Brother David Steindl-Rast of the Gratefulness site that “It’s a good time to ask: When and where did you last discover the holy?” If
our 13,077 friends who receive this newsletter each offered a response to
that question, we would surely receive 13,077 different answers. The Holy
One comes to us not only through sacred words but also through chickpeas and
garlic, as Patrick Donnelly illustrates in his poem, “On Being Called to
Prayer While Cooking Dinner for Forty”:
Dinner for Forty
The Holy One comes to us through the glory of wheeling stars and the praise
of the whales in the sea, as Sufi saint Rabi’a tells us:
And can you imagine finding the Holy in “a trial, a sorrow or a duty”? If
so, these words of Fra Giovanni Giocondo will be consolingly familiar. If
you find it hard to imagine a sacred presence amidst your sorrow, his words
will bring you surprising encouragement:
In this season, we especially remember the wholeness of our network for
grateful living. “In a world of feelings of separation and isolation,” our
community “crosses borders and helps to realize the extended Family of Heart
we and all beings belong to,” writes Dagmar from France. We cannot think of
a better definition of “holy” than an “extended Family of Heart” which
includes not only our human sisters and brothers but also stars and
sparrows, redwoods and rocks, ozone and ocean.
We thank you for being part of this family. No matter how you’re feeling
this season, may you find the holy Presence alive to you as never before, in
the all-embracing spirit of Psalm 139:
“Darkness is no darkness for Thee,
And night is luminous as day.”
