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 [email protected], or Venmo Anita-Murphy-20

The post Lectio Divina 110 Mark 5:25-34 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 [email protected], or Venmo Anita-Murphy-20

The post Lectio Divina 109 Matthew 13:24-29 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. 6.14.24

1. I’ve been watching a NETFLIX documentary entitled “Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial.” It’s all a bit scary.  The ‘Oath of Loyalty’ for government officials  grabbed my attention.  

In Germany, as of August 14, 1919 the oath read like this:

“I swear loyalty to the Constitution, obedience to the law, and conscientious fulfillment of the duties of my office, so help me God.”

That oath was changed in August of 1934: 

“I swear I will be true and obedient to the Führer of the German Reich and people, Adolf Hitler, observe the law, and conscientiously fulfill the duties of my office, so help me God.” 

Fifteen years. 

That was it. Fifteen years.

Loyalty to the Constitution was replaced by fealty to a tyrant. A Democracy, very quickly, became a dictatorship. And all hell broke loose.

We’re about six years into a very conscious attempt to call the question as to whether or not we wish to remain a democracy or give ourselves over to an authoritarian leader. We need to wake up.

 2.  “Beware of those who pray pretty, but live ugly, who drink in Jesus, but spit out hate, who  pursue a Christian nation, but not the Sermon on the Mount, who boast of faith but rely on fear and who hear God’s promise of abundance but not God’s cries for sacrifice, servanthood, humility and compassion.” ~ Chris Kratser

“Today Christ is knocking from inside the church and wants to get out.” Jorge Bergoglio, S.J., now known as Pope Francis 

There are many moments when I wonder how tired Jesus must be watching us play stupid, little religious games that have nothing much to do with the Kingdom of God he delighted in talking about. 

3. “Compulsive liars shouldn’t frighten you. They can harm no one if no one listens to them. Compulsive believers on the other hand: they should terrify you. Believers are the liars’ enablers.” ~ Nick Cohen, British  political commentator

The simple step of the courageous individual is not to take part in the lie. ~ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Just the other day a woman told me that she’s not voting for Biden because he’s giving each person crossing the border illegally, a car and ten thousand dollars. Yep. That really happened.

 4. “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you”. ~ Romans 12:1-2 msg. 

5. “God of justice and mercy …as I open my heart to You now, comfort me where I’m unsettled, and unsettle me where I’m comfortable. Challenge me and change me, disturb and rearrange me, not for my own sake, but for the sake of those who are hurting and helpless, ostracized and oppressed. Amen. ~ Lectio 365

6.  The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” ~ Hannah Arendt.

Has empathy died? No, but it’s in a battle for its life. I’m so grateful for those who lean in with a desire to listen, help, and pray for others who are hurting, confused, and belittled. They are the ‘saints’ who beckon us to do better things and be better people. May their numbers only increase.

7. “Outside of the Spirit, authority becomes domination. Inside of the Spirit, authority becomes service. Outside of the Spirit, politics becomes control. Inside of the Spirit, leadership is something we know is given to us to offer to others: not authority over people but authority to call forth the presence of God within so they can be in the same flow and enjoy the same freedom.”~ Richard Rohr

Do you remember this by ‘Jesus Culture’?

“Oh, Holy Spirit You are welcome here

Come flood this place

And fill the atmosphere

Your glory God

Is what our hearts long for

To be overcome

By Your presence, Lord …”

I wonder if the Holy Spirit is still welcome these days? And where?

8. When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.” ~Isaac Asimov

To have a point of view that is thoughtful and discerning will almost certainly put someone you know, who is willfully stupid, on the defensive. And that could lead to trouble.

What’s the remedy?  There is none. Our job is to be consistently faithful and that, as many of you have already discovered, is a bumpy road.

9. “In 1959 Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican from Maine, stood up to a vile and slanderous GOP colleague, Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin. She stated boldly:  “I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear.” 

Bravo. 

“Courage,” Amelia Earhart once said, “is the price life exacts for granting peace.” 

