For Engaging Spirituality Facilitators only Into the Dark Session 14 · 2017. 12. 19. · JustFaith Ministries, 2014 . . 502-429-0865. Session 14 . Engaging Loss. Part 1. Meditation

Into the Dark

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Into the Dark

© JustFaith Ministries, 2014 . www.justfaith.org . 502-429-0865

Sess ion 14

Engaging Loss

Part 1MeditationBearings PresentationBearings DialogueBreak

Part 2Prayerful Listening (small & large group)Community BusinessMeditation

75 Minutes20 Minutes20 Minutes20 Minutes15 Minutes

75 Minutes60 Minutes5 Minutes

10 Minutes

Overview of the 21/2 hr Session

JustFaith Ministries P.O. Box 221348 Louisville, KY 40252 (502) 429-0865www.justfaith.org

All EngagingSpirituality™ materials are copyrighted by JustFaith™ Ministries, 2014.

© JustFaith Ministries, 2014 • www.justfaith.org

For Engaging Spirituality Facilitators only

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These notes are summarized in Pointers for Participants 14. Please read these comments BEFORE the session.

Living To Die“For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh… they are soon gone, and we fly away.” Psalm 90: 9-10

“A culture that denies death is out of touch with reality, and this loss of contact with death has implications for the way we see life. A death-denying culture has life-denying consequences.” Dermot Lane

If life is more than staying alive, then surely dying is part of living. The mystery of life includes the mystery of death. Therefore, our relationship to death and dying mirrors our response to life itself. The convenience-driven society has distanced all of us from regular interaction with the taking of life, unless we happen to be professional dealers-in-death such as farmers and butchers, hunters and fishers, security officers and soldiers, coroners and morticians, hospital chaplains and medical workers. Global consumer culture has also done much to sanitize and sentimentalize death, and even trivialize it as morbid entertainment. It is no wonder then that deep anxiety and fear of death have become the driving motivation for the lust for power and possessions, notoriety and progeny.

So, who are we in the face of death?Some physicists would describe us as “conscious cosmic dust,” embodiments of a 13 billion year-old story. In this cosmic story—whether in the birth of a star-field after a sacrificial supernova or an extinction event— death always arrives to make space for new life. Engaging death can jog our memory about our interrelatedness to everything in the great paschal cycling of disintegration and reintegration. From creation to recreation, the mystery of God’s presence at life’s origins, endings and new beginnings is revealed in our dying to life. In this way, paradoxically, death gives rise to hope. Indeed without death’s mysterious and definitive interruption, we would have precious little use for hope.

Life Giving and Life Taking‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of our God.’ Job 1: 21

The second half of life is well-described as ”falling out of fear” by making the intentional journey toward our own death. On this journey, we uncover the presence of God in creation as the “most moved mover” (Abraham Heschel); the presence of Christ in the tortured lives among us; the action of the Spirit bringing the Reign of God-with-us to birth.

For us who follow the “Way of the Cross,” the crucified one illustrates an embrace of reality at its starkest—fragile, finite, tortured life. Yet the cross is also the shape of our hope. When we are free of death’s twin anxieties (fear of punishment and expectation of reward) we can embrace the Gospel paradox that we find abundant LIFE by lovingly giving away our lives in small and great ways.

This session invites us to: • shatter the silence around death and dying; • express unspoken fears; • address persistent questions about the disintegration that accompanies every human death.

Fr. Ron Rolheiser’s words remind us that it is harshly honest to address death as adults. The prompts invite people to consider how dying teaches us to live life more fully. The prayers of the exterminated and the witness of martyrs display a faithful embrace of “life-giving death” as the culmination of our human experience—so that even when it is cruelly debauched, life-given-away can be a source of

Note to Facilitators

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affirmation, inspiration and hope. The closing meditation encourages people to name their fears and release them as they speak their sources of hope and courage. Needless to say, the theme of holding death with reverence requires gentle strength. In the Bearings letter Brother Mickey McGrath describes his struggles as an artist living and working in America’s poorest city, Camden, New Jersey. The next Bearings (to be read at Session 15) was written by Jim and Kathy McGinnis who share a life-long journey as parents, peacemakers and educators. This letter represents a final testimony from Jim, who died unexpectedly a few weeks after completing his contribution. Justice Pilgrims on the “Way of the Cross” In silence we stand, amid suffering and tragic injustice, and bear witness to the promise of a world restored that we glimpse in the presence of beauty and courageous love.

