Spiritual Common Sense

After a week of profound sadness, comes words of comfort from a friend (Thank you, Christina).  Written 500 years ago, these words could not be more appropriate for this time and moment.

“There is nothing I can give you, which you have not; but there is much, very much, that while I cannot give you, you can take.

No heaven can come to us unless we find rest in today.  Take heaven!  No peace lies in the future, which is not hidden in the present instant.  Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow.  Behind it, yet within reach, is joy.  There is radiance and glory in the darkness could we but see, and to see, we have only to look.  I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy, or hard.  Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it, a living splendor, woven of love, by wisdom, with power.  Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you.  Everything we call sorrow, or a duty, believe me the angel’s hand is there, and the wonder of an over-shadowing presence.  Our joys too, be not content with them as joys.  They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

And so at this time, I greet you.  Not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks, and the shadows flee away.”

 …Fra Giovanni, 1513 A. D.

How many times can the heart break?

Once for every child killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Once for each of their parents.

Once for the children who survived but will have lives forever marked by this event.

Again for the six families that lost a father, mother, brother or sister.

And, yes, once more for the 20-year-old who leaves this day as his legacy.

As this is written, we still don’t know exactly what happened.  In truth, we may never know all of it.  Yet, on another level we already know everything that matters.

We know this is not an isolated event.  We know it is part of the fundamental test of humanity – the battle between love and hate.  It is as old as the Stone Age and as current as the acrimony reflected in our Presidential election and the conflicts in the Middle East.

There is nothing we can do for those in Sandy Hook.  There is no way to unwind this tragic day and make them whole.  There is something we can do to address the culture of hate and violence.  We can fight hate with love.  We can choose to add love to the world wherever and whenever possible.

Tonight, I will hug my son as long as he will allow.  I will hold on to my wife.  We will talk about our blessings and remind ourselves how fortunate we are.  We will pray for those whose hearts may never heal.

Tomorrow, I will begin again.

What is our greatest gift?

What is the one indispensable ingredient of life?

What is the most potent force in the universe?

Where can we find the solution to our problems?

Where can we find the solution to the problems of the world?

There is only one answer.

The answer is Love.

“I don’t do these things because I can,” Tommie Lee said, “I do them because I want to.”

Mark it,  write it down,  commit it to action; I remember thinking when I heard Tommie Lee’s response.

It was an indignant response to an impertinent question.

“How is it,” I asked, “that you are taking care of your community when most people would think the community should be taking are of you?”

It was a question I had to ask.  You see, Tommie Lee was blind and black and lived in part of Mississippi so poor they used recycled tin cans as water glasses.

Still, he found a way to provide food, clothing, and medical assistance to those around him through a charity he started the year he lost his sight.  How was that possible?

Tommie Lee felt and I have come to believe that no matter who you are, now matter what the circumstances of your birth there is always something you can do, some way to help.

At the moment, the Heart of America is responding to the devastation created by Hurricane Sandy – just as we responded to the need in the Gulf following Hurricane Katrina and the need in New York after 9/11.

There are lots of reasons to pass:  preexisting commitments, staff stretch to the limits with library makeover projects, no certainty we can find support, not to mention inconvenient timing – it’s comes as we approach the holidays after all and all that entails.

There is only one reason to proceed.  We want to.

Moment by moment, day after day, life questions us.  We are defined by what we do and how we respond.

The Heart of America has never been more visible than it was on September 11, 2001. On that day and in the aftermath of the terrorists’ acts in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, we answered their worst with our best. America responded to that tragedy with thousands of acts of kindness and compassion.

The isolated acts of a dozen men driven by hate were overwhelmed by an outpouring of love and compassion. In the days that followed, 70 percent of all Americans made a contribution to the relief effort, a response unprecedented in world history. More than 60 percent of all Americans made a financial contribution to the relief effort. Many others volunteered time, gave blood, opened their homes, and contributed household items and necessary supplies. Continue reading →