by Fr. Warren Savage
The racial tension and unrest in Minneapolis and other major cities across the country and the COVID-19 pandemic have only exposed the real pandemic that has infected this nation for four centuries, the pandemic of racism and hatred.
At the moment, my energies are devoted to comforting families that have lost loved ones from the virus, presiding over funeral services and burials, and offering spiritual direction to people who are overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, depression, and uncertainty.
The real work of eradicating racism is not more riots and protests, but the deep spiritual work of transforming human hearts to be what they were created to be, energy fields of love and compassion. We need to promote an inner spiritual revolution of the heart.
I believe the Holy Spirit is calling the whole world to be still, to be contemplative, to be more mindful of the interconnectedness of all people with creation.
In this time of such human upheaval on so many levels, we need to step back and breathe for the whole world, breathe in memory of George Floyd who was killed by a cop’s kneeling on his neck preventing him from breathing as he called out for his Mama! We need to breathe in memory of all the people whose lives are being choked to death by injustices of every sort.
I believe we need a day for the nation and the whole world to step back from everything and breathe for everyone who cannot breathe because of forces choking them to death, cutting them off from the source of life.
Fr. Warren Savage served as the convenor of Agape’s 2018 Francis Day: Voices for Racial Justice, a member of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, founder of the Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center at Westfield State University, international speaker, lecturer and preacher, and close friend of Agape for 30 years.