A Brief Reflection on Profound Beauty

Do you have to go to Machu Picchu to stand in awe of the beauty and power of God? No. But there are certain places in the world that not only shout in your face but invade your whole being; so that you become one with all that is there. And words cannot be expressed, only tears and laughter in light of the fullness and grandeur of the Divine. These places are sacred. Machu Picchu is one of these places. And in a certain way you (or at least I did) have a certain expectation that it will be this way, in places marked and known for their power and beauty. But this same power, the experience of the beauty and glory of God, is waiting to suprise you in the seemingly everyday ordinary, if you look deeply enough and listen intently enough. It is there waiting to capture and invade you in the same way in a beautiful flower, a smile, a child's laughter, a beautiful melody, a star filled sky, the hand of a friend, a kiss from the one you love, or a random act of kindness of a stranger. It is there in the story of a woman who survives each day, or the sweaty and dirty campesino who cultivates the earth, or hidden in the wrinkles of skin that map their own personal history of the struggles and joys of being human. Sacred, beauty-filled places, like Machu Picchu and Plum Village, are here present in every breath, if we are mindful.

In gratitude for the sacred and beautiful, large and small, world famous and unknown, always present with me and you in this moment.

Cultivating peace in prison

Sorry it's been a couple weeks. Time really seems to fly by here and I've been keeping a pretty busy schedule. I did want to let you all know though that I was finally able to start going to the prison out in Cambio Puente, about a 20 min. ride outside of Chimbote. I'm really excited about my ministry there and learning more about the prison system while accompanying the prisoners.

My first visit was two weeks ago when I accompanied Jane, one of the other IWMs whose been doing prison work through the Comision de Justicia Social (Social Justice Commission) for the past year, and Silivia who runs the prison ministry program through CJS. Silivia has been working for a long time on trying to get us permision to get back in because the administration has changed 3 different times in the past year and it's been difficult to work through all the paperwork and redtape. But, finally we at least got approval for the rest of the year (three months) and so have been able to start going on a regular basis. My initial thought was it is very open. Maybe because of the good weather, or this is just how the prisons are down here, but there are few roofs except for where the prisoner's rooms are and all the places I've seen have open courtyards to hang out as well. So far at least to me, the gaurds have been respectful and even the inmates who have a bit more freedom to wander around have been pretty friendly. This is not at all to say that life there is easy or has any kind of luxury. Just being present in the enviornment I could feel the tension and stress surrounding me. Talking with Silivia it seems that the women have a harder time than the men with being in prison and separated from their families.

So, given the very difficult reality and life of the prisoners, I am super excited to be leading meditation two days a week there! I started with just the women and was going to go on Tuesday afternoons, but then the psychologist at the prison said he would like to do meditation with the men to so I was happy to extend the practices to anyone interested. On Monday afternoons now I lead meditation and relaxation with the men, and on Tuesdays with the women. I love introducing new practices and techniques for cultivating inner peace and living in the present moment to anyone, but am especially excited about doing this in a prison environment where so many freedoms are eliminated and so much anxiety, stress, anger, and fear can exist. When I spent a week at Plum Village in France there was a sign outside my room that said "Be free where you are," and I really do beleive that when one is mindful and living in the present moment they can be free anywhere, even in the most unlikely of places like a prison. It has been an interesting challenge though to try and open prisoners up to the idea that they can be free within the confines of the prison, but like all my work here I am practicing patience and trusting that on God's time more will be open to the freedom and beauty found in the present moment. At the moment, if nothing else the individuals I work with can relax and let down their gaurd for an hour or so and be at peace, and if it helps just one person it is all worth it.

My work at the prison with the men has also been a good challenge in my call to love all my brothers as Christ. As I was walking out of my first meditation session with the men, which went very well and they seemed very receptive, Romano the psychologist told me that the majority of the men who I had just led meditation with were there on charges of sexual violation/assault. This new insight initially hit me right in the stomach and I was tempted to say well I don't want to work with these guys anymore. I feel a very strong sense of solidarity with all of my sisters and one of the realities that most angers me is sexual assault/violence/rape of women. I love working with women and feel a strong call to help bring about their liberation, but in that call I can't forget about the many men who also play a part in the prevention of our liberation and theirs. I am challenged to look deeply and remember a beautiful gatha that a dear friend and professor once taught me: "Just like me he doesn't want to suffer, just like me he wants to be loved." Yes, many of these men have done terrible things in their life and have destroyed other lives, but in this present moment, which is really all we have, we can smile at each other and see the presence of the one divine spirit that is in all of us and calls us back to community, to a better way of living. There aren't excuses for the past, but there is understanding to be found. And the beauty of the present moment is that is offers us everything completely fresh and new; there is infinite possibility. It truely is a miracle that inside a prison, surrounded by a group of men who I would be tempted to hate and condemn, I was able to realize peace and joy in the present moment, and hopefully some of them were able to realize this too. In this work, God is giving me hope in myself and in the greater power of the Spirit to awaken us all to a new and better way of life.