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[OM] OT - A monk's view of the WTC tragedy

Subject: [OM] OT - A monk's view of the WTC tragedy
From: "Clemente Colayco" <litefoot@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2001 22:29:13 +0800
>From Titoy: To All Concerned. Apologies to those who might not share the same 
>views.
First Nostradamus. . 

"In the city of York, there will be a great collapse, two twin brothers torn 
apart by chaos.  While the fortress falls, the great leader will succumb.  The 
third big war will begin when the big city is burning."

 NOSTRADAMUS  

How uncanny is it not?

Now this from a Benedictine monk, Lawrence Freeman.  May this beautiful piece 
help you find meaning in what has happened and uplift your spirit. God bless.

Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 23:46:17 EDT
>Subject: [WCCM-R] Dearest American Friends
 
>
>On this day of terror and terrible sadness I am finishing a retreat to the
>solitary monks of Big Sur in California, on the coastal cliffs looking so
>peacefully over the Pacific Ocean. It seems a strange place to be at this
>time with such news reaching us, only piecemeal, of what is happening in New
>York and throughout the country. I wanted to send a word of condolence and
>maybe some consolation to all the members of our American meditating
>community on behalf of the members from every other country in the World
>Community.
>
>Not long ago I was visiting the 'Museum of Tolerance' in Los Angeles which
>commemorates the holocaust and other tragedies of human inhumanity. It is a
>very disturbing experience to walk there through the virtual reality of the
>holocaust. As I looked at the photos of the liberation of the concentration
>camps I stood in front of one that showed an American tank entering through
>the gates of Belsen with healthy young American soldiers looking in horror at
>what lay before them and reaching out to touch and help the emaciated
>survivors. It struck me then and has stayed with em since as a symbol of
>America's true strength and greatness. It would be absurd to deny the
>mistakes that have accompanied the use of that strength at times. But it
>would be even worse to forget the vast generosity that Americans have shown
>throughout their history to the poor, the homeless and oppressed. A
>demonisation of America by some groups must lay behind this latest and most
>terrible of outrages, this blind, stupid and wicked hatred. As you especially
>reel under its blow and mourn all those innocent people who have died and
>also those who will suffer for the rest of their lives from what happened
>this morning, I want just to remind you that there are those who genuinely
>and deeply love America and the perennial  ideals it represents - ideals that
>are part of the people and so lie above politics.
>
>For the past few days I have been giving talks here on  the 'new saintliness'
>called for by our times. New, not in the sense of a new fashion of
>spirituality, but new in the way it is releasing more fully and widely than
>before the ever-newness of Christ and of  the God who is always here and now
>and with us, even at times when the 'absence of God' can seem most cruel. The
>first characteristic of this new holiness is an explicit acceptance of
>universality. Another is the depth of solitude (that means our uniqueness,
>not our loneliness) from which this experience of oneness must arise.
>
>So, although it seems strange to be connecting with today's horrors from such
>a safe and peaceful spot, it is meaningful, too. With the escalation of
>violence and vengeance that will no doubt follow, it is all the more urgent
>that we live our faith in the truth of love, with the energy of peace,
>through the eye of the coming storm. That would be impossible without depth.
>We not only pray for those who have died and who have been mutilated or
>traumatised. We not only pray for those horribly blind perpetrators of this
>viciousness. We pray, even more deeply and effectively, with them, from that
>universal centre that is in every human being, oppresor or oppressed. The
>centre who is God in Christ. At this time the prayer of the heart is the only
>depth of prayer that makes sense.
>
>At the heart of the Christian vision is the paradox that where sin is grace
>abounds. How and why that grace is transmitted is the mystery. What is clear
>is that it happens through each human being, through each of us. This is a
>day when every person of good will shares in the American experience.
>
>It is also a day when we can be more than usually aware of the importance of
>the work of our Community here and worldwide in sharing the path of
>meditation as a way of peace, healing and renewal. As I continue my retreats
>and talks in the US for the rest of this month I know I will be more than
>usually aware with gratitude, too, of the great role you as the American
>community of Christian meditation play in the Community worldwide.
>
>Peace.
>
>With much love,
>Laurence
>(Laurence Freeman OSB)
>=====
>Please forward this message to anyone else you would like. You will also find
>it on a special "Memorial Issue" Web page on our Weekly News Pages
>(www.wccm.org).



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