All posts by Rod White

Caroline Chisholm — March 25

Australia/Pacific Islands, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
1985 Five Dollar note

Bible connection

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. — Matthew 25:36-36

All about Caroline Chisholm (1808-1877)

Although we could place Caroline Chisholm in England or India, her heart mostly seemed to be with Australia most of her life.

She was born in 1808 in Northampton, England, the youngest of at least twelve children of her father, and the last of seven born to her mother. Her father was a pig dealer who fattened animals for sale. Her family was a product of the evangelical revival and influenced by William Wilberforce.

When she was 7 years old a soldier recuperating from his injuries came to live with them and he captured the little girl’s heart with his stories of the battles and hardships of emigrants to Britain’s colonies. He also told tales of the tremendous potential for those emigrants who worked hard to make a much better life for themselves than they ever could have done at home. After hearing these things, one of Caroline’s favorite games became “Immigrants” with boats she made out of fava beans. Her pocket money went to buy little dolls who emigrated to far off lands. Her mother was not amused when she spilled an “ocean” on her bed one day. After that, she played the game in the coal cellar by candlelight.

As a young woman she had several young men propose to her, but she made it clear she would only marry someone if she were free to carry out what she felt was her God-given calling to help the poor. She met such a man. In December of 1830 when she was 22, Caroline married Archibald Chisholm who was ten years older than she. He was an officer serving with the East India Company’s Madras Army and a Roman Catholic. Around this time, Caroline converted to his faith. They raised their children as Catholics.

In 1838, Captain Chisholm was granted a two-year furlough on the grounds of ill health. Rather than return to England, the family decided the climate in Australia would be better for his health so they set sail for Sydney and settled nearby.

On trips to Sydney, Chisholm and her husband became aware of the difficult conditions  facing immigrants arriving in the colony. They were particularly concerned for the young women who were arriving without any money, friends, family, or jobs to go to. Many turned to prostitution to survive. Chisholm found placement for many of these young women in shelters, including her own home, and helped find them permanent places to stay. She started an organization to create and sustain an immigrant women’s shelter.

In 1840, Captain Chisholm returned to his regiment in India, but he encouraged his wife to continue her philanthropic efforts. Her singlemindedness is reflected in how her hometown newspaper quoted her: “I never can imagine that Almighty God sent females into the world to be cooks and housemaids all their days” (Northampton Mercury, 5 March 1853).

She set up a home in Sydney for young women and organized other homes in several rural villages. Where she knew there was an eligible bachelor, she would often place a capable girl with the nearest neighbors. This resulted in numerous marriages.

Caroline Chisholm
Monument in Woodend, Victoria reads: Erected to honor the work of Caroline Chisholm who established shelters, one of which was in this vicinity, for women travelling to the goldfields.

In March 1842, Chisholm rented two rowhouses in East Maitland, about 100 miles north of Sydney, outside Newcastle. She converted them into a single cottage to be used as a hostel for homeless immigrants who had travelled to the Hunter Valley in search of work. Now called Caroline Chisholm Cottage, it is the only building in New South Wales directly associated with Chisholm. Built in the 1830s, the cottage offers a rare example of early working-class housing.

During the first seven years Chisholm was in Australia, she placed over 11,000 people in homes and jobs. She became a well-known woman and much admired. She was asked to give evidence before two Legislative Council committees. She carried out her work in New South Wales without accepting money from individuals or individual organizations, as she wanted to act independently. She did not want to be dependent upon any religious or political body. What’s more, the young women and families Chisholm helped came from different backgrounds and held different religious beliefs and she did not need “authorities” questioning their propriety. She raised money for the homes through private subscriptions.

Her husband was forced to leave the Army for health reasons in 1845 and returned to Australia. They returned to England in 1846, where she continued her advocacy for Australian immigrants.

In 1854 Chisholm returned to Australia and toured the goldfields of the new Victoria Colony. She was appalled by the conditions of miners and their families. She proposed the construction of shelter sheds which received support from the government. Chisholm continued to work in Melbourne, travelling to and from the home and store which the Chisholms had purchased in Kyneton. Due to her ill health, the family moved back to warmer Sydney in 1858 where she recovered. Her health improved and she gave political lectures, calling for land to be allocated so emigrant families could establish small farms. She also wrote a novella, Little Joe, that was serialized in the local paper.

Her husband accompanied the younger children back to England in 1865. Archibald Jr. accompanied his mother on her return 1866. There, they lived in relative poverty and obscurity. Caroline Chisholm died in London, England on March 25, 1877, and her husband died in August that year. Five of their eight children survived their parents.

Here’s what the Governor of New South Wales had to say about her:

I expected to have seen an old lady in white cap and spectacles, who would have talked to me about my soul. I was amazed when my aide introduced a handsome stately young woman who proceeded to reason..as if she thought her reason and experience were worth as much as mine.

Caroline Chisholm did her utmost to encourage family life. By protecting immigrant women, she gave them the opportunity to become valuable colonists. She helped everyone, regardless of religious affiliation and she did this in spite of the fact it was improper for a woman in those times to be involved in the public arena. Caroline Chisholm was an inspiration to her contemporaries; even Florence Nightingale declared that she was Mrs. Chisholm’s friend and pupil.

