Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis

by Melissa Borgmann-Kiemde, Vis Companion

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. -Rev. 21:1

Fr. Rohr’s words have really been speaking to me lately. His articulation about, and invitation to move beyond, dualistic thinking resonates. He reminds me so much of the 13th century Persian Sufi Mystic, Jelal ad-Din Rumi, in this regard.

Today, I post pieces from each of these wise, contemplative figures as my prayer. Perhaps the juxtaposition will speak to you? To your heart? Mind? To your own  contemplative spirit? Your responses are welcome; feel free to record a comment below.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, Center for Action and Contemplation

EMERGING CHRISTIANITY

The ego prefers the dualistic mind, it gives it games to play, distinctions to make, and battles to win.  In contrast, the soul prefers to embrace things, not to just name things correctly.  It is what it is—without a name.  It is what it is—as it is.

My assumption is that the soul sees with contemplative eyes.  It sees things without needing to label them up or down, in or out, with me or against me, totally right or totally wrong.  That gives you time to actually meet the moment, without agenda, and leave the field open until God shows up and takes the lead.

From Emerging Christianity: the conference recordings.

Jelal ad-Din Rumi, 13th Century Sufi Mystic

THERE IS A FIELD
- Rumi

Out beyond ideas of
wrong-doing and right-doing
there is a field.
I’ll meet you there

When the soul lies down in that
grass
the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase,
each other
doesn’t make any sense.

This moment this love comes to rest in me.
Many beings in one being.
In one wheat-grain
a thousand sheaf stacks.

Inside the needle’s eye,
a turning night of stars.

by Melissa Borgmann-Kiemde, Vis Companion

The following meditation on the male journey – and lessons of nature – arrived in my inbox this morning from Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM. I find it inspiring and wildly appropriate to extend to all of our blog readers — both men and women alike. As the Visitation Sisters head into their ten day retreats this week — seeking wilderness in their respective natural cathedral settings — we all might find our own ways to follow suit. On behalf of our beloved nuns, Fr. Rohr, and all in the Visitation Monastery community, I invite you to get yourself to the wild — to enter and examine the wilderness of your own soul.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, Center for Action and Contemplation

THE MALE JOURNEY:
What Wilderness Knows

Even up to the settling of the Wild West, nearly all mythic stories took place in the wilderness or “wildness.” For both men and women through the ages, it was in the wilderness that they discovered the soul. The civilized or domesticated world was of our making; wilderness was God’s making—the first and natural cathedral.

But now we have created a society that idealizes civilization and runs away from wilderness. Many people are actually afraid of nature. Not only have we succeeded in taming the wilderness; we have ended up taming the soul.

Yet nature continues to speak to something deep within each of us. Have you ever been transfixed while looking into the eyes of an animal? When an animal looks into our eyes, the sensation is almost numinous. The world beyond the human is somehow communicating something essential to us. Carl Jung said, “When religion stops talking about animals it will be all downhill.” Being in wilderness brings us back to our senses, back to our deep selves.

How can I make time, soon, to be with animals, to be in the wilderness?

***

FROM FR. RICHARD’S NEW BOOK:
On The Threshold of Transformation: Daily Meditations for Men

Click to listen to Fr. Richard read the meditation

By Elizabeth Eilers Sullivan, Visitation Alumna

Women leaving their shift in shipyard, May 1943.

With the holiday weekend here let us pause to consider the work we are called to do, and the respite that is needed to do this work. St. Francis de Sales and St Jane de Chantal both believed that every action we do could be done as prayer with the proper disposition. This includes our work.”If you hold the goods of this world in one hand, hold fast the hand of God with the other. Occasionally turn and see if God is pleased with your use of them. …

The soul which holds itself ready and open to do God’s will on any occasion, can do this even while sweeping the floor.” -St. Francis de Sales

Thursdays is the Sisters shut down day at the Monastery. Yesterday they shared on Facebook how they rejuvenate themselves to do the work at hand during the week:

Visitation Monastery North Minneapolis ‎”Shut Down Day” at the monastery. A day with no meetings, time to relax, pray quietly, read for fun, etc. I know that a sister went out for coffee, three went to the “Y”, one talked to a friend for long time, etc. We don’t go off to Vegas or NY but we treasure our unscheduled day so we can better listen to the Spirit… on this day and during the other days of the week. How about you? How do find respite?

