An Easter blessing to you all

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

I am not Catholic, but I have had many kindnesses from Catholics during my lifetime, and wished to share them with you as an appreciation for your faith on this, the most joyous of holy days!

One of the practices of my Sufi group is The Dances of Universal Peace. They are simple circle dances using sacred phrases and words from the world's spiritual traditions. (you can find out more, if you are interested, at http://www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org) Many times, Dance retreats have been held at Catholic retreat centers. For several years, Villa Maria in Frontenac MN was the site of a yearly Dance camp. The Villa, once a Catholic girls' school, is also a home for retired nuns of the Ursaline Order. Some very beautiful things happened during these retreats that gave me a deeper appreciation for the Catholic faith.

We asked if we could have a place to do our morning practices, and the sisters very kindly let us use their chapel. Every morning about 7 am a group of us would go in and do a different spiritual practice from a different tradition-Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic--and every morning we would notice that more and more of the sisters would be sitting in the pews, watching us! My husband remarked about this to one of the sisters, who replied, "We don't know what you are saying, but we know the presence of God. Some of our retired sisters haven't been out of their rooms for a long time, but they have come to the chapel to be with you."

One of the Dances we do regularly honors Mary. As a preliminary practice, we do the walk of Mary--the leader talks of Mary's life, of her joys and sorrows and her infinate capacity to help us by taking on our burdens and sorrows. At one of these camps, we took our life's burdens and laid them at the feet of a bigger than life size statue of Mary that wood carvers had made and presented to the Villa. As we walked from our meeting room to the site, we sang the song, and then ritually presented our burdens to the Blessed Virgin. Realize that I was raised Protestant, and had not had any information on the place of Mary in the Catholic tradition; but I felt a connection then, one of great love and compassion. That night, we dances the dance, which contains some of the words of the Ave Maria, in a tune unlike ones that are usually associated with the phrase. The sisters danced with us--and Mary was there.


There is a whole series of Dances about the Lord's Prayer. One of my Sufi brothers, Neil Douglas-Klotz (Murshid Saadi)has studied Aramiac and translated the Prayer from Aramaic directly to English. (http://www.abwoon.com/) Brother Joe, a Dominican, has a retreat center near Chicago where he gives week long workshops in the Prayer and this particular Dance cycle. He also goes around the country giving workshops, and I have attended two of them. It is one thing to read the lines of the prayer, to contemplate them--and another to dance them. It is as if you are getting inside the meaning of each line!

You know, when you get past the surface things, the heart of what we know and worship is, indeed, one.

[DemBones DemBones]

1. That's lovely. Thanks you so much for sharing.

The other day I mentioned having been on a retreat to a friend who's been lapsed Catholic for many years and she rolled her eyes. She was surprised when I told her it was about Jungian archetypes and fairy tales and women finding their animus. Retreat centers offer a lot of different programs now.

I also went there on a retreat during the Easter Triduum one year. There was no program then, just an opportunity to participate in the life of the community. I think it was limited to ten woman, maybe twelve, because we ate with the sisters in their dining room instead of being served as guests. On both retreats I sat in the choir stalls and sang the Office with the sisters, which was interesting to do, and attended daily Mass, too. On Good Friday, we had to keep silence and fast, of course, having small meatless meals. Many of the older sisters stayed in their rooms and kept a total fast, we learned later. I get terrible headaches from fasting so I admired them for doing so. I always met interesting women at this retreat center, many of them not Catholic.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Oh, for a friend who knows the sign

I've met many lovely spiritual people at retreat centers, including many Catholic brothers and sisters. There is an atmosphere of peace and joy about them--and you can see their Light. I know with my daily practices, I can reach there--but then the world intervenes, and I get distracted. Kudos to those who can be in the world and not of it.


From a poem by Rumi:
Oh for a friend who knows the sign
Who'll mingle all their soul with mine