Terra Divina. Sacred Earth.
Life is difficult. So begins Harvard-educated psychiatrist Dr. M. Scott Peck in the book, The Road Less Traveled. Dr. Peck provides an “how to” on navigating life’s problems by first realizing that we will always be presented with problems, so get used to it. He then offers the reader ways to solve those problems with love and reason. But sometimes, life is not just difficult, it is paralyzing.
I am a judge on a small Minnesota appellate court. Before that, I practiced law for 26 years and took pride in solving problems. What I was not prepared for in my life’s seventh decade is an inability to solve problems in part because we cannot collectively agree that there is a problem or agree on finding a solution comprised of both love and reason. Scrolling through the echo chamber of social media, there is no longer a unified voice reporting the facts like when Walter Cronkite, or locally, Dave Moore were mouth pieces of balanced journalism—all before the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 which required our news sources to seek out divergent views to offer the reader a common understanding of the worlds’ problems.
The news cycle beats me down daily. Murders of children in Gaza, the Ukraine, Annunciation Church. The murder of public servants, Mark and Melissa Hortman. Thoughts and prayers are becoming a tired futile offer. How do we make a difference in Gaza when the food donated by the West results in the murder of those seeking to eat. How do we combat the finger pointing between gun owners and mental health issues after each school shooting? And with climate change creating more destructive hurricanes, more wildfires chocking our air, more droughts, why has the Environmental Protection Agency lost funding and its ability to enforce environmental laws?
When life is paralyzing, I turn inward. I know from Dr. Carl Jung, that “who looks inside awakens.” I turn to Pythagoras whose students took a vow to be silent for five years to understand the universe absent of words and language and who described silence as not a luxury, but a necessity–a place where the most profound truths can only be heard when we stop speaking. I turn to St. Augustine who said that “Others in order to find God, will read a book….(but) God did not make letters of ink for you to recognize Him in. He set before your eyes all these things he has created.” (The Works of St. Augustine III/3.) And I turn to those letters of ink which record God’s word in the Old and New Testament. The Hebrew word for “wilderness” is “midbar” derived from the word “dabar,” which means “to speak.” Wilderness is a place to go to hear the voice of God. Moses heard Him there in the burning bush. John the Baptist cried out there. Jesus fasted there for 40 days and 40 nights. We go to the stillness of wilderness to hear His voice.
During the Season of Creation, the Basilica’s Creation Justice Committee offers Terra Divina which means Sacred Earth. Fridays during the Season of Creation, Benedictine Oblate Greg Harris takes parishioners and guests through a quiet wilderness study and listening at Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden at Theodore Wirth Park. There, we listen and observe, contemplate the beauty of God’s creation giving us a spiritual respite and renewal from the news cycle and its paralyzing effects. It is a way God speaks to us so we may continue to serve him without being discouraged. https://mary.org/event/terra-divina/
As Catholics, we are of an ancient faith that endured through the destruction of Rome, the dark ages, world wars, plagues, and political strife. With steady faith and hope, we will move on from these difficult times, knowing that some form will remain to be solved. Life will always be difficult, but we find respite in the places God creates for quiet and stillness. A place to go to hear His voice and to be still and know that He is.
Deb Sundquist
Creation Justice Committee