a prophetic voice-

I have been walking through the valley with Sara for months now... or perhaps, I should say that I have been having the privilege of accompanying her on this final journey which we will all make at some time. And it is indeed a privilege, as together we walk toward a sunrise which only she will see, a new dawn for which I will have to wait a while longer. Together we talk and laugh and share silences in which the only agenda is to welcome the Holy Presence. Together we move slowly, slowly, inexorably slowly toward that final inevitable farewell...though we both hope and trust that it will be "till we meet again" rather than "goodbye". Lest you think this is all heaviness, this journey we are making together, I hasten to assure you that there has been and continues to be lots of laughter as we share our left-wing political views and dissect together the various candidates on the political stage. And I confess to more than a little sacrilegious...

We get tired of it all, don’t we? Does anyone really want to see the photo of another starving African child? Or a replay of 9-11 on TV? Or the results of yet another earthquake or tsunami on the other side of the world? Does anyone really want to hear the statistics about the numbers of people in our own area, our own county, who are regularly hungry?   Or read about the numbers of out-of-work veterans? Or be confronted by still another at a stop light person with a sign saying “WILL WORK FOR FOOD”? We get tired of it all- because it seems so overwhelming. We want to care, I think, but all of the demands, all of the needs, seem overwhelming- and what can I, what c an you, do about it? “Compassion fatigue”, the experts call it; being worn out by the call to care, to give, to do something about the problems of this world.   But you see, Jesus means COMPASSION. And that’s what we see and hear him showing in today’s reading from Mark’s gospel. The disciples- act...