More

Chisholm is an Anglican saint. Her feast day is May 16.

Letter to Australasian Chronicle, December 21 1841:

BASE ATTEMPT AT SEDUCTION.

Mr. EDITOR

The good done by the ” Female Immigrants’ Home” is but partially known. The following case, related to me by one of the committee, will show it to be a grand means of preventing the ruin of virtuous females. A few days ago, at a very early hour in the morning, there stood outside of the door of the “Female Immigrants’ Office” a tall respectably dressed female. At first Mrs. Chisholm took her to be a person looking for a servant, and accordingly asked her if she wanted one. She stooped her head, and made no reply. Her silence and the early hour at which she called caused Mrs. Chisholm to think that, instead of looking for a servant, perhaps she herself wanted employment. Mrs. Chisholm therefore said, “Do you want a situation?” The immigrant, for she was one recently arrived, expressed her assent by a slight motion of her head, and at the same time applied a handkerchief to her eyes. Mrs. Chishom took her into her own private room, and, to answer a call from another apartment of the barracks, left her by herself for a few minutes. When she returned she saw her taking a letter out of a bag, and the tears still dropping from her eyes. Mrs. Chisholm said, “Let me see that letter;” she hesitated. “Tell me,” says Mrs. Chisholm, “have you lost character?” She now spoke for the first time, and in the most feeling manner slowly said, “Not yet:” Being encouraged to speak unreservedly, she said that for the last three days her only nourishment was coffee; that the letter in her hand was the letter of a seducer, and that it contained a cheque for £20. Hereupon Mrs. Chisholm read the letter. It gave directions for the poor, the destitute, but virtuous female to go and reside in a cottage not seven miles distant from Sydney. Mrs. Chisholm placed her in the service of a respectable family in the country, and wrote to the vile fellow that, if he attempted to give her any further annoyance, his letter would be published. Had the “Female Immigrants’ Home” rescued from ruin but this one female since its foundation, it would have done much good…

Yours truly,

MORUS.

Cowpastures, 16th December, 1841.

World-famous French historian Jules Michelet (1798-1874) who died before Chisholm, said, “The fifth part of the world, Australia, has up to now but one saint, one legend. This saint is an Englishwoman.”

Charles Dickens, an admirer of Caroline’s, amalgamated her and two other women into the matronly but formidable character who is also a “telescopic philanthropist” called Mrs. Jellyby in his novel Bleak House (1852-53).

What do we do with this?

Caroline Chisholm talked a local government leader into giving her an empty barracks for a women’s shelter. We might want to consider how often we take no for an answer.

Chisholm had an idea of who she was as a child and organized her adulthood to obey that heavenly vision, even holding out for a husband who supported work women generally did not take on, individually, at the time. Are you underestimating how valuable your are?

Oscar Romero — March 24

North America, This century (1937-2025)

Bible connection

Read Isaiah 61

The Sovereign Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world.
Everyone will praise him!
His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring,
with plants springing up everywhere.

All about Oscar Romero (1917-1980)

Until he was 62 years old, Óscar Romero y Galdámez served as priest, bishop, and finally Archbishop of San Salvador in the Central American nation of El Salvador. On Monday, March 24, 1980, Romero was shot through the heart while lifting the chalice as part of the communion meal. The day before, in a sermon broadcast by radio, Romero called on Salvadoran soldiers to disobey orders that would contradict a life in Christ―namely carrying out the government’s repression and denial of basic human rights.

His appointment to Archbishop was seen as a “safe” move by conservative elements of the church and the government, while the progressive priests were disappointed. The latter were involved in criticizing the systemic sin ruining their country and were open with their teaching and activism surrounding class conflict, sometimes implicating the Catholic Church as part of the oppressor class. Their worldview, and later Romero’s, became widely known as Liberation Theology.

After a friend of Romero’s was assassinated for his “subversive” activities in 1977, Romero was astonished at the lack of help in the investigation he received from the authorities. He felt a call to follow his late friend, Rutilio Grande, in his work and potentially into death. His letter to President Jimmy Carter petitions “His Excellency” as a Christian and as someone who cares about human rights to cut off  military aid to the Salvadoran government because it would violently carry out the interests of the military oligarchy not the people. After Romero’s death the U.S. government increased military aid, having previously restricted it to humanitarian.

Romero wrote: “We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us. The violence we preach is not the violence of the sword, the violence of hatred. It is the violence of love, of brotherhood, the violence that wills to beat weapons into sickles for work.”―from The Violence of Love (read it online at Romero Trust)

More

Nice video from the Martyr’s Prayer Project [link]

The movie: Romero. [IMDB link] Free on YouTube. [Trailer]

Oliver Stone’s Salvador [Trailer: link]

Jean Donovan and the murdered nuns [link]

The Salvadoran government admitted to the murder of priests twenty years later [link]

Jon Sobrino on Romero [link, in Spanish]

What do we do with this?

The Salvadoran Church was instrumental in ending the country’s civil war. They risked their lives for the gospel and stood in solidarity with the poor, often at the cost of family ties and livelihoods. The United States was intimately involved in the repressive policies and work of the death squads. Everybody, in El Salvador and the United States, had a difficult time seeing the evil, even with people dying around them. Consider what evil you accept as normal.

