[T]oday it is not nearly enough to be a saint, but we must have the saintliness demanded by the present moment, a new saintliness, itself also without precedent.
—Simone Weil, Waiting for God
For [Dorothy] Day, the sheer concreteness of Thérèse’s teachings swept away the abstractions of marxist theory and allowed her to place her own work for social justice and reform in the context of a richly devotional spiritual practice.
—Carol Lee Flinders, Enduring Grace
I also do yoga and Tai Chi. I learned to drink tea in Japanese style, calmly, with serenity, without speaking about serious things. This is all so essential to recuperate our humanity — to liberate what is most fine, most noble, most profound, most human within us. Life isn’t only struggle. It’s struggle and play! Work and dance — like the Greeks and Spartans who prepared for war with ceremonies of music and dance! Five years ago we thought these things were bourgeois. Today we’ve rediscovered that they are good.
—Clodovis Boff, in Mev Puleo, The Struggle Is One: Voices and Visions of Liberation
From conversations with friends in the last couple of years, I feel inspired to offer this class where we can get (re)acquainted with remarkable individuals, both from long ago as well as those still among us. I also recall my experience witnessing Mev Puleo birthing a book about committed Brazilian Christians who motivated her in a variety of ways.
Our sessions will allow time for prayer/meditation/centering; paired discussions on the readings; free writing on select themes; an open forum to share insight; and participant presentations on those we find fascinating.
We will meet via Zoom on the first and third Monday of each month beginning in October and continuing through January 2025. Sessions will begin at 7:30 pm Central Time and go till 9:00.
Necessary books:
- Robert Ellsberg’s All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time
- Carol Lee Flinders’ Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics
I will encourage people to skim with gusto in search of one-liners or passages that speak directly to your heart.
www.bookfinder.com is one way to purchase used copies of our class books.
If there is interest, we may watch a relevant film or two outside of class, and we can show up if one of us wants to do a Share the Wealth related to what we are discovering..
Tuition: $150, payable by check to me or Paypal (markjchmiel@gmail.com). Classes like this supplement my work as an adjunct professor at Maryville University.
Sister Ann Manganaro, Teka Childress, Ellen Rehg
photo by Mev
