{"id":3281,"date":"2019-12-09T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3281"},"modified":"2019-12-09T10:29:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T15:29:13","slug":"monday-of-week-2-of-the-advent-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/12\/09\/monday-of-week-2-of-the-advent-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday of Week 2 of the Advent Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday of Week 2 of the Advent Season
\n<\/strong>\u201cCompanion is the one who eats the same bread.\u201d -Dom Helder Camera<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday, December 9, 2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This show stopping photo was not taken this year; weather.com<\/a> predicts a rain-drenched day, temps touching the 50s; so the view outside my window this year doesn\u2019t take my breath away; just an ordinary work day. \u00a0 This Monday, though, begins the second week of Advent, a season of outrageous promises mostly from Isaiah. \u00a0Advent\u2019s prophets are meant to be read out loud, taken seriously, placed in tension with our gloomiest predictions of the mean world\u2019s worst. \u00a0 Here are some verses from Isaiah 35, the prophecy for the beginning of Advent\u2019s second week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe desert\u00a0and the parched land will be glad;
\nthe wilderness will rejoice and blossom<\/p>\n

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
\nand the ears of the deaf\u00a0unstopped.
\nThen will the lame\u00a0leap like a deer,
\nand the mute tongue\u00a0shout for joy.
\nWater will gush forth in the wilderness
\nand streams\u00a0in the desert.
\nThe burning sand will become a pool,
\nthe thirsty ground\u00a0bubbling springs.
\nIn the haunts where jackals\u00a0once lay,
\ngrass and reeds\u00a0and papyrus will grow.<\/p>\n

Gladness\u00a0and joy will overtake them,
\nand sorrow and sighing will flee away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pic at the beginning of the post was taken four years ago on this same second Monday of Advent (December 9 that year). \u00a0 Sometimes Detroit is gloomy; sometimes exquisite. \u00a0For more than 4 million people, metro Detroit is home no matter its weather.<\/p>\n

Advent often reminds me of one of the saints in my life. \u00a0Here\u2019s a meditation about Dom Helder Camera I wrote early in Advent some years ago.<\/p>\n

Dom Helder Camera\u00a0February 7, 1909,\u00a0Fortaleza<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Brazil<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 August 27, 1999. \u00a0He was archbishop of Recife and Olinda from 1964 to 1985 during military dictatorship in Brazil. \u00a0He\u00a0interpreted Catholic teaching with a consistent, fierce attention to the violence of systems maintaining brutal poverty. \u00a0He made serious enemies. \u00a0 It is said that some of them hired a hit man to remove him. \u00a0Like the professional he was, the hit man stalked Dom Helder for some time, learning his habits, seeking a place and time apt for killing. \u00a0 In the process, he listened to him speak a number of times until, one day, he fell at Dom Helder\u2019s feet, weeping, and begged for the grace to change his profession and his life. \u00a0 When he walked this earth,\u00a0Dom Helder\u2019s presence\u00a0engaged the world\u2019s wounds.<\/p>\n

This unblinking attention to the violence of poverty was matched by legendary playfulness. \u00a0Here is one story among many, this one I witnessed. \u00a0Once Dom Helder was speaking to about 1500 Sisters of St. Joseph who sat on the St. Louis levee overlooking the Mississippi River (by the Arch); in the middle of the talk, a helicopter took off right behind him filled with tourists taking a ride with a bird\u2019s eye view of the river and the city. \u00a0 It made enough racket that it was impossible to hear what the Dom Helder was saying. \u00a0He paused, turned around to the\u00a0helicopter, and gave the tourists a puckish little wave. \u00a0When the helicopter got a little farther out on its trip, he turned back to us.<\/p>\n

Here is one of his sayings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Read it like a poem, out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Have a blest work week.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u2013 Dom Helder Camera<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is possible to travel alone, but we know the journey is human life
\nand life needs company.
\nCompanion is the one who eats the same bread.<\/p>\n

The good traveler cares for weary companions, grieves when we lose heart,
\ntakes us where she finds us,\u00a0 listens to us.
\nIntelligently, gently, above all lovingly, we encourage each other to go on
\nand recover our joy
\nOn the\u00a0 journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday of Week 2 of the Advent Season \u201cCompanion is the one who eats the same bread.\u201d -Dom Helder Camera Monday, December 9, 2019 This show stopping photo was not taken this year; weather.com predicts a rain-drenched day, temps touching … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3282,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3281\/revisions\/3282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}