The insights and experiences I’m sharing come from in part the book Barking to the Choir. In my last blog, I shard how the author, Gregory Boyle, emphasized the need to drop judgment of people who are radically different and instead offer a gentle touch, a friendly acknowledgment, and a silent prayer of protection.
Boyle’s work has many profound insights that he’s gained over years of working with x-gang members of Homeboy Industries. Another lesson shared that has been very helpful during this time of restriction and isolation, where many people I talk with are feeling anxious, lonely, and depressed, is that we need to learn how to discover the paradise that exists always in the here and now. He continues to explain that suffering is the result of resisting how life is!
Letting go of wishing things were different (like we can control anything these days?) and focusing on the fullness of the present moment, a practice Boyle calls “mindfulness” puts on the path towards “seeing what matters to God”. Paradise is not somewhere to find but to realize we are already there. Again Boyle observes “how many times a day are we given the opportunity to practice sacred presence….we miss so much now because we are rushing to the next.”
It appears that this time of quarantine offers a great paradox, what seems like less freedom is a form of suffering, where it could also be experienced as an opportunity to slow down and see the ‘sacred’ right in front of us. Boyle’s quote of Richard Rohr is helpful “ we don’t think ourselves into a new way of living/// we live ourselves into a new way of thinking”. Practicing mindfulness, asking prayerfully to be shown the beauty, innocence, and sacred in each moment gives us a glimpse of heaven on earth. No longer bound by fear, experiencing God’s grace and an open heart… the meaning of transformation and paradox becomes part of our reality.
Boyle continues “ if love is the answer, community is the context and tenderness is the methodology.” But of the open heart comes the tenderness which is the transformation element for all of Boyle’s work with the disenfranchised. Hopefully, we all can find transformation experiences during these difficult times. God is with us inviting us in every moment.
God Bless,
-Dave S