REFLECTION FOR APRIL/MAY 2013    

PETER MILLAR

petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

The visionary work of Richard Rohr…..

Richard Rohr who was born in 1943 is a Franciscan friar, ordained to the priesthood in 1970. He is Founding Director of the Centre for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is an internationally known writer and retreat giver.  For me, Richard’s work is visionary, and each day on the web I read his short and helpful Daily Meditation which is easy to find. (Details below).  He writes on many issues some of which are: the integrating of action and contemplation; Scripture as a liberating force in the world: peace and justice issues: community building: prayer: eco-spirituality and incarnational mysticism.  For many years he has been a regular contributor to the Sojourners magazine published in Washington DC. (See Sojourners website).  Two of his latest books available through Amazon are:  “Immortal Diamond: The Search for our True Self” and “Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.”  In one of his recent daily reflections, Richard talked of “spiritual globalisation” a subject which I have thought about much since our years living in South India. Here are his words which I hope you will find helpful for your inner journey.

…… “ Everything had been moving apart into greater individuation for over 2,000 years now (for good and for ill) until this round globe we live on started filling up, and we started meeting one another on the other side – other religions, cultures, ethnicities and worldviews.  This globalisation made us aware that God loves not only Catholics from Kansas (like me), but Hindus, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists as well.  We are finding we all have one thing in common. What’s literally grounding all of this is that all of us are standing on the same ground and earth!  She feeds us all.

The one thing we have in common apart from our religions and our cultures is that we are all breathing the same air, relying upon the same Brother Sun and walking on this same Mother Earth. That is the common collective.  That gives us the power to read reality with foundational truth, beyond any ideology.  We are first and foremost and universally members of the One Earth community and St Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus (chapter 4 verses 4 – 6) surely intuited this. But we are able to do this now, like no other period in history.  It’s forced upon us now because we know that if we keep following this artificial separation and over-individuation, my rights over the common good, the whole thing is over in a century or so.”

Please read Richard’s words a couple of times and then take a few minutes to think over them quietly and by yourself within our inter-connected world.   You might not find them easy words at first, but just think how we are all connected on this small planet and that fighting over our differences is such a waste of time and energy and of our limited resources.  And after you pause, think what you can do to support at least one other human being on our planet.  And if you want ideas, just e-mail me! Or Richard Rohr.

Remembering Stephen Lawrence…..

The murder of Stephen Lawrence, a young black man of 18 hoping to go to university, at a London bus stop shocked Britain 20 years ago. His parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, have fought tirelessly, against all the odds to bring the perpetrators of this racial crime to justice.  They are now imprisoned, but sadly not thanks to the co-operation of the police who were on duty at that time. Robert Beckford who teaches theology in Canterbury and who is himself black, recently wrote words which I have slightly adapted:

“The image of Doreen and Neville Lawrence is profoundly important for black people everywhere.  In mainstream public life we tend to see images of black people only when it is to do with sports or entertainment, and images of black families only when it is around questions of immigration.  But in Stephen’s parents, in their grief, we saw a black couple trying to redeem a nation; a dignified, hard-working couple whose son has aspirations to become an architect and  was as close as you can get to the British dream.  It pricked  a nation’s moral conscience.  But what has changed?  The reality for many blacks and Asians in the UK and in many other countries is that the employment regime is weighted against them.  They have names and ethnicities that are always the last to be hired and first to be fired.  The myth about Stephen Lawrence is that he would have got a place on an architectural course, got the training, and got a job.   The chances are that he would have been struggling in contemporary Britain.   Despite his amazing parents, he was black.”

A prayer for our times

    Known, yet unknown, without a name - yet holding every name,

    in the mystery of love you come to us whatever our colour or creed,

    and always in tenderness – aware of our limited understanding -

    you reveal the meaning of our lives and the hope of our hearts.

    And you do that today.      (Peter)                        

 

NOTES:  To subscribe to Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations just Google: Centre for Action and Contemplation and you will see a space to subscribe. All free.

If others who you know want to read  these Reflections please direct them to my blog site which is easy to find. Just Google: petermillarreflects.blogspot.co.uk

My latest book “A Time To Mend – Reflections in uncertain times” is available at:

www. ionabooks.com.                              ( Please feel free to share these reflections. )