Adult Education

The Transformational Alchemy of Tears in Things
Wednesdays in Lent 5:00 PM
Through the birth and evolution of the Second Century Church’s focus on weekly celebration of the Resurrection, seasons the calendar were established to follow the birth, life, death, resurrection, and the establishment of the Church on Pentecost. On February 18, 2026, we begin the season of Lent, a period of penitential preparation for Easter. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday with believers receiving a
memento of ashes in the shape of a cross on their foreheads and initiates a 40-day period for abstinence, charity, contemplation, fasting, and prayer. These activities are an imitation of Jesus’s behaviors in the wilderness before he began his public ministry.

In Lent 2026, the staff is inviting members and friends of Westminster to join them study and prayer on Wednesday evening. Our study this year will use a book written by Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Friar and ecumenical teacher, entitled, The Tears of Things. Rohr, in this work, considers how it is possible for people to live in a time of violence and despair. A common political and spiritual answer to this question
throughout human history suggests that “Power makes law/right” (potential facit lus) or “Woe to the conquered” (vae vistis). Rohr points us toward a different political and spiritual answer to this question. He suggests the way to face violence, and despair is to turn toward what connects every living being with the reality of divine,
universal love. He says only “The tears at the heart of things” (lacrimae rerum) and divine tears can move us beyond our anger at injustice, “our strength is the law of justice: (Vis nostra lex iustititae est).
In our contemplation and prayer during Lent, we will consider the following topics.
February 25, 2026 – The Path of the Prophet: Isaiah and Martin Luther King Jr.
March 4, 2026 – The Role of Anger: Jeremiah and Greta Thunberg
March 11, 2026 – Collective Evil: Micah and Desmond Tutu
March 18, 2026 – Alchemy of Tears: Lamentations and Joanna Macy
March 25, 2026 – Growing Toward Love with the Prophets and Etty Hillesum
We are excited for you to join us in this time of contemplation and prayer.