Last week Pope Leo XIV issued his first major writing to the global Catholic church, an Apostolic Exhortation – an urgent word of encouragement – on love for the poor, Dilexi Te. As a Mennonite, this theme caught my attention.
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Heading north to Uttarakhand
May 05 2025
We impressed ourselves and each other by gathering promptly at 5:30 a.m. to drive to the train station for the six-hour trip to Haridwar. Once there, we loaded the buses and drove to Rishikesh, a town considered the world capital of yoga (and where the Beatles drew inspiration for several of their albums). There was just enough time for a quick class before our evening activity.
We attended the aarti celebration (a nightly set of evening prayers along the Ganges) and noticed some bodyguards. Turns out that Akash Ambani and Radhika Merchant were there for this particular day. Look up the Ambani family, the richest in India, on Google for more information. Even as outsiders, it felt strange to many of us to see a worship ceremony become a celebrity sighting, as their faces seemed to be instantly known by most of those around us. Some of the students know this couple from TikTok.
An urgent word from the Pope
‘Even in darkness, ever-rising joy’
We have experienced another hard week of gun violence in America. For me, it has been a week of intense emotions – heavy emotions as well as joy and hope. How do we escape the doom loop? How do we stop partaking when it is dished up to us from all sides of the media and culture that we swim in?
Directors’ Corner
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