Cranaleith Spiritual Center - Poem: Joseph the Holy Man

Thanks, Scott, for routing me there. In the middle of the night when I looked out my bedroom window, it was quite froggy out, less so in the morning, and I galloped up to Proctor Road without any trouble.

In fact I was early.

Walked in and Sister Maria deBella greeted me!

Oh, you remembered my name, I said. Asked her if I could take unobtrusive photos with no people in them.

Took about 20, mostly of the great food they have.

So where are they?

Here's a note I received this morning from Cranaleith

Greetings:

Presenter Sharon Browning and the staff of Cranaleith are looking forward to your visit on Saturday, February 1, 2020 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. to attend “Conversations that Matter: The NonViolent Heart”.

 If you need driving directions to Cranaleith, please go to our website – www.cranaleith.org – to find information that will be simpler than the directions you’ll get from MapQuest, Google Maps or your GPS.

The program will begin in our Education & Conference Center. When you arrive, enter our main driveway at the corner of Proctor and Napier Streets, then make an immediate right at the signpost to get you down to the Conference Center parking lot. There will be greeters to direct you to the Conference Center entrance and registration desk.  If you have not made your $45 payment yet, you can do so at the registration table by check, cash or credit card.  In addition, our Gift Shop will be open from 12:00pm-1:30 pm, so please feel free to stop by and browse.

If you are unable to attend, please respond to this email.  Keep our phone number handy – 215-934-6206 – in case you need to connect with us for any reason!  Since we do not have everyone’s email address, please share this information with any guests or friends you know are coming.

Looking forward to welcoming you!

Blessings,

.....

We did many exercises that were quite challenging. Someone mentioned, which is true, that when you use the term 'problems' it creates more anxiety than the word "challenges."

My greatest challenge was staying awake.

I looked at my watch in the middle of the program at 11 am  - I hate when folks check the time - and thought, This is when I take my morning nap.

I learned from Eva Berlin's writing class to use italix when you're thinking.

Ate with impunity, as though I didn't have diabetes. Soon, Scott and I will drive to Angelo's to meet his family, sans Pop, who passed away a year and a half ago.

The owner of Angelo's, Andre, died in the hospital during a minor operation.

Grrrrrr! We learned at the seminar that ANGER is an emotion often at the bottom of fear. Is that right?

The Center is sending us their Power Points.

And Joseph is sending me his email.

That's not his real name. 

The last exercise we did was to all hold hands in a circle - maybe 40 of us - and say to the person next to us, something like "I heal with my heart."

Told him I would write a poem about him. 

Many of the folks there were Catholic. He said, "God bless you" to me.

Thought of the title as I was composting this morning's eggs.

BTW, I just rewrote the poem. Here's the new version.

JOSEPH THE HOLY MAN

We are all holy
We are all sacred
To the Lord
To the Buddha
To the Heavens Above

And we strive
on their behalf
to make this a better
world

We learned that today
from Don and Arhonda
who, deep in the "sloughs
of despondency," were permitted
a resurrection from despair

O, let us learn from them all
Plus the accolytes in the audience
And do our best to set this
miserable world free.