Today is the Feast of All Carmel Saints and is an auspicious day to begin my journey officially as a Secular Carmelite!

From Ascending Carmel

The Carmelite Order celebrates the feast of all its Saints on November 14th. This is a solemn commemoration and tribute given to the men and women who climbed the mount of Carmel to seek the face of God and allowed themselves to be transformed by the Presence they found there. There are many of these Saints, although we only hear of the famous ones- Saint John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Blessed ELizabeth of the Trinity and others. Equally great in the Order are, St. Peter Thomas, St. Andrew Corsini, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified, St. Raphael Kalinowski, St. Teresa of St. Agustine and the martyrs of Compiegne, St. John Soreth, St. Elisha, St. Albert of Trapani, Blessed Titus Brandsma, St Margaret Redi and many more! These are huge personalities in Carmel and we treasure them, their lives and examples of true love of God.

More …

Social Action Boot Camps bring together a diverse group of young community leaders, activists and social entrepreneurs for a day of networking and training dedicated to giving each attendee the tools to grow and sustain their community action ideas, projects and organizations.

This is happening right  now - Saturday, Nov. 7 from 9 - 5:30 pm EST - and is live streaming. Check it out!!

Sessions and workshops offered on:

 

• Path to Change: Turning your Ideas in Action
• Measuring Your Impact
• Building a Website
• Foundations and Grant writing
• Branding and Marketing: How to find your voice and tell your story
• Individual Donors: How to pitch your program and manage donor relationships
• Online Communications
• Starting your Own Not-for-Profit
• Corporate Sponsors: How to pitch your program and manage donor relationships
• Public Relations: How to get press for your project
• 501c3 and Fiscal Sponsors: Benefits and Pitfalls
• Succession Planning: How to keep your project going without you
• Political Activism: How to get your local officials to listen
• Recruiting and Managing Volunteers
• Public Relations
• Partnerships
• Applying for a Do Something Grant

http://www.dosomething.org/training

October 15

Feast Day of Saint Teresa of Avila!

A Nun’s Life is hosting a live podcast on Saint Teresa of Avila — Thursday, October 15, at 7 p.m. Central Time (time zone converter). Sister Maxine and Sister Julie will be joined by Mirabai Starr, author of a fresh translation of Saint Teresa’s writings, Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life and The Interior Castle.

 

 

 

Mirabai is a writer, translator, speaker, and teacher. She has also translated Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross. You can learn more about Mirabai and her work at her website.

The Sisters will talk with Mirabai and with listeners about who Saint Teresa is, her writings, her thoughts on prayer, and who she is for us today.

Fr. Richard Rohr - Contemplative Consciousness: The Non-Dual Way (Part 1) - on Boulder Integral.


Father Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, speaking at New Wineskins, a Boulder Integral seminar held in October 2009. Father Richard discusses non-dual consciousness and discusses much from his latest book, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See.

by Randy Woodley 10-12-2009

I just returned from a gathering in a local church to listen to Kimmie Weeks talk about his work with Youth Action International. Very inspiring.

Kimmie Weeks has worked to alleviate poverty and human suffering in Africa and around the world since he was fourteen years old. Kimmie was born in Liberia 1981. When he was nine, Kimmie came face to face with civil war, human suffering, and death.

Over the years, Kimmie has formed partnerships and led organizations that have provided education to thousands of students in West Africa, lobbied the disarmament of over 20,000 child soldiers, and provided health care and recreation supplies to children.

In 1998, Kimmie Weeks investigated and released a groundbreaking report on the Liberian government’s involvement in the training children as soldiers. As a result, former Liberian President Charles Taylor made several attempts to assassinate him until he fled Liberia and was granted political asylum in the United States.

Once he came to the United States, Kimmie Weeks established an International organization called Youth Action International to support the needs of families living in post war countries. In 2008, Youth Action International’s programs benefited close to 150,000 people in six post war African countries.

Read More...

October 1: Feast Day of St. Therese of Lisieux.

"When I sit in jail thinking of war and peace and the problem of human freedom," Dorothy Day once wrote, "of jails, drug addiction, prostitution and the apathy of great masses of people who believe that nothing can be done--when I thought of these things I was all the more confirmed in my faith in the little way of St. Thérèse. We do the things that come to hand, we pray our prayers and beg also for an increase of faith--and God will do the rest."

Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, Edith Stein, Mother Teresa and millions of others have pondered Thérèse's life and her ordinary witness of extraordinary love. Some dismiss her as a saccharine neurotic, but anyone who tries to practice her spirituality of sacrificial love quickly realizes how hard it is, how strong she was, and how transforming her personal nonviolence can be for all of us. As we celebrate her feast on October 1st, we do well to learn again from her how to practice interpersonal nonviolence.

More...

There are one billion homeless people living in our world today.

The Homeless World Cup exists to end this, so we all have a home, a basic human need.

The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year. 70 per cent of participants in the Homeless World Cup experience a significant life change having played in the competition, such as coming off drugs and alcohol; moving into homes, jobs, education and training; repairing relationships; or becoming coaches and players with semi-pro teams or social entrepreneurs.

On September 6, the Homeless World Cup kicks off in Milan. 480 homeless people from 48 different countries around the world will compete in the tournament. Eight players represent the U.S. Team and include:

Ebony Wright, the only woman on the team who represents the Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte, N.C.; Antoine Lagarde, from the Glide Foundation in San Francisco; Chris Lodgson and Dexter Burnett from HELP USA in New York; Alvin Soto from Youthlink in Minneapolis; Jorge Revolorio and Carlos Valdez, of the teen homeless services provider Jovenes in Los Angeles; and Wes Colter, from Volunteers of America in Sacramento.

All eight players have either secured housing, employment, or completed a substance abuse recovery program since joining Street Soccer USA programs. Chris, Jorge, Carlos, Antoine and Wes have all enrolled in college or completed college degrees - all showing the power of soccer and sports to help people salvage their lives.

Dubious? Curious? Do you wonder how a ball can change lives? Watch Kicking It, a film from the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town in 2006. One of my favorite movies that can open your mind and heart to homelessness. Kicking It is available for instant viewing on Netflix.

What do the American civil rights movement, an exiled monk's return visit to Vietnam, and a community of people trying to save an urban farm in L.A. have in common? According to Canadian documentary film-maker Velcrow Ripper, they are all examples of what he calls spiritual activism, and they are just a few of the inspiring stories featured in his latest film, Fierce Light. (See trailer here.)

"Spiritual activism," Ripper explains in a recent phone interview from his Toronto home, "comes from the heart. It's beyond polarity. It's coming from a place of compassion, of hope. It's based on what we are for, rather than what we are against. It's what Ghandi called soul force, and what Martin Luther King called love in action."

He says, "I wanted to find that hope in the world, to interview the people that were doing that work -- activism with a spiritual basis, a sense of interconnectedness."

Fierce Light includes interviews with former civil rights movement leader John Lewis, exiled Vietnamese Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn, Dalit lawyer/activist Leela Kumari, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, eco-philosopher and Buddhism scholar Joanna Macy, and actor/eco-activist Daryl Hannah, among others.

From Review: Fierce Light - Spiritual Activism on film -  Reality Sandwich

Fierce Light is now available on DVD and online: http://www.fiercelight.org/

leonard-peltier

The Free Press
July 30, 2009

For a formidable and growing global community of supporters, the prospect of Native American activist Leonard Peltier finally leaving prison inspires a longing that cuts to the depths of the soul.

So Peltier's first parole hearing of the Obama Era---on Tuesday, July 28---inspired hope of an intensity that will have a major impact on the new presidency. A decision must come from the Federal Parole Commission within three weeks. His attorney is calling for a surge of public support that would create an irresistible political climate for Leonard's release.

The relationship between Peltier and those who have followed his case over the decades can be intensely personal. His imprisonment has come to stand not only for five centuries of unjust violence waged against Native Americans, but also for the inhumane theft of the life of a man who has handled his 33 years in jail with epic dignity, effectiveness and grace.

Peltier's latest parole hearing convened at the federal penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where he is currently held. According to Eric Seitz, Peltier's Honolulu-based attorney, Peltier spoke for more than an hour "with great eloquence" about the nature of his case, his imprisonment and his plans for freedom. "The hearing officer seemed to listen carefully," said Seitz. "We thought it went very well."

The decision on Peltier's parole will be made by the four sitting members of the Federal Parole Commission (http://www.usdoj.gov/uspc/ ) whose offices are in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Full Article