Member Meditations: Walking Each Other Home
Starting with Lent, CCA is featuring a series of weekly reflections written by CCA members serving in diverse contexts, who are living the vision of the Appalachian pastoral letters within and outside the region. Our second pastoral At Home in the Web of Life (1995) reminded us that we are called to be “a community of life, in which people and land are woven together as part of Earth’s vibrant creativity, in turn revealing God’s own creativity.” Today’s fourth contribution in this “Member Meditations” series comes from Sister Judith Minear, CSJ, who invites us to deeper unity.
My heart has always hungered for oneness. As a young and sensitive child, I ached in spaces where discrimination, poverty, violence, and other injustices to human dignity existed. My comfort was climbing the hill behind my house with a good book or my journal, savoring the beauty of God’s creation and feeling a part of something that was so much bigger than myself.
When I met the Sisters of St. Joseph in Wheeling, WV, I was deeply attracted to their joyful spirit and their passion for generating unity. Their mission was the mission of Jesus in John 17: “that all of them may be one, God, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us… so that they may be brought to complete unity.” With these Sisters I found my “home among the hills.”
Most mornings when I pray, I hold a small globe in my hands, enfolding the places and spaces where division runs rampant. I am mindful of holding Earth herself, who is also suffering, and whose suffering reflects the cry of the poor, the marginalized – everyone’s cry.
What is mine to do?
One of my dear friends recently posted this Lenten message:
“The word of Christ Jesus “REPENT” perhaps translates best as the invitation to “take a second look” at where we have been since the palm branches of last year turned into the ashes of this year; how promises made to each other weren’t kept, roads weren’t traveled because they’re “less taken,” and dreams weren’t shared because of the cost they might incur. Just repent, then, and take a second look without hating yourself. Maybe the best resolution is to be compassionate towards yourself, humble about your own human weakness with your best intentions and resolve, knowing that what matters most is showing up and opening up to another way home.”
“Taking a second look” has become my personal theme during this Lenten season. What does each “second look” reveal about the ways I have contributed to darkness and division in the world? Have I stifled dreams, my own and others’, for all the wrong reasons? Can I love myself and others with enough compassion to accept my human weaknesses and resolve to bring my “best self” forward each day?
One of my favorite quotes is by Ram Dass: “We are all just walking each other home.” As we move forward this Lent and beyond, let’s invite one another to take a second look at who we are in the world, aligning ourselves with words and actions that leave the spaces we inhabit a little closer to oneness each day. Let’s walk each other home, seeking our own wholeness and inspiring wholeness in one other. It is our oneness with The One that binds us together. We need each other to make our beautiful common home safe, nourishing, inspiring and supportive for all. We are one.
Sr. Judith Minear is a native of West Virginia currently living in Cleveland, OH. She is Mission Integration Coordinator for the Congregation of St. Joseph’s Mission Network, supporting ministries in West Virginia, Ohio, Louisiana, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana and Washington, DC. She cherishes her Appalachian heritage, particularly the connection to the land and her Celtic ancestors.