Journal of Sacred Work

Days 115-119 - Creating the Sacred

    Wherever Love arrives, that place becomes sacred. 

     There is no such thing as sacred space (or a healing hospital) without Love.

    Whenever Love enters a relationship it brings with it the blessing of the sacred. 

    Love thrives when it encounters a receiving soul (symbolized at left as the woman honors the entry of the clouded sun.)

   The first appreciation of Beauty was the signal event in our higher evolution and laid the groundwork for our worship of God's Love. 

   This recognition probably came when the first people enjoyed flowers not for any "use" but as an expression of Beauty.

   The same epiphany occured when the classic female form was perceived not only as sexual but as Beauty speaking the language of the spirit (photograph below.)

   Sex is appetite. Beauty is spiritual. When joined they express true marriage in this world.  

   Great art only appears when an artist allows Love to move through him or her. An image of a nude is sacred or profane based on whether Love is present in both the creation and in the heart of the viewer. 

   There is no justice without Love. Love's presence makes the delivery of justice sacred. 

   Places classified as sacred: churches, temples, mosques, hospitals, courtrooms, museums lose their sacredness when Love's entry is blocked. For Jesus the money-changers in the temple were interferring with God's presence. 

   God does not live in a "holy" structure. God lives in our hearts.

   An excessive focus on "money-changing" crowds out the sacred. Such an obsessive "transaction focus" converts hospitals to little more than brothels where "love" is faked in exchange for money.

   Both settings are obscene because in both such places humanity is degraded. 

   No place becomes sacred merely by its physical location. Any place where Love meets need becomes clothed with holiness.

   When a housekeeper enters a room to comfort a man in pain, that space immediately glows with the holy. When a nurse ignores policy to stroke the back of a dying three-day-old being that bassinet becomes sacred.

   What about flowers, sky, forest, and sea? Nature wears Love's raiment. We encounter this sacredness the moment we extend our hand to meet God's.

   If we want our work to matter, if we want to bring quality into our encounters, compassion must be present.

   Shallow thinking causes us to believe that we can sustain quality care without Love - that only we can bring skill. God is excluded from this way of thinking.

   It is Love that transforms everyday caregiving into healing encounters. Quality care programs are doomed to failure when they are grounded in fear and rely on rote performance. 

   Caregivers are not called to fix widgets but to meet human need. 

   Their charge is to allow God to create sacred space through them in every encounter, in every place, all the time.

-Reverend Erie Chapman

*Photographs:

1. Madrid, 2012

2. "Figure Study - Afternoon Light" - copyright dane dakota 2009

Days 156-158 - Fitting In...and the Journal's 5th Anniversary

   From the time we are younger than I was in the photo at left, life sends us a barrage of mixed messages.

   We are to obey the rules, and yet the greatest among us always break them. We are to perform with perfection, but, when we do, we draw a crowd of those jealous of our success. Try to eat healthy and friends will constantly urge you to take an extra dessert.

   Peer pressure to "fit in" exerts enormous power. It's no wonder that our natural creativity wanes early. By age three our wildest creative ideas are generally tamped down by parents who want what? - for their children to fit in!

   In spite of wide-ranging success across my life, I've never felt I fitted in. In school, I was often punished for breaking rules. In work settings as a lawyer, judge, hospital CEO, television producer, minister and artist, I have always been viewed as a renegade.

   Where do "renegade" caregivers, ones who insist on living Love  while caught in a maelstrom of rules, turn for advice and comfort? 

   June 7 marks the fifth anniversary of the Journal as a "place of sharing for loving caregivers." Part of our goal has been to help you find balance amid the cross currents of your life.

   Your more radical efforts at loving care will often find resistance. Your patient's hope you you won't give up. We are here to support you.

   Over one thousand essays have been posted here over the past five years. I used to write them every day. Finally, I cut down to two a week and tried to focus more on the quality of each piece.