Session 14 brings the second movement (Into the Dark) to a close. The second step in the process culminates with a one-day pilgrimage. Patterned as an abbreviated Way of the Cross, the pilgrimage day follows a schedule similar to the Immersion Day (9AM -5PM). Participants gather in church around the foot of a cross. The group proceeds from there to make prayerful visits to 4 locations (in and around town) that literally or symbolically represent sites of devastation and the hunger for justice. The Justice Pilgrimage document assists facilitators in setting the itinerary for the day and selecting the sites. After the 3-hour pilgrimage, the group reconvenes at the usual meeting place to break open the experience, listen to personal Bearings letters, and share a video presentation.

“The most valuable contribution that a Christian can make in our age of despair is to continue, because of our faith, to act hopefully, and in that way to be an encouragement to those who have lost all hope.” Albert Nolan.

Note (DVD for Pilgrimage Day)You will need the DVD: The Big Question, A Film about Forgiveness (To order: resources. justfaith. org. Password: ES216579)

You will need: Copy of Bearings Letter by Jim & Kathy McGinnis; a pillar candle; a small cross or crucifix; the covenant cloth; matches; a music player and reflective music; bible (Luke 7: 11-17); refreshments; a small bowl with a handful of salt. Place the symbolic candle (wrapped in thorns or wire) with the bowl of salt in the center of the small table. Have a box of tissues available. Participants need their journals and pens.

Co-Facilitator Prayerful PreparationArrive at least 10 minutes before the group. Set the room (circle of chairs, with one additional Bearings seat; small central table; symbolic candle; covenant cloth; cross; bible; reflective music; music player). Have reflective music playing. Sit together in silence for 3 minutes.

Silence Silence Silence Offer a word of blessing to one another or invoke the Holy Spirit, with this prayer:

Persevering Spirit... Strengthen us… Prophetic Spirit… Provoke us… Spirit of the Living God… Fall afresh on us…

Note to Facilitators cont’d

Session 14 • E n g a g i n g L o s s • 2 ½ h o u r s

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Set the tone with reflective background music. If possible, darken the room, by turning off the lights and/or closing the curtains. Leave enough ambient light for readers. As they enter, invite people to put everything down and sit in a receptive posture. When everyone has settled, turn off the music.

Strike the chime and sit with the silence for a minute.

Silence Silence Silence Invite everyone to listen to the sound of their own breathing. Offer these words: Breathing in… receiving and holding… embracing life and longing… Breathing out… letting go and giving back… releasing love and limitations…

Pause Since the inception of your life… that first sharp intake of breath… your lungs have worked incessantly.

Pause Just as there was a day before your first breath… …there will be a day after your last exhalation… Every breath… is one breath closer.

Pause Just for a moment, hold your breath! Imagine not breathing… NOT being here…

Light the symbolic candle. Alternating voices, share A L L or A N Y of this reflection:

“Precious in the eyes of our Maker is the death of God’s faithful ones.” Psalm 116: 15

Pause “How do you explain peace to a child born in war? How do you talk about trust when hatred is all she knows? How do you talk about rights when wrongs abound? How do you describe tomorrow when today is such a mess?

Pause How do you describe joy to an embittered child, a child accustomed to unparalleled horror and hate? How do you describe a home to a child living in war when life in temporary camps is so routine and real?

Pause What do you say about having a family in the midst of chaos, When the family he knows are his abusers and users? When do you tell her about respect and love, when slavery and sex are the reasons she is kept alive?

Pause What do you say about life and its attendant joy, when body counts are the only joys he is taught to share? What do you tell him about school and play and work amidst the heartless carnage and devastation around?

Centering Meditation (20 minutes)

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Pause How can you describe trust when trusting no one is matter of must? What do you say about friendship when the best friend he has is the weapon he carries?

Pause What do you tell her about hope when all her life feels like sliding down a slope? How do you tell her she is a child, a beautiful child, When her beauty and age have brought her so much pain?

Pause

How do you talk about peace, joy, hope or love? What do you say about rights, friendship or family? How do you talk about life, school, play or work?

