Monday, February 8, 2016

In one of his reflections from the first week of Lent, from this year's Lenten reflection booklet, Everything is Grace: Reflections for Lent 2016, B. Kwame Assenyoh, SVD writes:

One of the pillars of Christianity is discipleship. Christians are therefore followers of Christ in the sense that Christ's 'modus operandi' (MO) shapes the Christian's own lifestyle. This explains the idea of Christian ethics or morality: a morally bad or good lifestyle, respectively, deviates from or conforms to Christ's life, or to Christ's disapproval or approval. But how can the Christian follow faithfully, if, in the first place, she or he misrecognizes the Christ or the manner of the Christ's presence? Thus our readings for today's Mass (first Monday of Lent) seem to suggest two ways to recognize Christ and measure our actions with his: first we must find Christ in the least of our neighbors; and second, we are to live our lives in the present.

Each Lent, Pax Christi USA provides for our members and friends, a far-reaching Lenten program of prayer, study and action, including online reflections for Sundays and Holy Days, Pray-Study-Act e-bulletins for each week of Lent, the aforementioned Lenten reflection booklet (still available as a download for your Kindle, iPad, etc), and more. Ash Wednesday starts in two days, and if you're looking for resources for your own practice of Lent, we hope you'll check out and bookmark our Lent 2016 webpage where all of our resources will be available.

Today's e-Update -- our monthly digest of items from the past month and beyond which are still of interest or relevance -- includes quick links to recent resources, action alerts, news items, and more. We hope you'll take a few moments today or later this week to peruse these items and bring them to your practice of prayer, study and action. And, if you have not already seen it, don't forget to take a look at "The Year in Pictures", our retrospective of 2015 which includes photos recalling some of the biggest events of the year plus numerous photos of Pax Christi USA members and groups acting for peace with justice!

Pray-Study-Act e-bulletins

The New Year, 2016

Special Resources and Alerts

From the Bread for the Journey blog

"The Catholic vote in 2016," by Thomas Reese, S.J.
"MLK was a disruptor: How Black Lives Matter carries on King's legacy of effective activism," by Mark and Paul Engler
"Unconscious racial bias and the challenge of solidarity," by Rev. Bryan Massingale
"The United States is having an identity crisis," by PCUSA Teacher of Peace Joan Chittister, osb
"Bring your concerns to Jesus, then do what he says," by PCUSA Teacher of Peace Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
For more from the blog, click here.

Recent News Items, Calendar Items and Other Items of Interest

Feb. 8: International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking
Feb. 10: Ash Wednesday, Lent begins; Ash Wednesday service at the White House
Feb. 10-20: Christian Peacemaker Team delegation to the US/Mexico border
Feb. 12: NAACP founded, 1909
Feb. 14: Frederick Douglass, b. 1818
Feb. 14: Break up with Wendy's for Valentine's Day action
Feb. 20: World Day of Social Justice
March: Women's History Month
Mar. 1: International Death Penalty Abolition Day
Mar. 2-13: Coalition of Immokalee Workers' "Workers' Voice Tour," Eastern U.S.
Mar. 8: International Women's Day
Mar. 8-13: Walking Our Spiritual Paths, with PCUSA Teacher of Peace Rev. John Rausch, glmy, in North Carolina
Mar. 10-24: Christian Peacemaker Team delegation to Palestine
Mar. 13: Election of Pope Francis, 2013
Mar. 19-26: Christian Peacemaker Team delegation to Colombia
Mar. 20: Palm Sunday
Mar. 21-27: Week of Solidarity with Peoples Struggling Against Racism and Racial Discrimination
Mar. 22: World Water Day
Mar. 24: Holy Thursday, Feast of Blessed Oscar Romero
Mar. 25: Good Friday, International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Mar. 27: Easter
Mar. 31: Cesar Chavez, b. 1927
Apr. 8-9: Call for proposals for the Gandhi-King conference in Memphis
Read January's edition of On The Line, news from the grassroots
Fall-Winter 2015-16 Pax Christi USA Newsletter, The Peace Current, online
Pax Christi International February 2016 newsletter

In Christ's peace,

Johnny Zokovitch

Director of Communications, Pax Christi USA

P.S. To see more, visit the website at http://www.paxchristiusa.org. You can also "subscribe" to our website by clicking on the "Subscribe to our website" link in the right-hand sidebar of the website. This will alert you every time a new item is posted on the website. And don't forget to check out our page on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.