Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation

From the Center for Action and Contemplation

Summary: Week Thirty

Being Peaceful Change

July 26 - July 31, 2020

Gandhi’s spirit of non-violence sprang from an inner realization of spiritual unity in himself. —Thomas Merton (Sunday)

Authentic spirituality is always first about you—about allowing your own heart and mind to be changed. (Monday)

Nonviolence is the greatest and most active force in the world. The more you develop it in your own being, the more infectious it becomes till it overwhelms your surroundings and by and by might oversweep the world. —Mohandas Gandhi (Tuesday)

When you understand, you love. And when you love, you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of people. —Thich Nhat Hanh (Wednesday)

We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own—indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. —Wangari Maathai (Thursday)

Along the way of life, someone must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate. This can only be done by projecting the ethic of love to the center of our lives. —Martin Luther King, Jr. (Friday)

Practice: A Settled Body

Resmaa Menakem is a therapist and trauma specialist whose work focuses on how we carry our pain and fear in our bodies. We pass it along to those around us, and we pass it down from one generation to the next. We cannot hope to bring peace to the world if we are not at peace within ourselves. Menakem explains how we might begin the peacemaking process within our own bodies:

Few skills are more essential than the ability to settle your body. If you can settle your body, you are more likely to be calm, alert, and fully present, no matter what is going on around you. A settled body enables you to harmonize and connect with other bodies around you, while encouraging those bodies to settle as well. Gather together a large group of unsettled bodies—or assemble a group of bodies and then unsettle them—and you get a mob or a riot. But bring a large group of settled bodies together and you have a potential movement—and a potential force for tremendous good in the world. A calm, settled body is the foundation for health, for healing, for helping others, and for changing the world. . . .

Over time, I learned to access a settledness that is always and already present. I usually call it the Infinite Source, but it doesn’t require a name, or an explanation, or a belief.

This settling of nervous systems, and this connection to a larger Source, is vital to healing. . . .

You’ll recognize some of these practices as things I’ve described my [Black] grandmother doing; as things many small children do intuitively; as things parents often do with their babies; as things enslaved people did as they worked together on plantations; and as practices from many religions. Almost all of them [such as belly breathing, slow rocking, humming, singing aloud, or rubbing your belly] have also been proven to work in controlled lab experiments.

Here, Resmaa Menakem offers a practice called “Breathe, Ground, and Resource,” which can be done standing, sitting, or lying down, with eyes open or closed.

Take a few deep breaths. Let your body relax as much as it wants to.

Think of a person, an animal, or a place that makes you feel safe and secure. Then imagine that, right now, this person or animal is beside you, or you are in that safe place.

Breathing naturally, simply let yourself experience that safety and security for one to two minutes.

Afterward, notice how and what you experience in your body.

Adapted from Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies (Central Recovery Press: 2017), 141, 146, 151–152.;

Image credit: Self-Portrait (detail), Malvin Gray Johnson, 1934, Smithsonian American Museum, Washington, DC, USA.

For Further Study:

Gandhi on Non-violence: Selected Texts from Mohandas K. Gandhi’s Non-violence in Peace and War, ed. Thomas Merton (New Directions: ©1964, 1965).

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, foreword by Coretta Scott King (Fortress Press: 2010, ©1981, ©1963).

Wangari Maathai, Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World (Doubleday: 2010).

Besi Brillian Muhonja, Radical Utu: Critical Ideas and Ideals of Wangari Muta Maathai (Ohio University Press: 2020).

Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, ed. Rachel Neumann, rev. ed. (Parallax Press: 2005, ©1987).

Richard Rohr: Essential Teachings on Love, ed. Joelle Chase and Judy Traeger (Orbis Books: 2018)

Richard Rohr and John Feister, Jesus’ Plan for a New World: The Sermon on the Mount, (St. Anthony Messenger Press: 1996)

Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating, Healing Our Violence through the Journey of Centering Prayer, (Franciscan Media: 2002)

Richard Rohr, Dancing Standing Still: Healing the World from a Place of Prayer (Paulist Press: 2014)

News from the CAC

THE CAMPAIGN NONVIOLENCE NATIONAL CONFERENCE

August 6-8, 2020

EMBRACING THE NONVIOLENT SHIFT

MARKING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S. BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

In this time of great transition ushered in by a worldwide crisis, nonviolence offers us what we need right now: a vision, strategies, and practices that will equip us to live and lead in the direction of personal and societal transformation. Experience the wisdom of nonviolence visionaries, scholars and practitioners, including Fr. Richard Rohr, who will offer concrete pathways to build the transformed world our hearts long for. Learn more about this online conference at paceebene.org/cnvconference2020.

Action & Contemplation

2020 Daily Meditations Theme

What does God ask of us? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. —Micah 6:8

Franciscan Richard Rohr founded the Center for Action and Contemplation in 1987 because he saw a deep need for the integration of both action and contemplation. If we pray but don’t act justly, our faith won’t bear fruit. And without contemplation, activists burn out and even well-intended actions can cause more harm than good. In today’s religious, environmental, and political climate our compassionate engagement is urgent and vital.

Click here to learn about contemplative prayer and other forms of meditation. For frequently asked questions—such as what versions of the Bible Father Richard recommends or how to ensure you receive every meditation—please see our email FAQ. Visit cac.org to explore other ways to connect with the Center for Action and Contemplation.

Use the “Forward” button above to share this email. Explore Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations archive at cac.org. Visit CAC on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to connect with others and explore more ideas about contemplation.

Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations are made possible through the generosity of CAC's donors. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation.

If you would like to change how often you receive emails from CAC, click here. If you would like to change your email address, click here. Visit our Email Subscription FAQ page for more information. Submit an inquiry here for additional assistance.

Inspiration for this week's banner image: If you can settle your body, you are more likely to be calm, alert, and fully present, no matter what is going on around you. . . .  A calm, settled body is the foundation for health, for healing, for helping others, and for changing the world. — Resmaa Menakem