As many of you know, I belong to an international religious order of men and women, vowed religious and laypeople whose mission is to provide for the spiritual needs of people in virtually all parts of the world. We call ourselves The Dominican Family working to bring the good news of God’s love for us to all peoples everywhere no matter their religious beliefs.
News of my Dominican family in Ukraine come to me by way of a Dominican friar who serves in a leadership position there.
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Terry Kinsey, the secretary for the Shem Center Board of Directors, founded the Mindful Reflection Community of Unity Temple Unitarian Universalist Congregation. It is a lay-led organization. It is open to all members and friends of Unity Temple who are interested in exploring meditation, mindfulness, and Buddhist teachings. We do not follow one traditional Buddhist lineage but are interested in all lineages as well as Unitarian-Universalist/ secular/liberal/western/modern interpretations of Buddhism.
On January 28, 1985, some of America’s top-selling pop musicians including Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles arrived at the A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, CA and recorded “USA For Africa – We Are The World.”
After the morning Mass, I asked the Missionaries of Charity Sisters how they look at the future. “I was thinking about that a couple of times,” said Sister Immaculata. “But the only response that comes to mind is to trust God every day and do what we can. Love Him and love our neighbor. And live. He knows best what is awaiting us and what is good for us.”
We’ve reached the second anniversary of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, although perhaps it would be more correct for me to write that it is the tenth year of war. Everything started in 2014 with the Russian occupation of Crimea and the fighting in the Donbas. A couple of months earlier, the Revolution of Dignity had begun, which saw President Viktor Yanukovych removed from office. Millions of Ukrainians had gathered for demonstrations to show that they wanted to bind their future with the free and democratic Europe.
“Offer your dry, hypocritical, agnostic prayer to God, for God in his mercy accepts bad coin.”— Jalal al-Din Rumi In the midst of grief over thousands of deaths among both Jews and Palestinians, the children of Gaza are still capable of smiles after weeks of waiting while bargaining to exchange hostages for prisoners bring hope to…
“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”― Dietrich Bonhoeffer A holiday message that ignores the injustice and pain of today’s world is difficult to put into words. The “good news” of the birth of Jesus, the one we call, “Savior,” is stifled by the…
Creation does not wait for an occasion to gift us with its treasurers. We receive them constantly as things necessary for us to thrive on planet earth. They are the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the beauty that feeds our spirits. Appreciation, gratitude and respect is all that is required from us. We love giving and receiving gifts. Here’s one to consider. We can show the Creator’s generosity our gratitude by caring for one of its creatures, the splendidly arrayed Monarch Butterfly, a gift more precious than anything one can buy anywhere.
Bob Sima (pronounced sEYE-ma) is to music what Wayne Dyer, Don Miguel Ruiz, and Eckhart Tolle are to books and Rumi, Hafiz, and David Whyte are to poetry. He is an award-winning singer-songwriter, spiritual teacher, and musical mystic who has been called Eckhart Tolle with a guitar. With no musical training, he has creatively channeled award winning albums and built a national following. The music that comes through him will vibrate with your spirit exactly where you are.
He is a troubadour, a way-shower, a guide, an awakener, and a musical mystic through the medium of melody. His music bridges daily life and soul consciousness, the eternal with the now through instantly accessible songs that take up residence and resonance in your soul.
When I wrote my previous letter from Ukraine at the beginning of August, no one expected that the world would soon be watching with surprise and pain the events of another war. This time, war in the territory of the state of Israel in the Gaza Strip. The media bore the information about thousands of dead and wounded civilians, including women and children, along with the drama of kidnapped hostages. The horror of the military conflict is repeating itself before our eyes in such a short amount of time. The war in Ukraine that’s been dragging on month after month is no longer an interesting subject for many around the world, and news from the Dnipro River rarely appears on the front pages of the world’s media. Even in Ukraine you can pick up on a certain level of exhaustion, sometimes accompanied by irritation and anger. But despite 627 long days of war drama, I still cannot detect any attitude of resignation, apathy, or surrender — maybe because we’re all aware that the stakes in this war are very high, and its conclusion will shape the future of the Ukrainian nation.
Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality
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