Anita Lustrea

I’m excited to have Father Gregory Boyle and Fabian Debora on the podcast.

Both are with Homeboy Industries. Father Boyle is the Founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention program in the world. He is a wonderful communicator and his books have been New York Times bestsellers. This book, Forgive Everyone Everything is a bit different as artwork accompanies every entry. It’s almost like a devotional. Fabian Debora is the Executive Director of the Homeboy Art Academy. Fabian, a former gang member himself, fully understands his role as both mentor and artist. You’ll hear a bit of the chaos of the Homeboy world in the podcast. These two guest are a delight and I hope you’ll enjoy the conversation!

Also written by Father Greg Boyle and highly recommended:

Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir 

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Gregory Boyle SJ & Fabian Debora – episode 335 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below.

Rumblings.9.23.22 

1. Dr. Sharon said it on an episode of Ted Lasso. “The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off.”

Yep. That’s what happens more often than not. At least to me. And you?

2. “Above all, trust in the slow work of God.

We are quite naturally impatient in everything

to reach the end without delay.

We should like to skip the intermediate stages.

We are impatient of being on the way to something

unknown, something new.

And yet it is the law of all progress

that it is made by passing through

some stages of instability –

and that it may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you;

your ideas mature gradually—let them grow,

let them shape themselves, without undue haste.

Don’t try to force them on,

as though you could be today what time

(that is to say, grace and circumstances

acting on your own good will)

will make of you tomorrow.

Only God could say what this new spirit

gradually forming within you will be.

Give Our Lord the benefit of believing

that his hand is leading you,

and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself

in suspense and incomplete.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ

excerpted from Hearts on Fire

For those who love to go fast this is a great reminder to be conscious of and attentive to the speed of God. The Lord’s idea of ‘hurry up’ is a bit different than ours 

3. Heather Cox Richardson writes that there are “lot of moving pieces in the immigration debate. Migrants need safety, the U.S. needs workers, our immigrant-processing systems are understaffed, and our laws are outdated. They need real solutions, not political stunts.” 

We don’t need political stunts. 

“History does not look kindly on leaders who treat human beings like cargo, loading them up and sending them a thousand miles away without telling them their destination … Still, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made that choice today. … Instead of trying to help them, he chose to charter a private jet and send them to a rural island community late in the day and without warning so they wouldn’t have the resources at the ready to support them. The people of Martha’s Vineyard, its vibrant immigrant community, and the Commonwealth as a whole are already calling Governor DeSantis’ bluff and rising to meet the challenge because that’s what Americans do — we help those in need.” ~ U.S. Rep, Wiliam Keating

These politicians who play games with refugees and those who chuckle, giggle, and smirk in the background are by and large – people who proudly profess faith in Christ. Imagine that.  

Lauren Lisa Ng, Director of Leadership Empowerment for American Baptist Church Home Missions reminds us that scripture doesn’t say “ When I was hungry you put me on a bus, when I was thirsty you booked me a one-way plane ticket, and  when I was a stranger, you treated me like cargo and shipped me off for political gain.”

4.. “The hallmark of a resilient, productive and sustainable culture is that disagreements aren’t risky.

When someone cares enough to make an assertion and show their work, a healthy organization or society takes a look.

The alternative is the brittle, closed culture of talking points, loyalty oaths and unquestioned status quo. It might be a neighborhood social club, a large corporation or a nation, but the principle remains.

What happens when we disagree? Because when the world changes (and it always does) we’ll probably end up disagreeing sooner or later. Being good at it is a skill.” ~ Seth Godin

5. Whatever a patron desires to get published is advertising; whatever he wants to keep out of the paper is news.” L. E. Edwardson, Chicago Herald and Examiner, circa 1920

That was awhile ago. Journalism has changed. But the best journalists still go looking for what people in power want to keep hidden. We should all be thankful for them. Our nation can’t survive without good journalism. Punditainers are not journalists. They just pretend they are. To buy into their fantasy world is folly. 

6. “A truck loaded with thousands of copies of Roget’s Thesaurus crashed yesterday losing its entire load. Witnesses were stunned, startled, aghast, taken aback, stupefied, confused, shocked, rattled, paralyzed, dazed, bewildered, mixed up, surprised, awed, dumbfounded, nonplussed, flabbergasted, astounded, amazed, confounded, astonished, overwhelmed, horrified, numbed, speechless, and perplexed.” ~ Author Unknown

7.  “I cannot make good choices unless I develop a mature and prudent conscience that gives me an accurate account of my motives, my intentions, and my moral acts.” ~ Thomas Merton 

Without a mature and prudent conscience our choices will be determined by the loudest voice before us. The crowd will dictate our actions. Good and evil will be defined by whatever version of groupthink captures our fancy in the moment. When that happens we must face the obvious, that we have no guiding principles, only the desire to fit in and not make any waves. Is that any way to live? 

