Spirituality for Peace and Justice: Book on Christian Spirituality

By Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

Book on Christian Spirituality

This is a book of poems on Christian spirituality as response to personal crises in life, woes and struggles of women, natural calamities, violence and terror. This book expresses poetic sensitivity to some events in our history that reflect conflicts in culture, religion and ideologies. This is spirituality from the eyes of faith, attempting to read the signs of our time in the light of the source of love and life that has called us to be responsible stewards as we commit ourselves to acts of love, compassion, peace and justice.

These poems were written during my time as a student, teacher, pastor, ecumenical and community worker in the Philippines, as a missionary in Nepal, teacher, wife, mother, and as a cultural worker in Denmark, stretching a period of more than twenty years. I offer this book of poems to those who seek life, to those who despair, and to those who want to be inspired. Christian spirituality is in the human heart in its encounter with the wounded and resurrected Christ.

In celebrating beauty and human creativity, I have illustrated some poems with my own paintings done during my integration process as a foreigner in Denmark. (EPO)

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496988324

Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

Elizabeth originally comes from the Philippines, graduated Cum Laude from the combined degree program of Silliman University, Dumaguete City, Philippines as a teacher and pastor. She served as High School teacher and as pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines while carrying out relief and rehabilitation work for the typhoon-stricken fishing islands. With support from the World Council of Churches in Geneva, she had the chance to take up ecumenical studies at Bossey Ecumenical Institute, also getting exposures to some sponsoring non-government organizations in Europe, engaged in Philippine rehabilitation-development work. She joined her Danish husband, Jens Christian Olesen, in mission-development work under the United Mission to Nepal as sent out by the former Danish Santal Mission in Denmark, which at present is called Dan Mission. Within 5 years in Nepal, she carried out literacy program for Nepali women and taught English at Butwal Campus, Tribhuvan University. The family was stationed in the Philippines from 1991 to 1995 where Elizabeth served as consultant to the Central Visayas Ecumenical Fellowship of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines. In 1995 her family moved to Denmark. Willing to be integrated into the new country, she took up teacher’s education in Danish language, and later was employed as a public school teacher for 8 years, teaching subjects like music, religious studies, history, art, and Danish as second language. In 2010 she took up the job as cross-cultural worker in Kolding Deanery, a church entity which consists of 31 local churches with the common project for foreigners, refugees and immigrants. Elizabeth was diagnosed as cancer patient by the time she took up the recent job and declared healthy after a battle of treatment. She continues to work for the life of the church. She hopes that church’s work for strangers will contribute to the common task of building peace and justice in our world. During free time, she writes poems and paints images of love, joy,faith and hope.

Book preview

2014 Elizabeth Padillo Olesen. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/25/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8831-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-8832-4 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Table of Contents

1.   The Language of Love

Love in its Purity

L O V E, Acrostic

Love Beyond Measure

Love

To Be Loved

Oh, Wake Me up to a New Day of Love

Bathe me with your Love

When Two Hearts Beat as One

Fear to Love

Valentine, Acrostic

Find Me a Valentino, February 14

Celebrate Life!

A Psalm of Hope

Star of Bethlehem

Language of the Heart

2.   The Source of Love and Life

The Image of God

A Call upon the Lord

Fountain of God’s Grace

Come to the Author of Life

Light of the World

Advent (Acrostic)

Christmas, Acrostic

Three Kings and the Star of Hope

Palm Sunday

Lent on a Chaplaincy Service

Agent of Reconciliation

The Search for God`s Presence

Listen to the Whisper of your Soul

Jesus Entering into our Basement

Wanderings in the Wilderness

Prayer in the Wilderness

A Confession

3.   When Life Hurts

To my Father

Grappling with Loss

Thoughts on Hingotanan, an Island Not on the Map

Human Decay and Fragility

Tears and the Lilies

When Cancer Eats up the Body

Utter Surrender to God

Countdown to Surgery, a Prayer

A Note on the Way to the Hospital

Under the Cobalt Machine

When We Say Goodbye

Conquest at the Hospice

Violent Silence

Divorce

A Wall Between Us (On Human Alienation)

The Missing Link

Longing

Loneliness

Let Me Embrace Lonely Distance

Of Friendship and Human Alienation

A Song to the Sea

Flight MH370

Flight 370, How Long?

MH 17 (Malaysian Airlines)

From the Perspective of Heaven, Mountainous Burdens of Man

Wrestling with God

To Be Alive

My Shepherd on the Road to Emmaus

I Have Crossed the Mile

4.   Women: Blood and Tears

Bride Burning… Women Burning

Women Who Bear the Pain over Life that Is Wasted in War

The Wailing Women in Kosovo

In One Fantasy Club in Manila

If our Societies Were Patriarchal

Eyes for Emeneh

Women, Who Are You?

Woman Made a Punching Bag of Man

Woman’s Defeat

The Battered Woman

The Woman behind Burke

The Woman, Stoned to Death

Women Trafficking in Europe

Christina Green, an Angel in Arizona

To the Massacred Children from Oklahoma to Scotland

Small Children in Prison

Wolves Are Roaming Around Our Schools

Gun Culture

Boko Haram, Listen to the Mothers

Mother to a Child (haiku)

Mother’s Face

Mothers, We Salute You!

The Bell Tolls

Do You Know Your Woman?

