“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its…
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St Kevin and the Blackbird
And then there was St Kevin and the blackbird. The saint is kneeling, arms stretched out, inside His cell, but the cell is narrow, so One turned-up palm is out the window, stiff As a crossbeam, when a blackbird lands And lays in it and settles down to nest. -Seamus Heaney INTRODUCTION The commotion reported…
Illuminating the ISM
“Better to illuminate than merely to shine to deliver to others contemplated truths than merely to contemplate.” – Thomas Aquinas INTRODUCTION Soon after sunset, on Manhattan Island, an unmarked white van slowly approaches the Library at Columbia University. Inside the van are cases of heavy equipment and a portable stage. The van parks in front…
The Unidos Manifesto A Collaborative Ministry Outreach Program
Introduction In response to the constitutional crisis currently facing America, Convergent Streams Magazine and Universal Spirit Broadcasting Network have joined together in a collaborative program to resist social injustice and environmental plunder and to foster a constructive reaction in our communities. The Prevailing State of Affairs The election of President Donald J. Trump has created…
Heart of the Universe
“Am I not here who is your Mother? Are you not in the fold of my garment? Are you not in the crossing of my arms? Am I not the source of your joy? Do you need anything else? Don’t allow anything to worry or disturb you anymore.” –Words spoken to Saint Juan Diego by…
Deconstructing Shavuot
“Blah blah blah deconstruction blah blah blah.” – A. Cretan INTRODUCTION Present times demand to dismantle the traditional jubilant celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit that we have long regarded as the “Birthday of the Church.” Leviticus 23:15-16 reads, “Beginning with the day after the Sabbath, the day on which you bring the…
The Year of the Earth Dog
“Near this spot Are deposited the Remains Of one Who possessed Beauty Without Vanity, Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man Without his Vices.” (Lord George Gordon Byron, 1788 – 1824) 2018 is the Chinese Year of the Brown Earth Dog and begins on February 16th, 2018 and ends February…
When Jesus Goes Apocalyptic
“To believe is very dull. To doubt is intensely engrossing. To be on the alert is to live, to be lulled into security is to die.” -Oscar Wilde INTRODUCTION: OBSESSED WITH THE FUTURE The first part of the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Advent describes apocalyptic events and signs in the heavens and…
Driving the Spoke
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer INTRODUCTION There is a community of people living on the outskirts of Manila who reside on the edge of the city’s garbage dump. These people survive and support themselves…
People of the Wine
“Beer is made by men, wine by God!” -Martin Luther “I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food.” -W. C. Fields When I began my journey into the Old Catholic church and eventually the path toward priesthood in the Independent Sacramental Movement, my first mentor offered an observation about the clergy…