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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
Happy 60th Birthday Adrian!
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Art for Older Adults
Paintings from my Art for Older Adults Class at City College of SF.
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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
Monday, May 12, 2025
Habemus Papam: Pope Leo XIV
While I was at work, I got a text that a new pope had been chosen. I was searching to see who it was but I, and the whole world, was waiting for the announcement. The new pope was Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the second pope from the Americas; he was born in the US and a naturalized citizen of Peru. He was from the Order of St. Augustine; he has been bishop of Chiclayo in Peru for 20 years and was elected prior general of the Order from 2001-2013. Most recently he had been appointed to head the Discastery of Bishops, the office responsible for selecting priests to be bishops. Pope Leo XIV.
I was actually surprised and not a little worried that the pope was from the United States, as the hierarchy of the US has become increasingly conservative, often aligning itself with the Republican Party, for its support for abortion restrictions, anti-gay restrictions, and other cultural issues. I have become disappointed with the US Catholic Conference of Bishops for its tepid response to President Trump’s treatment of immigrants, refugees and blind eye to corruption. The word on the street is that the cardinals would elect a pope who would temper the progressive initiatives of Pope Francis who championed dialog and people on the margins.
We have to see how Pope Leo guides his flock. There are indications that are hopeful. While he comes from the US, which is often parochial and self-referential in outlook, Pope Leo seems to have a global outlook; he has been a missionary, who speaks five languages (English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese), and has served the universal Church.
He has chosen the name Leo, in reference to Pope Leo XIII, who initiated the Church’s social teaching with the encyclical Rerum Novarum, which defended the rights of workers to fair wages, safe working conditions and rights to form trade unions, while defending the property rights and free enterprise. This began the church’s advocacy for the social conditions that are necessary for the full development of the human being. Sin was not only a personal failing; sin was also evident in the structures that oppressed and destroyed human lives, and as such the Church had a role in decrying such structures.
But ultimately, it is how Pope Leo XIV comes to bear Christ in our modern times. What does Jesus have to say to us in these times of war in Ukraine, in Gaza, in Sudan? What does the Gospel have to say to us in this time of political upheaval, closing borders and stark economic inequality? What we need now is a shepherd that speaks the gospel with clarity in these dark and confusing times. We need a shepherd that smells like sheep because he is among the sheep and knows the signs of the times. We need a shepherd that goes to the margins and is dirty, and smelling, and exhausted because he is not afraid of being with his flock. We need to hear words of faith, love and hope. In his first homily, Pope Leo XIV speaks of advocating for the poor and migrants, of aligning himself with ordinary people and not the rich and powerful.
This photo of the Vicar of Christ gives me hope.
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| via James Martin SJ |
Sunday, May 11, 2025
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Monday, April 21, 2025
Pope Francis 1936-2025
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| (c) Getty Images |
It was exciting to that on March 13, 2013, Jorge Bergoglio was elected Pope Francis, named after St. Francis of Assisi. He was the first Latin American pope, the first pope of the Global South, the first Jesuit pope, and the first non-European pope in over 1200 years.
But nothing in his past, indicated that he would be revolutionary pope. As a Jesuit superior he governed authoritarian hand that he was sent to Germany to reflect. He was also criticized for not defending his fellow Jesuit priests who had been disappeared. But when I read his interview by Antonio Spodaro, I was taken by a pope who was open and in touch with contemporary life. I found a prelate who was not brining the past ecclesial beliefs and practice to the modern world but was adapting Jesus gospel to the present time. He saw holiness in the lived out lives of ordinary people: the father who works, the mother who raises children, the sick, the unemployed, the homeless who struggle for a space in society. The article moved me to conduct a reflection event at St. Agnes.
Additionally, Pope Francis made outreach to LGBTQ folk. When asked about gay priests, Pope Francis responded, If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?” He added that before all else, LGBTQ folks are persons who must be treated with wholeness and dignity. God loves all his creature and they are destined to receive God’s love as God first attribute is mercy. He did not change the Church’s teaching on homosexuality, which is defined as “intrinsically disordered” in and sexual activity outside of marriage is grave sin. But there was a recognition that gay people need relationships and families, even if it didn’t live up to the norms of the Church, gay people were to be welcomed in the Church. Todos, todos, todos.