Women in Beijing in one September

Menstrual Blood

Transient Clay in the Cancer Ward

In Every Woman a Diana

5.   The Mystery of Human Existence

Life`s Polarities

Transcendence

Summer and Easter

Rationality of Faith

Faith

Haiti Survivor

The Human Will

A Good Life

Catch a Dream

Come and Play your Music Well

Simple Jewels

A Walk on the Snow

6.   Tentacles of Terror and Fury of Nature

World Trade Center

No Epitaph for a Suicide Bomber

Give Us a Break from Suicide Attacks

Beauty and Evil Design in Mumbai, India

Ethnic Cleansing

Terrorism, Her Name

When Love Is Butchered

Persecuted Christians

Tsunami and the Angel of Death

Water, Water, Water

And the Waters Come Raging

Pakistan, Let Us Weep

After the Super Typhoon Haiyan

The Icelandic Volcano

Hungarian Nightmare

Let`s Go Fishing Today

LAMPEDUSA (acrostic)

Lamentation over Philippine Election

The Singing Dolphins in Taiji

When Elephants Cry

Landslides in Nepal

A Plea to Hurricane Sandy

Aftermath of Haiyan

Typhoon Belt

7.   In Fellowship and Service

Hope When We Gather

Come to the Feast

The Rise and Fall of Notes

Lighting a Candle

Memorial Service for the Victims of Terror

A Miracle Of Faith (Rescued Chilean Miners)

Haiti and Solidarity

In solidarity with Haiti

Rescue Operation in Japan

Come, Let Us Rebuild (with Japan in our hearts and minds)

Heartbeats for Japan

Work for Nuclear Disarmament

The Earth’s Call for Responsible Stewards

Congratulations, Fogh!

The Silent Week

We Need You This Easter, Christ

Conquering the Human Heart (Lenten Season)

Jesus, a Refugee

8.   Reading the Signs of Times

Reveal Your Face this Easter Morning

To the Lord of Creation

We Have Danced Tango

Apartheid and God’s Grace

Demand for Human Treatment

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered, August 2011

Megaphones of Injustice

Mahatma Gandhi and the Ganges River

The Black Poison in the Mexican Gulf

Impotence to Love

Nuclear Testing

Landmines And Amputees

Kosovo

Can One Forget the Genocide in Rwanda?

The Boxing Match

Afghanistan, the Host

A Song for Iraq

Why Are We in Iraq?

9.   Hunger and Lop-Sided Development

A Man without a Name

Scattered Gypsies in Modern Europe

Behold the Least of my Brethren

Images of Hunger

When Hunger Strikes

BUENAVISTA, The Land of Good Sight

The Other Man, Cheaper than the Houses of God

We Cry for Food and They Give us Bullets

SQUATTERS (Slum-Dwellers)

A Tribute to the Filipino People EDSA Revolution

Egyptian Revolution 2011

EGYPT at her Boiling Point

Road to Damascus

Syria on the March!

The Forgotten Syria

Father Frans of Syria

Crater of a Volcano, Crying for Freedom

Just War?

Is There Another Way Out?

Pirates of the Sea

The Promised Land for Both Jews and Palestinians

Common Heritage

The Mockery Of My Faith

Where Is our Humanity Today?

Success-addicted Society

A Journey to the Heart

10.   Epilogue: Peace And Justice

And We Think We Have Absolute Ownership of God

Irony of Blasphemy Act

Peace

War, war, war!

The Game of Mistrust

Hamas and Israel

Peace and Enemies

Climate Justice in Durban

Web of Freedom

A Tribute to Kamalesh Biswas

Qunu, South Africa

To Nelson Mandela

SONG OF CELEBRATION

Let Us Build Bridges

Where the Wind Blows, There Falls the Seed

Spirituality for Combat: A Reflection

March On

OF STARS AND SERVANTS

Universal and Ultimate Values

Mountains of Convictions

Toxins in the Mind

Power

Between the Rich and the Poor

Enough of Your Weapons!

Brother Roger of Taizè

Mother Theresa

Mothers in the World

Enter into our Jerusalem, Jesus

Drink from the River of Silence

The Shepherd and Abundant Life

The Wounded Christ

RENEWAL

If ever I Must Sing as Poets Have

When the Sun Illuminates the Sapphire Sky

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I would like to

dedicate this book of poems to my beloved husband, Jens Christian Olesen, and to our four children- Anna Beatriz, Jenny Eliza, Maya Celeste and Philip Andreas.Through them I have seen God’s love and abiding faithfulness in times of joy and sorrow.

To Bastian Hyldahl, children’s cousin who spent 6 years of his young life as member in our family, I dedicate this book; he who inspired me by the good comments he made on my paintings as a young child.

I would like to offer this book to churches throughout the world, that bring light and hope to communities where they exist and serve, and to all individuals, groups or organizations- secular or religious- that seek to make difference in the life of peoples and for the whole of creation.

May this work inspire us all for our common work for peace and justice in our world!

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Seeking the Waters, 50x60 cm, acryl on canvas, EPO

1

The Language of Love

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Love in its Purity

Love is language of the heart;

it is prose and poetry.

It is in film or comedy

and yet nothing can fathom

its own depth, height or breadth.

Love is a dream in every heart,

an object of conquest and war.

It mirrors greed, pride and honor

and yet love’s own purity remains

above intrigues and heroic motives.

Love is a gift from above -

an agape love from the heart of God.

We humans can abuse it,

ignore it, trample on it, burn it

but love surfaces out so purely

in its inmost beauty to protect,

affirm, preserve and uphold life.

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Many Faces of Sorrow, 60x80 cm, acryl on canvas

L O V E, Acrostic

L