The Great O’s
TL, DR: The Second Coming is now.
by Lucy Tucker Yates
The prayers of the O Antiphons, the Great Antiphons of Advent, are the most urgent, elegant condensation of humanness I know of. As in the circular breathing of an oboist, the words on our lips give life to generations past. They focus centuries of adoration, impatience, woundedness like a spotlight. They are the poetry I would send out into space.
We Have an Announcement to Make
You and I gain nothing from Mary’s yes unless we each begin to seek out and recognize and affirm the incarnate body of eternal Love in the fragile and fleeting stuff of our own daily existence. If only it were enough to say yes once a day, or once weekly, when we respond amen to the body of infinite Good on earth! Unfortunately, one daily amen is worth less than none at all if it betrays a lie at the heart of our lives: that we say yes with our lips, while our hearts, at every other moment, are far from him.
May We Be as Free as Simeon and Anna
February 2, 2021 marks the five year anniversary of 501(c)3 nonprofit status for Revolution of Tenderness. On this day, we renew our pledge to take up God's challenge to count the stars, and we are dead earnest in our commitment to laugh at the wonder of new life and light that Christ constantly pours out and leaves puddled everywhere around us.
You Will Be Found: The 2020 Festival of Friendship Ushers an Online Revolution of Tenderness
What bread could we possibly share with those far removed from us, or even with those geographically close, whom we cannot visit out of concern for each other’s health and welfare? How could we possibly share a meal with someone who has passed away? The answers to these questions will point us to a way through. We all desperately need to be found. The Festival this year has provided us with the assurance that we will be found... that even you will be found.
Feast of St. Charles, Final Day of the Double Novena
St. Charles used his own family funds to support the needs of the impoverished and to set up hospitals and hospices for the sick and dying during the plague of Milan. Through his intercession, and that of master fundraiser, St. Martin de Porres, we are confident in reaching our goal for Revolution of Tenderness’s end of year campaign. Please give generously.
Martin de Porres Litany in Honor of His Feast Today
Join us today as we pray this beautiful litany in honor of St. Martin on his feast day.
St Martin’s Feast (Double Novena, Day 9)
Today we’ll look at a very different piece of music, Black Christ of the Andes, composed and performed by jazz giant, Mary Lou Williams, in 1962, the same year that St. Martin de Porres was canonized
Double Novena Day 8
St. Charles and St. Martin each inspired composers to write glorious music about their extraordinary presence in the world. The selfless and heroic charity that St. Charle exhibited while caring for the plague-stricken citizens of Milan inspired Marc-Antoine Charpentier to compose a motet, “Pestis Mediolanensis” (“The Plague of Milan”).
Special All Saints Day Prayers for the Double Novena (Day 7)
The vast majority of saints never defy the laws of physics and never have mystical experiences. Their one claim to heaven was love, and they loved so well, according to the pattern of love that Jesus showed us, that they initiated others into the Holy Trinity’s companionship of Love.
San Carlo and San Martín, Day 6
We are full of wonder and gratitude to announce that, due to the generosity of our most committed donors, we have already received over $8,000 in gifts; this brings us more than halfway to our end of year campaign goal of $14,000. We need you to join us in fostering dialogue and healing in the public sphere. Your contribution makes you a standard-bearer in the cause to build a culture of encounter and mutual respect. Please contribute to our end of year campaign today. Revolution of Tenderness is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. All donations are tax-deductible.
Your One Wild and Precious Life: End of Year Campaign
We are full of wonder and gratitude to announce that, due to the generosity of our most committed donors, we have already received over $8,000 in gifts, which bring us more than halfway to our end of year campaign goal of $14,000. We need you to join us in building a culture of dialogue and healing in the public sphere. Your contribution makes you a standard-bearer in the cause to build a culture of encounter and mutual respect.
Day Five of the Double Novena
This coming Sunday, November 1st, in honor of All Saints’ Day, we will begin releasing the videos from the 2020 Festival of Friendship. We will host a watch party for our first two videos, “Like a Boss: Presentation on St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Calcutta” and “A Cloud of Witnesses: Gracie Morbitzer’s Icons of Modern Saints.” We hope that by making these videos available through our youtube channel, our friends in other time zones will be able to enjoy the extraordinarily convivial experience of our Festival.
St. Charles and St. Martin, Day 4
Martin was able to raise extraordinary sums of money because he was willing to visit the Spanish nobles of Peru in order to beg on behalf of the poor and suffering. Emboldened by his example, we would like to beg that you donate to Revolution of Tenderness.
Double Novena, Day 3
The Revolution of Tenderness needs your help. We are in the final days of our 8th Festival of Friendship, an experience that has enriched and sustained our lives in wholly unexpected and beautiful ways. We are not asking you to sell your furniture, as St. Charles did! But please be generous toward our end of year campaign, through Network for Good. Every donation is tax deductible.
Revised St. Charles and St. Martin Novenas, Day 2
Each year since our founding, we have prayed novenas to ask for Marin’s help in finding donors who will support our revolution of tenderness. And each year, he’s come through for us! This year, as you pray the double novena with us, please prayerfully consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work.
Your One Wild and Precious Life
Join us on this adventure. Share your ideas, your help, your ardent prayers, your particular talents, your resources, and your energy as together we prepare our 9th annual Festival of Friendship. Your one wild and precious life cannot be substituted or duplicated.
The Enormous Room
First among the conditions needed for finding and generating novel, creative, and ingenious human responses – in any and all circumstances – is an “enormous room.” We want this blog, and indeed all the work of Revolution of Tenderness, to open up this enormous space of possibility.