I am moved to tears how he taught by his actions. He gave up living in the apostolic palace to live in Santa Marta, the papal apartments. He didn’t ride in a a fancy car but chose to ford escort. His first overseas trip was to Lampedusa, an island in the Mediterranean where, many African migrants go arrive to get to Europe. While riding in a pope mobile, he stopped to embrace Vinicio Riva, a man disfigured by a non-infectious genetic disease. He consoled the a boy who had doubts if father had died as an atheist was in heaven. The pope told Emanuele, if his father was able to make his children courageous and strong, he was a good man. He continued the practice of washing the feet of women prisoners for Holy Thursday. His gestures spoke volumes.
Te estañaremos Papa Francisco. Rest in Peace
Quotes:
“To change the world, we must be good to those who cannot repay us.” October 2014
“The promise (of trickle-down economics) was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefiting the poor. What happens instead is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger, but nothing ever comes out for the poor.” 2014
“It's hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help.” October 2016
“Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love … The death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of our faith and the basis of our hope.” 2025
“Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy … Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love.” 2013
“Without this joy, faith shrinks into an oppressive and dreary thing; the saints are not ‘sourpusses’ but men and women with joyful hearts, open to hope … Blessed Carlo Acutis is likewise a model of Christian joy for teenagers and young people. And the evangelical, and paradoxical, ‘perfect joy’ of St. Francis of Assisi continues to impress us.” 2022
“You who live by always giving, and think that you need nothing, do you realize that you are poor yourself? Do you realize that you are very poor and that you need what they can give you? Do you let yourself be evangelized by the poor, by the sick, by those you assist?” 2015
“We have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” 2015
“The Lord entrusts to the Church’s motherly love every person forced to leave their homeland in search of a better future … In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that ‘our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote, and to integrate.’” 2016
“There are always problems and arguments in married life. It is normal for husband and wife to argue and to raise their voices; they squabble, and even plates go flying! So do not be afraid of this when it happens. May I give you a piece of advice: Never end the day without making peace.” 2016
‘When the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause, because the pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss and said: ‘Don’t forget the poor!’ And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. … How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!’ 2013
‘Who am I to judge?” — Francis, responding to a question about a purportedly gay priest, in a comment that set the tone for a papacy more welcoming to LGBTQ+ Catholics, July 28, 2013.
‘In certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, ‘I want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord’s mercy.’ I would also point out that the Eucharist ‘is not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’” 2016
It’s an honor if the Americans attack me.” Sept. 4, 2019.
I am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.” 2022
Being homosexual is not a crime.”— Jan. 24, 2023.
“We must not let ourselves be robbed of hope!
“Hope is life, it is living, it is giving meaning to the journey…”
“Faith makes us open to the quiet presence of God at every moment of our lives, in every person and in every situation.”
“Because faith, which is always God's gift and always to be asked for, must be nurtured by us.”
“God never tires of forgiving. It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness.”
“Situations can change; people can change. Be the first to seek to bring good.”
“Let us get up, therefore, and set out as pilgrims of hope… we too can bring news of joy.”
“A little bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.”
“This is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.”
"The most serious sins are those that are disguised with a more 'angelic' appearance. No one is scandalized if I give a blessing to an entrepreneur who perhaps exploits people, which is a very serious sin. Whereas they are scandalized if I give it to a homosexual – this is hypocrisy.” 2024
'I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.I am one who is looked upon by the Lord. I always felt my motto, Miserando atque Eligendo [By Having Mercy and by Choosing Him], was very true for me.” 2013
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Christos anesti!
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© 2025 Hector Viveros Lee |
Jesus' resurrection has taught me irrevocably the transformation, through grace, of harm to forgiveness, illness to healing, death to life. That which was lost can be found.
Darkness is not the end. See, the daylight is breaking!
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Thursday, April 3, 2025
Wanderlust
This is what is behind the special relationship between tale and travel, and, perhaps, the reason why narrative writing is so closely bound up with walking. To write is to carve a new path through the terrain of the imagination, or to point out new features on a familiar route. To read is to travel through that terrain that the author as guide - a guide one may not always agree with our trust, but who can at least be counted upon to take one somewhere. I have often wished that my sentences could be written out as a single line running into distances so that it would be clear that a sentence is likewise a road and reading is traveling. --Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust, p. 78.