Pause How do you talk about peace to a child born in war?” Saah Charles N’Tow (Liberian refugee and activist) Prayers Without Borders, Celebrating Global Wisdom, CRS 2004. Used by permission.

Invite people into Centering Prayer. If needed, reiterate the directions:

• BE attentive to the sound and rhythm of your breathing. • SIT comfortably and close your eyes. • CHOOSE a short sacred word (like Jesus, Mercy, Peace, Love, Listen, Holy…). • LET this word be the symbol of your intention to receive God’s presence and action. • SILENTLY introduce this sacred word to welcome God’s presence and action.• GENTLY return to the sacred word as thoughts arise.

Strike the chime to open 10 minutes of silence.

Silence Silence Silence At the end of the prayer period, strike the chime to break the silence. Remain in silence with eyes closed for a moment.

Read Luke 7: 11-17Pause for a full minute before closing with this reflection:

Sabbath Hope “Sunday will come again, These deserted streets will come alive.

Pause Laughter of children and parents will fill the air. Fear will fade and joy will gradually return.

Pause The church bell will ring again. The pews will be full again.

Pause

Centering Meditation cont’d

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People will serve in joyful obedience. People will dance and sing praises to our God.

Pause Sunday will come again. Sunday will come again.

Pause When the cries of anguish will no longer be heard And death will find a place elsewhere.” Saah Charles N’Tow (Liberian refugee and activist) Prayers Without Borders, Celebrating Global Wisdom, CRS 2004. Used by permission.

Bearings Presentation (20 minutes)The person responsible for presenting the Bearings letter introduces Br. Mickey, placing his picture on the empty chair. After the reading, the presenter returns the letter to the co-facilitators.

Bearings Dialogue – Open Response Mode (20 minutes)Pause after the reading and final Lectio sharing. Offer this question:

•What resonated in Mickey’s testimony?

Open the floor for those who wish to offer ONE heart response to the letter.

Break (15 minutes)Select two people couple to read the next Bearings letter (Jim and Kathy McGinnis) to be read at Session 15. Give the Bearings letter to the readers. Remind them NOT to make additional copies of the letter, but to reflect on it and come prepared to lead the Bearings process at the next session.

Prayerful Listening (60 Minutes) Call everyone back to the circle.

Silence Silence Silence Share A N Y or A L L of these reflections:

In a short time, a matter of a few decades, every single one of us, everyone we have known in our lifetime will be gone from here… forever.

Pause In time, even the memory of us and what we have been, all the living and longing and learning, will fade away.

Longer Pause “It is cruel to talk about death, but crueler still not to.

Pause

Centering

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Adult life is not a child’s life. As adults we are asked to die and, like Christ, we sweat blood about it.

Pause Physical death is only one part of it.

Pause We are dying all the time, Struggling painfully to let go of youth, health, daydreams and possible dreams, infatuations, romances, honeymoons and, in the end, of life itself.

Pause No one lets go easily...

Pause We do not accept death. We deny, daydream, mummify, pretend, cling, drug, refuse to wake up and do everything except accept that we must let go...

Pause As Christians we need to distinguish between two kinds of death, paschal (PASS•kul) and terminal.

Pause Terminal death is a death that ends life, ends possibilities. It brings daydreams, health, honeymoons, and happiness to final closure.

Pause Paschal death is real death. Something precious dies. However in this kind of death there is an opening to new life and new spirit.

Pause In paschal death, there is always a birth as well. Just as in childbirth a woman also loses her child in giving birth…

Pause When we stop clinging, when we give ourselves over to God in trust, new life will be conceived and new spirit will be released. death will be paschal not terminal.” Ron Rolheiser

Prayerful Listening (TRIADS) (15 minutes)Invite participants to divide into groups of three. If you have an even number, form one group of two. Each person takes 5 minutes to respond from the heart to EITHER of these prompts:

Prayerful Listening cont’d

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• What are your fears about dying? • How are you preparing for (living into) your own death? Repeat the prompts. Remind everyone to pause before and after each person speaks, and to practice prayerful listening.

As you call people back to the large circle, invite groups to express their gratitude to one another.

Large Group – Inspirational Mode (40 minutes)Open a moment of silence.

