Journal of Sacred Work

Days 305-306 Harnessing the Energies of Love

 

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with and what seizes your imagination will affect everything.

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings, what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."

 —Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

"Someday, after we have mastered the wind,

the waves, the tides, and gravity,

We shall harness for God the energies of love.

Then, for the second time in the history of the world,

we will have discovered fire. "   —Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

 

Dedicated to you, Erie Chapman; wishing you a beautiful birthday! ❤️️

Liz Sorensen Wessel

All photos from previous JSW posts by Erie

Days 300-304 - Creativity: Where Does It Come From?

If you have followed the Journal for long you will know that our regular co-writers, Liz Wessel & Terry Chapman, & I are endlessly interested in the role that creativity plays in caregiver's lives. You will also know that, as a photoartist, I am forever encouraging people to do more than just split-second looking at pictures.

Of course, I think my youngest granddaughter is cute as can be &, like most grandparents, take the chance to show pictures whether requested or not. The picture inside this picture holds magic.

Could any adult have come up with the idea of painting a caterpillar's body as a row of lollypops?

One reason I love hanging around with them is that little kids are creative geniuses. Listen carefully & they will open the window to the fantastical world you once occupied yourself. 

Caregiving is meaningful & is also grim work. Beauty can become foreign amid the ugliness you see every day. I have been immersed in hospitals for so long I thought for a moment that the word "Journey" on Caroline's tee shirt was "Gurney."

Discovering beauty in caregiving enriches our ability to heal & elevates life's journey. 

Imagination has been my salvation since I was Caroline's age. It may become hers twenty years from now after she has seen the suffering you & I know.

When she has reached that age, may she still see lollipops in unexpected places. 

-Erie Chapman

Photograph by Tyler Chapman

 

Days 298-299 A Warm Blanket

In my greatest moment of uncertainty, I was given a warm blanket.

When the nurse covered me in it, I almost immediately stopped shaking. Holding the soft edges, my unsteady hands were anchored.

“Thank you,” I managed to say without letting my emotions get the best of me. It was just what I needed when I didn’t know what I needed.

“Just doing my job,” said the nurse with kind eyes and capable hands.

I wrapped that blanket around me tighter and promised I would not forget that moment.

It came back to me this morning as I stared into the face of my 10-year-old daughter in her moment of great uncertainty.

I gathered her into my arms.
I assured her of my love.
I spoke of divine protection.
I reminded her that some of her classmates might feel scared and shaky too.

“Be extra kind today,” I whispered.
“Be extra patient with others,” I said.
“Remember love is stronger,” I called as she walked away.

My baby turned and gave me two thumbs up, the warm blanket draped securely across her shoulders.

I called my friend who I knew would be feeling unsteady this morning.

I assured of my love.
I let her know I was here to listen.
I reminded her she was not alone.
“We’ll get through this together,” I said.
I wrapped her in warm blanket and she cried.

I went the post office. The mood was somber.
I noticed the postal worker’s shaky hands as she weighed my package.
“Rough morning?” I asked.
She nodded, unable to speak.

“Take your time,” I said.
“I'm in no rush,” I assured.
“I see you’re in pain today, and I am sorry,” I whispered.

I saw the release of her chest.
She smiled faintly at me, and I detected a glimmer of hope.
The warm blanket was in place.

What I didn’t realize until today is how big that blanket was that the nurse gave me last December. I didn’t realize until this morning that it’s big enough to stretch across the world.

All it takes to reach people is to do what the nurse said – just do my job.

And my job is to BE love –

Not the perfectly worded, well-rehearsed, one-sided love that comes only on special occasions or when it’s convenient.

but the noticing, listening, put in the effort, feel-it-in-your-bones kind of love ...

the Show Up kind of love that is found where it is least expected and when it is most needed ...

the kind of love that silences hate talk, breaks down barriers, and cannot be contained, silenced, or overpowered ...

the mountain-moving type of love that cultivates hope and makes good things possible.

My job is to BE love –

the warm blanket kind of love that steadies shaky hands and supports weak legs so they can step away from the bed of pain and begin to heal.

Today let me BE love like it’s my job.

My end-of-the-day goal is to see how far my blanket can stretch.

May it reach your shoulders today.

