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 is a theme: Sanctuary.

It begins with Parker Palmer's reflections on finding a sanctuary where we can reclaim our souls for loving the world. It continues with Catherine of Siena's meditation that anywhere can be a sanctuary where we can meet God. It echoes with the video recording of the refrain "Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary, pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you." In nourishing the contemplative soul within ourselves, we minister to ourselves and to God and to the world and then we go out and live out being that sanctuary of compassion for whomever we meet: workers for justice and peace, care and hope.

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. (Thank you to Irene Desharnais for sending the Parker Palmer and Catherine of Siena pieces.)

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 Eighty-six: Sanctuary

Parker Palmer:

When I was a kid, sanctuary meant a big room with stained glass windows, a place of worship where I learned to pray Today, after eight decades of life in a world that is both astonishingly beautiful and horrifically cruel—finding sanctuary is as vital as breathing. Now I find it in places sacred to my soul--in the natural world, in the company of a faithful friend, in solitary or shared silence, in the ambience of a good poem or good music.

Sanctuary is wherever I find safe space to regain my bearings, reclaim my soul, heal my wounds, and return to the world as a wounded healer. It’s not merely about finding shelter from the storm--it’s about spiritual survival and the capacity to carry on.... Thomas Merton names one of our deepest needs: to protect and nurture the “root of inner wisdom” that makes work and life itself fruitful. We need neither flee the world nor exploit it. Instead we can love the world with all its flaws...and ours, aspiring to be best of human possibility. We can live that way only if we know when and where to seek sanctuary, reclaiming our souls for the purpose of loving the world.

Sanctuary

“It could be said that God’s foot is so vast

that this entire earth is but a field on God’s

toe,

and all the forests in this world

come from the same root of just

a single hair

of God’s.

What then, is not a sanctuary?

Where then, can I not kneel

and pray at a shrine

made holy by God’s

presence?

---St. Catherine of Siena

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https://youtu.be/AxB9VH3cCN4 (Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary...)