Gordon Cosby — March 20

North America, This century (1937-2025)

Bible connection

May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. — Matthew 6:10 NRSVUE

All about Gordon Cosby (1918-2013)

On this day in 2013 Gordon Cosby died at the age of 95, just a few years after retiring.

In 1944 Cosby helped invade Utah Beach on D-Day, where he witnessed enormous loss and served those injured and dying. From then on he was convinced of the futility of war and convicted to help the church equip people to make the transition into what is after death.

He planted the Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C. in 1946. By 1953 the group had become more official and had also purchased land in Maryland to build Dayspring, a retreat lodge for silence and rest. Over the years, nine faith communities and several notable non-profits formed with Gordon and his wife Mary serving as catalysts. The idea was to keep the congregation small so people could go deep and be necessary.

As an activist, Cosby participated in numerous non-violent direct actions as well as creating space for people to organize for justice. In 1960, his church began the first Christian coffeehouse, The Potter’s House, as a place to get the church further into needed social spaces in the world rather than being cloistered. Cosby led people to BE the church for over sixty years, beginning successful and lasting ministries for foster kids, the homeless, people with HIV/AIDS, housing creation, and job training, The Church of the Savior has been a pioneer in numerous inward practices and disciplines such as retreating and linking between urban and rural areas, as well as on the forefront of outward practices such as racial reconciliation and local justice work.

Jim Wallis of Sojourners recounts (link below)

Gordon Cosby never needed or wanted to be out front or become a famous public figure. He could have spoken across the country, and was often invited to do so. But he instead decided that his own vocation was to stay with a relatively small group of people trying to “be the church” in Washington, D.C.: the Church of the Savior, which has produced more missions and ministries, especially with the poor, than any church I know of anywhere in the country — even the huge mega-churches who capture all the fame. He never…went on television, talked to presidents, planted more churches, built national movements, or traveled around the world. He just inspired everybody else to do all those things and much more. And the world came to him.

Cosby has been credited as a mentor or inspiration by countless ministries, leaders, activists, pastors, and churches over the decades, including churches we have served. In a sermon in 1989, Cosby said,

Faith is trusting the flow and reveling in the view and being carried beyond all existing boundaries. Faith is being excited about the final destination, even when the destination is mystery. When Jesus says, ‘Believe in God, believe also in me,’ he is saying, Get into the stream with us. It is a stream of pure grace and mercy. Go into its depths and find us there.

Jim Wallis on Cosby [link] and his interview with Mary [link]

More

Church of the Savior online [link]

Four minute piece on NPR’s All Things Considered [link] WETA [link]

Memorial piece in Washington Post [link]

Articles by Cosby in Sojourners [link]

Frontline article on the Church of the Savior [link]

Elizabeth O’Connor was a staff member of Church of the Savior for 40 years. Her classic book Journey Inward, Journey Outward articulates Cosby’s vision. Here is a seminarian’s bio.

Here is a detailed history of the church and Cosby’s development. [link]

What do we do with this?

Gordon Cosby wrote several books. His Handbook for Mission Groups was influential in how our former church decided to form our compassion teams. You might want to check it out.

What do you think of Cosby’s conviction to stay local? He poured himself into his territory in Washington D.C. and into the people of his church. He resisted the fame game. How do you see yourself? Do you long to be more honored than you are? Do you respect people who are more honored more for being famous than for what they do?

Patrick of Ireland — March 17

Europe, Forerunners (33-1226)

 

Bible connection

Read Acts 2:14-24 

What you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days,’ God says,
‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your young men will see visions,
and your old men will dream dreams.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on my servants—men and women alike—
and they will prophesy.

All about Patrick of Ireland (c.395-c.492)

Because Patrick lived so long ago some of his life remains a mystery to us. For instance, his death is believed to have been on this day in about 492, but the date is controversial.

We do know he was born into a wealthy family in Britain, to a father who was a Christian deacon. We do not have evidence about Patrick being particularly faithful himself as a child.

When he was sixteen, Patrick was captured by a group of Irish raiders and taken back to Ireland as a slave where he remained for the next six years. He worked as a shepherd, living an isolated life, and turned to his family’s faith during this period, becoming very devout. After six years in slavery, he escaped. According to his writings, he ran away after God spoke to him through a dream. Once he was home, he had another dream and an angel told him to go back to Ireland and tell his captors the good news of Jesus.

The Muiredach Cross at Monasterboice in Co. Louth

At this point Patrick began religious studies that lasted fifteen years. Once he was ordained as a priest, he returned to Ireland. Since he was familiar with the language and the culture, Patrick built traditions from Ireland into his lessons about Jesus. He chose not to attack Irish beliefs, but to incorporate certain practices and demonstrate how they were fulfilled in Christ. That’s why he superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol of worship, on the cross to create the Celtic cross. He famously used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the concept of the trinity. Patrick had spectacular success in converting the Irish and a body of stories developed around him and his successful evangelism tactics for centuries following his life.