   Then, Liz Wessel joined the Journal as weekend writer. Her contributions are consistently fabulous. She brings us not only her prose but the poetry of her paintings and mandalas - great gifts of peace and Love.

   Substantially more than five thousand comments have been posted on the Journal by those who seek to share caring words with others. Your contributions are deeply appreciated.

   We are approaching nearly two hundred thousand visits to the Journal. Lovely as that is, more people visit the sites of stars like Justin Bieber in five minutes than have visited us in five years. 

   A journal about loving care has no chance of competing with sites like these. Yet, we remain grateful for those who choose to visit the Journal and who pass along the work we offer.    

   The teachings of God's Love are always more popular than the practice. "Love your enemies?" People who try to do that are often viewed as fools - as people who don't "fit in."

  Love, if it has a reward on earth, must always provide its own gift. Each day, we have the chance to decide whether we will choose to live Radical Loving Care against pressures to fit in.

  Right now, someone nearby needs you. God's gift is that whatever choice you make, you are loved.

-Reverend Erie Chapman   

Days 36-37 The Compass of Your Soul

Photo compliments pf : www.panhala.net/Archive/Index.html 

For the Traveler
 
Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
 
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
 
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
 
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
 
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
 
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
 
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
 
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
 
~ John O'Donohue ~(To Bless the Space Between Us)

This Saturday morning  my colleagues and I  are about to embark on a weeklong journey.   We are heading to the town of Flores, which is in the Peten region of Guatemala.  As participants in this pilgrimage we have been encouraged to experience the world through the eyes of the people we go to meet.

I am filled with anticipation and I pray for an openness to receive whatever may come, to give fully of myself and allow God to work through me.   I hope to journey within the  "territories of the spirit."  If you are interested in following our blog where we will be sharing our eperiences go to  http://www.stjoeblogs.org/internationaloutreach

A traveler’s journey does not necessarily require that we venture off to far away places.  A worthwhile path is where "the compass of your soul can guide you to the hidden places."  As I write this to you, I wonder where your journey might be leading you?  May you awaken to the fullness of your inner Beauty.

~liz Sorensen Wessel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                 Unknown Photographer

Days 137-138 The Divine Gift of Remembrance

"To the soul memory is more important than planning, art more compelling than reason, and love more fulfilling than understanding." ~Thomas Moore    

                      

             In Loving Remembrance of Patrick Gustave Gleason   Mandala Watercolor by ~liz

This week, I attended a Celebration of Life for Pat Gleason, the father of my friend and colleague, Pam Paul. The priest gave an especially meaningful eulogy. He spoke of the choice we have to love. We can choose, as Pat did, to reach out to others in need and live a life of loving service. I listened as Pam shared these sweet remembrances of her dad:   

                                                My Dad 

My Dad gave airplane rides to all the kids on the block 

My Dad piled his entire Little League team into his Triumph Spitfire 

My Dad never cooked when he was married to my Mom, but when he decided to cook, he made Crab Benedict for Easter Brunch, and it was good! 

My Dad made Pasties, an Irish Meat Pie for Sunday family dinners 

My Dad loved the Yankees! 

My Dad loved Minnesota, state of his birth. 

My Dad loved to argue and he was always right. (Even when he was wrong he would wear you down until he was right) 

My Dad was devoted to Alcoholics Anonymous and credited the organization with saving his life. 

My Dad was fierce, loyal and opinionated. 

My Dad was exceptionally smart.

My Dad loved by many.

My Dad was loved by me.

~Pam Paul

Father Christian then spoke of the divine gift of remembrance by quoting Mathew 18:20, "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."  When we remember our loved ones, they too are in our midst. That is the power of Love! What a beautiful realization, this gift of remembrance.

