Dear Providence Family,
Metanoia: change in one’s way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion.
-Oxford Dictionary
I write to you in light of the recent Mass of the Solemnity of Pentecost and in the current unrest that our nation experiences. Fr. Rich’s beautiful Pentecost homily, recorded and sent to the Providence Family, encouraged us to become the fire of God’s love. Like the energy that summoned courage and excitement in the early apostles, we ask God to make our hearts burn with love.
We have seen fires on the news for the past few days. Some fires are symbolic of the emotional fires that burn for justice, with a righteous anger that expresses frustration with our slow progress toward equality and mutual respect; with the haunting memories of hate and discrimination; with the indignity and fear due to social structures blind to the suffering they embody. They cry out for our awareness and recognition in order to initiate a process for healing. George Floyd’s death is an atrocity that saddens us all and is the catalyst for this watershed moment and fight for our humanity.
As a Catholic institution in the tradition of Augustinian education, Providence Catholic condemns racism and the brutality that attacks the freedom, equality and dignity due all Children of God. In these confusing and terrifying times, we stand with our Black brothers and sisters; we strive to listen to their stories, accompany them in their pain, and honestly acknowledge our part in their suffering. We undertake the task of changing our hearts. We need to do our part, starting here in our hallways and moving outwards.
Jesus calls us to change our hearts. In Mark 1:15, he proclaims that we are to repent, one translation of the term, “metanoia.” At base, metanoia is a change of heart, moving from insensitivity and privilege to begin to understand life from another’s point of view, at the level of the heart. We are invited to see the world as God sees it, and we are commissioned with the challenging task of making our actions, our thoughts, our hearts. . . like God’s. This is a lifelong process of stripping away our ungodly thoughts and actions in order to grow in love of God and of our neighbor.
These times call for prayer, self-reflection, personal accountability and actions that stem from metanoia, a change on the level of our deepest self, from the heart. May God grant us the grace to be honest in our assessment of our part in the sin of racism. Only in this way can we bring the fire of Pentecost to a world in need of understanding, forgiveness and healing. Let St. Augustine’s words guide us.
What does love look like?
It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
It has eyes to see misery and want.
It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of humanity.
That is what love looks like.
Our prayers and actions for the healing of our world,
Fr. John Merkelis, O.S.A.
Dr. John Harper