Walking with Sorrow: Suffering Servant Songs
Daniel Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister
Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center
September 14-16, 2007 

Through all the Songs of the Suffering Servant there breathes hope-
faith in the ultimate justice of things.
The cadences of despair interchange with triumph and confidence.
Sometimes it is faith in life, sometimes assurance of boundless justice.
Is such a hope justified?
Do the Sorrow Songs ring true?
Brutal regimes deflect anger and stridency every day.
But walking with sorrow is a good beginning because no brutal regime can
long survive it.
Our broken hearts enable us to sow the seeds of nonviolence.
"Blessed are those who mourn" precedes "Blessed are the Peacemakers."
Peacemaking begins with mourning - the dead of Baghdad, Gaza, Kabul, Bogotá,
Port au Prince, Darfur.
Mourn the loss of every sister and brother on planet earth.
Mourn the loss of creatures and creation itself.
Expand mourning, offer love and compassion to everyone. Teach nonviolence.
Pursue a culture where guns, bombs, poverty, weapons and war are unwelcome.
Embrace sorrow; it is the human response to an inhuman time.

Introduction-Liz McAlister

First Chant of the Servant of Jawe: Isaiah 42:1-8
Daniel Berrigan, S.J.

SERVANT SONGS OF ISAIAH - 49:1-6
I make you a light to the nations - Liz McAlister

Third Song of the Servant of Jawe
Isaiah 50:4-9
Daniel Berrigan

The Career of the Servant
Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
Liz McAlister

Daniel Berrigan is one of the most influential American Catholics of the twentieth century. Jesuit priest, peace activist, poet and author, he has inspired countless people of faith and conscience to pursue the Gospel vision of a world without war.  In 1968 he made national headlines as one of the Catonsville 9 by destroying draft files to protest the Vietnam War and expose a culture fixated on violence. His action led to 18 months in prison. After his parole in 1972, he participated with his brother in the first Plowshares Action (1980), a protest at the General Electric Plant at King of Prussia, PA.  Living among Jesuits, writing, and conducting retreats, he has been arrested regularly for his protest actions.  Berrigan's book of poems, Time Without Number (1957), won the Lamont Poetry Award.  He has written over 50 books, including The Trial of the Catonsville 9 (1970), an autobiography (1987), and at least four films.

Elizabeth McAlister, a Catholic peace activist, founded Jonah House with her husband Philip Berrigan in 1973.  The community is committed to faithful nonviolence and resistance in order to disarm the world.  It is located in a 22 acre cemetery where it cares for the grounds, a vegetable garden and fruit trees.  In the Catholic Worker tradition, the community offers faith and resistance retreats and workshops, supports Plowshares Actions to end nuclear weapons and warmaking, and provides a food panty serving 100 weekly.