Spiritual Resources

The following is a list of resources that have been prepared that address the issues surrounding racism. Please feel free to share this list with others.

On Catholicism and Racism

• Pastoral Letter on Racism – Open Wide Our Hearts
• Study Guide for Open Wide Our Hearts
• Catholic Social Teaching and Racism
• Pope Francis and the US Bishops Respond to the Killing of George Floyd

Jesuit Resources

• Georgetown University – Dialogue with Archbishop Gregory on Racism in Our Streets and Structures
• Ignatian Solidarity Network – Faith in Action Responding to Racial Injustice, which includes links to information about webinars, recent articles, and reflections.
• Jesuit Social Research Institute – Racism, which includes links to information about recent articles and resources.

Prayerful Resources

• An Examen for Racism
• Discernment in Times of Injustice
• Prayers for Racial Justice and Reconciliation
• Pax Christi – Black Lives Matter: Pray, Study, Act
• Prayer Service for Racial Healing
• Prayer for the Elimination of Racism
• Prayer to Address the Sin of Racism

Books

• Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson
• Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century, Dorothy Roberts
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander
• Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, Bryan N. Massingale
• When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-century America, Ira Katznelson
• The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America, Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism, Robin DiAngelo
• Storming Caesars Palace: How Black Mothers Fought Their Own War on Poverty, Annelise Orleck
• America’s Original Sin, Jim Wallis

Here is a list of prayerful resources that have been prepared in response to the coronavirus. Please feel free to share this list with others.

If you are interested in prayerful resources related to Ignatian Spirituality ….

• Here is an Examen that was created in response to COVID-19.
• In addition to the Examen, the Ignatian Solidarity Network has created these Prayers and Resources in response to COVID-19.
• Here is a Meditation for the Anxious.
• Ignatian Spiritualty contains many prayerful resources, including Ignatian Wisdom for Troubled Times and, in addition to the Examen noted above, a Coronavirus response lesson for children in parishes and schools
• Pray As You Go has daily prayers by the Jesuits of Britain. Also now is Pray As You Stay, a weekly online retreat in response to COVID-19. There is also a library of Prayer Tools: the tool highlighted for this week is loneliness.
• Sacred Space is the prayer website for the Irish Jesuits, with a Reflection on the coronavirus.
• The Jesuit Prayer Team provides reflections on Scripture as well as short biographies on the “Blessed Among Us,” the ordinary people who led extraordinary lives who have gone before us
• God In All Things contains many prayerful resources, including an Audio Meditation on “Beloved.”
• Heart to Heart also contains a series of prayerful resources, including Practices for the Pandemic – The Sign of the Cross Mediation and Seeds of Hope Lenten Series.
• There is a Three Minute Retreat from Loyola Press.
• Do you like podcasts? Jesuit podcasts can be found at AMDG: A Jesuit Podcast and Jesuitical.
• Would you like to keep moving? Ignatian Yoga may be something for you.
• Here is a link to Practices for the Pandemic – Sign of the Cross presented by Fr. Michael Sparough, S.J.

Other prayerful resources

• Give Us This Day, a monthly publication of Scripture and reflections, is offering its digital version without charge.
• The Hallow app is a Catholic mediation app.
• Another podcast? Here is one from Inside the Vatican.
• Would you like to participating in liturgy electronically? Pope Francis’s Daily Mass from Casa Santa Marta and Bishop Barron’s Daily Mass are available, as well as Sunday Mass that are archived and livestreamed on Sunday in the Albany Diocese.
• Holy Week at Home prepared by Liturgical Press.

Would you prefer a prayer? Here are some.

• Prayer for Healing
• Prayer for Peace and Solidarity in a Time of the Pandemic.
• Pope’s Prayer to Mary
• Prayer for Conscience and Courage During Times of Public Struggle

Reflections about living during this time

• From Jim Martin, SJ, Faith in the Time of the Coronavirus
• From Simcha Fischer, Good and Beautiful Things I’ve Seen Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
• From Richard Rohr, OFM, Love Alone Overcomes Fear
• From Thomas Reese, Spirituality in a Time of Quarantine
• From Arturo Sosa, SJ, Superior General of the Jesuits, What Part of the Path to God does COVID-19 show us?