Silence Silence Silence If you wish, share these words:

Cruciform Hope “There is no escaping the reality of the cross in our lives, whether through sickness, tragedy or death itself; it is the stark reality of the cross that is the most potent symbol of hope for Christian faith…

Pause There is darkness and light in life and in death and this darkness can become a special kind of light.

Pause Often it is the experience of darkness that enables us to see the world in a new way...

Pause The disintegration of life gives rise to the reintegration of life in God... If scientists can talk about the self as stardust come alive, why cannot Christians affirm that the dust of the dead becomes a new creation?” Dermot Lane

Offer these prompts for silent reflection:

• How have you already experienced death and dying? • What have your encounters with death taught you about how to live?

Repeat the prompts several times.Invite someone to pick up the cross and (after a brief pause) share what is in her/his heart.After that person has shared, s/he offers the cross to a neighbor in the circle. If this person is neither ready, nor inclined to share, s/he holds the symbol briefly before passing it on. This process continues until everyone has had an opportunity to share.

Thank everyone for sharing. C lose the dialogue with this reflection:

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Ani Ma’amin (anEE•mah aMEEN)... I Believe. This opening line of a thousand year-old Jewish prayer expresses profound hope in the coming restoration.

Pause “I believe with a complete faith in the coming of an era of justice and peace. And even if it is delayed, I still believe.”

Pause This prayer was chanted in the Nazi death camps by people even as they entered the gas chambers.


Pause This became a song of spiritual resistance in the face of extermination, a grounding for hope in the clutches of death.


“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil for you are with me…” Psalm 23: 4

Community Business & Pearls of Wisdom (5 minutes) A participant shares a quote from the ES Journal and a brief excerpt from a current spiritual reading text. Inform everyone of the details (date and time) of the upcoming Justice Pilgrimage Day. Refer people to the Pointers for Participants.

Meditation (10 minutes)Invite the group to return to silence:

Silence Silence Silence

Alternating voices, offer A N Y or A L L of this reflection: Slowly

WITNESSING LASTING FAITH… ENDURING HOPE… ETERNAL LOVE… …our dying can be our deepest act of loving.

Pause On December 2nd 1980, four Catholic missionaries were raped, beaten and shot by Salvadoran soldiers because of their loving commitment to the poor peasants of El Salvador.

Prayerful Listening cont’d

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Pause Sister Maura Clarke, one of those four martyred women, whose love burned brightly in violent darkness, wrote these words in the weeks before her murder:

Pause “The church’s role is to accompany those who suffer the most, and to witness our hope in the resurrection…

Pause My fear of death is being challenged constantly as children and old people are being shot… I want to stay on now. I believe that God is present even in His seeming absence.”

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15: 13

Invite people into a receptive posture (hands resting on their laps, palms upturned).Alternating voices, invite people into A N Y part of this ritual-reflection:

CLOSED-FISTED or OPEN-HANDED? “Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit…” John 12: 24

Pause The manner in which we die our death often reflects the manner in which we have lived our lives.

Pause How will I die? What am I holding onto? What am I fearful of and how will I let go? Am I fearful of pain or punishment or clinging to a promised reward?

PauseInvite people to clench their hands into tight fists.

What am I holding onto? What am I fearful of and how will I let go? If you can, speak your fears aloud! (Allow time for people to name their fears)

“Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12: 25

Invite people to release their fists let their open palms rest on their laps.

Pause How shall I live? What am I letting go? Love is fearlessly openhanded, it does not cling… love is its own reward.

Pause Where does hope come from? What gives me the courage to be life-giving? If you can, name the hope that sustains you! (Allow time for people to name their hope)

Large Group – Inspirational Mode cont’d

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Reverencing Death Death “…is a splinter lodged in the heart of humanity… We hide death as if it were something shameful and dirty. We see in it the horror, meaningless and useless struggle and suffering, an intolerable scandal…

Pause …whereas it is our life’s culmination, its crowning moment and what gives it both sense and worth…

Pause When death comes so close, and sadness and suffering rule, there is still room for life, and joy, and surges of feeling deeper and more intense than anything known before .” Marie de Hennezel

Ask everyone to stand, link hands and echo this prayer:

Spirit of the Living God… Lead us from DEATH to LIFE… From DEATH to LIFE… From FALSEHOOD to TRUTH… From FALSEHOOD to TRUTH…

Pause Lead us from DESPAIR to HOPE… From DESPAIR to HOPE… From FEAR to TRUST… From FEAR to TRUST…

Pause Lead us from HATE to LOVE… From HATE to LOVE… From WAR to PEACE… From WAR to PEACE…

Pause Let Peace fill our hearts… Let Peace fill our hearts… Our world, Our world, Our universe… Our universe. World Peace Prayer Let us quietly bless each another with a gesture of peace.

