There is no Wisdom Wednesday edition this week and no AUSCP e-bulletin next Sunday, January 14. The AUSCP office is closed this week, January 7-13, as the AUSCP Leadership Team and staff are meeting in Lexington, KY, for a retreat and planning meeting. Please pray for the guidance of the Spirit, as we look ahead to the 2024 Assembly.
A few thoughts:
Next Sunday, January 14, is the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, following last Sunday when we celebrated the Epiphany, and Monday when we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. The USCCB says Ordinary Time began on Tuesday, January 9. Here’s the 2024 Liturgical Calendar from the USCCB.
Please accept an invitation from AUSCP member Pat Ipolito to seek wisdom amidst his prolific web work, Catholic Daily Reflections, for resources for thinking and preaching.
For lovers of history, for how the feasts this time of year are observed in Eastern, Western, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic traditions, Wikipedia offers a feastday primer.
Among the developments of 2023 and early 2024, the new Vatican document on blessings continues to provoke thought, discussion, dissension and reflection. Here is one article describing the document as “a call to serve.” It is written for the Black Catholic Messenger by Father John McKenzie who welcomes the headline-making declaration from Rome that Catholic clergy can bless same-sex couples and the irregularly remarried.
Synod on Synodality: Now what? The newly-formed Women in the Church AUSCP Working Group explores The Call to Dialogue on Co-responsibility and Women’s Participation in Our Church, in a webinar February 7 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. What is in it for me? The Synodal Synthesis calls us to “find ways to involve deacons, priests and bishops more actively in the synodal process during the course of the next year.” Alongside this, it asks us “to promote a church in which men and women dialogue together.”
This February 7th online webinar is a wonderful opportunity to gather with women and priests from the newly formed Women in the Church AUSCP Working Group. Together, let us create space for the Holy Spirit to move as we live in synodality.
We cannot neglect to note: Martin Luther King Jr Day, observed on the third Monday of January, January 15, coincides with his actual birth date. The national “Martin Luther King, Jr., National Day of Service” was started by former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Harris Wofford and Atlanta Congressman John Lewis, who co-authored the King Holiday and Service Act. The federal legislation challenges Americans to transform the King Holiday into a day of citizen action volunteer service in honor of Dr. King.
Lastly, here is a quotation for today, as we pray for an end to war in Ukraine and Gaza: “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. . . . Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” The words are from Dr. King, reflecting on “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?” This is one of 10 timeless quotations published by the Christian Science Monitor in 2011.
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