On the Walking the Rite Way blog from England, Ken O. writes about his experience of the Holy Fire Ceremonies in Jerusalem in 1988:

 

 

I came down to find the church packed with people. There was a real sense of carnival singing, dancing, drum-beating. Each one present carrying bunches of candles, often in carrier bags to be brought back home and distributed to friends and neighbours alike. When the official chant began a deep silence descended on the crowd. The Patriarchs entered the Tomb and the door of the tomb was closed. Everyone stretched out their hands, full of candles, towards the tomb of Christ. The silence was pregnant with expectation and profoundly moving – one of those extended moments which lasted, in reality for three or four minutes, but stretched into eternity and like Jacob’s ladder of old moved between heaven and earth. Then the door of the tomb opened and the Greek Patriarch emerged with a lighted torch and the words CHRIST IS RISEN. Words taken up by the whole group shouting Christ is Risen. The light passed to runners who circled the church three times, everyone trying to stop them to have their own candles lit – and within moments the interior of the church which was in darkness became bright with the light of Christ. Eventually the doors of the Holy Sepulchre were opened and the light entered the square. The shout went up even higher ‘Christ is Risen’.

To read the entire post, click here.

Thank you Rabbi Shawn Zevit who reminds us to be thankful of the sun today, Wednesday, April 8, in a special way as Passover begins. Here’s more from Newsday:

As observant Jews prepare for the beginning of the eight-day Passover celebration tonight, some will pause this morning to recite the least frequently spoken prayer in Judaism. It is a ritual that comes around only once every 28 years, one that commemorates the sun's return to the place in the firmament where, according to the Book of Genesis, God created it on the fourth day.

This year's confluence of Passover and the sun's commemoration is particularly rare - marking only the 12th occurrence in the 5,769-year-old Jewish calendar.

"There is something special about celebrating the beginning of the Jewish people coming out of Egypt and the Wednesday of the sun's creation," said Rabbi Anchelle Perl, of Congregation Beth Shalom Chabad, in Mineola.

To read more

And more from Rabbi Zevit who prayed with the sunrise from Ohio, USA today:

“We had about 70 or more people join us in the dark at 6:30am in snow-covered Cleveland, the clouds were there, and just at 6:58am, the local time for the actual blessing moment, the clouds lifted in the horizon to reveal a bright orange/yellow swatch of sun- the first time in 3 days anyone had seen it here- it was fantastic and now the skies are clear! May this continue to be the way we move through the dark into the light, embracing the dark with the light.”

For more resources about this special Jewish year

A fool sees not the same tree

that a wise man sees.

                          -- William Blake

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Did you know that being a fool for God is what brands us as spiritual directors? We are foolish enough to ask repeatedly,
“Where is God in this situation?”
“What is the sacred aspect of what is happening?”
“From a spiritual perspective, what’s going on?”
We are so foolish that even when we cannot easily see God, we keep looking for God’s fingerprints.

When the people we companion suffer from illness, lose their jobs, or find they are suddenly homeless – even when they don’t see how God could possibly be in their state of affairs – we don’t give up. We foolishly trust that God is present. Blindly sometimes, we compassionately encourage the people we companion to keep feeling around in the dark. Or to start sniffing around until they whiff God’s scent. We foolishly believe God’s presence will be palpable, knowable, and recognizable – if only a fleeting glimpse or scant scent. With foolish patience and sacred searching, we dare our spiritual companions to keep their eyes and hearts open for a peek at grace. With foolhardy ears, we keep listening.

Not only does this foolishness brand us as spiritual directors, it binds us. Together we foolishly trust that seeking God makes a difference not only in our own lives, but also in the lives of the people we serve. Boldly we believe that being fools for God contributes to peace and justice in our world, not only among people, but also for all creation. Humbly and gratefully we admit that God is in charge and worthy of our trust. How foolish is that!  

Liz Ellmann, MDiv 

Watch a video interview of Richard Rohr, OFM, as he discusses how spiritual direction contributes to peace. He also answers questions about who the next generation of spiritual directors will be. Thank you to Spiritual Directors International member Tara Owens for creating the interview.

"The developing of spiritual directors is at the heart of the renewal of Christianity and all religions. Keep doing it!”     

     --Richard Rohr, OFM

Judy Romero-Oak and Rhoda Parker

Spiritual direction is usually considered an ancient practice. Today, it is being rediscovered in the emerging culture that is changing every religion, including the church. According to speakers and church leaders at the Emerging Church conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, a deeper spiritual consciousness is springing up. According to author and speaker Brian McLaren:

We need to restore contemplation to “know” God. We need to bring back the contemplative practices of spiritual formation and social justice. It’s been amazing for me in my travels to meet so many pastors and other leaders for whom spiritual direction has become an important part of their spiritual lives. I think we need a growing corps (and core) of trained people for whom spiritual direction is a primary vocation.

Shane Claiborne, who is helping organize emerging communities around the world, said the young generation of emergents are recognizing their need for deeper spiritual training. “We are recognizing that we need help,” said Claiborne. “We need some seventy-year-olds living in our communities for spiritual direction, spiritual disciplines.”

The emerging church is part of the Great Emergence which is the cultural, technological, global, economic and spiritual movement that is affecting all of civilization. No one started it, but we are all part of it.

 “We have been set up for the contemplative mind,” said Fr. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest who founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque. “We have, however, become the dualistic mind. We have left to will power what should be out of the flow of non-dualistic thinking.” The Center for Action and Contemplation sponsored the conference March 20-22.

