From the Center of Concern:

Prayer for the Environmental Common Good

As we breathe the very air which sustains us,
We remember your love, God,
which gives us life.

Fill us with your compassion for Creation.
Empty us of apathy, selfishness and fear,
of all pessimism and hesitation.

Breathe into us solidarity
with all who suffer now
and the future generations who will suffer
because of our environmental irresponsibility.

Move us into action
to save our earth
and to build your sustainable Kingdom.

Amen.

http://www.educationforjustice.org/node/2860

You are invited to two upcoming events hosted by Catholic Volunteer Network. If you have questions about either event, please call or email Alyssa Sickle at asickle@catholicvolunteernetwork.org or 301-270-0900 x10.

Catholic Volunteer Network Alumni Service Event – April 28

Former volunteers who served with any of Catholic Volunteer Network’s member programs, as well as current volunteers and friends, are invited to join us for a morning of service at SOME (So Others Might Eat), a Catholic Volunteer Network member program. We will prepare and serve breakfast to the guests and after serving, the volunteers will enjoy a simple meal and participate in a time of discussion and reflection. (Sorry, we cannot accommodate children at this event.)

Date:                     Saturday, April 28, 2012
Time:                    7:00am - 1:00pm
Location:             SOME (So Others Might Eat), 71 'O' Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001 - www.some.org
(SOME has a parking lot next to the dining room at 71 O Street. For public transportation, take Bus 93 to the North Capitol & P Street stop, and walk two blocks).
Register:              Please click here to register. Registration deadline is April 26^th.

This is a great opportunity to connect with current volunteers and alumni in the area, while also nurturing the spirit of service!


World Fair Trade Day Celebration/Brown Bag Lunch Q&A with Fair Trade Resource Network’s Director – May 9

Catholic Volunteer Network will hold a Brown Bag Lunch Q&A in celebration of World Fair Trade Day. This celebration is one of 1,000 events in North America honoring the Best in Fair Trade. Get some free Fair Trade honey, sugar and dishtowels, as well as Fair Trade educational magazines and stickers. Hear the latest news in Fair Trade and ask questions to FTRN Executive Director, Jeff Goldman. Participants will support trade justice and celebrate the “Best in Fair Trade” Award winners! Bring your own lunch please. Current volunteers, program staff, and friends are all welcome.

Date:                    Wednesday, May 9,
Time:                    12:00-1:00pm – please bring a lunch! Drinks will be provided.
Location:             Catholic Volunteer Network office, 6930 Carroll Ave, Suite 820, Takoma Park, MD. Free two-hour parking is available behind our building, and some street parking is available.
Why:                     The purpose of World Fair Trade Day is to raise greater awareness of Fair Trade to consumers, so that all trade becomes fair. Supporters will gather around 100,000 North American citizens, businesspeople, faith advocates, students, consumers and activists at Fair Trade events to celebrate the people who grow our food and produce our goods, as well as the businesses and nonprofits winning “Best in Fair Trade” Awards.
Register:              Click here to let us know you’ll be attending.

More about World Fair Trade Day & Fair Trade Resource Network, at www.FTRN.org.

We are all called to intentionally participate in the care of creation.

Activity:

With your volunteer community (and your placement site, if appropriate), use the Easter season to appreciate the world around you and to consider ways to participate in the stewardship of our planet. Here are some suggestions:

• Devote some time each week- half an hour, an hour, a weekend morning- to exploring the natural environment around you. If you live in an urban area, explore parks and urban gardens.
• Consider taking up a project to beautify the space in your neighborhood. Look into joining trash pick-up efforts or planting a garden.
• In your community, inventory your trash. What can you do to reduce what goes into the garbage? Consider making the switch to cloth napkins and towels instead of paper products, buying food items in bulk and storing in reusable containers, and challenging yourself to recycle more than you throw away (check with your local municipality or recycling authority for approved items).
• What other suggestions can you come up with that are unique to your location and situation?
• See www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp for resources and statements on care of creation.

http://pallotticenter.org/index.php?m=ca

On Ash Wednesday and every day during Lent, we ask people everywhere to recite this prayer for world peace by Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB.

Great God, who has told us
"Vengeance is mine,"
save us from ourselves,
save us from the vengeance in our hearts
and the acid in our souls.

Save us from our desire to hurt as we have been hurt,
to punish as we have been punished,
to terrorize as we have been terrorized.
Give us the strength it takes
to listen rather than to judge,
to trust rather than to fear,
to try again and again
to make peace even when peace eludes us.

We ask, O God, for the grace
to be our best selves.

We ask for the vision
to be builders of the human community
rather than its destroyers.

We ask for the humility as a people
to understand the fears and hopes of other peoples.

We ask for the love it takes
to bequeath to the children of the world to come
more than the failures of our own making.

We ask for the heart it takes
to care for all the peoples
of Afghanistan and Iraq, of Palestine and Israel
as well as for ourselves.

Give us the depth of soul, O God,
to constrain our might,
to resist the
temptations of power,
to refuse to attack the attackable,
to understand
that vengeance begets violence,
and to bring peace – not war – wherever we go.

For You, O God, have been merciful to us.

For You, O God, have been patient with us.

For You, O God, have been gracious to us.

And so may we be merciful
and patient
and gracious
and trusting
with these others who you also love.

This we ask through, Jesus
the one without vengeance in his heart.

This we ask forever and ever. Amen.



Reprinted with permission from Pax Christi USA, www.paxchristiusa.org

http://pallotticenter.org/index.php?m=ca