Thomas Merton

Hospitality; a reflection by Colleen Keating

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Hospitality: A reflection

Oak of Mamre (Rublev icon)

Hospitality

This is a Russian Icon that I have loved for many years. it has always been a  a centre piece in our home  near the entrance. It speaks to me of hospitaity.  Officially it is called the Oak of Mamre .  A Rublev  icon it is full of symbolism using the Holy Trinity which at his time was the embodiment of unity, peace, harmony, mutual love and humility.  

The icon is based on a story from the Book of Genesis called Abraham and Sarah’s Hospitality or The Hospitality of Abraham (§18). It says that the biblical Patriarch Abraham ‘was sitting at the door of his tent in the heat of the day’ by the Oak of Mamre and saw three men standing in front of him, who in the next chapter were revealed as angels. ‘When he saw them, Abraham ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth.’ Abraham ordered a servant-boy to prepare a choice calf, and set curds, milk and the calf before them, waiting on them, under a tree, as they ate (Genesis 18:1–8). One of the angels told Abraham that Sarah would soon give birth to a son.

 

 

 

 

Rumi’s mystical poetry often helps me regain perspective on life. In this poem, I love his notion that being human is like being a “guest house.” Unexpected visitors occasionally show up and stay for a while, including some you’d really like to throw out!

Welcoming them and learning what they may have to teach you, or where they may lead you, isn’t always easy. But in my experience, it always pays off — if for no other reason than it hastens the day of their departure!

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

 

 

I believe practicing hospitality towards the other is key to restoring the civil community
on which democracy  depends. It means finally coming to the realisation there is no other. we are all one , depending on each othere on this small ship of earth .  Hospitlity doesnt mean agreeing with everything

It means listening openly and with respect learning how to build bridges rather than walls. 

Each of us is a “guest house” Our first job is to be good hosts to ourselves , good hosts to each other and out wider and wider.  “Be grateful for whoever comes our way/ for each comes to us / as a guide from beyond.”  Rumi

      

Drawing Sister Mary Brady OP

We have to question our Hospitality as a country when we have reminders of cartoon as those above.  And today with the Rivers of Humanity we see each night on our television we have to wonder how can we be present to this  and what can we do to heal our broken world.? These are the questions we have to humbly grapple with  as a caring person on this planet. 

Prayer for  this Broken World.

Into this world

this demented inn

in which there is  no room for him,

Christ has come ininvited.

His place is with those others

for whom there is no room –

those who do not belong

those who are rejected

who are denied the status of persons

who are tortured, bombed, exterminated.

Thomas Merton.   1965 A modern mystic. 

 

And in this world today I like his final prayer written in New York  in about 1985

 

Another drawing to remind us to work always to build bridges not walls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When war kills the dreams of the future – by Colleen Keating

colleen General, Poetry , , , ,

Sending spirit of peace,  of bright starlight over fields of barley 

These are horrible, tragic times and my heart and love go out to the people of Ukraine,
and to the many people of Russia who have the courage to stand up and oppose this brutal invasion.

The  tragic  and unnecessary invasion, which has already displaced more than 2 million people that have fled across Ukraine’s borders with neighbouring countries, is not only killing and wounding the lives of so many -but also attempting to kill the dreams of a future that so many hold dearly. 

Former U.S president Barack Obama’s 2011 speech before the British Parliament said:

‘the longing for freedom or human dignity is not English, American, or Western,
but universal, and beats in every heart’.

 

We are all Ukrainians.  Our destinies are intertwined with the destines of all others on the planet 

as monk and social activist Thomas Merton once observed:

“we do not exist for ourselves alone’.”

A friend has researched and shared Ukrainians icons that are very touching and I would like to share them here 

‘Nativity’ by Ukrainian  iconographer Ulyana Tomkevych

Sending love and hope to all the pregnant women and mothers caught up in the atrocities of war

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‘Crossing the Red Sea’ by Ukrainian iconographer Ivank Demchuk.

Sending safe passage to all those trying to find safe passage through
and out of Ukraine  May you be sheltered in this exodus. 

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The Visitation  by Ulayana Tomkevych 

Sending love to all women in Ukraine who are looking after older parents
and young children and having to make decisions of staying or leaving their beloved war-torn homeland.

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“The Protection of the Mother of God”

by Ukrainian iconographer Ulyana Tomkevych . How can we imagine what it would be like to live in a n ancient and beloved and beautiful city and be told it is going to be bombed and destroyed for no reason. How does one cope with this?

 

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