We desperately need brave people these days to take a risk and stand tall. 

10. Preachers don’t get to stay out of politics. We are either chaplains of empire or prophets of God. ~ Rev. Dr. William J. Barber

Barber is right. Preachers dare not become chaplains of empire. But we are seeing that happen aren’t we? 

I’m enamored by those preachers who believe they have a prophetic role to play. They’re the ones speaking truth to power. The very best of them  talk plenty about the real Jesus, the red letter one, not the counterfeit Jesus the chaplains of empire proclaim. 

That can make folks in the pew feel uncomfortable. They might even bolt. That’s a tough pill to swallow. 

Nobody said this would be easy.

The post Mike’s Rumblings 06-14-24 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 [email protected], or Venmo Anita-Murphy-20

The post Lectio Divina 108 Matthew 13:18-23 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. 

The post Lectio Divina 107 Matthew 13:1-9 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. 5.31.24

1. So what do we say to the churches nurturing Christian Nationalism and its subsidiaries?

The main character in Michael O’Brien’s apocalyptic novel  “Father Elijah” gives us a very good answer.  

“I would 1000 times rather have a persecuted Church than a compromised Church.” 

We should tell them that. 

 2. “Outside of the Spirit, reading the Bible can also become nothing more than ego ammunition. Without the Spirit, Bible study does not lead to divine intimacy and union; rather, it can lead to self-sufficiency and confirmation about why we’re right. Instead of leading us to God, it becomes a way for us to protect ourselves and to judge and diminish other people …” ~ Richard Rohr

How we read and apply scripture matters. 

3. “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool, then to open it and remove all doubt.” ~ Mark Twain

Oops. 

4. “There is a famous black-and-white photograph from the era of the Third Reich. It is a picture taken in Hamburg, Germany in 1936, of shipyard workers, a hundred or more, facing the same direction in the light of the sun. They are heiling in unison, their right arms rigid in outstretched allegiance to the Führer. 

If you look closely, you can see a man in the upper right who is different from the others. His face is gentle but unyielding… He is surrounded by fellow citizens caught under the spell of the Nazis. He keeps his arms folded to his chest, as the stiff palms of the others hover just inches from him. He alone is refusing to salute. He is the one man standing against the tide. 

Looking back from our vantage point, he is the only person in the entire scene who is on the right side of history. Everyone around him is tragically, fatefully, categorically wrong. In that moment, only he could see it.” Isabel Wilkerson, Caste

“… he is the only person in the entire scene who is on the right side of history.” Chilling, isn’t it? The same thing is happening right now in America. And what are people doing? A whole lot are heiling actually. But not all. Some are boldly standing resolute in their determination to be on the right side of history.  And then there’s a whole lot of people who are merely trying to blend into the shadows, as if the shadows can somehow protect them.

Where are you? Heiling, standing boldly, or shadow walking?

5. “ …In every single theater and church I visited on a 17 city book tour, people in the audience shared their terror and despair about what is happening in America, post-Dobbs. And this was before Mr. Trump’s comments about wanting “a unified reich.”

I reminded people that faith is hope with a track record: look at all that we have overcome, individually, as families, as a nation. My husband Neal preaches (to me) that Life tilts towards the good …

John Lennon said, “Everything will be okay in the end. If it is not okay, it’s not the end.” And I do believe this; I just do. I wrote in “Somehow”:  “Are love and compassion up to the stark realities we face at the dinner table, and down the street, and at the melting ice caps, and our own Congress? Maybe; I think so. Somehow.”

I believe that love is sovereign here, and goodness, and that Grace bats last. So we push back our sleeves, and become part of the somehow, today, we can do it movement … ” ~ Anne LaMott

6. “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire. if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them.” ~ C.S. Lewis

When we name our desire we are doing a good thing. When we take steps to live into it, we start to feel alive. I like that feeling. 

