MAKE ALL THINGS NEW

๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฎ ๐——๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ - ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—น๐—น ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ ๐—ก๐—ฒ๐˜„

On Saturday, I led a Lenten retreat at the Morikami Japanese Gardens and Museum. If youโ€™ve never been there, it is food to grow your being. I created it as a sort of Stations of the Cross, beginning with a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke โ€“ the Austrian poet โ€“ who starts with,

โ€œ๐™„ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ข๐™ฎ ๐™ก๐™ž๐™›๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™˜๐™ž๐™ง๐™˜๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™ ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™˜๐™ง๐™ค๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ง๐™ก๐™™. ๐™„ ๐™ข๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ฉ ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ก๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š, ๐™—๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™„ ๐™œ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™ข๐™ฎ๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ž๐™ฉ.โ€

We moved on to a quantum view of the constellation of the relationships we find ourselves in. Desiring the inner life to meet the outer life as a way to embrace the Alpha and the Omega. We then read the moment when the Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, had a vision while grocery shopping one day that he suddenly realized that he loved all these people, these strangers, and saw them shining like the sun, and realized that we are all, in fact, one.

We were then reminded by Thich Nhat Hahn that

โ€œ๐™๐™ค ๐™—๐™š ๐™—๐™š๐™–๐™ช๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™›๐™ช๐™ก ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™—๐™š ๐™ฎ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ง๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™›.โ€

And how much letting go gives us freedom when we donโ€™t cling anymore. We then dove into the long reading from the Gospel according to Luke of the prodigal son where one son squanders resources and tries to find his way back home while the other son stays and plays by the rules. The father gives the returning son the most lavish of parties because he was lost and now, he is found.

From there, we moved on to a reading from the Dalai Lama about a bloodthirsty Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned for 27 years. The Dalai Lama writes,

โ€œ๐™’๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿณ ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™ง๐™ž๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™, ๐™„ ๐™™๐™ค๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™  ๐™ฌ๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ก๐™™ ๐™๐™–๐™ซ๐™š ๐™จ๐™š๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™‰๐™š๐™ก๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ก๐™–โ€™๐™จ ๐™ง๐™š๐™—๐™ž๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ฅ๐™–๐™จ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™–๐™ฅ๐™–๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฅ๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™๐™ž๐™ข๐™จ๐™š๐™ก๐™› ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™จ๐™๐™ค๐™š๐™จ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง".

Next, we read from the renowned Buddhist monk Pema Chodron who wrote this gem:

โ€œ๐™’๐™๐™š๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฌ๐™šโ€™๐™ง๐™š ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ง ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™œ๐™ก๐™ค๐™—๐™–๐™ก ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™š ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™– ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™—๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ฌ๐™ค, ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ฌ๐™–๐™ฎ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฉ ๐™ž๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™—๐™ช๐™ž๐™ก๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™›๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™™๐™–๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ก ๐™ค๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™š๐™จ๐™จ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™จ๐™š๐™จ. ๐™‹๐™š๐™–๐™˜๐™š ๐™ž๐™จ๐™ฃโ€™๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™›๐™ง๐™š๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™š๐™จ, ๐™›๐™ง๐™š๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™ง๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™จ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™, ๐™ž๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉโ€™๐™จ ๐™š๐™ญ๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™จ๐™ž๐™ซ๐™š ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ค๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ก๐™ช๐™™๐™š ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ฉ๐™๐™–๐™ฉ ๐™–๐™ง๐™ž๐™จ๐™š๐™จ ๐™ฌ๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฉ ๐™›๐™š๐™š๐™ก๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™™."

Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen and look at whatโ€™s happening.

Donโ€™t let people pull you into their storm. But instead, pull them into your peace and make all things new.

Blessings,

Fr. Ben+

Please click on the link below to view Father Ben's Sermon from Sunday, February 18, 2024 "๐™๐™ช๐™ง๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™๐™–๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐˜ฝ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™™โ€.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwEIOg2IHkU&feature=youtu.be


Dawn Rahicki