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Shakespeare made familiar the names of Macbeth and Macduff, Duncan and Malcolm; but it is not always remembered that Malcolm married an English princess, Margaret, about 1070.

We seem to be living in an era of increasing political violence, particularly assassinations. That is never an acceptable solution to our issues. We do have a history of it and of rhetoric encouraging the demonization of people different from us. In Indiana, the Ku Klux Klan had a huge base in the 1920s. They were very much involved with the churches and proclaimed a Christian faith alongside their bigotries. I was happy to know that Gethsemane, the parish I served, was one of the few in Marion’s downtown to refuse to host them or take money from them.

Francis, the son of a prosperous merchant of Assisi, was born in 1182. His early youth was spent in harmless revelry and fruitless attempts to win military glory.

Various encounters with beggars and lepers pricked the young man’s conscience, and he decided to embrace a life devoted to Lady Poverty. Despite his father’s intense opposition, Francis totally renounced all material values, and devoted himself to serve the poor. In1210 Pope Innocent the Third confirmed the simple Rule for the Order of Friars Minor, a name Francis chose to emphasize his desire to numbered among the “least” of God’s servants.

Recently I saw a Facebook post from Bishop Doug Sparks, my Bishop from the Diocese of Northern Indiana where I remain canonically resident. He’s concerned about a proposal to build an immigrant detention center in his diocesan territory. It would be located about an hour away from my former parish, so it feels a bit personal. The center is being called “Speedway Slammer” after the Indianapolis Speedway.

Hildegard of Bingen, born in 1098 in the lush Rhineland Valley, was a mystic, poet, composer, dramatist, scientist. Her parents’ tenth child, she was tithed to the Church and raised by the anchoress Jutta in a cottage near the Benedictine mon-astery of Disibodenberg.

I got called out at 1:00 a.m. recently for a CPR in progress at the Tacoma Women’s Shelter. I was surprised. Usually shelters have their own staff and don’t require a chaplain from the fire department. The medical examiner will come to take the person since they are usually there alone without family and with no means for engaging a funeral home.

Laurence the Deacon, one of the most popular saints of the Roman Church, was martyred during the persecution initiated in 257 by the Emperor Valerian. That persecution was aimed primarily at the clergy and the laity of the upper classes. All properties used by the Church
were confiscated, and assemblies for Christian worship were forbidden…

This is a fascinating exchange, begun by a lawyer who questions Jesus. There is a lot going on behind the scenes here, as Jesus has been teaching his disciples and others. A lawyer, in this case, is someone expert in both religious and civil law, so he will know the biblical texts. Luke says that the lawyer stood up to address Jesus, which would ordinarily indicate that he intended to recite an answer for the teacher.

Recently I had a 1:00 a.m. call-out from the fire department. They sent me to the Women’s Shelter for a death of one of the residents. I don’t usually get called to the shelter since they always have staff on-scene. This time the engine crew wanted me to talk with a young African woman who was deeply upset by the death she’d witnessed.