We have sometimes incorporated lighting a “fire of resistance” into our celebration of Patrick because of this story. It is told that Patrick came to the Hill of Slane in County Meath in an early attempt to convert pagan Ireland to Christianity. On the eve of the Christian feast of Easter in 433, which coincided with the Druid feast of Bealtine (Beal’s fire) and the Spring Equinox, Patrick defiantly lit a bonfire on the Hill of Slane. By doing so, he violated a decree (and an ancient tradition) that no fire should be lit in the vicinity when the great festival fire of Bealtine blazed at the royal seat of power on the nearby Hill of Tara, easily visible from Slane.

The lighting of a fire may seem trivial, but at the time it was equivalent to declaring war on the Druid religious leaders and challenging the power of the High King of Ireland. That small act of starting a fire was a turning point in Patrick’s life and in the history of Ireland.

We remember the courage and love Patrick showed when he returned to those who had stolen his youth, and became their servant, bringing the revelation of Jesus to the Irish people. His life is a testament to listening to God, following dreams, and courageously giving witness to what one receives from the Holy Spirit.

More

Read Patrick’s Confession online!

There are interesting translations of Patrick’s famous prayer: Breastplate.

Here’s a nice little biography suitable for kids, too: link

Patrick’s miracles are recounted by a chatty writer for the Jesuits.

What do we do with this?

Light a fire! Where is your faith being run over or where is it nonexistent? That is a good place to light a fire in some way. You may not be called to be as dramatic as Patrick (but maybe you are!). But what can you do to give people a chance to know Jesus and escape what enslaves them?

Celtic Christianity [a guide from the Northumbria Community] is good at taking individuals seriously while still appreciating how we are all tied into the gift of life from God. Try the “Breastplate” prayer above and see if it helps calm your anxiety and increase your sense of being solid in your own place in Creation and in Eternity.  If its old language does not feel right in your mouth, rewrite it in a way that does. What might you say as your waking prayer each day? When you  are walking into a anxiety-provoking situation, what would you like to remember?

Harriet Tubman — March 10

North America, The Modern Era (1227-1936)

 

From H.G. Smith Studio in Boston, Massachusetts, ca. 1887

Bible connection

Read Exodus 3:11-20

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

All about Harriet Tubman (c.1820-1913)

Harriet Tubman, a.k.a. “Moses,” escaped enslavement in Maryland and went to Philadelphia when she was 29 years old. She is justifiably famous for helping others escape and for undermining slavery.

  • She helped her dear friend, John Brown, plan the infamous raid on Harper’s Ferry.
  • She helped plan the Union’s Combahee River raid in 1863, during which 750 slaves escaped.
  • Her 20+ personal expeditions back down south freed at least 70 people, and she never lost a single “passenger” on what became known as the Underground Railroad.

Harriet remained a devout Christian throughout her life. She accomplished much despite never learning to read or write effectively. (She may have had a learning disability stemming from a serious head injury at the hand of her overseer). Her reputation sparked hope among the enslaved peoples of North America and perhaps equal anger among the slaveowners.

She was as irritating to the slaveowners as Moses was to Pharoah. Harriet used “Go Down, Moses” to let slaves know she was there to pick them up. As is true of many of the Negro Spirituals, “Go Down, Moses” had multiple levels of meaning. It was about the liberation story from Exodus; it was about hope for liberation, but it was also about the possibility of Tubman herself coming to liberate, and depending on which verses one sang, it contained advice for escape tactics.

After the end of the Civil War, Tubman settled in Washington, D.C. and participated in the emerging national women’s suffrage movement. In 1911, two years before she died, she attended a meeting of the suffrage club in Geneva, New York, where a white woman asked her: “Do you really believe that women should vote?” Tubman reportedly replied, “I suffered enough to believe it.”

Harriet Tubman quotes:

  • Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.
  • I think there’s many a slaveholder’ll get to Heaven. They don’t know better. They acts up to the light they have.
  • As I lay so sick on my bed, from Christmas till March, I was always praying for poor ole master. ‘Pears like I didn’t do nothing but pray for ole master. ‘Oh, Lord, convert ole master;’ ‘Oh, dear Lord, change dat man’s heart, and make him a Christian.’
  • Twasn’t me, ’twas the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust to you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ an’ He always did.

Did you see the movie that came out in 2019?: Harriet.

A short piece from the Smithsonian Channel:

What do we do with this?

Moses was not sure he had the strength to free the people of Israel who had been enslaved in Egypt. Like him, Harriet Tubman relied on the strength of God to accomplish her daring work. Large or small, what are you moved to do that requires God with you to accomplish?

There is a movement to replace Andrew Jackson (slave owner and Native American relocater) with Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. Joe Biden spoke in favor of this, but he apparently thought it would cause an anti-woke firestorm he did need, so it got put off until 2026. It is likely Tubman might get a kick out of being on a $20 bill; but it is more likely she had deeper resources to draw on for her affirmation. How are you and Jesus discerning what to do with the ongoing issues race causes in the U.S.?

John of God — March 8

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Manuel Gómez-Moreno González. San Juan de Dios salvando a los enfermos de incendio del Hospital Real (1880)

Bible connection

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. — James 1:22-27 NLT

All about John of God (1495-1550)

The Roman Catholic order called the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God opened a spectacular shrine to their founder in Granada, Spain in 1759. It has been called the city’s best kept secret trove of art. It does not reflect the saint who inspired it.