~Liz Sorensen Wessel

Days 86-87 Charlie’s Last Day & The Devil Dog

 Pets are the best kind of family as they offer us unconditional love and acceptance. The therapeutic benefits of pets and their seeming sixth sense in times of trouble are well documented. Some hospitals, nursing homes and hospices offer pet visits because of their engaging encounters. People are simply drawn to these furry creatures who seem to love us, no matter what.The following are my remembrances of two very different dogs that were a part of my family's experience.

 Charlie’s Last Day

  I grew up in a family of nine, my parents, six kids, and Charlie, a benevolent Old English Sheep dog. I would like to tell you about Charlie’s final day on earth. Charlie was 13 when he died at my parent’s home in Vermont. Earlier that day he wandered off across the road, which was quite unusual for him. Our neighbor, Mrs. Brooks, found Charlie behind the barn with a dazed look, confused and lost. Miraculously she found the strength and fortitude to pick Charlie up and carried him all the way back to our house. This was no easy feat since he was a big dog who weighed about 80 pounds. We will be forever grateful to Mrs. Brooks for her incredibly kind and heroic gesture.

That evening mom cooked a steak dinner for Charlie. Boy, he really enjoyed that steak. She stayed up with Charlie until about midnight and gently petted him while her voice soothed him with her sweetest love. She confided in him, letting him know what a wonderful dog he was, the best any family could hope for, and she told him that she loved him. Charlie died that night. I have always adored my mom for being there for Charlie in that way. Our pets become our cherished family members and we grieve for them when they die.

 The Devil Dog

  Some years later, Shoo Shoo, a miniature toy poodle, came into my parent’s lives and stole their hearts. This little fur ball with a black gumdrop nose and cute persona proved deceptive. For Shoo Shoo had a nasty habit of biting people, quite unexpectedly and without provocation. My parents loved this dog, yet the rest of our clan was quite uneasy around him because he might strike at any time and when you least expected. We worried that he might bite one of our children but in my parents eyes this dog could do no wrong. They staunchly defended him when any objections arose. Once Shoo Shoo attacked my mom, giving her a bad bite on her hand, still her loyalty was unshaken. His temperament grew worse with age and we cautiously avoided him. If he jumped up on the couch and sat next to one of us, our movements froze in a statue pose. Our family, with the exception of my parents, came to know him as the infamous “devil dog.”

In December of 1995, my father was dying of cancer. I came home to be with him during his last few weeks of life. Intuitively, Shoo Shoo seemed to understand the gravity of the situation and he faithfully stayed by my father’s side. When we needed to assist my dad, there was Shoo Shoo curled up in his hospital bed. I was hesitant to move Shoo Shoo but I really had no other choice but to tell him he had to move and gently pick him up. It was then I began to notice an extraordinary transformation, the devil dog had become an angel. A radical change took place in him. He was the embodiment of Love as he kept a watchful vigil. All mistrust and meanness was gone. I could pick him up, and hold like a baby, babble sweet talk, and even kiss him. This aura of Love continued throughout the remaining days of my dad’s life and beyond.

However, a few months later, I returned home to Vermont to visit mom. Unfortunately, Shoo Shoo’s angelic glow was gone and his dark temperament remained with him throughout his old age. I guess in this case it was my parents that offered unconditional love.

As caregivers, we recognize that all humans need love, the warmth of a caring touch, acceptance and meaningful relationships. Pets provide loyal companionship that has undeniably positive effects on a person's well-being. I am curious to know, how have pets influenced the quality of your life and/or those around you?

 “My goal is to be as good a person as my dog thinks I am.” ~Harvey Mackay

~Liz Sorensen Wessel

Days 25-26- The Inner Life of Caregivers

"Outwardly, my life has passed calmly and uneventfully and can be covered by a few dates." Dr. Sigmund Freud

   Dr. Freud,(left) arguably one of the greatest minds of the last two centuries, says that his outer life passed "uneventfully." From his extensive writings, we know that Freud's inward journey must have been as remarkable and eventful as that of any great explorer who discovered new lands.