It isn’t. 

Thus, signing on to Trump’s ‘I am Qanon’ movement isn’t on my to do list. 

8. Everybody seems to be trying to prove that they are right. We have almost a collective incapacity to admit failure, to never admit that we are wrong, which makes us liars most of the time. Jesus is calling forth a very different kind of human being. Jesus says people who live the vulnerable life of connection and relationship will bear much fruit. These are the people we trust, like, and admire. And yet so many of us are afraid to be the very thing that we admire the most. How foolish human beings are! But again, Jesus has told us the way: he is the vine. We are the branches. None of us can be or need to be correct, but we can always be connected.” ~ Richard Rohr 

9. No wonder Salmon Rushdie has enemies. Authoritarians hate truth. 

“The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, freedom of thought becomes impossible.”

“A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t defuse a bomb… but we are not helpless …we can sing the truth and name the liars.” 

10. “If Jesus thought that poverty was a lack of hard work, he would’ve rebuked the poor for their condition but instead he rebuked the rest of us for not taking care of them.” ~ Anonymous

The post Mike’s Friday Rumblings – 09-23-22 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address producer at anitalustrea.com.

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 18 – Luke 22:47-53 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

Gem Fadling joins me on the podcast this week as we talk about what it looks like to Hold That Thought. That’s the title of her latest book which is all about sorting though the voices in our heads. You know what I’m talking about! Gem says We are not our thoughts. But what does that look like practically? She gets real and vulnerable about her own journey. This is a conversation you won’t want to miss!

Follow Gem:

• Website

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Gem Fadling – episode 334 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is an audio version of Mike Murphy‘s Friday rumblings. This is a regular post on Facebook that I’ve turned into a podcast. I decided Mike’s words needed a wider audience. You may agree or disagree with what he says, but there is certainly much food for thought contained here. You can friend Mike on Facebook for the printed version or read it below

Rumblings. 9.16.22. 

1. In spite of what is being said, to be awakened and labeled as ‘woke’ is a compliment.

2. Rich Villodas, pastor of New Life Church in Queens, challenges us with these words. “The Church is not to be found at the center of a left/right political world. The Church is to be a species of its own kind, confounding left, right, and so-called middle, and finding its identity from the “center” of God’s life.” 

We are to be at the “center” of God’s life. It will, indeed, confound many.  And if we aren’t at the center, we’re at the mercy of the whims of public opinion.

3. “Love and suffering are part of most human lives. Without any doubt, they are the primary spiritual teachers more than any Bible, church, minister, sacrament, or theologian…

Suffering can lead us in either of two directions: it can make us very bitter and cause us to shut down, or it can make us wise, compassionate, and utterly open, either because our hearts have been softened, or perhaps because we feel as though we have nothing more to lose.” ~ Richard Rohr

Suffering, hardship, a string of bad luck,etc. can either wipe us out or make us stronger. There’s a lot to be said for allowing such things to become our teachers.

Tim Keller writes that “The basic premise  of religion is that if you live a good life, things will go well for you“ is wrong. Jesus was the most morally upright person who ever lived, yet He had a life filled with the experience of poverty, rejection, injustice, and even torture …Christianity does not provide the reason for each experience of pain, but it does provide deep resources for actually facing suffering with hope and courage rather than bitterness and despair.” Timothy Keller

Let’s make it our habit to help those suffering to tap into resources of hope and courage. Of course, in order to help them do that we might need to figure it out for ourselves. 

4. Because inconvenient truths are considered to be incendiary in places like Florida and Texas and other such states, both young and old won’t have the opportunity to grapple with things that matter – things from the past that still inform the present  moment and in many ways influence the future.

Embedded in all this political and educational chicanery is one underlying truth. White people with power and their followers are deathly afraid of losing their privilege. And they will do anything to hold onto it. That includes dumbing down curriculum, erasing what’s uncomfortable, and ridiculing those who ask them to think. They have become the ‘cancel culture’ they accuse others of being. 

5. “If so much as a single one of you were missing, there would be an empty place at the great feast of life that nobody else in all creation could fill.” ~ Frederick Buechner

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… I’m free to choose what that something is, and the something I’ve chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.“ ~ Jimmy Carter

Carter and Buechner. Lord, if my witness is but a shadow of theirs, I will have lived well. 

6.  The brilliant comedian and movie actor W. C. Fields was not known as a religious man, but as his death approached he began to look through the Bible. When a friend asked him about this behavior he humorously explained that he was just “looking for loopholes.”

In one way or another, we all do that. 