Co-facilitator Afterglow (5 Minutes) When everyone has gone, revisit the session together.

• Begin with a few minutes of silence.• Let a grateful word surface. • Offer a word of affirmation to one another. OR Share your response to A N Y of these:

I felt the Holy Spirit…I was stretched or challenged by...I have learned…

Meditation cont’d

This concludes the session.

Look ahead to the next session or activity.

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Pointers for Participants

© JustFaith Ministries, 2014 . www.justfaith.org . 502-429-0865For Engaging Spirituality participants only

Reflect on these insights BEFORE the session

Just Pilgrims Walking is the best way to get out of your head. Phil Cousineau

The Justice Pilgrimage: an 8-hour retreat day. Pilgrimage describes our lifelong journey to wholeness. Putting their lives on the road, pilgrims travel together to sacred places (of devastation and reclamation), hoping to return blessed, healed, transformed. Some pilgrimages are expressions of prayerful mourning, such as journeys to nuclear test sites and visitations to memorials of war, terrorist violations or genocide. By walking the sorrowful path together and bearing witness, the Justice Pilgrimage brings to a culmination the journey into the darkness of suffering, mystery and loss. This day represents a full-body immersion into “neighbor-hood:” to stand at four different sites, to quietly bear witness, and hold together the brokenness with the blessing of God’s promised restoration.

Rooted in Scripture Reflect on Luke 23: 44-49. How did the Centurion bear witness? What about the bystanders and those acquainted with Jesus? How are we called to bear witness in the face of the powers of destruction?

Prayer in the Public Square Pilgrims are witnesses not accusers! Our prayer and our faith are not private affairs. They find expression in the bustle of the public square—the forum in which Jesus challenged the powers with integrity and compassion. Justice pilgrims focus on the task of being public, prayerful witnesses, who stand quietly at the center. Like Jesus, when confronted by the powers of this world, we stand in relative silence. The quality of presence, displayed by humble reverence, is distinct from a moralizing or accusatory stance. Our presence should be unobtrusive but not unnoticed.

Signs of ContradictionTo be present to suffering, just present, without offering answers, is how we most radically follow Jesus’ invitation to ‘remember me.’ Mary Lou Kownacki.On a pilgrimage, paradox abounds and everything becomes a sign of God. Like Moses, who noticed a burning bush, God captures our attention through apparent contradictions in the most ordinary ways and places.

Between Session 14 & the Justice PilgrimagePractical Applications PrayerRestore in me the joy of your salvation and renew me with a willing spirit... Psalm 51: 12Take this prayer to heart. Repeat it throughout the week, and pray for the gift of tears.

Spiritual Reading

The Holy Longing, pages 141 - 166.

Journal-Keeping Read and respond to pages 125 - 130.

Spiritual Practice Compose your own LAST TESTAMENT [ES Journal, p.126].

Outreach Ministry ...unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies... John 12: 24What do you need to let go of in order to be fully present to others?

Walking the Sorrowful WayThe Lord keep you in your going out and your coming in, from this time on and forevermore. Psalm 121: 8

Two occupational hazards haunt anyone who tries to walk the Gospel path: • Cynicism which leads to a sense of futility—no heroic effort can hope to effect lasting change;• Self-righteousness which becomes callous indifference —few are truly enlightened, even fewer really care.

The antidote to cynicism is the practice of gratitude, a daily response to all that life freely offers. The remedy to self-righteousness is “The Sorrowful Way,” or lament, to draw us into intimate solidarity with injustice, longing and lack.

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Preparing for The Justice PILGRIMAGE

PilgrimageDay

STILL in the STORMVisit the Engaging Spirituality blog: https://stillinthestorm.wordpress.com/

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For Engaging Spirituality Facilitators only Into the Dark Session 14 · 2017. 12. 19. · JustFaith Ministries, 2014 . . 502-429-0865. Session 14 . Engaging Loss. Part 1. Meditation