New Mexico spiritual directors hosted a table of information on spiritual direction, and the Seek and Find Guide for people seeking a director. Questions included, what is spiritual direction, and how do I find someone who can help me understand and develop my spiritual life? Many were interested in becoming a spiritual director.

This listening ministry of spiritual direction must be ready to hear what is emerging wherever and in whoever it appears.

 

Member Bernie Miles writes from Australia:

It is now six weeks since these devastating fires swept across Victoria on Black Saturday. So many of us have been touched by people we know who were affected or who gave help and hope to the many who suffered as a result of these fires. One heartfelt response that touched the team at Campion was a poem by Marlene Marburg, our resident poet that I would like to share with you.

Ours



There are no shoes, no walls or boundaries.
Hot, black feet stand equally
on the ashen face of earth,
where mountain ash last week
made worship easy. Today


spindly charcoal arms reach
from embers to a clear blue sky.
All looks well in Doncaster,
but thirty minutes north east,
a fire licks with legion tongues,


feather and fur, possession
and possessor. It mocks,
spitting fire four kilometres down wind,
random as the massacre of Hoddle Street.
There is nothing to be done but


bare the soles of feet and
fear the ground of earth and urn,
listen to its lone and dull voice;
the cry from somewhere in hot breathless smoke.

Five persons huddle

in the front seat of a ute, disconnected
from everything that doesn’t matter.
My God, this country holds the souls of only those

who can stand in ash and flood;
who feel chaos draw the deep shared moan.


Today the community of Marysville start the journey home to what remains of their community and homes and our heartfelt prayer goes with them. Many other communities and individuals now struggle with rebuilding their lives and their homes.

If you know anyone who was affected by the bushfires in Victoria and would benefit from spiritual direction and retreat time, please contact secretary@campion.asn.au.

 

 

Member Marian Cowan, CSJ, has written a new article on spiritual direction in the Liguorian.

Spiritual direction is a time-honored term for a conversation, ordinarily between two persons, in which one person consults another, more spiritually experienced person about the ways in which God may be touching her or his life, directly or indirectly. In our postmodern age, many people dislike the term "spiritual direction" because it sounds like one person giving directions, or orders, to another. They prefer "spiritual companionship," "tending the holy," or some other nomenclature. What we call it doesn't make any real difference. The reality remains conversations about life in the light of faith. There was much to talk about, to sort out in the light of faith in those days when confusion in the Church became a daily reality.

Although spiritual direction has had a burst of new life, it is really quite ancient. Across both the Hebrew and the Christian Scriptures, we find people seeking spiritual counsel. The Queen of Sheba sought out the wisdom of Solomon. Jesus gave us examples in his conversations with Nicodemus, with the woman at the well, in the ongoing formation of Peter and the other disciples. In the early church, people flocked to hermits in the desert for spiritual counsel. Across the centuries we find striking examples in some Irish monks, in some German Benedictine nuns, in Charles de Foucault, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Francis de Sales, and others. Today, spiritual directors come from many traditions.…

Click here to read the full article.

Bighearted Spiritual Directors International members Gary and Mary Becker financially made possible the SDI booth at LA Congress.  Thank you! They enabled the ministry and service of spiritual direction to become more well known and for training and formation programs to offer personal guidance to people sensing the call to spiritual direction ministy. Kudos, Gary and Mary!

  

The Spiritual Directors International exhibitor booth buzzed with visitors. Thank you LA Congress presenters (Bill Barry, SJ; Nancy Reeves, Kathy Ja-Eun Cho, and Wil Hernandez pictured below), and formation and training program directors (Tony Haas, Christopher McCauley, and Kathleen McAlpin, RSM pictured below) who generously gave guidance to seekers.

People new to spiritual direction enjoyed meeting SDI members and learning how they might find a spiritual director or training program in their local area. Visitors came from as far away as Australia and Hungary, and as near as Garden Grove, California.

SDI members Megan McKenna and Betsey Beckman shared creative ideas and insights

 

while greeting visitors to the Spiritual Directors International booth at LA Congress. Thank you Megan and Betsey for hanging out with young adults attracted to the SDI booth by your presence.

At LA Congress Tech Center, Liz Ellmann demonstrates how to find a spiritual director using the online Seek and Find Guide.

Where might you offer a demonstration of how to use the online Seek and Find guide? At your local theology school? In your local hospital's spiritual care department? During a community fair?

 Liz Ellmann and Pegge Bernecker are hosting the Spiritual Directors International booth at the Los Angeles Religious Educators Congress. About 24,000 people will be visiting the exhibitor area in the next three days. Come visit booth #658 at the Anaheim Convention Center!

Remember Christine Munger who submitted her name in discernment for the Coordinating Council of Spiritual Directors International? Well here she is pictured with her brand new baby boy, Alex. Please send your blessings to Christine, C., and baby Alex.

Spiritual Directors International members Carlyle Coash, MA, BCC; Sharon Stanton, MS, BSN, RN; and Carolyn Jacobs, MSW, PhD, joined more than forty others to create a white paper to influence spiritual care and health care policy.

Christina Puchalski, MD, from the George Washington Institute of Spirituality and Health; Betty Ferrell, PhD, FAAN from City of Hope; and “Brownie” Anderson, MEd, from the Association of American Medical Colleges facilitated an intense and rich learning experience in Pasadena, California, USA: “Improving the Quality of Spiritual Care as a Dimension of Palliative Care.”