A READING FROM ‘RECONCILIATION: LAMENT AND HOPE’, VICTORIA MARIE
The Rev. Dr. Victoria Marie (b. 1945) is a Brooklyn-born Canadian scholar working at the intersection of social science and spirituality. She is a retired community researcher and current local activist, pastor of the inclusive and affirming Our Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin Community, and co-founder of the Vancouver Catholic Worker.
We seek reconciliation with all life. When we say we believe in the sanctity of all life, that includes non-human life: the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air. It also included human livelihood. Overriding it all is the desire to follow Jesus’ command to love. That is why at the gates of the fossil fuel mega-project we prayed for justice for our indigenous brothers and sisters and for industry workers; we prayed for the eagle pair evicted from their home. We prayed for the earth and her waters. That day, we joined the growing number of people arrested for living into reconciliation. Undeterred, and fighting against apathy and despair, our peaceful protests will continue. We believe, like Martin Luther King Jr., that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice’. So, motivated by gospel faith and love, we continue to work to make reconciliation a generally accepted reality.
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