Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
Today’s meditation
Every morning I read a meditation by Father Richard Rohr out in New Mexico. He came to Albuquerque 35 years ago and started the Center for Action and Contemplation. It is a place where all things spiritual are given care and attention, where words both spoken and written are shared. Father Richard has written lots of books, putting Spiritual matters into words to be shared with the wider world. Writing and speaking are his gifts to us.
He is one of my most admired people. I have several of his books – one on the Enneagram and one on 12 Step life. Both of these subjects are of great interest to me. I have listened to his CD’s while on road trips. Each morning I can count on learning something from his daily meditation coming from the CAC. He has even written about evil, in a little book that helps me understand its dynamic. He writes, “Most people who do evil have fully explained it to themselves as good (meaning it is good for them), regardless of whether it is objectively good…”. This I understood.
Twice a year CAC asks for donations. In exchange, regardless of the amount given, a journal on a specific topic is sent to the contributor. This year’s topic is “Non Violence”. I look forward to reading it. It will contain articles from the gifted people who write and speak on behalf of the CAC. Reading the journal has led me to explore books by authors tackling spiritual subjects. Authors like Barbara Holmes, Brian McLaren and Mirabai Starr.
On these two days there is no meditation, just a letter from Father Richard. In the past, he has written about slowing down as he approaches his eighties. He travels less and speaks less, and I learned that his morning meditation is now handled by a group of staffers. It is taken from the volumes of his talks and his writing, but not published until it has his stamp of approval. He has said he needs to make room for younger souls to carry on the work of the CAC. He has had health issues, specifically with cancer that has been treated successfully in the past.
Today is a donation campaign day. I’ve been expecting it. What I didn’t expect is this: It seems that the cancer has returned, this time in his lymph nodes. He is undergoing treatment. He is satisfied with his place in life, at peace with what is happening. In conversation with friends who also follow him closely we have spoken of this day, knowing that this news would eventually appear in our inboxes. For now I choose to send him prayers of healing and wholeness. He is a big advocate of the power of prayer. It’s the least I can do.
In my lifetime I have been introduced through various means to teachers, authors, musicians, statesmen and stateswomen, philosophers, spiritual leaders and all manner of brilliant people. My life is richer because of them – people that I will never meet in person but whose works have influenced me in deep and positive ways. I imagine it’s obvious that I feel this way about Richard Rohr. May God continue to bless him and keep him.