Week of

 
Today we mourn the 100,000 plus lives that have been lost to the Coronavirus in the US. Here are some ways to join with those in our families, parishes and ministries who have lost loved ones especially communities of color who have lost the most lives during the pandemic.

• Watch this video on social media and with your faith community which provides a powerful overview of and explains ways in which we can participate in the National Day of Mourning and Lament.  You can read in full here, including all the diverse faith leaders who will be participating. 
• Join a livestreamed time of public lament today, June 1 at noon, happening on the Sojourners Facebook page. Join with LCWR and people of faith across the U.S. as we grieve, mourn, and honor the people we have lost in the past few weeks – family, friends, and loved ones.  We are using images of empty chairs, signifying those who will not return to our homes and dinner tables, and lit candles, as prayers for those lost and those grieving.
• Personally make space for lament in the coming week. Take time to recognize the losses we have faced individually and collectively as a nation. Additional resources for creating a space for lament can be found at this link.
• Pray: God, we come to you in grief, mourning, and lament of the more than 100,000 people we have lost to COVID-19. Not only has this pandemic taken our brothers and sisters, it has also revealed many of the most unequal, broken pieces of our society. We ask that, as we move forward, you may work in and through us, so that we may continue to build your beloved community for all especially those on the margins, the excluded, communities of color, the poor, the immigrants, the voiceless and the invisible. Holy Spirit, give us the courage we need to fight for justice and peace. Amen.

June 3rd- Birthday of Blessed Pauline
As we celebrate and honor our foundress Pauline on her birthday and commit ourselves to our newly revised North American mission statement we are reminded of the charism she bequeathed to us as SCCs. Pauline began her mission of mercy on the margins of society in Germany where the invisible blind children suffered from neglect and illiteracy.

Her “inexpressibly great heart” and sense of justice moved her to care for and educate these children with the dignity they so deserved.  Who would Pauline include in her circle of mercy today?  Who are the marginalized today?  Who cries out for justice in our world today?  Just turn on the TV and watch the evening news.  Our communities of color are suffering so much in our own country as we have just witnessed in the horrific murder of George Floyd.  They suffer from unjust health care and immigration policies, in our criminal justice system, in unfair housing, in a society that is sick with a virus worse than COVID-19.  We suffer from a systemic disease of racial inequity that cries out for justice.  Do we have the courage of Pauline to speak out and to stand with our brothers and sisters who have been and continue to be treated unjustly today? Let us pray to her for that courage and honor her memory by finding ways to bring justice and healing  to the margins “ for the life of the world”. 
 
Read LCWR’s statement on the tragic death of George Floyd https://lcwr.org/media/news/lcwr-condemns-killing-george-floyd
 
 
Our sisters in Harrisburg made personal donations to a project that delivers food and essential supplies to Native Americans in Lower Bruhl, South Dakota where we were missioned a few years ago. Native Hope serves families who are in desperate need during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the elderly who were most affected by the virus.