Newsletter Vol. 1 Issue 8

20-30 Minutes
 

I begin by imagining my own life. Where did I grow up? Who was my immediate family? Did I have an extended family I was close with? Who made up my community? I imagine what is happening as I look into the homes in my neighborhood. I ask myself, who is included in my neighborhood? 

I imagine people who are different than me. I try to understand their reality – whether it is more or less secure than mine, more or less stable, more or less violent. I enter their reality to the best of my ability. Did I grow up with any prejudices about persons different from my own? Where did these prejudices come from? Was I taught anything about the existence of racism? 

How did I understand my own racial identity? Did I have to think about it growing up or not? Did I think I was ethnically “normal” or did I have to compare myself to some other group? Did I think that I was normal, better than others, or less than others? How did that shape how I related to other people? 

I take a step back and imagine the diversity of our world. I imagine I am like God, the Trinity, who is Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier looking down at the Earth. I see as God, the Creator of our world, and look at how the history of this creation has unfolded. I see as Jesus, God made human, who shared in our sufferings and joys and died for our reconciliation. I see as God the Holy Spirit, who moves among us and in us on earth and throughout creation, helping us know God’s presence and inspiring us to be reconcilers in the world today. Through each of the persons of God, I see the great extent of the circuit of the world, with peoples so many and so diverse.

I see different peoples who exist among the great nations of the world. 

My eyes turn to my own country and I see the diversity of the people who make up this great nation – some white, some African-American, some Latino, some Asian-American, some Middle Eastern, and some Native American. In the world too I see in great religious diversity. Some are Christians of all types – Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox. Others are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, while others ascribe to no religion. Some belong to families who have been in the United States for generations, while others are first-generation, new Americans. Some are documented, others are not. 

Amidst all these types of people, I see how the world is charged with the grandeur of God. I celebrate the great diversity I see among these people. 

I look more closely to see what these people are doing. Some are in office jobs, some are custodians. 

One sleeps on a bench on the street, another drives comfortably into a gated community. 

As evening draws near, one runs down the street to avoid gunfire, another sits at home enjoying a family dinner as the sun sets. 

One comes home to three wonderful children, a spouse, and a family dog. Another comes home to see a note saying the spouse is gone and now they are on their own with their three children. 

I end my prayer in my usual way and come back to the present moment.

Ignatius often asks retreatants to take a step back and reflect on their meditations. 

After today’s meditations, I ask myself:

• What was my experience of this reflection? How did I feel? 
   
• Were there moments where I felt a sense of peace or “consolation?” Other moments where I felt stress, anxiety, or “desolation?”
   
• How did I perceive my own experience? What type of family, race and religion makes up my experience? 
   
• Who was included in my community? Who was excluded? Was this drawn by lines of color? 
   
• How did it feel to think of another community, one that is more or less safe than my own? What emotion stood out?