The Portuguese man, Joao Duarte Cidade, has an inspiring life story. He ended up an orphan, became a soldier, then a refugee, and then a printer. He did not have much direction for his life until he was over 40 when he had a vision of Jesus who told him to move to Granada. He moved, and was so overwhelmed by his religious experiences there the townspeople had him committed. A spiritual director helped refine his understanding and then helped him apply his fervor to helping the sick.

John’s personal hospital housed a collection of people he found who had no way to receive care — the crippled, mentally ill, starving, and demented — the same people we still cast off today. Soon people joined him in service, including two notorious enemies he helped reconcile by helping them work side by side, expressing their true selves in acts of love. Before long there was an organized group doing the work which was recognized as an order by the church. It is still active in 53 countries.

John died of pneumonia on his 55 birthday after he unsuccessfully tried to save a man drowning in the cold Genil River. He passed in the house of his benefactor, even though he asked to be left among the poor in his hospital. The Hospitallers now invite pilgrims into the luxurious home, which is a museum.

The picture above does not do justice to the gaudy splendor of the order’s  over-the-top expression of praise for God and John. It is a baroque masterpiece full of art, passion, irony and oddness. For instance, the remains of the saint are in a silver chest which he probably would have cashed in to feed orphans.

On the other hand, the spectacle has always lured unsuspecting tourists at appointed times to watch the chapel take life. The altar leads them through the story the wall tells about salvation and compassion. Parts of it are even mechanized and extend out to make a point! It is all about God’s incarnate love in action.

Part of John’s story includes what people claim were his last words:

There are three things that make me uneasy. The first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own.

The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly.

The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.

More

Wikipedia has a helpful article.

The Hospitaller Order of St. John of God has their definitive bio

The website of the Basilica of St. John of God in Granada Spain

Roman Catholic online school bio:

What do we do with this?

John was in his forties before he did his most profound work. It is never to late to follow what your soul knows is your destiny.

He had a vision. Paul says we should not follow people who are puffed up with their visions and overly abusive of their bodies:

“Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind.” (Colossians 2:18)

But Paul was not afraid to follow one of his own, no matter the cost:

“Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.” (Acts 16:8-10)

How do you sort out Paul’s and John of God’s visions and where does it lead you?

Perpetua and Felicitas — March 7

Africa, Forerunners (33-1226),
Image
Icon by Br Robert Lentz OFM. Click to view Trinity Stores

Bible connection

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given;  they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”  They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed. — Revelation 6:9-11

All about Perpetua (c. 182-c.203) and Felicitas 

We have little idea what brought Perpetua to faith in Christ, or how long she had been a Christian, or how she lived her Christian life. Thanks to her diary, and that of another prisoner, we have some idea of her last days—an ordeal that so impressed the famous Augustine that he preached four sermons about her death.

Perpetua was a Christian noblewoman who, at the turn of the third century, lived with her husband, her son, and her slave, Felicitas, in Carthage (the ruins are a suburb of Tunis, today). At this time, North Africa was the center of a vibrant Christian community. Emperor Septimius Severus (father of the co-emperors in Gladiator 2) may have  believed Christianity and there is doubt about the tradition that he fomented persecution in North Africa. The hostility to Jesus followers that broke out was probably a local issue. Among the first to be arrested were five new Christians taking classes to prepare for baptism, one of whom was Perpetua.

Her father immediately came to her in prison. He was a pagan, and he saw an easy way for Perpetua to save herself. He begged her to simply deny she was a Christian:

“Father do you see this vase here?” she replied. “Could it be called by any other name than what it is?”

“No,” he replied.

“Well, neither can I be called anything other than what I am, a Christian.”

All this was recorded in her own hand and later formed into a book you can still read, that includes an account of another victim. The Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity (Latin: Passio sanctarum Perpetuae et Felicitatis) describes her imprisonment as a Christian in 203, completed after her death by a redactor. It is one of the oldest and most illustrative early Christian texts.

In the next days, Perpetua was moved to a better part of the prison and allowed to breast-feed her child. With her appearance before the authorities approaching, her father visited again, this time, pleading more passionately: “Have pity on my gray head. Have pity on me, your father, if I deserve to be called your father, if I have favored you above all your brothers, if I have raised you to reach this prime of your life.”

He threw himself down before her and kissed her hands. “Do not abandon me to be the reproach of men. Think of your brothers; think of your mother and your aunt; think of your child, who will not be able to live once you are gone. Give up your pride!”

Perpetua was touched but remained unshaken. She tried to comfort her father—”It will all happen in the prisoner’s dock as God wills, for you may be sure that we are not left to ourselves but are all in his power”—but he walked out of the prison dejected.

The day of the hearing arrived, Perpetua and her friends were marched before the governor, Hilarianus. Perpetua’s friends were questioned first, and each in turn admitted to being a Christian, and each in turn refused to make a sacrifice (an act of emperor worship). Then the governor turned to question Perpetua.

