Dear Friends,

 We pray you are safe and well.

Today Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" offers a meditation that our Spirit of Life Community is using for our Lenten Discussion tonight.

The Lenten theme of changing our hearts coalesces with Mary Oliver's claim that change of heart "does not flow from self-defeating guilt, but rather from incarnate, wild, imaginative love for the world" and our place in the family of things. "So what change of life is God calling you toward today, nipping at your heels like a wild goose, that ancient Celtic image for the Holy Spirit?" "Prayer: God of life, help us to change our lives. Soften our hearts and help us to believe in your good news of wild love and grace. Amen."

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.

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.

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 time of Lenten Pilgrimage may you find peace, healing, hope, and the infusion of joy in your life!

With our love and care,

Ron & Jean

MEDITATION 288: Mary Oliver "Wild Geese"

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.