The United Nations refugee agency says almost 100,000 people have fled the fighting in Libya and gone to Tunisia and Egypt. The situation is now seen as a "humanitarian emergency." Many of these people are poor contract workers carrying what they could grab as they left.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on February 25, 2011
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is killing his own people. There are estimates that as many as 2000 protesters on the streets have lost their lives. Mercenaries with machine guns are shooting down people at random.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on February 21, 2011
In response to efforts by Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, to cut the bargaining rights and benefits of public workers, protesters have gathered in Madison to challenge this blatant attempt to cut the power of unions. Teachers, nurses, and other public employees see this as an attack on their rights to organize for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. Here's a gallery of images of what's been happening.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on February 1, 2011
February 1, 2011. After a week of street demonstrations against the regime of Hosni Mubarak regime, the people of Egypt are calling for a change of government and an end to the inequalities which have created a tremendous gap between the rich and the poor. Underlying all the chaos is the yearning of a repressed people for a taste of freedom.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 23, 2011
The Boston Globe reports on the devastation in Brazil in mid-January 2011: "Last week, a series of flash floods and mudslides struck the Serrana mountain region near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, destroying buildings roads and more. Nearly 14,000 people are now homeless, 759 are reported to have been killed and another 400 remain missing in this, Brazil's worst-ever natural disaster. As soldiers make their way to remote towns with aid and transportation, Brazil's government has said it would accelerate efforts to build up a nationwide disaster-prevention and early-warning system.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 14, 2011
January, 2011. Australia is experiencing the worst flooding in decades, affecting an area of the state of Queensland the size of Germany and France. Towns have been turned into islands amidst muddy lakes that were once farmlands. The state's coal industry has been shut down. On January 11, the flood waters reached Brisbane, the third largest city in the country, affecting thousands of homes and yards. In Toowoomba, rivers of water carried cars away, eventually depositing them in piles.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 10, 2011
On January 8, 2011, Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic member of the U.S. Congress, was shot in the head outside a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, while holding a public event. Six other people at the gathering, including a judge and a nine-year-old girl, were killed by the shooter.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 4, 2011
In an article in The New York Times, Huma Imtiaz and Charlotte Cuchen describe the heated-up war against Sufism, the mystical expression of Islam, in Pakistan. Sufism is popular in that country, attracting millions to festivals through the year and thousands for daily visits to shrines dedicated to Sufi saints. Hard-line Islamic militants are targeting the shrines, taking responsibility for five shrine attacks in 2010 that killed 64 worshippers.
Despite the dangers, the people continue to visit the shrines. In a video accompanying the article, a popular devotional singer joins the crowds of singing and dancing Sufis at a shrine in Lahore, and then learns later of a deadly attack on a shrine in Karachi.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 1, 2011
Poet and Rumi translator Coleman Barks has observed that all the mystical traditions revere birds and their songs. They represent our yearnings for purity, freedom, play, and deliver "messages of ineffable joy." In addition, we can appreciate them as fellow pilgrims on earth, guides to the meaning of place, soul singers, and ambassadors from other worlds. As nature enthusiast Barry Lopez notes: "Birds tug at the mind and heart with a strange intensity."
Perhaps because we share these sentiments, we were sad to hear the news on January 1, 2011, that more than 5,000 red-winged blackbirds had fallen from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas, covering roofs, streets, and lawns for more than a mile. Then a few days later, 500 more birds fell in Louisiana. What caused this bizarre happening? There are a few theories but nothing definitive.
The deaths of the red-winged blackbirds tugs at our souls, and we include them in our prayers. These birds are early spring migrants and often quite vociferous about their needs. We commend these 5,500 creatures to the God of all feathered beings.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 1, 2010
Years ago, we stumbled across "Pray the News," a website run by a group of Carmelite nuns in Indianapolis, Indiana. Three or four sisters regularly offered prayers, litanies, and spiritual commentaries on the news. When the order moved, they closed down the website, although they assured their regular visitors, like us, that they would continue their personal practice of lifting to God the news of the day. We trust that the good sisters will not object to our taking up this prayer practice now at Spirituality & Practice.
"Everything that one turns in the direction of God is prayer," said Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. Richard Foster, a Quaker who has written wisely on different kinds of prayer, calls one type "Praying the Ordinary"; it is seeing God in the ordinary experiences of life. We will keep these broad definitions in mind as we read the news for people, situations, and events that call for prayers, but most of the prayers offered here will be intercessory prayers. We will be asking for God's help and healing presence for our world. We will pray especially for those parts of the creation in crisis that they may experience our compassion and know God's love.
We hope that by praying the news in this way we will also expand both our spirituality and our practice. It is as Jane Vennard writes in Praying for Friends and Enemies:
"True compassion brings us into solidarity with all of God's people. Solidarity not only connects us to others, it makes us one with all our sisters and brothers, including those on the opposite side of the battlefield. Compassion and solidarity are not easy. They are awakened in us slowly. As we pray for others, our prayers are gradually transformed, our hearts are softened, and our eyes are opened. Once opened we can never close our eyes again. We begin to see the world through God's eyes of love."
May this blog awaken our compassion for all people and all of God's creation.
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About This Blog
The daily news summons us to prayer. The people, situations, and events of our times call out for our compassion and God's healing presence. In this blog we will pray in a variety of forms as we lift up the needs of the world. We hope that by praying the news in this way we will also expand both our spirituality and our practice. More