At that moment, her father, carrying Perpetua’s son in his arms, burst into the room. He grabbed Perpetua and pleaded, “Perform the sacrifice. Have pity on your baby!” Hilarianus, probably wishing to avoid the unpleasantness of executing a mother who still suckled a child, added, “Have pity on your father’s gray head; have pity on your infant son. Offer the sacrifice for the welfare of the emperor.”

Perpetua replied simply: “I will not.”

“Are you a Christian then?” asked the governor.

“Yes I am,” Perpetua replied.

Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus (Menologion of Basil II. ca. 1000 AD)

Her father interrupted again, begging her to sacrifice, but Hilarianus had heard enough: he ordered soldiers to beat him into silence. He then condemned Perpetua and her friends to die in the arena.

Perpetua, her friends, and her slave, Felicitas (who had subsequently been arrested), were dressed in belted tunics. When they entered the stadium, wild beasts and gladiators roamed the arena floor, and in the stands, crowds roared to see blood. They didn’t have to wait long.

Immediately a wild cow charged the group. Perpetua was tossed into the air and onto her back. She sat up, adjusted her ripped tunic, and walked over to help Felicitas. Then a leopard was let loose, and it wasn’t long before the tunics of the Christians were stained with blood.

The process was too slow for the impatient crowd, which began calling for death for the Christians. So Perpetua, Felicitas, and friends were lined up, and one by one, were slain by the sword.

In his book The Patient Ferment of the Early Church, Alan Kreider tries to understand how Perpetua (and othes with her) made such a big impression on many who saw her — their guard became a Jesus follower!

Perpetua’s authoritative influence lay not only in their visions; it lay in the lives that embodied the visions. … [The formation of their way of life and demeanor came] through the recitation of certain phrases that people can repeat day by day, and especially when they are in trouble. …The phrase “I am a Christian” has tremendous importance…[It connotes] an entire way of life, an entire value system, that was fundamentally contrary to the way of life embodied in the amphitheater (p. 50).

The state murders did not offend the crowd, but the way the Christians showed their alternativity impressive hundreds.

More

Docudrama: Lost Legacy Reclaimed: Perpetua  

The story told as a seven-minute episode on Dateline:

What do we do with this?

John the Revealer sees the blood of the martyrs as the seeds of the church. The willingness of Perpetua and her newly-converted friends to die rather than worship the Emperor (and the Empire complex), is the signature act that validates the possibility of faith and transformation for those dominated by Rome. Notably, their community in death transcends class. For race-dominated, Eurocentric Christians, it is noteworthy to consider that they were Africans.

Is martyrdom dead? Is your Christianity all locked within your personal identity? Does it intersect with the Empire in which you live? Have you already recanted when asked to worship the “emperor?” These young women ask us important questions with their courage, faith and deaths.

Ash Wednesday, first day of Lent — March 5, 2025

Holy Days,

Bible connection

Read Isaiah 58

Isn’t this the fast I choose:
releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
setting free the mistreated,
and breaking every yoke?

All about Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the deep season of Lent. If you attend an  observance, you will probably be given an opportunity to take the sign of the cross on your forehead with ashes collected by burning last year’s Palm Sunday palms.

The symbol is meant to remind us of our need for repentance, the need to turn and go in a new direction, the call to go beyond our ordinary awareness. We make the ashes out of the palms we used last Palm Sunday — the palms that symbolized our hope in Jesus being a triumphant king. As ashes, they remind us that we often get things wrong when we focus on defending ourselves and expanding our power. We often need to turn around, to repent and concentrate our attention on how to depend on God more actively.

Like the people in Jerusalem who greeted Jesus during his final entry into the city, we all want Jesus to be a visible, easy-to-know-and-follow king who is always the winner, always leading a joyous parade. But as we all know, that parade from last Palm Sunday—as is true with every Palm Sunday parade, leads not to our easy discipleship, but instead to the cross, where something far deeper than our desire to win is won for us.

We can’t live lives marked by Jesus and stay on the surface of things, following rules, trying to appear right and be good. Jesus told the Pharisees those aspirations were just not a viable option. He said such an ambition would be a delusion because our hearts are the problem. We need something new to happen at the depths of us. Jesus is calling for a new way of being altogether. We must go to the heart of things and to the heart of ourselves, turn away from our ideas of what’s best and turn to the Living God. Lent is a means to that end. Our pursuit of oneness with Jesus makes Lent one of the wonders of the year.

More 

A word from Rod for those who feel too bad to be involved in Lent: [link]

Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot

Renovare books for Lent.

A minute and a half from the Anglicans on Ash Wednesday. BTW — Episcopalians did not include ashes for Ash Wednesday until the 1970’s.

A Lutheran pastor tries to make sense of it for the kids:

What do we do with this?

If you are not eager to attend an observance, make yourself do it. If you can’t go at night, go in the morning to one of the Catholic or Episcopal rites. Lent is a season for getting your body to go the direction of your faith. Wear the cross. (We will be at St. Asaph’s at 7am!)

If you have not prepared for Lent to begin, now would be a good time to do it. Maybe you should get online (or go wherever) and buy a cross to wear all season — or make one! (The kids might love to do that). You can try on all the traditional disciplines of Lent (especially the fast). But if you sit with Jesus for a few minutes it might become obvious what this year’s observance should be about for you — go with your inspiration.

