All of these images call us to create space in our lives to see, hear, respond and lift up our brothers and sisters in the world. We are called to have a place in our own hearts for the wounded hearts of others.

Our music for this Touchstone is a well-loved Zulu hymn, “Ukuthula!” (Peace!), which our own choir sang in concert in December of 2016 and again (this recording) for a celebration of the Stations of the Cross in 2017. I chose it for two reasons. The first is that it is an anthem of faith in troubled times. It acknowledges that our world is sinful. Yet the sacrifice of Jesus, who gives everything he is to lift up those who are most impacted by the world’s sin, offers peace, salvation, gratitude, faith, victory and comfort. Each of these words is used as the variation, verse after verse to the antiphon: “in this sinful world, the blood of Jesus shines with… (peace, faith, etc…).”

This highlights my second reason for choosing this song. This coming weekend, we celebrate our parish feast. The lyric repeated over and over in this piece, “igazi likaJesu” is Zulu for “the blood of Jesus.” This antiphon reminds us that it is, in fact, the blood of Jesus, for which this parish is named and to which it is dedicated. Our community is grounded in this image of sacrificing our lives for the world. I’ve often commented that it seems a “gruesome name for a church.” But in fact, it is a profound, even beautiful, name. It calls us to focus our faith, not on what it does for us, but on what it calls us to do for others.

It is a powerful antidote for the pretty, stained glass, statuary type of faith that we see throughout the world today. In a time like the one in which we find ourselves at the moment, inspiration is not a quiet moment of reflection with my book and my coffee as I watch the sunrise beautifully in the east. Inspiration is a nagging commitment to dedicate time to being and working with those who are most in need in the world. It is not the call of the peaceful forest glade. It is the call of the blood. For the secular world, blood exists to give life. For the Christian, it exists to be shed for the lives of others.

As we celebrate our feast day this weekend, we are called to celebrate the sacrifices we have made to better the world and help others. And we should challenge ourselves to stay focused on the spirituality for which we are named: a blood that is precious only when spent on others.

God bless, be safe, and be well.

Fr. Pat & John Livingston

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”