Foundation of Open Hearts presents
Grief and Compassion: Daring Touch Our Sorrows
with MaryBeth Scalice, M.A. ED.D
Dear Heart,
The reservoir of our personal and collective grief has burst. We swim, row, drown in a world of stress, violence, noise, and loneliness. We are acting out, stressed out, drugged out, numbing and titillating, even in our spiritual practices. We live separate lives, imposed or chosen as a means of protection. Who is not surrounded by cries for help? Who can say they are not crying out themselves? Extinction or neglect of any being is my own. Each is a loss, a wound.
The power for peace and healing is within us. Our hearts have spoken. We long for right relationship with other, with self, with the land and wildlife. We long for renewed capacity to converse with stars, with souls, with elements, with God. Shut down, ego-entranced, our feelings dim. Resonance with all life is squeezed from awareness. The wound is deep…as deep as our capacity to love.
To have a spiritual practice is to feel deeply and heal deeply in compassionate witness. The life you have been gifted is not truly your own. It is ours. It is One. It is much greater than the sum of little parts. We do not feel alone. Nor can we heal alone.
A new world calls to us, but its creative condition is the gaze of loving kindness upon our collective and personal heart-ache. Intimacy with God and human being compels the soft strength of vulnerability. Sorrow, grief, doubt are part of a rich, plethora of holy encounters. The grief of the universe cries out for your compassion.
You are invited to join a sacred circle, to bring awareness, as a personal and holy gift, to collective and individual grief. Together we discover a path of living fully, deeply and authentically. Together we are willing to see, to listen, and experience parts of self rejected. We venture to heal and offer healing to the world, embracing unity consciousness. It is time to accept aspects of Love we feared too painful.
Date: Saturday, March 26, 2022, from 10am – 4pm
Place: St. Michael’s Church, 112 Randolph Ave, Milton, MA 02186
Bring: A journal and pen, a mat, an icon or symbol for our altar that represents your personal grief experience and a brown bag lunch. Wear soft clothing. We will provide water and snacks. More instructions for preparation will be sent to you upon registering.
Fee: $100 dollars.
To register:
Fill out the form below, or email Alda Lyons at aldalyons@comcast.net with your name, address, email address, phone.
Pay the fee at the bottom of this page by clicking the donation button,
or simply mail the same info. with a check made out to Foundation of Open Hearts to:
Alda Lyons
62 Turner St.
Quincy, MA 02169
For more information. mbopenheart@foundationofopenhearts.com
Deeply grateful for your participation.
All Love,
MaryBeth