13 things you can do to stay of the Lent pilgrimage

  1. Take the weekly readings from Sunday worship and chew on them all week in the daily time you set apart to be with God. You could use 2PROAPT.
  2. Check your church’s calendar and make a commitment for which meetings you will attend, then go to the meetings. This is a bigger deal than we think, usually. Going to a meeting gets our body in line with our convictions.
  3. Try a new spiritual practice. Go on a personal retreat. Try 2-20 minutes of contemplation every day. Study a book. Saturate yourself in a book of the Bible each week, reading it as many times as you can.
  4. Ponder how you use money. Maybe pick one type of expenditure that you’ll “fast” from during Lent, and then give the money you would usually spend to a charity that makes your heart warm.
  5. Take something on: A weekly letter to someone. A daily random act of kindness. Sunday phone calls to important or needy people in your life. Hold that dinner party you thought about.
  6. When you first sit down in front of your computer, or at the very end of your workday, try a 10-minute guided prayer from Sacred Space daily prayer.
  7. Buy a new cross or icon to use for Lent and give it to someone on Easter.
  8. Instead of turning on a streaming service for your next binge-watching session, read the entire Gospel of Mark in one sitting. As the shortest Gospel, it is the most concise story of Jesus’ life. In Mark, the cross (the central Lenten symbol) plays an even more prominent role than in the other Gospels.
  9. Unplug from your phone or turn off your car radio on your commute. Let the silence jar you until you are acclimated to being yourself with God in solitude.
  10. Buy a book of daily reflections and keep it by your bed or prayer chair. Try a book by Edward Hays.
  11. Think about a habit that has kept you from being who God is calling you to be. Consciously give up that habit for Lent.
  12. Tap into your creative side somehow. You could try coloring as a way to pray. Write that song or story or poem.
  13. Read the works of mercy Jesus describes in Matthew 25:31-46. Put His teaching into practice by choosing and act or two of service you can offer during Lent.

Mardi Gras — March 4, 2025

Holy Days

Bible Connection

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth — 1 Corinthians 5:8 

All about Mardi Gras

Like Gideon’s trumpet (Judges 6:33-40), the season of Lent calls all the tribes together to resist the enemies of God. Though we seem weak, we are strong because God is with us. The most unlikely weaklings will dance in the street in the face of the powers attempting to dominate them.

Mardi Gras is appropriately uproarious, if you see it right. In some sense, to be a Jesus-follower is to be a fool, to use your clowning to unmask the powers-that-be who pretend they are very serious entities when, in fact, they are just a breath and have a master.

Lent has rarely been seen the way we just mentioned. The Eve of Lent became a time to hold off the inevitable, even to mock and diminish the authority of the spiritual season “imposed” on everyone which begins on Ash Wednesday. In Europe, the church of the Middle Ages had a lot of power to impose the rigors of an enforced fast during the 40 days (not including Sundays) leading up to Easter. Before the fast began, people partied and did things they shouldn’t do in order to get those things out of their system before they committed (or were forced to commit) to doing the things they should do.

Lupercalia — Andrea Camasei (1635)

Most historians believe Mardi Gras was brought to the Americas by the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville in 1699, but the origins of Mardi Gras go back much farther. According to History.com, Mardi Gras resembles February celebrations from ancient times:

“According to historians, Mardi Gras dates back thousands of years to pagan celebrations of spring and fertility, including the raucous Roman [festival of] Lupercalia. When Christianity arrived in Rome, religious leaders decided to incorporate these popular local traditions into the new faith, an easier task than abolishing them altogether. As a result, the excess and debauchery of the Mardi Gras season became a prelude to Lent, the 40 days of penance between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday.”

German Fasnacht costume. Calling Richard Twiss!

Many Protestants give the “side eye” to such cultural accretions to their holy days (Santa and the Easter Bunny, included). Perhaps the enculturation of Christianity was a mainly crafty political move when Christians took over government authority. But maybe that was not all. Maybe Jesus followers trusted Jesus to redeem and use the pre-Christian celebrations. You’ll have to decide. In Philly, Mardi Gras is often for getting drunk, whether people are giving up alcohol for Lent, or not. You’ll have to decide.

One of the things many people did (and still do) on Mardi Gras was eat all the foods they wouldn’t be seeing for a while during their Lenten fast. “Carnivale” means “putting away meat.” In Pennsylvania Dutch territory a “fastnacht” came to be the name of a donut instead of the title of the day (as in Fast Night or Lent Eve). The holiday came to mean “the day we use up all the lard.”

Unfortunately, “Fat Tuesday” (Mardi Gras in French) came to be a day to store up as much of the past as possible, so one could endure the season of moving into what is next. Instead of being shriven on Shrove Tuesday, many people are just like Peter, trying to keep Jesus (and themselves) from going to Jerusalem.

More

The news gave a priest 5 minutes to explain Mardi Gras and the whole season:

What do we do with this?

If Christians don’t lead in the joy, are they hiding their light under a bushel? Do we really believe loving and sharing space with people will contaminate our holiness? That’s not too incarnational. What does it say about Jesus if we withdraw?

