Shelter in Place (by Jim Silva)

Shelter in Place

by Jim Silva

We’d shelter in place 
if we had one
a place to call home refuge sanctuary
an abode
where we could abide
a dwelling place
with a door
to open and close
and a roof
to cover our heads.

We’d shelter in place
 if there was such a place
in this homeless world.

But seeing how there’s not
we’ve found shelter
 elsewhere
found a place to abide and to dwell
found a place to call home.

Home
is where the heart is. 
That’s all anyone really has 
when you get right down to it.
The heart a home
spacious as the sky
warm as the womb
the one thing we possess
that no one can take from us.

Come along, Neighbor
open the door
find your way inside
and maybe just maybe 
you’ll welcome me, too 
home.

Jim Silva
April 5, 2020

Jim Silva attends the 10am Sunday Mass. You have seen him in the choir, lectoring, and cantoring. He is often seen with Colleen, who happens to be his wife. He is also a life coach. Look for his ad in the back of our bulletin.

If The Last Supper Were Today

Been Tested Yet?

Been Tested Yet?

by Jim Silva

 Had we but known

that we are actually all one body

(yes, the whole lot of us!)

working as one

we on this planet

would have created

all the antibodies we need

long ago.

Been tested yet?

For that other virus, I mean.

The incredibly virulent one

that makes COVID

look like a wimp.

Tribalism

by any other name.

In our country

the tribes gather.

We rant, we rave, we finger point.

Meanwhile, COVID knows the truth:

We are actually one.

And in this our world

tribe against tribe 

scramble for the same resources

as if boundaries

mean what they used to.

But COVID knows otherwise.

The day is coming

and is in fact already here

among us,

the day when 

truth will set us free.

Been tested yet?

April 4, 2020

Jim Silva attends the 10am Sunday Mass. You have seen him in the choir, lectoring, and cantoring. He is often seen with Colleen, who happens to be his wife. He is also a life coach. Look for his ad in the back of our bulletin.

Loaves & Fishes during the Pandemic (April 4, 2020)

Defenseless - by Jim Silva

Defenseless

Left to our own devices
each in a digital world
of our own making
we are defenseless.

This is not all bad.

Those defenses
the ones we thought so insurmountable
amounted to nothing more
than child’s play
when COVID came to town.

In what, then, do we put stock?
In markets we trust
got us this far and no further. 
(What’s that crashing sound you hear?)

For the sake of our children
and our children’s children
in what do we invest our souls now? 
What is our heart’s desire?

Another world
free of our usual defenses
is what we’re dreaming into being 
right now.

All it takes is hope.

Jim Silva
April 5, 2020

Jim Silva attends the 10am Sunday Mass. You have seen him in the choir, lectoring, and cantoring. He is often seen with Colleen, who happens to be his wife. He is also a life coach. Look for his ad on the back of our bulletin.

We Rivet, We Pivot, We Rise

 We Rivet, We Pivot, We Rise

by Jim Silva

Riveting

to this virus with a crown

all eight billion of us two-legged ones

now know

how it feels to act as one

simultaneously.

Now we know

in the marrow of our bones

we are not alone.

Even quarantined

like it or not

we are all in this together

focusing as never before.

Like sunlight through a magnifying glass

whose laser-like intensity

burns right through

the fogs that separate us,

we rivet

And pivot to choices unimaginable

just a few days ago

we see

we feel

and now we know:

This is our time

this moment strangely auspicious

when all of us are learning all at once

how coming together

is the only way through.

We rivet, we pivot,

and now we rise

above the virus and the viral

above the echo chambers

of our collective mind

we rise high enough finally to see

Clearly

washing our hands of the virus

is only the beginning.

The true work of our hands

yet awaits us:

bringing our planet back in balance

healing nature and nations

opening our hearts as one

and so we rise.                               

          Jim Silva        March 23, 2020

Jim Silva attends the 10am Sunday Mass. You have seen him in the choir, lectoring, and cantoring. He is often seen with Colleen, who happens to be his wife. He is also a life coach. Look for his ad in the back of our bulletin.

Our Response to Covid-19

We living in challenging and fearful times with this mysterious and dangerous virus. This is where our faith is so important, especially Jesus’ repeated message, “Do not be afraid.” He is with us always in our broken world. No matter what the world throws at us, we are always to be God’s faithful children, following the example of Lord in His passion, to respond with love, charity, compassion, and hope.

Our bishop has issued a statement suspending all public Masses in the Oakland diocese given the “shelter-in-place” policy for Alameda county. Catholics of the diocese are also dispensed from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass. We will be having Mass every day, and you can join us in prayer by live streaming it through our YouTube link or our Facebook Video link.

With the “shelter-in-place” policy, our parish group meetings have been canceled. Please check our website regularly to see if your group is meeting online.

Please don’t forget to wash your hands often and honor social distancing. We want to do our part to starve this virus from finding human hosts and help eradicate it. Also don’t forget to call mom and others often. Social distancing does not mean we have to socially disconnected.

Our bishop writes,

“In this time of need, I invite all the faithful to seek together the maternal intercession of our Blessed Mother.

O Mary,
you shine always on our way
as a sign of safety and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who at the foot of the Cross bound yourself to the suffering of Jesus,
keeping strong in your faith .
O Salvation of God’s People,
you know what we need,
and we are sure you will provide it for us
just as at Cana of Galilee,
the joy and feasting could return
after that moment of trial.
Mother of Divine Love, help us,
to conform ourselves to the will of the Father
and to do what Jesus tells us,
He who has took upon Himself our sufferings
and is marked by our sorrows
and so lead us, through the cross,
to the joy of the resurrection.
Amen.

Bishop’s Memorandum - Liturgy during coronavirus outbreak (update 5)

Bishop’s Memorandum - Liturgy during coronavirus outbreak (update 3)