   Freud was the Columbus of the ego (he even created the word') He was the man who helped us learn to sail alongside our own dreams so that we might better understand what our subconscious might be trying to tell us. He literally tried to tell us why we do what we do.

   When Freud tells us his outer life passed calmly, he was signaling the enormous importance of our journey inward.

   First line caregivers do so many things each day that one wonders how they have time to reflect. Yet, you know how rich your own inner travels are. You are the one who understands the personal thought processes that inform your caregiving. You are the one who appreciates that it is your spiritual life that enables you to live Love in the outer world - or not. 

   In job interviews, questions typically circle on what we have done. It's hard to describe our inner thoughts on a resume.

   At funerals, our lives are so often described with a list of our accomplishments in the outer world. But, it is our inner journey that may matter most.

   God's Love lives within each of us. As we reflect on our inner journey, we may come to discover that there are three commandments of Love: The first is that we love God; the second is that we love other; the final commandment is that we love ourselves.

   As you engage your own inner journey may you know that without loving and honoring yourself, you will be unable to love God or your patients and colleagues.

   If you are wondering if it's okay to love yourself, consider the reverse. We are all created by God. If we don't love ourselves, then we are betraying the Love of our creator.

   When we truly love ourselves, we are not engaging in the indulgence of our egos. Instead, we are accepting, with humility, the gift of the life we have been given by God.

   As we our inner journey opens us to God, Love shines through us. It is God's Love that enables us to be a healing presence for patients.

-Erie Chapman

Signs of Radical Change - A List of Some of America's Healing Hospitals

Empathy and compassion are caught, they not taught...You can't get to compassion without empathy - Mary Gordon, founder, Roots of Empathy

   It is simultaneously one of the largest, one the oldest and one of the biggest urban hospital systems in America. It includes two of the finest medical schools in America. Yet, until recently, it had begun to slip backwards in the minds of sophisticated New Yorkers who sometimes left town for the Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins instead of heading down the street to one of this center's hospitals. Then, in 1998, the board of the newly merged New York Hospital (founded in 1771) and Presbyterian Hospital made a key decsion. They chose a psychiatrist to be their chief executive. And the psychiatrist, Herbert Pardes, M.D. (above, left), announced a radical strategy. The new organization would focus on patient-centered care. "The only thing I'm interested in is helping patients..." Dr. Pardes announced. What's so radical about this?...

HHN: Parrish Medical Center Continues Successful Campaign

   In the great way they so often do, Parrish Medical Center, Titusville, Florida, keeps finding new and more creative ideas to nourish loving care in their organization. Often, the Loving Care campaign needs supporting materials. Liz Vierra & Natalie Sellers, members of the Parrish leadership team, together with other staff,  brainstormed images this past spring and came up with several to support their initiative, some of which are portrayed in this photo (click to enlarge.) What's more important, are the other elements that have characterized their success.

   The leadership of Parrish, under George Mikitarian, demonstrates a pattern of thought and behavior that characterizes successful loving care organizations.

HHN: Mercy Magic! - Mercy-Gilbert Builds Healing Culture with New Hospital

It's one thing to build a hospital (thousands of organizations have done that.) It's quite another to create a healing facility and healing culture at the same time! That's what CEO Laurie Eberst and her partners have done in planning, developing and bringing into being the recently opened Mercy Gilbert Hospital (click on photo to enlarge) just outside Phoenix, Arizona. And they got to do that because of the leadership & support of Catholic Health West & its President & CEO Lloyd Dean...

HHN: Stories from Wuesthoff

At Wuesthoff Health System in Brevard County Florida, one of the organizations that is a member of the new Healing Hospital Network (HHN) established by the Healing Trust, a loving culture is being enhanced by gathering and sharing stories of Sacred Work each week. Sr. V.P Johnette Gindling has arranged for these stories to be published ever Friday. Brenda Mozak, one of their caregivers, sends me these each week...