“The Weekend Wanderer” is a weekly curated selection of news, stories, resources, and media on the intersection of faith and culture for you to explore through your weekend. Wander through these links however you like and in any order you like. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed within these articles but have found them thought-provoking.
“For Those Who Struggle With Prayer” – Winn Collier at his Substack: “I grew up hearing stories of ‘travailing prayer,’ moving accounts of rigorous prayer warriors who spent hours in their prayer closets (figurative and literal) laboring over the sick, the heartbroken, the cataclysmic state of the world. The travailing image is potent and beautiful, emerging from the prophet Isaiah describing prayer as ‘a pregnant woman about to give birth, writhing and crying in her pain.’ One man fasted and prayed 40 days and nights, nothing but water and juice and persistence, and the stories of his experience were moving. A missionary couple, serving orphans a meal with the last scraps of food in the cabinet, pleaded with God as they did every day—and within the hour a delivery truck pulled up with a full load of donated goods. Grandmothers spent hours on their knees every morning beseeching God to help their grandchildren who were struggling and their litany of friends in the hospital or grieving or alone. These stories were inspiring, but they also felt heroic. I tried really hard to follow the example, but focusing more than 10 minutes was herculean. My prayer list took all of 3 minutes, then I was lost. In college, I went to our prayer room before dawn only to wake up, startled and embarrassed, when another student shuffled into the room. Few things triggered guilt and shame like my failure to pray the way others prayed.”
“Pope Leo XIV approves new Mass centered on care for the environment” – Claire Giangravé at Religion News Service: “As record‑breaking heat waves scorch much of Europe — with triple‑digit temperatures, wildfires and deaths reported — the Vatican on Thursday (July 3) released a new liturgy for the Mass reflecting concern for the environment, offering prayers, readings and hymns that highlight the church’s responsibility to protect the Earth. This new Mass ‘can be used to ask God for the ability to care for creation,’ said Cardinal Michael Czerny, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for Integral Human Development, at a press conference. The new Mass, Pro Custodia Creationis (For the Care of Creation), was initially ordered by Pope Francis, who made the environment a major theme of his papacy and the subject of his second encyclical, ‘Laudato Si’,’ subtitled ‘On Care for Our Common Home,’ in 2015. Pope Leo XIV has signaled that creation care will be a key area of interest for him as well and a point of continuity between Leo and his predecessors on social issues, especially the environment. Leo will celebrate the new Mass privately on Wednesday at the Borgo Laudato Si’, an eco-village Francis commissioned in the gardens of the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. Pro Custodia Creationis will be added to the existing list of 17 Masses for special civil needs, which also include Masses for the harvest, rain and migrants, and it’s inspired by Francis’ ‘green’ encyclical, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.”
“In temples and churches, sensory rooms remove barriers for neurodivergent worshipers” – Kathryn Post in Religion News Service: “From organ blasts and incense to forced hugs and handshakes, for folks who struggle to process sensory input, houses of worship can quickly feel anything but holy. That was the case for Lark Losardo’s son Percy, who in 2017 began attending Catholic Mass with his family at age 7. Percy, who is autistic, was often overwhelmed by the Brooklyn church’s open space, noise and crowds. At first, when he needed to move around or stim (engage in repetitive actions to self-regulate), he’d leave the service with a parent. Eventually, in part because of the barriers to attending as a family, they stopped coming altogether. Then, in 2020, the Losardos moved to Maplewood, New Jersey. After watching online services at a nearby Catholic parish called St. Joseph’s during the pandemic, Lark Losardo learned in 2024 that the parish was opening a sensory room equipped with regulation tools, including a weighted blanket, touch pillow, ear defenders and sound machine. Thanks to that room, today Percy is back in the pews, using the room to regroup whenever needed. ‘It speaks volumes,’ Lark Losardo told Religion News Service. ‘Not everyone needs this space, but just having it there sends a very clear message.'”
“A Disabled Savior: The wounds of a resurrected God help us live with ours” – Devan Stahl in Plough: “In my early twenties, during my first year of divinity school, illness profoundly disrupted my life: I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. I struggled with how to cope with this new reality, unable to imagine what my future would hold. I had never considered that I might become disabled, much less how God related to disability. Of course, this was shortsightedness on my own part: while not everyone will experience chronic illness, almost all of us will experience disability if we live long enough. Coming to terms with this reality is essential for all Christians, because we experience God in and through our bodies. My diagnosis, as well as myriad new medical experiences, led me to pursue a career in theological bioethics. I now split my time between research, teaching, and service to a local hospital as a clinical ethicist. In my clinical work, I spend a lot of time with people who are ill and facing difficult choices in the hospital. I meet with patients and families who are distressed because illness has turned their lives upside down. I meet with physicians, nurses, and other care providers who are experiencing incredible levels of moral distress. Being ill and caring for those who are ill have always been difficult, but the US health care system and health care workers are stretched thinner than ever. As we struggle to cope with this level of collective illness we might ask: Why would God allow this? Why weren’t our bodies made more resilient?”
“Bring Anger under the Yoke of Reason” – St. Ambrose at Renovaré: “Let anger be guarded against. If it cannot, however, be averted, let it be kept within bounds. For indignation is a terrible incentive to sin. It disorders the mind to such an extent as to leave no room for reason. The first thing, therefore, to aim at, if possible, is to make tranquillity of character our natural disposition by constant practice, by desire for better things, by fixed determination. But since passion is to a large extent implanted in our nature and character, so that it cannot be uprooted and avoided, it must be checked by reason, if, that is, it can be foreseen. And if the mind has already been filled with indignation before it could be foreseen or provided against in any way, we must consider how to conquer the passion of the mind, how to restrain our anger, that it may no more be so filled.”
“Pope expresses sadness after Israeli strike on Gaza church kills three” – Yolande Knell & David Gritten at BBC News: “Pope Leo XIV has renewed his call for a Gaza ceasefire after three people sheltering in the Catholic church in Gaza City were killed in an Israeli strike. A telegram said the Pope was ‘deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack’ on the Holy Family Church. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees the church, said it was ‘struck by the Israeli army.’ Nine other people were wounded, one of whom is in a critical condition in hospital. The parish priest was lightly injured. Israel’s foreign ministry said it regretted any harm to a religious site or uninvolved civilians and the Israeli military said the incident was under review. Many displaced families from Gaza’s small Christian community have been living in the church compound since the war began after their own homes were destroyed.”
Music: Paul Zach, Jessica Fox, IAMSON, “Total Praise,” Fox Palmer Zach.
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Matthew Erickson 