Why Are Workers Strugging in Good times and Bad?

Sister Sue Wilson, LPRC (London Poverty Research Centre) Co-chair, explores the larger structural drivers of precarious employment linking them to the situation in London, Ontario. This paper highlights the historical changes and macro trends in economic theory and corporate practices which have underpinned the weakening of labour protections and job security over the last 40 years. Central to this discussion is the recognition that although the economy has been growing, the benefits of this growth has not translated into decent work and security for many, but rather increases in CEO compensation and concentrated wealth.   

Download the full paper here   Why Are Workers Struggling in Good Times and Bad?

Love is our true destiny

Granola bars and curbside sharing

Well, here we are beginning another sequence of 40 days in preparation for the celebration of Easter! I have been around this cycle 70 odd times. What is the new for this year? What energy and hope is equal to the great mystery of love that Jesus offers?

I recently read an article that immediately shifted my thought back to a dear relative, who practices almsgiving not just during Lent, but every day of the year. I admire her so very much. She has that wonderful ability to hold compassion and common sense in one basket. A solid woman of faith. Whether it be a granola bar or a $5 Tim’s gift card, she is ready to share what little she has with the outstretched hand on the corner, at the intersection, in front of the grocery store. She recognizes struggle and dignity. I see in her actions the sacred. Recognizing another human being, sharing an awareness that the life we all share is life given by God. That brief encounter can be more than one person helping another; it is an exchange of love inherent in all whom God has created. Christ’s birth into human life has raised the bar. Every encounter is a God encounter, concretized in the ordinariness of daily life.

Lent, characterized by the actions of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is filled with liturgical readings that remind us: “I was hungry and you gave me to eat”. Maybe this Lent, my “new” will be to focus on all those miracle moments when the hungry are fed . . and give thanks, that humanity cares.

You might like to view the article that got me thinking

- Loretta Manzara, csj

Lent, God’s Love Story for His Children

Lent is often associated with ‘giving something up’, but it is really a time of spiritual discipline, a time of preparation for the great feast of Easter.

A disciple is one who learns from the master. Immediately after his baptism, Mark says that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness/desert to be tempted by the devil. The desert represents times in our lives of struggle, disorientation, and painful experiences that make us vulnerable to temptation.  Lent offers a special opportunity of taking our woundedness to the divine physician for healing.

We enter into the rhythm of lent beginning with Ash Wednesday.

Jesus invites us to greater intimacy through

Prayer – healing for ourselves and the world;

Fasting – depriving self of physical support through discipline and growing trust in God.

Almsgiving – sharing our resources generously with the poor.

In the following five weeks, we journey with the gospel themes of repentance, mercy, forgiveness, as we build the Kingdom of God in preparation for Easter.

Passion/Palm Sunday week, the holiest week of the Christian year, focuses our attention on the sacred mysteries of:

Holy Thursday: the Blessed Eucharist and the washing of the feet,

Good Friday: the suffering and death of Jesus for the salvation of the world

Easter Sunday: Jesus vanquishes death forever through love.

Lent is a good time to begin or deepen the Lenten practices of prayer, discipline, and almsgiving.  Through these ascetic practices we learn to nurture the silence within, and come to experience joy and wellbeing.

Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus.

                                                                                                                         Anne Marshall, csj

Weekly Pause & Ponder

Lent is about

          Becoming, doing, and changing,

whatever it is that is blocking

the fullness of life in us right now.

Joan Chittister, OSB.