Symposium, Mindfulness and Visitations

Today I attended a symposium on Indian philosophy and spirituality - and I was asked to give some feedback from a North American perspective. The symposium was very interesting, with the interventions of Francis Vincent Anthony and Cyril D'Souza. Fr Luiz d'Lima from Brazil gave the feedback from the Latin American perspective. A good number were in attendance.

Professors Luiz d'Lima, Francis Anthony, Joe Boenzi, Cyril D'Souza

As I listened to the usual observations and complaints about pragmatic western culture, I thought that I have been graced to know a contemplative way in the West that is as deep as any in Asian quarters.  Asian mindfulness can learn a thing or too from the Visitation Nuns, and particularly from the "Nunz of the Hood," that is the Visitation community in Northeast Minneapolis.

Visitandine Monastery in NE Minneapolis

Twenty years ago a group of Visitandines from St Louis and St Paul formed a community in the poorest district of Minneapolis. They bought an old house and moved into the neighborhood. They kept up their schedule of prayer but also in their work, they invited their neighbors over for prayer and meals, taught some recipes and gardening. They say that the monastery wall is the wall of fear that surrounds the inner city neighborhood. While they open their house, they also have their time of seclusion and contemplative prayer. When they are ready to welcome guests (particularly the children), the put a windsock on the porch. This is why the Visitandines in Northeast Minneapolis are called the Sisters of the Windsock.

May the house of the Sisters of the Windsock be filled with the breath of the Holy Spirit, so that their hearts and those of their neighbors may overflow with beatitudes and blessings.