Peggy Kravitz and 8 others like this.

Therese VanBlarcom: A body of water, reading material and a beverage. We are actually heading up to the lake tomorrow for a few days of respite. I picked up several books that I can’t wait to get into. It will be so nice to be captive and not have a schedule.…Reflection and rejuvenation.

Elizabeth Eilers Sullivan: Today it was as simple as a hot cup of tea and a bath after all were asleep.

Jody Tigges: shutting the ringer off on my phone, no tv or radio and just doing whatever mindful of the nature sounds around me.

Catherine Smegal: knitting as meditation.

Julie Pinomaki: I grab my journal and notebooks. 

Ronald Hall: Walking and listening to the birds. Reading and meditation.

How do you find respite? How do you use the goods of this world to please the Lord? How do you do your work as prayer? Please share. Happy Labor Day! Blessings.

by Melissa Borgmann-Kiemde, Vis Companion

“There is nothing to prove and nothing to protect. I am who I am and it’s enough.” — Richard Rohr

After I left my ten-plus year post in urban education, I spent a year cleaning people’s houses. I got paid to tidy, scour, tend to the dust and grime that we all accumulate in our living spaces. For twenty four hours a week, I would scrub, sweep, polish a family’s home or single person’s pad, making my way through bathrooms, kitchens, dens, bedrooms, laundry rooms, office spaces, attics, basements. It was privileged work in many ways -  as I was privy to the interiors of others’ “sanctuaries” – so to speak.  I came to think of this period in literal and figurative ways; I was cleaning out not only the inside of other humans’ homes, but tending to my own interior spaces: of heart, spirit, mind. It was sacred work on many levels.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, Center for Action and Contemplation

During this time, I listened to a lot of Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, on CD. I’d go into these sacred spaces, broom and bucket in hand, and — (if it wasn’t a Bob Marley kind of morning, or Neil Diamond flashback afternoon that I was having) — I’d pop in a recording of the Franciscan priest from New Mexico.  Viola! I was on retreat while at work. Every action of soap and sponge and elbow-pushing-arm, became a contemplative, active prayer of sorts.  I was, in the words of Fr. Rohr’s, putting to use the most operative word in his organization’s title, being a person of contemplation AND action. What I encountered in my heart and mind whilst listening to “Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening” or “The Great Chain of Being: Simplifying our Lives” conference or “True Self/False Self“ made its way literally through my interior life and into exterior action.

I’d go into these sacred spaces, broom and bucket in hand, and I’d pop in a recording of the Franciscan priest from New Mexico.  Viola! I was on retreat while at work. Every action of soap and sponge and elbow-pushing-arm, became a contemplative, active prayer of sorts.  – Melissa Borgmann-Kiemde

During this year of prayer and manual physical labor, I made significant changes in my life. I  worked to simplify or  downsize in all respects of property and ego; I  let go of everything I thought I knew for certain; I felt freer and more happy than I had ever been – as I cleaned and contemplated and wrote blogs as prayerful prose for the public. It was a revolutionary year of my life.

I’ve recently become re-acquainted with Fr. Rohr, as a friend hooked me up with his daily meditations sent via email from the Center for Action and Contemplation. It’s exhilarating to re-discover this spiritual teacher/wise counselor and touchstone. As a prolific writer and speaker, Fr. Rohr has many books and CD’s published to inspire our lives; he’s not unlike the Visitation’s co-founder, St. Francis de Sales, or the many holy people who inspire our hearts, minds, souls, and bodies.

In the days, weeks, months to come, I will be re-posting some of Fr. Richard Rohr’s words as they so move me; I will be working to apply them, through a Salesian lens, to my own life.  I invite you to join me!

Peace to all this day.