guard, who have witnessed an influx of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea, recovering bodies of those who've drowned on their journey to Europe. Warning. These videos contain graphic content.

Drowning for Freedom: Libya’s Migrant Jails (Part 1) 09:56
Trapped and Forgotten: Libya’s Migrant Jails (Part 2)09:12
Escaping Hell: Libya’s Migrant Jails (Part 3) 11:32
Migrant Prisons of Europe (Full Length) 27:36

AVAAZ, the online activist network, has launched a campaign to help fund rescue operations at sea. Details can be found here

COATNET - Christian Organisations Against Trafficking in Human Beings is a network coordinated by Caritas. Their video 'Crossing continents, breaking chains' can be viewed here (02:31)

Ecology and Eco-justice

Project Yosemite (yoh-SEM-it-ee) is a time-lapse video project set in Yosemite National Park, California. These two short clips show the breathtaking beauty that is Yosemite. Watch the clips here.

Worth Reading:

'Despite sending more than half their aid to countries marked by conflict, donor states have not been successful in promoting peace and building institutions, and this failure risks tor

Pew Research Center, the nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world, has released its findings on religious prejections for the next 35 years. See: 'The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050' . Read the report here.
A related article of interest is '7 key changes in the global religious landscape'. Read that article here

Refugees

On 6 May the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) released its report 'Global Overview 2015: people internally displaced by conflict and violence'. This report is based on data and analysis gathered between January and December 2014 in 60 countries and territories across the world. A record 38 million people were internally displaced by conflict and violence worldwide last year as 30,000 people fled their homes each day in 2014. Visit the IDMC site here. Read the report here (99pps; PDF)

Save the Children has just released its 16th annual State of the World's Mothers report with a special focus on our rapidly urbanizing world and the poorest mothers and children who must struggle to survive despite overall urban progress. Read the report here (80pps; PDF)

Avine Hassan, her husband and children fled their Damascus home as the Syrian conflict raged at their front door. She describes life in the vast refugee camp where they are eking out a living. The article 'We’ve lived in a refugee camp in Iraq for four years' can be The number of people applying for asylum in wealthy countries soared to a 22-year high in 2014, as hundreds of thousands fled conflicts in Syria and Iraq, the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said. Read the article here

Cosmology & Eco-justice

A Conference on the "The New Climate Economy", planned in view of the upcoming publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical and an occasion of reflection on the recent New Climate Economy Report, was held on Wednesday, 20 May in Rome. The text of The Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, can be read here The Reflection by Nigel Baker, the British Ambassador to Holy See, entitled 'The New Climate Economy. How Economic Growth and Sustainability Can Go Hand in Hand' can be read here

'A Planetary Pope: When Francis speaks on the environment' by Christiana Z Peppard. Read the article here

The Sixty-eighth session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) took place in Geneva 18–26 May 2015. Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi c.s., gave an address on 'Climate and Health. Read that address here

'Climate change and the Common Good', a joint publication of The Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences was released 29 April. Download the document here (12 pps; PDF). The related document, 'Declaration of Religious Leaders, Political Leaders, Business Leaders, Scientists and Development Practitioners' can be found here. (3 pps; PDF). On 14 May Cardinal Turkson, at the General Assembly for Caritas Internationalis, spoke of the 'sacred duty' humans have to care for the earth. Read the report of that speech here

The Uniting Church Australia has released its resource for World Environment Day (5 June) on the theme 'From the Ground Up: Caring for the Planet's Precious Soil'. It can be downloaded here (25 pps; PDF)

'Church of England ends investments in heavily polluting fossil fuels.' Read the article here

World leaders meeting at the Vatican for a conference on climate change have issued a final statement today, declaring that 'human-induced climate change is a scientific reality' and 'its decisive mitigation is a moral and religious imperative for humanity.' Read the 'Declaration of Religious Leaders, Political Leaders, Business Leaders, Scientists and Development Practitioners' here (PDF)

'The Power and Limits of Pope Francis’s Climate Change Campaign'. This article by Andrew Revkin, a NY Times reporter and the Senior Fellow for Environmental Understanding at Pace University, includes links to some important content on the ecology issue, as well as the embedded video from Yale's panel discussion. 'Pope Francis and the Environment: Why His New Climate Encyclical Matters' held on 8 April. Read the article here

Fracking

'Levels of cancer-causing radon gas in Pennsylvania homes have increased as the fracking industry has expanded, a new study shows.' Read the article here

'The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report on Friday that found there are nearly 700 chemicals used in the fracking process...' Read the article here

'Life on Earth is intimately connected to the celestial realm' writes Ray Jayawardhana, a professor of physics and astronomy at York University in Toronto, in 'Our Cosmic Selves', published last week in the New York Times. Read the article here.

Water

The untapped riches in the world’s oceans are estimated at nearly 24 trillion dollars – the size of the world’s leading economies, according to a new report by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Describing the oceans as economic powerhouses, the study warns that the resources in the high seas are rapidly eroding through over-exploitation, misuse and climate change. Read the report here (60pps; PDF)

Poverty

'States of Fragility 2015, which has been produced by New York University’s Center on International Cooperation (CIC) for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), says many countries will not be able to eradicate poverty if concentrated efforts to address fragility are not made now.' Read the article 'Aid must be smarter to stop conflict and end poverty, report says' in The Guardian here

Religious Life

Reports from 'The Nun in the World: Catholic Sisters and Vatican II' international symposium in London 7-9 May have been posted online on Global Sisters Report. Access them here

Religion
Pew Research has just released its research on the state of Religion in America. Rabbi David Wolpe in his article 'Don't Lose Faith in Faith Just Yet' responds, addressing the question 'Why is religion in trouble, and should we be fighting to save it?'. Read the article here

Poetry

Robert Morneau writes: 'Every month, I put a poet in my pocket, lest I become too afflicted with loneliness or get lost in the cosmos. They, those noble poets, point the way to some modicum of truth, goodness and beauty. To them I owe a bundle of gratitude...' Read about the poets of his choice and think about which poets might become your own "pocket companions".

