Little Pieces of Light

The terrible chaos, the violence, the destruction of the insurrection in Washington draped a further layer of darkness over the darkness of the pandemic. Suddenly, everything became even darker, more desolate. It all seemed so surreal, nightmarish. What unfolded on Capitol Hill was like something we might see unfold in a movie but not in real life.

“One of the darkest days in the history of our nation” was how president-elect Joe Biden described these events of January 6. This darkness was far-reaching, and I reached for a small book on my bookshelf, Joyce Rupp’s Little Pieces of Light.  Amidst the devastating darkness, I longed for light, even if they were just little pieces of light to brighten my day and lighten my heart.  You might wonder why I did not turn to the One who said, “I am the light of the world.” I think I did and was led to pick up the little book.  As I flipped through the pages, the first couple of lines in the introduction caught my eye. I read what I did not want to hear! “We need light for our journey, but we also need darkness.” Darkness for transformation, it went on to tell me. Well, yes, I know that.  Did I want to be reminded?  Certainly not.  I was looking for words of comfort, consolation, encouragement.  I was searching for little pieces of light to penetrate the darkness to give me courage, to go on, even a glimmer, some sparse light would help to lift a corner of the darkness. Just enough light in that moment of darkness, so I might hear that small, still voice within whispering, “I am with you, always.”

If I felt overwhelmed by the darkness, safely ensconced in my lockdown space far away from the devastation in the Capitol Building in Washington, how would those women and men have been feeling while hiding from the stampede of the hordes ravaging the Capitol. I doubt many were praying, “In the shadow of your wings, I take refuge until the destruction passes.” (Ps 57) When we are afraid, wrapped in darkness it is hard to keep the spark of hope alive in the empty places of our hearts.  Yet if, though it be hard, we “keep still and wait like the night with starry vigil and its head bent low with patience … The morning will surely come, the darkness will vanish.”  (Rabindranath Tagore)

On Wednesday of this week, ‘morning’ did come, and it came early.  It came on Tuesday evening with a somber sundown ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial where the glow of 400 lights were illuminated along the edges of the Lincoln Reflecting Pool.  Between sundown and dusk, these lights shone in the darkness along the pool of reflection, foreshadowing even brighter light about to break through - and break through it did. 

““Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness” Desmond Tutu ”

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness" Desmond Tutu wrote years ago during those dark times in South Africa.  Joe Biden, inaugurated on Wednesday as the 46th President of the United States of America, also believes there can be light despite all the darkness of recent times. On the steps of the Capitol Building, where just two weeks earlier chaos and terror had reigned, a luminous event unfolded peacefully.  Calm descended upon the Capitol, the city, the State.  Far-reaching calm and peace spread out, as beautiful, reassuring words were spoken eloquently with conviction and dedication.  Soothing balm for many, these light-filled moments echoed throughout the day.  Little pieces of light were scattered everywhere throughout that momentous, memorable day.

This is what stood out for me: Joe Biden’s radiant face, his smile, and the infectious smile of Kamala Harris, his delightful Vice President.  Furthermore, there was the beautiful, luminous Amanda Gorman, the young poet laureate.  She most certainly was far more than a little piece of light. Poised and self-assured, she scattered glowing pieces of light as she eloquently shared her poem The Hill We Climb.  This enormously gifted young African American woman is the embodiment of Desmond Tutu’s words, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” In a country where such profound darkness has been experienced by so many and where the slogan, Black Lives Matter, has echoed throughout the land, there on the steps of the Capitol Building at this momentous occasion, this young woman’s light shone brightly for all to see. There is hope for the future, for, as Amanda put it, “There is always light.  If only we’re brave enough to SEE it, if only we’re brave enough to BE it.”

Did we not experience on this momentous, historical day, that “God cannot be limited by any human concept or prediction. [That] He is greater than our mind and heart and perfectly free to reveal himself where and when he wants”? (Henri Nouwen; You are the Beloved)

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

A Book for our Time

Diana Beresford-Kroeger is the author of many books including an extraordinary book for our time, TO SPEAK for the TREES - My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest. I hope that each of you either have or will read this book and will take its message to heart. Diana Beresford-Kroger’s life work reminds me of what is at the heart of the work of the Sisters - deep and profound listening and responding to the needs of our time. The author has spent a lifetime of listening deeply and profoundly in the natural world and has actively been at the forefront of conservation and advocacy for forests and all life. She helps us to understand the complex interconnectedness of the nonhuman and human realms.

