Today we had our first prayer, fasting and leafleting at Marquette University as students were existing and entering one of the halls. The theme of our leaflet today was the words of our Holy Father on Faith and Violence, namely they are incompatible as Marquette and ROTC are incompatible. Hundreds of students marched passed us, as usual, avoiding eye contact. But more than normal did stop to take a flyer with the words of the Pope. I had made only 82 but they were all gone in our 20 minutes of fasting and leafleting. The first student to take a leaflet from me surprised me when he returned shortly to ask us what he could do to help us. He caught me off guard and speechless. The three of us had no signs except a picture of Mary, mother of Jesus, which one Catholic Worker held up in silence. Afterwards two of us went to Mass at Gesu right next to spot we were leafleting. That was the prayer part. We plan to do this every Wednesday and Thursday in month of September as a way to help us discern what to do next in our struggle to end military training at Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic University. Tomorrow our leaflets will feature quotes from Jesuits, including St. Ignatius of Loyola, on ROTC and military.

Recently I have discovered a few elders, persons older than my age of 70, who I can share thoughts with freely by email or person about moral issues of violence, nonviolence, war and peace. Elders and children give me a sense of peace of mind. The young and old can simplify life into true values and meaning.

We have been harvesting our home gardens these days, tomatoes, kale, basil, eggplants, peppers of various kinds, green beans and more. Some food we eat, some we dehydrate and some we freeze for the winter months. Despite the uncertain weather this summer the garden has been good and remains an anchor in a too busy life.

There are so many distractions of politics, sports, TV, news these days I need to take more time to pray and be silent. Martin Luther King Jr. said something to the effect that the busier he was the more he had to take time to pray and reflect. I am understanding more and more the meaning of “keeping your eye on the prize.”

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