The Righteous Gentiles of World War II, Remembered on July 16

The Righteous Gentiles of World War II, July 16

Carl at Window

“Lord of the Exodus, who delivers your people with a strong hand and a mighty arm: Strengthen your Church with the examples of the righteous Gentiles of World War II, who defied oppression to rescue the innocent, through Jesus Christ.”—Collect of the day: The Righteous Gentiles, July 16, in A Great Cloud of Witnesses (Church Publishing, 2016).

Holy Women, Holy Men was a trial expanded calendar of commemorations of saints authorized by the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, which included many modern people of faith and apostolic action. It was revised to become A Great Cloud of Witnesses (2016). The people remembered on July 16 are the thousands of Christians and people of faith who saved Jews from the Holocaust. One of them was Carl Lutz, an Evangelical Christian Swiss Vice-Counsel in Budapest. Lutz negotiated with the Nazis for the deportation of over 60,000 Hungarian Jews to Palestine, probably saving more lives than any other person.

Lutz had gained permission to issue emigration papers for 8,000 Jews to Palestine. He interpreted this as applying to 8,000 families, thereby saving thousands more. A 2014 American film, Walking with the Enemy, tells of Lutz’s work with Pinchas Rosenbaum in Budapest during the German occupation of Hungary. Lutz also established seventy-six safe houses to hide Jews in Budapest, including the now-famous Glass House, all of which the diplomat declared Swiss territory. 

There is another documentary about Lutz called The Forgotten Hero. I believe each of us is given many opportunities to make a difference in others’ lives. The challenges may not be as dangerous or risky as Lutz’s on the international scene, but in our own environment, they may still demand courage. It is essential to see how creative people who came before us made changes and found loopholes in systems that were beyond awful, when there seemed to be no way out. I can only believe this was the work of the Holy Spirit in the worst of times. May we pray that the same Holy Spirit will work in us today.

We remember the many other righteous Gentiles from all over the world.

wallenberg bingham IV, Lutz, Sugihara, andre and magda trocme

[See Carl Lutz, International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, www.raoulwallenberg.net.]

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

By Living and Listening in Community We Image Gently

By Living and Listening in Community, We Image Gently

“Relationship is not a project; it is a grace.”—Thomas Moore, Soul Mates: Honoring the Mysteries of Love and Relationship (HarperCollins, 1994), p. 256.

My friend, Marilyn Goske, also a pediatric radiologist, spearheaded the Image Gently campaign to reduce radiation exposure to children in diagnostic radiology. The organization encourages physicians to use the minimum necessary radiation when performing tests on children. This guidance applies to conventional X-rays, fluoroscopy, interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, computed tomography, dentistry, cardiac imaging, and imaging in the setting of minor head trauma.

 In addition, the organization aims to educate physicians, technologists, and nurses about the amount of radiation used and the importance of reassuring parents about their concerns. This educational program involves communication with all those directly involved in these studies and with all medical organizations that support them. It has achieved overwhelming success, with more than 1.9 million participants pledging to the program.

Marilyn shows us how to change the world by communicating and dialoguing with all people who share a particular interest. It involves trying to solve a problem, working together, celebrating when answers come, and honoring those who bring the vision to life. In this way, we see the power of community.

I realize how important this could be to our spiritual lives. We find more answers to our spiritual questions in community, whereas we often cannot understand our concerns on our own.

 I remember meeting with my spiritual director, who helped me understand a dream that had baffled me for days. Each morning, I return to the dream and uncover another insight, as though she and all those who have taught me about dreamwork are still guiding me.

We also have many aspects of ourselves: the inner masculine, the inner feminine, the child within, and many more. They reveal answers when we see them as helpful voices rather than unwanted adversaries, especially when they come from our weaker parts. It is in our weakness and vulnerability, especially in community, that God the Holy Spirit creeps in and helps us discern a path where before we saw only a jungle.

In community, we image gently.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

When Our Souls Need to Catch Up With Our Bodies

When Our Souls Fall Behind Our Bodies

Jake Owensby recently told the story of a European Adventurer at the height of Western colonialism in Africa who set out to explore uncharted regions in the heart of that continent. He hired local tribesmen as porters to carry his supplies.

For days, they walked miles of challenging terrain at a relentless pace. The European explorer was obsessed with meeting his goal within the ambitious timetable he had set for the adventure.

One morning, his porters refused to take another step. There was no drama, no revolt. They simply sat down.

The explorer tried everything to get them moving again. Nothing worked. He finally asked, “Why aren’t you moving?”

One of the porters explained, “Our souls have fallen behind our bodies, so we must wait for them to catch up.”

Our souls have fallen behind our bodies so we must wait for them to catch up.1

 This so resonates with me. When our souls have fallen behind our bodies, this isn’t living. It’s merely existing.

But Jesus constantly calls us to a different way, a different pattern of life, that nourishes and cares for the soul even as our bodies grow weary.

The porters were not complaining about carrying heavy burdens. Instead, their ordinary lives had drummed into them a wisdom about carrying burdens that we have yet to learn.

In this life, we all carry burdens. Sometimes heavy, sometimes lighter. To be alive is to bear some burden.

To put that another way, a carefree life is no life at all. We are made in God’s image, designed to care for each other. Caring, being in relationship, is what makes life meaningful.

But in Western culture, we yearn for fulfillment and a life without stress, strain, toil, or anxiety—free of burdens.

We imagine we’ll get there once we reach our career goals, achieve notoriety, become powerful, or accumulate enough wealth.

In the meantime, our energy and attention focus on whatever will get us to that carefree point.

Along the way, we leave our souls behind. We may make immense technological progress, become well-known, and accumulate considerable wealth./ Yet our hearts feel troubled, we develop few friendships, and often our family relationships suffer. We experience anxiety, exhaustion, and alienation.

In this computer age, we make the Evil One’s job of evil a breeze. Hurry, pathological busyness, distraction, smartphone addiction, and the constant stream of alerts and interruptions—all of these cut us off from the Spirit, Christ, God within us. “When the Evil around us cannot make us bad, the Devil makes us busy.” (John Mark Comer, Live No Lies)

Our spiritual challenge is to practice sustained awareness or attention,  living intentionally in the present moment. Christians have long understood that this sustained habit of awareness of God’s presence within and around us does not happen by accident. It requires attentiveness and a pattern.. This is what Christian tradition calls a rule of life.

A rule is a spiritual rhythm for living intentionally in the present moment, experiencing God in the present moment. The present moment is where God meets us. Here we cultivate ongoing awareness of God,  beauty, the earth, and truth in everyday life rather than rushing through each day, each moment on autopilot. We notice what is happening within and around us. The cadence of the daily rhythm is marked by time with Scripture, reflection, prayer, work, sleep, recreation, and regular worship with a community.

St. Benedict and followers understood that our continuous practice of awareness of the present moment enables us to stay connected to God, who is always present. 2

The question is not whether we will carry burdens in this life. The question is which pattern we will follow to carry life’s burdens.

It is never too late to Stop, Be Aware, and get back on the path that lets our souls catch up with our bodies.

1Jake Owensby, “Listening is More Than Existing,” The Woodlands, May 15, 2026

2 Jake Owensby, “Pentecost Learning the Habit of Attention,” The Woodlands, May 22, 2026 

 Joanna. joannaseibert.com