In her autobiography, Diana Beresford-Kroger shares her story of growing up in Ireland being schooled by elders in the ancient Celtic wisdom practices with a “vision of nature that saw trees and forests as fundamental to human survival and spirituality”.  Diana Beresford-Kroger unfolds her journey of becoming a scientist particularly in the fields of Botany and Medical Biochemistry. She shares her work, successes, and challenges as a professor and researcher in Ottawa early in her career. Diana Beresford-Kroger then settles locally on a farm property to continue her life work integrating scientific knowledge and the traditional concepts of the ancient world as well as Indigenous knowledge and wisdom.  

Photo by Anton Darius, UNSPLASH

In To Speak for the Trees, Diana Beresford-Kroger “eloquently shows us the intricate ways in which the health and welfare of every living creature is connected to the global forest and how to strengthen those connections. If we do so, she argues, we can pause the climate crisis long enough to have a fighting chance to mend our self-destructive ways.” I encourage you to read TO SPEAK for the TREES and respond accordingly. This book is available at your local public Library - although the waitlist may be long!

-Sandy Bell-Cameron, CSJ Associate

All Sorts out of Sorts

Synchronicity fascinates me. Recently, one of my friends was gripped by a sense of malaise. I am sure you agree with me that this is something many of us experience off and on in varying degrees during these protracted weeks and months of the pandemic.  While my friend and I were chatting about the overall impact the pandemic has on our psyche and spirits, she chuckled and said, “All sorts feel out of sorts.”  Well, and then she suggested I’d write a reflection about all sorts being out of sorts, a delightful play on the licorice brand name Allsorts. I laughed and suggested she write about being out of sorts since she had just had a taste of it. Herein lies the synchronicity, shortly after our conversation I had my own taste of feeling out of sorts. 

Probably none of us needs to turn to a dictionary to learn what it means to be out of sorts, still, I did. According to the Collins Dictionary when you are in that state, “you feel slightly unwell, upset, or annoyed.” It has been my experience that it is all these feelings mixed together.  Feeling out of sorts is all sorts of feelings layered on top of each other just like some of those Allsorts liquorice pieces.

In his book, Molloy, Samuel Beckett has his protagonist express feeling out of sorts like this, “I was out of sorts.  They are deep, my sorts, a deep ditch, and I am not often out of them.” Phrasing the state of being out of sorts like that sounds like the crème de la crème expression about what many of us experience these days. During these dark days, an unsettling mood can easily invade us. It is not unusual that we can find ourselves in a depressed mood during this pandemic without knowing exactly where it comes from and the degree of such moods can vary from person to person, from situation to situation. How deep are the ditches of some of your pandemic induced ‘sorts’?

““I am offering you life or death . . . Choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:19)”

When we have the courage, the gumption, one step at a time, to extricate ourselves from those dark moods, we choose to live instead of remaining in the dark ditch. The longer we remain in the ditch, the harder it tends to be to get out of it. No, it is not easy.  No, it is not instant. By relying on our life experience, on support from those we trust, and the grace of God we can learn bit by bit how to extricate ourselves ever more easily from our ‘deep sorts [that] deep ditch.’ Over the years, I have often held onto these words of Scripture, “I am offering you life or death . . . Choose life. (Deuteronomy 30:19). Perhaps you also have a Scripture quote or a mantra that helps you, offering you a lifeline when you are out of sorts, in one of those dark moods.

Henri Nouwen, a man who had his struggles with being out of sorts, believed, “One aspect of choosing life is choosing joy. Joy is life-giving but sadness brings death. A sad heart is a heart in which something is dying. A joyful heart is a heart in which something new is being born.” (You Are the Beloved: Daily Meditations for Spiritual Living)

During this pandemic, when so many people are experiencing such terrible, devastating suffering you can be forgiven for thinking it is absurd for me to try to suggest we find joy while we are out of sorts, in a dark mood.  True enough.  Yet, we always do have a choice.  Leaning on each other, I find so often is the only way forward. Supporting one another, encouraging one other, finding strength in each other, holding each other in prayer are some of the best ways forward during this pandemic. Pope Francis expresses this stance, such solidarity in these words, “The Covid-19 pandemic has revealed that all of us, fragile and disoriented, are in the same boat. All of us are called to row together [since] no one reaches salvation by themselves.” (Vatican News: World Day of Peace Message, Oct. 20, 2020)

To strengthen us, especially during our darkest days, God promised to, “give us a new heart and put a new spirit in us.” (Ezekiel 36:26) Even when we are out of sorts during this pandemic, may we trust, with the grace of perseverance, to live in the hope of better days to come. We do have a choice. We can choose life and joy rather than feel like victims of being out of sorts.

-Sister Magdalena Vogt, cps

Contemplative Sitting Network Reflection

I wanted to share with you this article written for the Institute of Contemplative Sitting Network from Sister Nancy Sylvester, an IHM Sister from Michigan.

