“We
have learned to swim the sea like fishes and fly the sky like birds, but we
have not yet learned the art of living together as brothers.” Martin Luther King
Number in hand, I leaned against
the postal counter awaiting early morning service.
A voice startled me out of my
slumber. A familiar Bengali accent
heralded too loud to go unnoticed. “Ah,
Mr. Morrison! How are you doing? We have heard your family has been struggling
with some difficult times.”
A gentle hand squeezed my shoulder
from behind. I turned to greet a man
taller than myself and grinning from ear to ear. “I’m so excited to see you!”
“And you as well!” I stepped away from the counter to visit with
the parents of three of my former students.
We visited briefly as the couple brought me up-to-date on their adult
children’s adventures. Time forced our
conversation to condense as they carried a package to be shipped to their
daughter in India.
“We know you must be
struggling. Your family is in our
prayers. We have asked Poornima to
contact our prominent guru
directly. He is a good man and lives in
the city in which she serves.” Always a
spirited, gentle soul, Poornima recently completed her master’s degree in
biomedical engineering at Ohio State University. She had chosen to serve the poor of India for
some time. Also, at this same time she
was receiving mentoring and spiritual direction from her guru, a spiritual
teacher and master.
At that instant, I felt ashamed to
admit I felt awkward. My extent of “guru
influence” was usually tied to trite wisdom or an exaggerated compliment. I applauded John Paul II and several others
who have made strides to promote ecumenism. I have written about it, read about it, am a
proponent of it. However, in a different
cultural form of prayer offered for my behalf, my initial, silent reflex-impression
to the sincere offering was; a guru, what
can he do?
I wondered what my students and
families who were not Christian must have thought when I offered my prayers for
their well-being or healing? For a moment, I limited the essence of the
Creator. I beat religious prejudice from
creeping in. I felt humbled, blessed by
my Indian friends’ outpouring kindness and generosity.
Despite the heinous acts of
violence in the name of religion on Palm Sunday in Egypt, Pope Francis has
asked mankind to come together in dialogue to teach and to accept one
another. What do we genuinely know of our brothers and sisters and their faith journeys through this life?
We need to find wisdom, strength,
and conviction in our Lord’s first words following His resurrection in
Matthew’s gospel: Suddenly, without warning Jesus stood before them and said,
“Peace!” The women came up and embraced
his feet and did him homage. At this,
Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid!”
Mt 28: 9-10.
Golden Rules
Christianity –
Jesus, Luke 6:13
Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you.
Jainism – Lord
Mahavir 24th Tirthankara
In happiness and
suffering, in joy and grief, regard all creatures as you would your own self.
Sikhism – Sri
Guru Granth Sahib
Be not estranged from
another for God dwells in every heart.
Judaism – Talmud,
Shabbat 31A
Shammai drove away the
enquirer with the builder’s cubit which was in his hand, and then went to Rabbi
Hillel, who said: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; that is
the entire Torah; the rest is commentary; go and learn it.”
Buddhism –
Udana-Varqu 5:18
Hurt not others in
ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
Zoroastrianism –
Dadistan-I-Dink 94:5
Human nature is good
only when it does not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self.
Islam – Sunnah
No one is a believer
until you desire for another that which you desire for yourself.
Baha’I –
Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’allah 71
Blessed are those who
prefer others before themselves.
“Either we acknowledge
that God is in all things or we have lost the basis for seeing God in anything.” Richard Rohr, OFM
A Guru shared this story from many
years ago …
A
Sheep found a hole in the fence
and
crept through it.
He
wandered far
and
lost his way back.
Then
he realized he was
being
followed by a wolf. He ran
and
ran, but the wolf kept chasing
him,
until the shepherd came
and
rescued him and carried him
lovingly
back to the fold.
In
spite of everyone’s urgings
to
the contrary, the shepherd refused
to
nail up the hole in the
fence.
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