Dear Friends,
We pray you are safe and well.
Today's Meditation originated from a letter to the Editor by one whose mother is dying. The writer was looking for a prayer and found none that were appropriate.
Rabbi Rami Shapiro shares a meditation he wrote for himself that he hopes would be appropriate for all readers of his column, "Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler" in Spirituality and Health magazine.
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 300: Rabbi Rami Shapiro shares a meditation for a loved one who is dying
Letter to the Editor: My mom is dying from COVID. None of the standard prayers speak to me. What can I offer her that might ease her dying and comfort me in my grieving?
Rabbi Rami Shapiro: I wrote this for myself and hope it will be of value to you as well. Whether you sit by your beloved’s bedside and whisper this directly, or whether you speak it over a phone or even in your imagination, fix your attention on your beloved and read this meditation aloud slowly, pausing for the space of one complete breath between each verse.
Listen Beloved and yield to the fact of your dying. Trust my words. Rest in my voice. Be still and know all is God, the nondual Aliveness “in whom we live and move and have our being.”
Listen Beloved: You are to this world what a wave is to the ocean that waves it: a precious and never to be repeated expression of Aliveness happening as all happening.
Listen Beloved: You are a way Aliveness laughs and weeps and loves and suffers. You are a way the One knows itself as the many. And soon you will be a way the many comes to know itself as the One. You are becoming what you have always been: Aliveness forever birthing and dying.
Listen Beloved: As you die memories, reflections, yearnings, and regrets may arise in you. Acknowledge all that arises. Do not cling, excuse, or explain. Without clinging, excuse, and explanation there is only truth.
Listen Beloved: As you die echoes of those you have cherished may come to you. Say to each, “I love you.” Do not cling, excuse, or explain. Without clinging, excuse, and explanation there is only love.
Listen Beloved: As you die echoes of those you have hurt may come to you. Say to each, “I am sorry.” Do not cling, excuse, or explain. Without clinging, excuse, and explanation there is only acceptance.
Listen Beloved: As you die echoes of those who have hurt you may come to you. Say to each, “I understand your pain.” Do not cling, excuse, or explain. Without clinging, excuse, and explanation there is only forgiveness.
Listen Beloved: As you die -isms and ideologies that once defined you may fall away. This is because-isms and ideologies are of the past, and you are entering the eternal Present.
Listen Beloved: As you die you may begin to forget, but you will not be forgotten. You may begin to let go, but you will not be abandoned. You may begin to drift, but you will never be set adrift. You are loved. I am here. You are not alone.
Listen Beloved: As you die you are surrendered to the infinite in which the finite happens; you are surrendered to the One who is the many; you are surrendered to the formless that is of itself all form.
Listen Beloved: You were alive, now you are Aliveness itself. You were a being, now you are being itself. You were a mind, now you are consciousness itself. You were sometimes happy and sometimes sad, now there is only bliss.
Listen Beloved: My voice may be fading, but my love will not. Let me release you with this prayer:
As you slip from ignorance into truth may you be free from fear.
As you slip from confusion into clarity may you be free from compulsion.
As you slip from time into eternity may you be blessed with love.
As you slip from life into Aliveness may you be blessed with peace.
Listen Beloved: You were loved. You are loved. You are love.
from an article by Rabbi Rami Shapiro (Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler) appearing in the magazine Spirituality and Healing, March/April 2021.