By Rachel Macy Stafford

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel
My friend Laura's blanket

Days 293-297 - One of Your Angels*

Amid her life's coda my angelic mother-in-law, Marian Lokvam (pictured with my wife on our wedding day), water-colored an image (below) that I imagine as her soul flying towards eternity. Her angel greets you with the gift of her art.

We need such gifts. Your daily work, with all its security, can batter your heart. The more you merge your self-worth into your job the more you fear losing that security.

Our individual souls require nurturing. 

Fear blocks love.The flood of troubles this year put spirits at risk of drowning.

David Whyte writes that the arts are not a past-time. They are vital to maintaining your soul's balance.

You & I need a guide. That is why poet Whyte is a caregiver. He is the only being I know who has dedicated his career to helping you bridge the land of your workplace with the landscape of the arts.

That is why he is one of your angels. He is what one friend calls "a compassionate genius."

Invite Whyte into your world. Read his seminal book, The Heart Aroused. Listen to his voice soothe you with his poems.

In one poem, "This Life," Whyte alludes to one overpowered by work: "He has left the life/ he once tried to love/ now it is only a shadow/ calling for another shadow/ and this shadow/ wants to become real again."

Have you fallen out of love with caregiving? Whyte's subject wants to live anew "before the specter haunts me to my/ grave."

There is a milligram of fear here: Watch out or you will reach your life's end aboard a regret-flooded gurney haunted by angels you ignored.

Although, Whyte wrote or me in reviewing my book, Radical Loving Care that I was a "beacon of light in American healthcare" HE is the beacon - your beacon.

Let David Whyte's light shine into your life & you will experience the soul-refreshing presence of one of your angels.

-Erie Chapman

Painting by Marian Lokvam, 1993

*Column based on piece I posted October, 2014

291-292 Honoring Indigenous People and Native Land

The 2nd Monday in October is celebrated as Indigenous People’s Day  to honor Native American people and to commemorate their histories and cultures.

The Great Spirit Prayer

Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the wind, whose breath gives life to all the world.

Hear me; I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people.

Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.

Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.

Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.

Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.

I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and straight eyes.

So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.

Translated by Chief Yellow Lark

Enjoy this beautiful video:

 

 "Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth. " 

If you would like to learn more  check out this website: https://usdac.us/nativeland

Shared by Liz Sorensen Wessel

Painting by artist and friend, Anne Milligan

 

Days 286-290 - Mirrors & Windows

It rained earlier.

The mirror is our only proof.

Its prior presence salts the silvered glass & creates illusions: that I am shedding tears & that rain is falling across the Minton Sparks' face & into her blue eyes.

If mirrors are windows, are windows mirrors through which we see our truth?

I made this picture to create a second mirror, the one into which you look right now.

There is a mystery in this picture I cannot describe. It has to do with the different energy in pieces of glass we call windows & other shapes called mirrors. We rely on what is unreliable - how do we look? In the answer lies the biggest reason we use mirrors: to help us look "Just right." But the mirror, like the one is Sleeping Beauty, never yields a universal truth. 

Decades ago I was fascinated to learn that Intensive Care Units are required to have windows. Without them, intubated patients, already disoriented, become more so. Unable to distinguish day from night they thrash about in a phenomenon called ICU psychosis.

Windows are crucial for caregivers as well. Dwelling in florescent light instead of daylight affects energy.

Ultimately, we use windows & mirrors to help us answer the greatest trick question of all: What is real?

The only "truth" is that every reality lives behind our eyes, not in front of them. 

People posit, "If these walls could talk." What if mirrors could talk? 

Inside this mirror and behind every window in the building across the street live stories. 

Behind every hospital window dwells a patient cut off from health & home. The mirror tells them what we must always remember: they are more than a diagnosis. 

If we look with love through the windows of our eyes into the mirrors of theirs we enable the compassion that helps us help them heal. 

-Erie Chapman

Photograph "Windows of Consciousness" by Erie, 2018

 

 

Days 284-285 The Worst of Times, The Best of Times

Charles Dickens, in a Tale of Two Cities said, “It was the worst of times; it was the best of times”. Perhaps we are now living in a similar epoch as the virus, political upheaval, unemployment, and the environment crumbling before our eyes, threaten all of us in trying to live a “normal” life on planet Earth.

The Asian symbol for opportunity is also the same symbol for crisis!  We can live more fully as human beings and caregivers, knowing that we will always be challenged by life conditions that cause suffering but offer opportunities for our souls to rise above the pain and strife to help others and our planet to survive and thrive!

