Center for Action and Contemplation Father Richard Rohr has long been one of my spiritual teachers. He travels all over the world with his message of redemption in the context of our broken humanity. But his home is in Albuquerque down the street from the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), which he founded. I have gotten numerous tapes, CDs and periodicals from the CAC which I listen to regularly in my car
Since we were going through Albuquerque on our way home, I wanted to stop to see the actual Center and Brother-In-Law Richard and Helen kindly obliged. Stopping here was a wonderful way to bring our journey to a close.
I was surprised to see that the folks at the CAC had chickens (those are on the left - big bird on right). They also raise herbs and vegetables in their gardens.
On the left is the Center headquarters and on the right is Stillpoint, the Contemplative Expression of the CAC.
Over one door of Stillpoint: "Be still... and know" and the other: "Known or unknown... God is"
A CAC intern, who very kindly showed us around the facilities. To the right is the little pond in the back of Stillpoint Contemplative House.
A beautiful etched window in the AIDS Memorial Chapel
AIDS Memorial Chapel
As usual, this trip was not just a trip but a journey, and it is good that the this is the last picture. We had two weeks away from our routines, stress, and regular trappings of our lives and we enjoyed it a lot. This photo of the humble repose of the Blessed Sacrament in the CAC chapel puts all of it in perspective and is a living reminder of what is really important-the eternal love of God for his children. |
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Link to Center for Action and Contemplation website
Original Introduction to Poem - written January 25, 2005
Over the past two months I have been "visiting" the community St. Francis Church in Lancaster, Texas. For many years I have been alienated from the Catholic Church. Helen and I had been very involved with loving people of St. Francis and the local Catholic community. Then God let me know that it was better for me to take leave of the church and to explore other spiritual horizons. Throughout my time "away" I have had many wonderful spiritual awakenings and experiences of forgiveness, peeling off layers of bitterness and hurt, and learning to love even myself, in my battered wholeness.
This past Sunday was a particularly emotional experience for me throughout the Mass. I could hardly contain my tears. I was full of joy and gratitude, and many other feelings that I am not even aware of, much less able to describe. I keep getting the image of a very ripe peach so full of juice that the peel is weeping the ferment.
I do not know what God has planned for me with regard to church, but for now, it seems like my Truth. The poem that follows is an attempt to describe my experience this past Sunday.
- Glenn Currier
- January 25, 2005 -
The Return
By: Glenn Currier
I am the prodigal
off squandering pieces of the inheritance
given by my Father,
but returning home
to my brothers and sisters
who have been tilling the fields
and harvesting the Father's seasons.
They are there with open arms,
smiling faces and joyful embraces.
I am Marco Polo
returning from foreign lands
where I found the richness
of alien languages and thought.
I am transformed
by their treasures within me.
I see through almond eyes.
I read in Chinese characters
and hear in far East syllables.
I am a wounded soldier,
returning from war
dressed in my finest
and my people greet me
full of hugs and smiles and glistening eyes.
I am John XXIII
always Catholic
but never definable,
always kin
but never hemmed in.
Ecumenical,
I witness the wisdom and love
of those "others"
who are really One
with us.
I am my Father's son.
He has been near,
standing always by my side,
guarding me from evil
even when I flung myself
into its darkness.
I am Mary.
My soul magnifies my Lord
and my Spirit rejoices
in God my Savior.
[I dedicate this to two other sons of my Papa-God… Richard Rohr whose voice has traveled with me over countless miles, and Joe David, my lion of a friend whose love and loyalty have been with me for 31 years of spiritual conversation. My heart is filled with gratitude for my many friends. A few of them are: Lao-tzu, Buddha, Wayne Dyer, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Billy Collins, Pablo Neruda, jadi, Anne Engelen, Joanna Jacobus (my very own medicine woman), Father Gale White who has indeed been a father, and most important, Helen Currier, my wife and life partner who has loved me in all my craziness and who, for 35 years, has accepted me as I am.]
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