7. “Throughout my Jesuit life, whether I was working in a hospital or a homeless shelter or a prison or a refugee camp, I discovered that I didn’t have to ask myself, “What would Mother Teresa do?” or “What would Francis of Assisi do?” Certainly their lives are superb models for Christian action, but a better question is “What should I do?” I tried to bring all of myself to each of these jobs: all my talents and skills and gifts, as well as my struggles and limitations and failings. I brought all of those things because that’s who God brought there.” ~ James Martin, SJ

Bring your truest self (who God created you to be from the beginning) to whoever you meet and whatever you do. 

8. J.R.R. Tolkien told us that “There is some good in this world and it’s worth fighting for.” 

The heroes in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy could rightly be called  ‘the resistance’, refusing to buckle under intense pressure nor bow to the one who so desperately wanted the ring of power. 

They knew who he was and acted accordingly.

9. Daniel Berrigan, an American Jesuit priest, anti-war activist, Christian pacifist, playwright, poet, and author, said: “One is not commanded to be on the winning side, but to be in the right place when the Lord returns.” 

“… but to be in the right place when the Lord returns.” I’ve heard it said that  “we have far more control over our location than we do outcomes.” Victory is often elusive and even when granted can be disappointing. 

I know this. I don’t need to wait for the Lord’s return. Jesus  long ago beckoned me to hit the road with Him. So, if you want to find me, I hope that’s where I’ll be. It’s where I need to be. And if I’m not there, find me and talk some sense into me.

10.  “Do all the good you can 

in all the ways you can

to all the souls you can 

in every place you can

and all the times you can 

With all the zeal you can 

as long as ever you can.” ~ John Wesley

Pray for all our Methodist friends who are knee deep in a rather lengthy and messy conversation regarding the future of their denomination. 

The post Mike’s Rumblings 05-31-24 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. 

The post Lectio Divina 106 Matthew 11:20, 25-30 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. 5.24.24

1. Harrison Butker, the kicker for the KC Chiefs, delivered a commencement address at Benedictine College in Kansas recently. There’s one cardinal rule for commencement speakers. It’s the same rule kickers have for making field goals. Hit it straight down the middle and people will be happy. Kicking it to the right or left of the goal posts is problematic and you’ll pay for it. 

His words proved to be problematic for the Benedictine Sisters who founded the school and they kindly, but with firm resolve and insight let him know they were not happy.  Butker, from their vantage point, abandoned the middle and veered to the right. 

“The Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica do not believe that Harrison Butker’s comments in his 2024 Benedictine College commencement address represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested. 

Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation, and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division. 

One of our concerns was the assertion that being a homemaker is the highest calling for a woman. We sisters have dedicated our lives to God and God’s people, including the many women whom we have taught and influenced during the past 160 years. These women have made a tremendous difference in the world in their roles as wives and mothers and through their God-given gifts in leadership, scholarship, and their careers. 

Our community has taught young women and men not just how to be “homemakers” in a limited sense, but rather how to make a Gospel-centered, compassionate home within themselves where they can welcome others as Christ, empowering them to be the best versions of themselves…” 

I learned a long time ago not to ‘mess with the nuns’. 

My prayer is that Butker and the good Sisters will be inspired to carve out some time to talk this all through. My hunch is that there’s a fair amount of common ground just waiting to be discovered. To get there, however, might require some heavy lifting. 

2. “Christianity rooted in patriarchy will always define women first and foremost by their relationship to men.

 A Christianity rooted in the gospel of Jesus, will see women, first and foremost, as human beings created in God’s image.”

May we understand the difference.” Rev. Benjamin Cremer

3. Recently, Anita and I went to a concert by ‘Musica Sacra’ based in Sarasota. The program was entitled “American Spirit” and it was wonderful, a true celebration of American creativity. 

The artistic director wrote this in the  program notes. 

“In planning tonight’s program some of my friends began to call it the “patriotic concert”, which made me wince a little. Not because I don’t love my country, but that term has often implied unqualified approval of our past, a whitewashing of our flaws, and an air of superiority over other nations and ethnicities.

