Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well.
In the spirit of our philosophy of co-creating community and our awareness that the Spirit speaks through each of us, we invite you to share your meditations with us as well. We truly believe that in God’s economy of abundance, when we share our blessings, our thoughts, our feelings, we are all made richer.
Today's Meditation comes to us from Rev. Alla Renee Bozarth who yesterday revised this poem "On the Feast of St. Joan."
On our thirtieth wedding anniversary we visited Paris and Provence and toured the sites of some of the events of St. Joan of Arc's life. She said, "I am not afraid--it is for this that I came into the world...If I were to say that God sent me, I shall be condemned, but God really did send me." What a touchstone inspiration for our own lives! One of our other favorite stories about her is that she reported conversations with God and the saints. The king said to her, "Don't you think that if God had something important to say, He would say it to me--I am the king." Joan replied, "God tries to speak to you but you are always too busy to listen." Joan is one of the models inspiring our Spirit of Life Community philosophy that everyone is the recipient of God's wisdom and love and each voice/each facet of the prism of God's love must be listened to and seen for God to be fully present in our world.
We invite you to join us as we commit ourselves to working tirelessly to end systemic and structural racism in our society, in healthcare, in the workplace, in the Church--wherever it shows up so that everyone may come to have more abundant life. May this meditation nourish our contemplative-active hearts and sustain all of us in action.
We hope and pray that you and your loved ones experience genuine peace of mind and heart, and remain in good health during this challenging time.
In this "Season of Ordinary Time" in the Church Year, may this be a time of peace, of healing and hope, of the infusion of joy in your life!
With our love and care,
Ron & Jean
Meditation 119: On the Feast of St. Joan (Rev. Alla Renee Bozarth)
On the Feast of Saint Joan
Solitude is an opportunity
to practice intimacy
with what we most love,
holding it close to our hearts
as God holds the round world.
Some are called, then,
to set the world on fire,
not to destroy, but as
in that green fire miracle
on the Mountaintop of God,
to add light, and inspire.
What is the world?
The world is the tree
beside you.
The world is the bird
in the tree.
The world is music,
which is color for the eye.
The world is color,
which is music for the ear.
The world is the water
that comes out of the kitchen pipes
to make your tea.
The world is the woman
who sips the tea
across the table from you—
a mother, a lover, a sister,
a daughter, a dear friend,
a teacher, a student or stranger—
the table, the chairs,
sitting together in a sacrament
of fragrant steam and wood.
The world is the mind
of the writer
of the book
in your hand.
The world is the spirits
of the actors performing
who fill your room
from the lens
of your television.
The world is where creativity,
imagination and intelligence
thrive.
The world is where beings are
born, live, feast, love, hate,
suffer and die.