“But strange things do happen when you trudge twenty miles a day, day after day, month after month. Things you only become totally conscious of in retrospect. For one thing I had remembered in minute and Technicolor detail everything that had ever happened in my past and all the people who belonged there. I had remembered every word of conversations I had or overheard way, way back in my childhood and in this way I had been able to review these events with a kind of emotional detachment as if they had happened to somebody else. I was rediscovering and getting to know people who were long since dead and forgotten. I had dredged up things I had no idea existed. People, faces, names, places, feelings, bits of knowledge, all waiting for inspection. It was a giant cleansing of all the garbage and muck that had accumulated in my brain, a gentle catharsis. And because of that, I suppose, I could now see much more clearly into my present relationships with people and with myself. And I was happy, there is simply no other word for it.” -Robyn Davidson, Tracks
“The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and the most difficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision.” -Robyn Davidson
"Only in the print of pilgrims actually ascending the mountain does the familiar shape that unites the other prints vanish. When we are attracted, we draw near, when we draw near, the sight that attracted us dissolves: the face of the beloved blurs or fractures as one draws near for a kiss, the smooth cone of Mt. Fuji becomes rough rock form underfoot to blot out the sky in Hokusai’s print of the mountain pilgrims. The objective form of the mountain seems to dissolve into subjective experience, and meaning of walking up a mountain fragments. --Rebecca Solnit. Wanderlust, p.148
“On Saturday night the city joined in the promenade on Market Street, the broad thoroughfare that begins at the waterfront and cuts its straight path of miles to Twin Peaks. The sidewalks were wide and the crowd walking toward the bay met the crowd walking toward the ocean. The outpouring of the population was spontaneous, as if in response to an urge for instant celebration. Every quarter of the city discharged its residents into the broad procession. Ladies and gentlemen of imposing social repute; their German and Irish servant girls, arms held fast in the arms of their sweethearts; French, Spaniards, gaunt, hard-working Portuguese; Mexicans, the Indian showing in reddened skin and high cheekbone—everybody, anybody, left home and shop, hotel, restaurant, and beer garden to empty into Market Street in a river of color. Sailors of every nation deserted their ships at the waterfront and, hurrying up Market Street in groups, joined the vibrating mass excited by the lights and stir and the gaiety of the throng. ‘This is San Francisco,’ their faces said. It was carnival; no confetti, but the air a criss-cross of a thousand messages; no masks, but eyes frankly charged with challenge. Down Market from Powell to Kearny, three long blocks, up Kearny to Bush, three short ones, then back again, over and over for hours, until a glance of curiosity deepened to one of interest; interest expanded into a smile, and a smile into anything. Father and I went downtown every Saturday night. We walked through avenues of light in a world hardly solid. Something was happening everywhere, every minute, something to be happy about… . We walked and walked and still something kept happening afresh.” --Harriet Lane Levy, 920 O’Farrell Street
“On ordinary days we each walk alone or with a companion or two on the sidewalks, and the streets are used for transit and for commerce. On extraordinary days—on the holidays that are anniversaries of historic and religious events and on the days we make history ourselves— we walk together, and the whole street is stamping out the meaning of the day. Walking, which can be prayer, sex, communion with the land, or musing, becomes speech in these demonstrations and uprisings, and a lot of history has been written with the feet of citizens walking through their cities. Such walking is a bodily demonstration of political or cultural conditions and one of the most universally available forms of public expression. It could be called marching, in that it is common movement toward a common goal, but the participants have not surrendered their individuality as have those soldiers whose lockstep signifies that they have become interchangeable units under an absolute authority. Instead, they signify the possibility of common ground between people who have not ceased to be different from each other, people who have at last become the public. When bodily movement becomes a form of speech then the distinctions between words and deeds, between representations and actions, begin to blur, and so marches can themselves be liminal, another form of walking into the realm of the representational and symbolic— and sometimes, into history.”
--Rebecca Solnit. Wanderlust, p.235
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Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Uncertainty is the space of hope
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| @https://www.flickr.com/photos/dariuszka/ |
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