Marie
Marie
Dennis
Dennis
The Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We have seen his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” Epiphany – the universal manifestation of the inbreaking reign of God. Yes, “every nation on earth will adore you”!
The pandemic is opening our eyes, helping us to recognize the centrality of relationships in our lives and the importance of community, revealing the intrinsic interconnectedness of all things. What a time this has been! It is good to be in a new year, to begin to imagine a new way of being together on this planet.
That the Good News has reached the ends of the earth - the whole earth community - feels like good news this year!
Raise your eyes and look about; they gather and come to you: your sons come from afar and your daughters in the arms of their nurses. Then you shall be radiant at what you see, your heart shall throb and overflow, for the riches of the sea shall be emptied out before you, the wealth of nations shall be brought to you. (Isaiah 60: 4) … to ALL of you!
In the global context of pandemic and climate disruption, displacement and wars fought piecemeal glimmers of the “already” are visible worldwide. We have all seen them: the tremendous efforts of the World Food Program to avert famine and mitigate hunger as food supplies to vulnerable communities were disrupted and unemployment skyrocketed; the courageous actions of countless health care and other essential workers previously unseen and underpaid; dedicated efforts to protect from COVID19 the elderly, prisoners, those in care facilities, refugees and asylum seekers; the beauty brought by musicians playing solo on balconies to brighten deserted streets and performing whole symphonies alone/together on Zoom. These seeds, if nourished and carefully tended, may give rise to the kind of global paradigm shift that the arrival of the Magi portends.
Pope Francis invites us to an ever deepening understanding of Epiphany, of this global manifestation of the inbreaking reign of God. He repeatedly acknowledges the Good News, the presence of God in other faith traditions and “in all nations.” In the preparation of Laudato Si’, he was inspired by his brother Bartholomew, the Orthodox Patriarch, who, Francis said, “has spoken forcefully of our need to care for creation.” In writing Fratelli Tutti, he was encouraged by the Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb with whom Francis declared that “God has created all human beings equal in rights, duties and dignity, and has called them to live together as brothers and sisters.” In Querida Amazonia he wrote about the Amazon region as “a space where God himself reveals himself and summons his sons and daughters.” In his op ed published recently in the New York Times, he said, “To come out of this crisis better, we have to recover the knowledge that as a people we have a shared destination” – we are tied together by bonds of reciprocity.
As the global community struggles to respond to the crises of our time, a fundamental shift is needed from systems of exploitation and domination toward a new order of universal communion toward which this feast, this manifestation of the universal inbreaking of the reign of God points. Laudato Si’ calls it an ecological conversion, a shift to a new normal in which the infinite worth of every person is honored, the earth is healed, and the primordial unity of all beings is recognized.
The paradigm shift we humans are facing now has been “in the works” since the Magi started following that star. We know it will require unprecedented unity, unparalleled cooperation and the fullness of nonviolent love. But the future envisioned by the Magi and promised to “all the nations” is a spectacular one by which to measure to the “new post-pandemic normal” that we now need to create.
Marie Dennis
Marie Dennis
Marie Dennis is the senior program director of Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative. She was a member of the Pax Christi International board from 1999 to 2019 and co-president from 2007 to 2019. She is a Pax Christi USA Ambassador of Peace and was named a Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace in 2022. Marie worked for the Maryknoll Missioners from 1989 to 2012, including 15 years as director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. She holds a master’s degree in moral theology from Washington Theological Union and honorary doctorates from Trinity Washington University and Alvernia University. She is a Secular Franciscan, author or co-author of seven books, including Oscar Romero: Reflections on His Life and Writings and St. Francis and the Foolishness of God; editor of Choosing Peace: The Catholic Church Returns to Gospel Nonviolence; and co-editor of Advancing Nonviolence and Just Peace in the Church and the World. She is a lay woman, a mother of six, a grandmother and a great grandmother. She is a board member of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners and was the National Catholic Reporter’s Person of the Year in 2016. She served on the Vatican’s COVID 19 Commission, the steering committee of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, and the national boards of JustFaith Ministries, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Sojourners magazine, NETWORK, the Jubilee USA Network and several other organizations. Before moving to Assisi Community in 1987, where she continues to live, Marie and her family lived on and worked a 65 acre organic farm in Virginia.
October 17 at 7pm ET: Join Catholic Women Preach, FutureChurch, contributors to the Year C book, and co-editors Elizabeth Donnelly and Russ Petrus as we celebrate the release of the third and final volume of this ground-breaking, award winning series.
"Catholic Women Preach is one of the more inspiring collection of homilies available today. Based on the deep spirituality and insights of the various women authors, the homilies are solidly based on the scriptures and offer refreshing and engaging insights for homilists and listeners. The feminine perspective has long been absent in the preached word, and its inclusion in this work offers a long overdue and pastorally necessary resource for the liturgical life of the Church." - Catholic Media Association
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