Holy Trinity: A Holy Community Accompanies Us

Today, in NM (Albuquerque), went to Catholic Mass and was brought up to date: today is Holy Trinity Sunday...aha! We are accompanied by the Holy Trinity! What a great accompaniment.

Off to a silent pilgrimage at/in/with the community at Christ in the Desert Monastery.

Best,

Buen camino!

Brett

Wisdom Speaks

From this week's lectionary, and we better listen!

Pace!

B

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31

Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
"To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live."

A Henri Nouwen Day

Found this Nouwen quote today:

"I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn't be to know people by
name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories, and tell your
own."

Henry Nouwen

Not a bad way to live each day.

Buen camino!

B

Century Club: Traveling to 100 Countries

Along with the theme of pilgrimage is travel. I bumped into the novel idea of traveling to 100 countries and becoming part of the Century Club: a group of traveling to 100 countries. It is fascinating to see so many people eager to see, taste, touch, smell, and be part of the world.

Click here to learn more about this experience.

Pace!

B

Pilgrim Quotes for the Weekend.

On this Friday, there are some quotes that are going to rest on my soul for the weekend...at least:

First is the Afghan saying, "The world is a traveler's inn."

Indeed: we find places in and around our lives to rest in and upon.

And the second is like it:

Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys, by Richard Reinhold Niebuhr. As I work on yet one more essay, I know that my creativity is fed by living and breathing and drinking deeply from life.

Pace!

B

Praying Pilgrimage Into Class

My friend John Jerry Anthony Parente sent me this article about himself, and how he begins class at Chabot College. It is a pilgrimage!

HAYWARD — Before John Parente enters his classroom, he places his hands together in front of his chest, palms facing each other and fingers pointed upward. As soon as he makes his first step through the door, he carefully takes his next step directly in front of his previous step.

That continues for about 30 seconds, until he reaches his desk, normally a five-second walk.
Parente's students soon follow, trickling in one by one, one tiny step at a time.
"Most of their lives, these students are rushing around multi-tasking and there is no silence in their lives," Parente said. "It is a way for them to draw attention into the moment."
The way Parente is walking comes from the practices of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist who focuses on bringing the mind and spirit together.

Cool!

Got to try this...

Pace!

B

Rumi on Pilgrimage

Broadening my source of inspirational work on pilgrimage, there is this poem by Rumi:

O You Who've gone on Pilgrimage

O you who've gone on pilgrimage -
where are you, where, oh where?
Here, here is the Beloved!
Oh come now, come, oh come!
Your friend, he is your neighbor,
he is next to your wall -
You, erring in the desert -
what air of love is this?
If you'd see the Beloved's
form without any form -
You are the house, the master,
You are the Kaaba, you! . . .
Where is a bunch of roses,
if you would be this garden?
Where, one soul's pearly essence
when you're the Sea of God?
That's true - and yet your troubles
may turn to treasures rich -
How sad that you yourself veil
the treasure that is yours!

Pace!

B