A Peace Passing Reading

This is a reading I shared during Peace Passing in our gathering this week, from a beautiful book I'm reading by Pádraig Ó Tuama, In the Shelter (pg. 11-12). Among the many themes he explores, the one that has meant a lot to me as I've been reading is the idea that it is important to be present where we are, to recognize and name where we are, whether that means saying "I am in a joyful place" or "I am falling apart." To name and welcome where we are can be painful, but it can also bring great relief.

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In many circles of faith or spirituality, there is generous time given to the testimony--the telling of the story of conversion or re-conversion, of enlightenment or change. It is a moving thing, to listen to the testimony. But testimony, if told or heard unwisely, can be a colonisation of a single experience into a universal requirement. Jesus fed me when I was hungry, we hear, and those who are hungry feel bereft. Jesus healed me when I was sick, say the healthy, and the burdened feel more burdened. Meditation cured me of depression, say some, and others make plans to hide the Prozac. Upon whom is the burden of words? I don't know. I don't think there is an answer. I cannot dampen gladness because it will burden the unglad. But I cannot proclaim gladness as a promise that will only shackle the already bound. Faith shelters some, and it shadows others. It loosens some, and it binds others. Is this a judgment of the message or the messenger, the one praying or the prayer prayed? I don't know.

Hello to what we do not know.

What I do know is that it can help to find the words to tell the truth of where you are now. If you can find the courage to name 'here'--especially in the place where you do not wish to be--it can help you be there. Instead of resenting another's words of gladness or pain, it may be possible to hear it as simply another location. They are there and I am here. At another point, we will be in different locations, and everybody will pass by many locations in their life. The pain is only deepened when the location is resented or, even worse, unnamed.

Hello to here.

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May these thoughts bring you peace as they have brought me peace, even in the sharpness of being present in difficult things.