Jesus’ journey to the cross is the ultimate pilgrimage into what is next. Let’s respond to the trumpet and move with him. Let’s keep in mind his concerns, so we don’t get stuck in what is merely human. There’s nothing wrong with being human, of course, unless we don’t have in mind the things of God. If people think you are a fool, that might be a good thing.

Getting drunk, like many in the Philadelphia region will be doing, is a short-cut to being a fool and rightly considered foolish. It is not the kind of foolishness we’re talking about.

John Wesley — March 2

Europe, The Modern Era (1227-1936)
Surrounded by the mob in Wednesbury, England

Bible connection

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love.

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. — Galatians 5:6, 13-18

All about John Wesley (1703-1791)

John Wesley lived for most of the 18th century . He was the world-famous founder of Methodism which is alive and well in many forms all over Creation right now.

John and his brother, Charles, were twentysomethings when they began to meet as the “Holy Club” they founded at Oxford University in England. They read spiritual classics and tried to apply what they read to their lives and encourage one another. This small group was the seed bed for future Methodist groups. The ancestors of Wesley’s disciples have proliferated a Christian small group movement around the world.

In 1735 John and Charles went on a missionary trip to the colony of Georgia. John returned very discouraged that he couldn’t translate his ideas about God in effective ways for the people of the colony (plus, he fell in love with a local woman and the relationship did not work out very well).

In this period of discouragement, he became friends with a Moravian preacher, Peter Boehler. At a small religious meeting connected to the Moravians in Aldersgate Street, London, on May 24, 1738, John had an experience with God that changed his life. He famously described this experience as having his heart “strangely warmed.” This personal encounter with God prompted John to spend the rest of his life energetically encouraging others to meet God personally. This encounter with God seems to have caused his faith to move from mostly his head to his heart; it activated a deep dependence on God’s grace and a whole new way of living that he then shared with thousands of people.

During his ministry Wesley rode over 250,000 miles on horseback, a distance equal to ten circuits of the globe around the equator. He preached over 40,000 sermons—sometimes four or five a day—which led to the conversion of thousands [link]. He succeeded in reaching the poor and simple commoners through the practice of open air preaching to audiences estimated in the tens of thousands. At his death in 1791 his followers numbered 79,000 in England and 40,000 in America. In 1995 there were approximately 23 million affiliated with Methodist churches worldwide in 108 countries. If you count the Pentecostals as Methodist offshoots, as we do, then the numbers are even higher: 279-644 million and counting.

Wesley’s faith was devoted to social justice as well as preaching. It is hard to overestimate how large a transforming force the Methodists were in England and the United States in the 17 and 1800s. They can be congratulated for being instrumental in the abolition of slavery by England, as well as in uplifting the poor in countless ways. Just six days before his death, Wesley wrote a letter to William Wilberforce encouraging him in his efforts to bring an end to slavery: “O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.”

Notable quotes from Wesley:

  • Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.
  • Earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can.
  • “Holy solitaries” is a phrase no more consistent with the Gospel than holy adulterers. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.
  • Every one, though born of God in an instant, yet undoubtedly grows by slow degrees.
  • When I was young I was sure of everything. In a few years, having been mistaken a thousand times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before. At present, I am hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.
  • Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may. Herein all the children of God may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.
  • Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn.
  • God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.
  • Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.
  • As for reputation, though it be a glorious instrument of advancing our Master’s service, yet there is a better than that: a clean heart, a single eye, and a soul full of God. A fair exchange if, by the loss of reputation, we can purchase the lowest degree of purity of heart.
  • Our church did some theology about being radical in 2016 and John Wesley was the example. Check out this material that relates: Radical Energy at 3000 Feet, and Are We Visible Enough?

More

Bio from Christianity Today [link]

2009 film Wesley includes June Lockhart, playing his mother Susannah. There are quite a few films to watch: John Wesley: The faith that Sparked the Methodist Movement (2020 documentary using scenes from 2009 film) and one from 1954 John Wesley.

Interesting look at Methodist history in England [link]

Wesley’s books were best sellers. As he got richer, he got more generous, as the following story about his financial discipline shows.

While at Oxford, an incident changed Wesley’s perspective on money. He had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown. He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. He asked himself, “Will thy Master say, ‘Well done, good and faithful steward?’ Thou hast adorned thy walls with the money which might have screened this poor creature from the cold! O justice! O mercy! Are not these pictures the blood of this poor maid?”

Perhaps as a result of this incident, in 1731 Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year, his income jumped to 90 pounds. Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. Even when his income rose into the thousands of pounds sterling, he lived simply, and he quickly gave away his surplus money. One year his income was a little over 1400 pounds. He lived on 30 pounds and gave away nearly 1400 pounds.

Favorite works about Wesley:

What do we do with this?

John Wesley caused enormous change in the lives of individuals and in both England and the United States by giving people practical ways to live out radical faith. Many churches today reflect his methods. Do you connect with others to be a force for change, or do you kind of do your own thing? That would be one of his questions for you. [Wesley’s 22 Questions]

Ask God to move you from your head to heart—or just anywhere.