Prayer

'To craft prayers that resonate, writers listen deeply to patients and colleagues'. In this article in the 1 April issue of 'Catholic Health World', Renee Yann rsm and other hospital mission leaders share insights and resources for creating prayers and reflections to inspire and comfort. Read the article here

The Bottom Line:

'Words transform us. Beautiful words redeem our spirit. They find their way into places of hurt within us and heal them. They slip past the sentries of the mind. They are the kisses of the soul. They enter our bodies like holy Communion. And then they do their fertile work. We live our days differently when we carry living words inside us. These living words shape our lives in many ways, but mainly they transform our fear. . .'
-Daniel J O'Leary, Priest, Author, Teacher

'Spirituality is always about how we see. It’s not about earning or achieving some kind of merit. Once you see rightly, the rest follows and the road widens. You don’t need to push the river, because you are already in it—and floating along! The Great Life is already living within us and we only gradually learn how to say yes to this always-existent Life. This Life is so large and deep and spacious that it even includes its opposite, death.'

- Richard Rohr, Priest, Teacher, Inspirational Speaker

'...We live in a time that is breathtakingly complex. We are just beginning to understand the immense beauty, order, and diversity of the universe in which we live. Even as we struggle to respond with integrity to the heart wrenching realities we encounter every day, we are increasingly aware that the struggles of the human community for justice and peace are intrinsically interconnected with the struggles of the earth community for survival...'
-Marie Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi International

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight, I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.”
- Theodore Parker, Minister, Reformer, Abolitionist

'A church that does not provoke any crisis, preach a gospel that does not unsettle, proclaim a word of God that does not get under anyone's skin or a word of God that does not touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed: what kind of gospel is that?'
- Blessed Oscar A. Romero, Bishop and Martyr in El Salvador

'We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.'
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran Pastor, Theologian, anti-Nazi dissident. Executed 70 years ago on 9 April 1945.

'You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.'
- Jiddu Krishnamurti, Thinker and Teacher

'St. Augustine wrote that God is nearer to me than I am to myself but different enough to make me more than myself. … I want to describe this mystery as I have experienced it—of how we are drawn from a familiar sense of God to an experience of God who is different enough to summon us to become more than ourselves. And the mystery of how the stranger and newcomer, if we stay with them long enough, lead us to a new sense of the nearness of God—to affection and friendship and companionship with God. Living in the shelter of each other, we begin to live in the neighbourhood of God.'
-Mary Jo Leddy, Writer, Speaker, Theologian and Social Activist

'God is transfiguring the world right this very moment through us because God believes in us and because God loves us. What can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And as we share God’s love with our brothers and sisters, God’s other children, there is no tyrant who can resist us, no oppression that cannot be ended, no hunger that cannot be fed, no wound that cannot be healed, no hatred that cannot be turned to love, no dream that cannot be fulfilled.'
- Desmond Tutu, South African social rights activist and retired Anglican Archbishop

'...I look around and watch in ecstasy the woods full of violet lent trees, yellow cassias, and at the corner of my block amaryllis belladonnas in blossom, toucans resting on the trees in front of my window and macaws nesting under my roof. Then, I realize that the Earth is a truly generous mother: faced with our aggressions, she still smiles with flora and fauna. And she instills in us hope that this is not the apocalypse but rather a new genesis on its way. The Earth is still going to survive. As it is written in Jewish-Christian Scriptures: “God is the ruler lover of life” (Sab 11.26).'
- Leonardo Boff, Brazilian theologian and writer

'Perhaps the greatest threat to Christian Eucharist is precisely a moral numbness that prevents our seeing God's presence in the least and littlest, that prevents our seeing the Risen One among the most vulnerable citizens of our chaotic world. The greatest threat to Eucharist is world hunger. It is not for nothing that the great Indian teacher of nonviolence, Mohandas K. Ghandi, once said that 'if Christ ever comes to India, he'd better come as bread.'
-Nathan Mitchell, Emeritus Faculty Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame

'Providence is the power of latent blessing that fore-brightens our pathway. The providence that shelters and guides us knows infinitely more than we can about who we are, where we are going and what we require in order to become who we were dreamed to become. It is only when we look back that we can discern how we were being secretly minded; we discern the meaning in something that was opaque and difficult and we begin to see how it deepened our sensibility and refined our spirit. Providence shelters our hearts and blesses our lives with beauty.
Providence is another name for the kindness of God...'
- John O'Donohue, Irish Poet, Author and Hegelian Philosopher

'When we let Spirit
Lead us
it is impossible
To know
Where
We are being led.
All we know
All we can believe
All we can hope
Is that
We are going Home
That wherever
Spirit
Takes us
Is where
We
Live.'

- Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, poet & activist, 'When We Let Spirit Lead Us'