Pandemic
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath-
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another's hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love-
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.
-Lynn Ungar 3/11/20
FREE ONLINE DAILY MEDITATION
Emory University's Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion Based Ethics is offering free online daily compassion meditation.
WHEN:
Monday through Friday at 7 PM; Saturday and Sunday at 9 AM(Eastern US time zone)
WHAT:
45 minutes of guided meditation and discussion led by an Emory-certified CBCT instructor, free and open to everyone
LOCKDOWN
Yes, there is fear
Yes, there is isolation
Yes, there is panic buying
Yes, there is sickness
Yes, there is even death
But,
They say in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again;
They say that after a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes,
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number
Throughout the neighborhood
So that elders may have someone to call on.
Today churches, synagogues, mosques and temples
Are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary;
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting;
All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way;
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are,
To how little control we have;
To what really matters;
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes, there is fear,
But there does not have to be hate;
Yes, there is isolation,
But there does not have to be loneliness;
Yes, there is panic buying,
But there does not have to be meanness;
Yes, there is sickness,
But there does not have to be disease of the soul;
Yes, there is even death,
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Fr. Richard Hendricks, OFM (Order of Franciscans Minor) in Ireland
