Fallen in love with living

This week I received a letter that restored my heart. A balm to my soul. Well, truth be told, the letter was written and sent in 1513. Let’s just say it took a while to get to me.
You see, recently, I lost my way. That’s what I tell myself. Every now and again, waves of melancholy are high (depleting hopefulness and courage), and I say, no more.
Thankfully, I received a letter to a friend.
In 1513, Fra Giovanni Giocondo wrote to Countess Allagia Aldobrandeschi, “I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep.  There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.
Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see.  And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel’s hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel’s hand is there. The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys, too, be not content with them as joys. They, too, conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering, that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it; that is all!  But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending through unknown country home.”
(Fra Giovanni Giocondo—1435–1515—was a Renaissance pioneer, architect, engineer, antiquary, archaeologist, classical scholar, and Franciscan friar.)

So. Here’s the deal: I believe this letter is addressed to every single one of us. Because this is a Sankofa Letter.  In previous Sabbath Moments, I’ve talked about Sankofa (from the Akan language of Ghana), associated with the proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” Yes. More than ever, we need emotional and spiritual nourishment. Places of sanity and restoration.
The power of Giocondo’s letter is this simple reminder; these gifts (the “diviner gifts”) live within us. Today.
And yet, for various reasons, we do not see them.
And this I know, when we do not see, a part of us shuts down.

I loved the quirky movie (with the sophisticated title) Joe versus the Volcano, about a young man who has resigned himself to slogging through life. He puts in his time at a job he detests. He is hampered by persisting attacks from a “brain cloud,” a supposedly fatal ailment. (I laugh out-loud when his friend asks incredulous, “You mean you were diagnosed with something called a brain cloud and didn’t ask for a second opinion?”)
Through a bizarre twist, Joe is presented the chance to sail to an obscure island where he is to be offered as a sacrifice to the volcano gods. Believing that he will die anyway he takes the offer. The trip, of course, awakens him from his soul-sick stupor.
And for the first time, he notices.
He sees.
He is enchanted.
He feels gooseflesh.
And he learns the lesson that it is not just where you look, but how.
“My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement.” (From Joe versus the Volcano)

William Kittredge’s affirmation, “If we want to be happy at all, I think, we have to acknowledge that the circumstances, which encourage us in our love of this existence, are essential. We are part of what is sacred. That is our main defense against craziness, our solace, the source of our best politics, and our only chance at paradise.”

It is these “practices” which invite and allow us to embrace this day, this life, in all its fullness, with its disparities, its quirkiness, its demands, its unfairness, and its wondrous serendipities. These sacred necessities are sacred because they do not lodge themselves on the surface of life. They enter into it, giving the ordinary flavor, fullness, richness and power. And invites wholeheartedness in those around us.
It’s all about rewriting the codes. We’ve been wired this way for so long, it’s hard to stop. Just learning to say, “I’ve fallen in love with living,” without a grimace or need for further explanation takes fortitude and resolve usually not found in our species.
Either way, I say that it is time to give the internal judges and scorekeepers a day off.
In the cultural full court press about what it means to be human, we live in perpetual consternation over completing some list of expectations, always wondering if we measure up. And in our fixation to find the remedies, we miss… the small gifts of life, the serendipitous gifts of grace, the presence of the holy, and the gentle does of the sacred reflected in our everyday, and extraordinarily ordinary world. Yes, the “diviner gifts”.

For those in south Orange County, CA, I’ll be at Saint Kilian Church in Mission Viejo, tomorrow (Tuesday night) at 7pm. Join us if you can.
And I just finished a replenishing weekend with an enthusiastic group gathered at Mary and Joseph Retreat Center, where we savored the Gift of Enough.

Quote for our week…
Why do we have all these feelings, dreams and hope if we don’t ever use them? That’s where Shirley Valentine disappoints. She got lost in all this unused life. I’ve fallen in love with the idea of living.  From the Movie, Shirley Valentine

BULLETIN BOARD

Today’s Photo Credit: “Hi Terry, I thought you would enjoy this picture of a sunset we had on Otsego Lake in Gaylord Michigan. It was taken July 7, 2024. God Bless,” Emma Muller… Thank you Emma… And thank you to all, I love your photos… please keep sending them… send to terryhershey.com 

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Letters that do my heart good…
–Terry, thank you so much for your thoughts that you posted for our Wednesday talk good reminders to slow down and the quote by Thich Nhat Hanh at the end was wonderful. I do appreciate the time you put on even if it’s on the spur of the moment something different than you had planned originally packed it maybe even better so wanna encourage you thank you and blessings to you and may you see the flowers and other beauties today as you go about your day. Stephen
–Dear Terry, We are in Houston, Texas with many others suffering from a major storm followed by another but not major. An old tree fell through the ceiling of the upstairs bedroom creating a big hole allowing the rain to come in. The wind blew the window out downstairs and it rained in. Many still are without power so no lights, air (Houston summers are a challenge), etc. We just got power yesterday. Your column is so timely.  If we can be present instead of angry at the power company or others, many opportunities present themselves for our souls to grow while our bodies are uncomfortable or suffer. It is easy to be nice and virtuous when things are going well but who are we when the chips are down? Thank you for everything. Sonja
–Terry, ‘Instead of fighting weariness by shutting down, or instead of launching another bomb, I will play my cello.’  Sabbath Moment is my way of playing ‘my cello”.’” Thank you for playing your cello each day with Sabbath Moment. Very much appreciated. Paul
–Send condolences and thanks for story of human love triumphing. Maybe it’s God’s love flowing thru the people we love and live to learn from. We also love to learn from. I appreciate your self-expressions that God puts in your ears that eventually come out of your mouth or fingers. Hope you see some flowers today that remind you of your spiritual mentor and friend, Father Francis Benedict. Sincerely, Gretchen from Vacaville, CA
–Thank you, Terry and may you always be blessed and filled with grace. You grace me and others so faithfully and fill my life with smiles, laughter, and joy, Rose

POEMS AND PRAYERS

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done
To bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.
Franciscan Prayer 

Hope
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune–without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
Emily Dickinson