We must quickly admit that we were imperfect in our beginnings. Equality for women and for persons of color was so controversial at our founding that both of those issues had to be deferred to a later time. And yet there is something bold and wonderful about a nation dedicating itself to equality for all. This was a remarkable achievement in 1776 and we are still struggling and stumbling toward our ideal – a nation that is “of the people, for the people, and by the people” to quote  Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

I am a patriot. Not because I don’t see our many places of inconsistency and injustice, but because I do and refuse to give up on us. The America I love is moving towards equality. It opposes corruption and hypocrisy  and tyranny. It works to protect and perfect its democracy.” 

I’m all in on the America he loves. May it continue to be so. It’s a crap shoot though cuz right now, democracy is being severely threatened by those who think injustice, corruption, hypocrisy, and tyranny are virtues.

4. In the last week how has God shown Himself  to you?  What was the experience, who was the person, what was the piece of art, what story from scripture, what reminder from nature did God use to get your attention?

5. ”Read. Seek intimacy with the scriptures. Read things more than once. Read across time, space, culture, ethnicity and experience. Read things that are too hard. Read things that are too easy.”~ Beth Felker Jones, Rules for Doing Theology

6. “During my theology studies, one student asked our New Testament professor about Jesus’ self-knowledge. I remember the fellow stood up to ask a series of long and impassioned questions: When Jesus thought about himself, asked the student, did he know he was divine? When he prayed, how did he relate to God the Father? How did he know what he was supposed to do? Did he know that he was the Messiah? What did he think about the miracles he performed? Overall, what was his inner life like? My professor, a distinguished scholar and dedicated priest, listened carefully, paused for a moment and said, “We have no idea.” 

Still, it’s a fascinating question, and one that every serious Christian needs to grapple with.” ~ James Martin, SJ

What are your questions? Are you OK if the answer is “We have no idea?” For some of  you, I know that cuts across the grain of your beliefs and/or training but, seriously, a faith without mystery is no faith at all. Attempts to make everything fit together perfectly and coherently are doomed to failure. A life of faith is defined, in part, by accepting and appreciating the many, many moments of unknowing, trusting that God is still alive and well and passionately in love with us.

7. Journalist and Presbyterian Minister Chris Hedges reminds us that “Economics dominates politics-and with that domination comes forms of ruthlessness.”

“The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. What happens instead is that when the glass is full it magically gets bigger, but nothing ever comes out for the poor.” ~ Pope Francis

Trickle down economics insists that if we cut taxes for the rich and their enterprises a ‘trickle down’ effect will take place and it will be a blessing for the downtrodden.There will be less need for government subsidies and investment in programs that help the impoverished. Nope. Study after study indicates that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. 

Selfishness is a ruthless habit that easily becomes a lifestyle. 

8.”The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives.” ~ Greg Boyle, Homeboy Industries

 9. “Why do we have to spend our lives striving to be something we would never want to be, if we only knew what we wanted? Why do we waste our time doing things which, if we only stopped to think about them, are just the opposite of what we were made for?” ~ Thomas Merton

Why indeed. 

10. “Something beautiful, 

something good

All my confusion He understood

All I had to offer Him 

was brokenness and strife

But he made something beautiful 

of my life” ~ Bill Gaither

This chorus has spoken to my heart many times, especially when I failed, caved in to selfishness, got mired in disappointment and walked away from what I knew was true. And then God (how sweet are those three words) breathed life into my troubled and wounded soul.

The post Mike’s Rumblings 05-24-24 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. 

The post Lectio Divina 105 Matthew 11:1-6 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.

Lesa Engelthaler joins me to talk about her delightful new children’s book Joan of Art. It’s the perfect book to get into the hands of kids of all ages. It’s an inspiring story of self expression where young Joan harnesses the bravery of her namesake, Joan of Arc, as she finds the courage to be herself.  A message that rings true for any age! You’ll enjoy the conversation and you will have also found a wonderful gift for the children in your life!

Where to find Lesa Engelthaler:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

The post Lesa Engelthaler – episode 383 appeared first on Anita Lustrea.