-Sister Pat St. Louis, csj

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Bruno Barnhart was a Camaldolese monk who died in 2015. In his book The Future of Wisdom, he states, “The Christian history of the past two thousand years has been characterized by a continual tendency to reverse the event of the incarnation and separate once again the divine and the human, Trinity and humanity, God and Creation.” 

David Bohm was a physicist, in fact, one of the most significant in the 20th century, who died in 1992.  He said, “What is preventing mankind from working together….is a kind of thought that treats things as inherently divided…Each part is considered to be essentially independent …It’s similar to a virus…a disease of thought.”

In this time of COVID19, we do well to remember every time we sit in contemplative silence, alone or with others, we are generating antibodies to the above “thought disease” of both church and society.  Intentionally dwelling in oneness with ourselves, others, Earth, and the Divine, however much we are assaulted by thoughts or other distractions, we are in fact about immersing our consciousness in the source of ultimate unity.  We imbibe the correcting antidote.   We experience the unification of ourselves and our fractured Universe.  The Christ is once again being reborn in both ourselves and our world.

-Margaret Galiardi, OP and Nancy Sylvester, IHM

Reprinted with kind permission from Nancy Sylvester, IHM Detroit, MI.    

The Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue is offering 3 programs via Zoom in January, February, and March 2021. To learn more about the newest program, click here: Enter the Chaos: Engage the Differences to Make a Difference.

Spirit brother, Spirit sister

I am… a Mom, a Grandma, a musician, a retired teacher, a Companion — a clay vessel being shaped and reshaped everyday.  It is not the shell I move around everyday with, but the heart that is being molded, all in the Creator’s time.

All my life experience has shaped my heart, raising 4 children, teaching JK/SK students, volunteering as a church musician and in particular, being a member of a “Companions” group.  “Companions” is a group of lay people and one religious sister from the Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph.  The purpose of this group really is to understand and share and live the charism of the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph in our daily lives.  This outreach group has had a flow of working/retired, men/women in the group who listen to the movements of the Spirit when praying, sharing, singing, reflecting on personal/world events which impact their lives.

Our most recent “Companions” virtual meeting involved a guest who provided us with his life experience as it related to our topic of reflection: racism.  Our head knowledge of this topic was based on the book, “Me and White Supremacy” by Layla F. Saad.  Our heart knowledge learning was based on listening to this young Indigenous family man and his lived experience of racism. With gentleness, openness, humility and humour he shared his life and work experience.

What immediately struck me and others in our group was his wisdom of heart, being who he was called to be at such a young age (early thirties).  Many of us could relate to him on the level of “being” as we are past the stage of life of “doing”. Living his life, he has realized about right relationship and he expressed a desire to reconnect with his Indigenous heritage after the death of his Indigenous Grandfather.  He spoke the language of right relationship, …love, addressing the needs of others by listening and communicating in a reciprocal manner, especially the elders in his work life. We only have to look at retirement homes during COVID to see where we fail at loving our elders.  He offered practical suggestions of books to read and courses to take which address more truthfully our knowledge of present-day indigenous issues of marginalization.

History books tell the story from the perspective of the dominant person and therefore is a one-sided story coming from a vantage point of power. It was backed up with heart knowledge where inadequate solutions to serious problems caused subsequent physical, social, emotional and spiritual consequences in these communities.  These issues are real, and they are happening to real people. The enduring shame of Indigenous people must be challenged.  We can’t dismantle what we can’t see. We are all racists and our help to address the shame and marginalization, in particular, Indigenous youth must mean we need to relate to them without stereotyping, defining, limiting, and judging.

He shared a story from his work life about his plan to help indigenous youth connect with their heritage in their community.  It was a tree planting project. When he approached the elder (who had no prior dialogue about the plan) as to where the trees should be planted, the elder directed the tree planting group to the outer edge of the boreal forest where this Indigenous community had carved out its community life. The Spirit gave him a moment of humourous reflection with the love lesson of always having meaningful discussions about their needs rather than having a pre built-up plan to solve the issues.

How can an Indigenous community have a boil water advisory for 25 years?! The answer to that question is a personal conversion of heart. Whether it is in omission or commission this suffering in this community is my suffering too.  In order to have common union we must face this community’s suffering and convert our heart.

Our speaker’s passion for learning about his heritage and his desire to claim it was remarkable.  He recognized his homecoming, who he was created to be is the path he must take. What insight, courage, humility, gentleness knowing that his journey is my journey too…who we are called to become, who we are called to be…Love.

Submission from the Pentecost Companions Group:  Jane, Leanne, Jaime, Dena, Sue, Ann.