Read the latest piece by Ellen Dauwer, SC on the Global Sisters Report website. (Excerpt below).
New light on green
We have returned to "ordinary time" after living the days of the Lenten and Easter seasons for almost a quarter of the year. Yet I find that the hue of ordinary green has a new sheen for me as I re-enter this time. It wasn't the purple of Lent or the white of Easter; rather it was the red of Good Friday that opened a new space in my soul.
It began with dissonant music that made its way into my heart, lodged there, and invited me to new life. I had journeyed into New York City to pray with the group gathered for the Good Friday service at St. Francis Xavier Church. The cantor, accompanied by a clarinet, intoned the psalm response to the first reading: "O God, I put my life in your hands" (Psalm 31). With each verse I found myself being pulled deeper and deeper into the jarring accompaniment that seemed to oppose the cantor. And, as the music journeyed inward, it set the stage and opened my soul for the readings, homily, and prayers that followed.
Now, I'm not necessarily a fan of dissonant music. I tend to thrive on melody and harmony, symmetry and balance, and rhythm and order. I have an academic background in fields such as mathematics, information systems, and quantitative research. I took refuge in the clarity and predictability of math while in high school in the turbulent 1970s. Yet, even in mathematics there is chaos theory, imaginary numbers, and uncertain probabilities... [Read more]