August 3, 2025 | Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today Anna Robertson invites us to explore the nothingness described in Ecclesiastes through the social upheaval and disillusionment of the Jewish people during the time of its authorship; engage the parallels between the time of Ecclesiastes and the horrors in the United States now; and embody the way forward with the help of Pádraig Ó Tuama and the journals of Etty Hillesum.
"Perhaps the refrain of today’s first reading is not merely a protest against the nature of reality, though it is surely that: 'more illusion, another miscarriage of justice' (2:21). Even as we shake our fists at the sky after another day’s news cycle leaves us feeling bewildered and powerless, might our protest itself beget an invitation?"
Anna Robertson is Director of Distributed Organizing at Discerning Deacons. In the past, she has served as Director of Youth and Young Adult Mobilization at Catholic Climate Covenant and Campus Minister for Retreats at Seattle University, along with various experiences supporting families of women experiencing incarceration, serving in hospital chaplaincy, conducting research on collective memory in El Salvador, and accompanying students on international immersions at the intersection of faith and justice in Latin America. In 2024, she was the inaugural recipient of the Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry Young Alumni Leadership in Ministry Award. The common thread running through her work has been a passion for helping people articulate their stories and step into their power as protagonists of transformation toward a more just world. Anna is a cradle Catholic with an eye toward the threads of mysticism that cut across faith traditions. She was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee and, since graduating from high school, she has called many places home, including Cincinnati, Central America, West Virginia, Boston, and Seattle. She has a Master’s of Theological Studies from Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Xavier University in Ohio. In her free time, Anna enjoys practicing yoga, playing music, riding her electric bike around Seattle, petting other people’s dogs, jumping into bodies of water, cooking, reading, and having heart-to-hearts with friends.
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