Faith

Every day at the morning assembly, the staff and the children all put our hands together, bow our heads and recite a prayer. I have come to love it and I have truly submersed myself in the words. At Santa Clara I found a beautiful faith community and I must admit that before I came here, I was afraid of being away from a practicing Christian community. My faithfulness was strong but at times I couldn’t imagine ways maintaining a commitment to my faith practices when my usual sight here would be statues of Ganesh and Krishna. I was wrong.

In this place I have found a spiritual strength that I didn’t expect, but unknowingly I think I was in search for it. Now, I have not done the usual Ashram, yoga, meditation stuff that is usually related to spiritual healing or finding deeper faith. But Indian people, at least all the ones I’ve seen and met are inspiring in the way they all uphold their particular faiths yet still embrace the fact that all religions, especially the many present in this culture all hold similar universal teachings. In their faiths I have seen honest devotion and although some of their rituals seem more bizarre to me than anything I’ve ever seen before, their loyalty is contagious. So, although I miss kneeling in the pews of the beautiful mission church with my sponsee Jamie next to me, and my spiritual director, Fr. Matt sitting across the way, I now more than ever believe that God truly is everywhere and more importantly deep within us.

It’s a really beautiful prayer that I though I would share:

God, creator of the universe, help us remember that you are present in each one of us. May we respect each other and be tolerant of our differences.
May we be good and caring towards each other.
May the teachings of all the great world religions direct out thoughts and actions.
Grant that we may be spiritual in our interactions and zealous in our work and play.
Help us discover different ways to serve our fellow humanity.
Guide us to discover the treasure hidden in each one of us and to uphold what is right, cherish what is beautiful and revere what is divine.
As we journey through each day of our lives, give us the grace to accept whatever you have in store for us.
Be with us in our joy and our sorrow.
Help us to build Shanti-Bhavan into a haven of Peace and let this peace touch the lives of all we meet.
We salute the divine in each other, Namaste.