When I had a Depression several years ago, and began a long healing process, I realized I was thankful for modern medical care, my family caregivers and the wonderfully restorative support from many friends, some of whom, I did not know that well!  Then I regained my enthusiasm for reading, music, outdoor adventures, and social interactions that fulfill my life today. But how easy it is to forget our blessings when times are tough and we are not sure where our lives will lead us.

Today, right now, make a list showing all the possibilities you face ahead; then for each hardship, think of a positive opportunity you might derive from that situation. Do this regularly and you will know your life is good in ways you had not thought of before! 

By Terry Chapman

Days 278-282 - Praying for our enemies?

   It was a natural reaction from Trump's enemies to the news he had tested positive for COVID 19: "Serves him right," one said. "Is it okay for me to say I'm ecstatic?" another asked. 

   Since human nature drives us to fight perceived enemies is it not okay for us to rejoice when they suffer? 

   The Radical Loving Care philosophy tracks Jesus' command to "pray for our enemies..." It is the Christian Messiah's toughest command. Yet, to claim belief in God as Love means accepting Love's challenge that we transcend our baser instincts: That we reject revenge & choose forgiveness. What a crucial teaching for caregivers.

   Enter Kristin Urquiza (pictured) whose father died this summer from Covid. ““My dad was a healthy 65-year-old,” she said. “His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump — and for that he paid with his life." 

   What if Ms. Urquiza was a professional caregiver assigned to Mr. Trump? Professionalism calls her to give her best. Beneath that, could hatred impact her ability to deliver the healing called for by Radical Loving Care?

   Every hospital, especially those offering care beneath the cross, promises every patient the best. We know that mission is violated every day by well-meaning caregivers that find Radical Loving Care too hard.

   It is hard. Perhaps more difficult than practicing curative medicine. And it is the calling of all who claim the title of caregiver.

Rev. Erie Chapman

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Days 277-278 Reflections On St. Francis of Assisi, The Patron Saint of Ecology

In his 2015 Encyclical Letter called Laudato Si’—On Care for our Common Home, Pope Francis opens with words from St. Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures. Laudato Si’ translates into “Praise be to you” in which St. Francis praises God for all creation: Brother Sun, Sister Moon and Stars, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, Sister Mother Earth.

Richard Rohr bring us these excerpts from Pope Laudato Si’,  “Francis response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister [or brother] united to him by bonds of affection. This is why he felt called to care for all that exists.”

“Such a conviction cannot be written off as naïve romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our behavior. If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.” 

This statue of St. Frances that stands in front of Saint Francis Basilica in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “His figure pirouettes on one toe. Wings take the place of arms and the words of his Canticle of Creation are sketched across his robes. It is the embodiment of the saint’s delight.” (Kathy Hendricks)

Henricks reflects, St Frances could have chosen a life of ease but instead embraced a life of service. During his life he endured great suffering, yet despite these adversities, “Francis found joy in life and delight in the gifts of God’s creation. This is the legacy that has been handed down through the ages to those of us struggling to keep a foothold in the midst of stress, sorrow and difficulties.” (Henrick)

Father Eric Doyle describes this well: "Though physically blind, St Frances was able to see more clearly than ever with the inner eye of his mind. With unparalleled clarity he perceived the basic unity of all creation and his own place as a friar in the midst of God’s creatures. His unqualified love of all creatures, great and small, had grown into unity in his own heart. He was so open to reality that it found a place to be at home in his heart and he was at home everywhere and anywhere. He was a center of communion with all creatures"

Care of our Earth has been entrusted to us. Pope Francis encourages us “to reflect on our lifestyles, and how our daily decisions about food, consumption, transportation, use of water, energy and many other material goods, can often be thoughtless and harmful.”

Get connected with the Global Catholic Climate Movement:
catholicclimatemovement.global

Take steps to reduce your environmental impact:
rainforest-alliance.org/everyday-actions

Subscribe to Sowing Hope for the Planet’s free newsletter:
sowinghopefortheplanet.org

~Liz Sorensen Wessel

Excerpted from Pope Francis, Laudato Si′: On Care For Our Common Home (Our Sunday Visitor: 2015), paragraphs 11–13. The full text of this encyclical is available at http://www.vatican.va

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