7. “Wherever St. Paul went, there was a riot. Wherever I go, they serve tea.” ~ N. T. Wright

Wright is a very accomplished theologian. He’s making fun of himself here. Perhaps he was in the midst of a self-assessment and didn’t particularly like what he was seeing. Let’s be honest, we’ve all probably been in that spot.

Periodically, it helps to stop and do a life Examen. It might reveal that we follow a rather passive Jesus, meek and mild, eager only for a spot of tea, avoiding anything controversial and certainly not challenging us to be anything more than what we already are. 

Paul believed in a Jesus who had some feistiness and who he knew to be controversial, just as he was at times. The religious and political authorities certainly felt threatened by Jesus. He said things that just infuriated them. He even insulted Rome and its Caesar saying in a subtle but nonetheless clear way that Caesar’s claim to divinity was suspect. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that Jesus, and for that matter Paul, made time for their personal version of a spot of tea with friends. But there was something else going on. Something that stirred the passions of both friend and foe. Both Jesus and Paul proved to be both provocative and charming, gentle and formidable, determined and easy going. 

May it be so for us. 

8. President Biden: “I want to be crystal clear about what’s on the ballot this year. Your right to choose is on the ballot this year. The Social Security you paid for from the time you had a job is on the ballot. The safety of our kids from gun violence is on the ballot…. The very survival of our planet is on the ballot. Your right to vote is on the ballot. Even…democracy…The MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and economic security. They’re a threat to our very democracy. They refuse to accept the will of the people. They embrace…political violence. They don’t believe in democracy.”

Democracy is indeed on the ballot this fall. There are very real threats to its very existence. And the whole world is watching.

9. At a resort in the Greek isles this sign welcomes visitors: “Create a life you can fall in love with.”

For the most part, it’s the quality of our decisions and our thoughtful response to the decisions of others that create the life we desire.  

10. “The Spirit leads us downward. To the bottom, to the place of humility, to the position and posture of service . . . that’s where the Spirit, like water, flows. . . . If you listen to the Spirit you will realize that someone is angry at you or resentful toward you or worked behind your back to do you harm. Everything in you will want you to write them off or get them back. But the Spirit will draw you toward them in humility. . . .If you listen to the Spirit you will see a person or a group being vilified or scapegoated. Everyone is blaming them, shaming them, gossiping about them, feeling superior to them, venting their anxieties on them. . . . But the Spirit will draw you to differ courageously and graciously. And you will risk your reputation in defending the person or people being scapegoated…If you listen to the Spirit, you will be drawn toward an opportunity to serve, even to and with those who frighten or repel you …when you listen to the Spirit it will be a source of great joy—one of the richest blessings of your life.” Brian McLaren

“If you listen to the Spirit” everything changes. If not, nothing does. May we all cultivate that desire and may it become the habit of our lives. 

The post Mike’s Friday Rumblings – 09-16-22 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address producer at anitalustrea.com.

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 17 – Luke 20:1-8 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

I’m very excited about the start of Season 8. I actually said Season 7 on the podcast…but then went back and counted. Dr. Alison Cook is a favorite guest of mine. She is a brilliant psychologist and writer who reaches over 50,000 women weekly via her blog and podcast. Her focus is helping women heal from past wounds.

On this episode of Faith Conversations, we focus on her latest book, The Best of You: Break Free from Painful Patterns, Mend Your Past & Discover Your True Self in God. I highly recommend her book. I couldn’t put it down. I think you’ll find the conversation enlightening and you might decide it’s time for you to address some painful patterns in your own life.

Find Dr. Alison Cook in the following places:

• Website

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Dr. Alison Cook – episode 333 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it. 

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address producer at anitalustrea.com.

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 16 – Luke 20:20-26 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

This is a weekly release of the spiritual practice Lectio Divina. I hope you’ll listen and ponder the scripture passage offered and let me know your thoughts. My email address is [email protected]. Also, feel free to share this podcast on your social media or tell a friend about it.

If you’d like to support this podcast you can do so through a gift to PayPal using the email address producer at anitalustrea.com.

If you enjoy the beautiful guitar music, you can learn more about Steve Wick and how to purchase his music on his website.

The post Lectio Divina 15 – Luke 19:45-48 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

On the podcast this week I invited the conversation group back! The group consists of Melinda Schmidt, Michelle Van Loon and Mark Breta. I have them do a short intro of themselves and I have Michelle talk about her most recent book, Translating Your Past as well as a new online group for women in midlife and beyond called The Sage Forum. I highly recommend you check that out.

Find Michelle here:

• Website

Find Mark here:

• Website

Find Melinda here:

• Facebook

Note: When clicking through on links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The post Conversation Group 2 – episode 332 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.