Tonight after a lovely dinner in Ellicottville, New York with my wife and daughter I drove over the mountains to Olean, New York. On my way I passed through the sleepy little hamlet of Humphrey. Continue reading “St. Pacificus”
Non-violence in Iraq
This bright light came to me in an email from Pace ‘e Bene non-violence service.
From April 29 to May 6 in Iraq not only the rumble of bombs will be heard. A network of associations of the Iraqi civil society, belonging to different political and religious affiliations, will carry on peace initiatives on the whole national territory within the Iraqi Week of Nonviolence. This event will take place while the Iraqi government meets in Sharm el-Sheikh (May 3-4) representative of the neighbouring countries, plus the G5 and G8, in the ministerial meeting that aims to restore security in Iraq. But is a top-down peace process feasible in a country traumatized by violence and insulted by military occupation like today’s Iraq? The Iraqi civil society asserts to have the duty and the capability to bring its own contribution. Given the high danger faced by those who organize public events in these times, this is a courageous venture that the international community must know about, an act of civil resistance to terror and militarism.
For more information on this story click here.
Prayer
I have done some reading on Plainfoolish and I received this quote in an email today and I think it fits. I also have another new book from Thich Nhat Hanh ordered an on its way. It is called The Energy of Prayer.
“I am breathing in and making my whole body calm and at peace.” It is like drinking a cool glass of lemonade on a hot day and feeling your body become cool inside. When you breathe in, the air enters your body and calms all the cells of your body. At the same time, each “cell” of your mind also becomes more peaceful. The three are one, and each one is all three. This is the key to meditation. Breathing brings the sweet joy of meditation to you. You become joyful, fresh, and tolerant, and everyone around you will benefit.
–Thich Nhat Hanh, Breathe! You Are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing (Parallax, 1996), 50
True Happiness
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller
Redemptive
It’s hard to know what to say now that President Bush has vetoed the Iraq spending bill. Continue reading “Redemptive”
What do we believe in?
I watched a brief excerpt of George Tenet grandstanding about how we knew about Osama bin Laden before 9/11 blah, blah, blah. Continue reading “What do we believe in?”
Regional gathering
I spent the weekend at the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Regional meeting of the Secular Franciscan Order. It was my first time attending the regional gathering Continue reading “Regional gathering”
Mindfulness
This came to me in an email from a Buddhist friend.
Beyond the ubiquity of stress and pain operating in my own life, my motivation to practice mindfulness is fairly simple: Each moment missed is a moment unlived. Each moment missed makes it more likely I will miss the next moment, and live through it cloaked in mindless habits of automaticity of thinking, feeling, and doing rather than living in, out of, and through awareness. I see it happen over and over again. Thinking in the service of awareness is heaven. Thinking in the absence of awareness is hell. For mindlessness is not simply innocent or insensitive, quaint or clueless. Much of the time it is actively harmful, wittingly or unwittingly, both to oneself and to the others with whom we come in contact or share our lives. Besides, life is overwhelmingly interesting, revealing, and awe-provoking when we show up for it wholeheartedly and pay attention to the particulars.– Jon Kabat-Zinn, Coming to Our Senses (Hyperion 2005), 73-74
Attack dogs
Mr. Bush has sent out his attack dogs to discredit Senate and House Democrats who are stipulating a time line for a withdrawal from Iraq. Continue reading “Attack dogs”
St. Francis and the Sultan
Colonel Dan Smith who authors one blogs on my blogroll has a familiar story in his post today. That is the story of St. Francis and the Sultan Malik al Kamil. Continue reading “St. Francis and the Sultan”