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“Blessed
are they who after dedicating their lives and thereby receiving a
blessing, have the courage and faith to surmount the difficulties
of the path ahead, for they shall receive a second blessing.”
Peregrina de Paz
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Spring
in Somerset
(index)
By Kathy Miller
Spring
in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains is delightful as the
morning mist drifts across the valley. Daffodils have bloomed. Iris
and lilac are opening their first blossoms. Purple mountain lupine
and orange California poppies will soon cover the hills. Finches have
returned to build their nests in the roof of the porch that wraps
around the house from the front door to the back. A pair of mallard
ducks is making a home on the pond. It is peaceful in Somerset.
At the Peace Pilgrim Center we are announcing a new Peace Pilgrim
Study Group to read and discuss “Peace Pilgrim: Her Life and
Work in Her Own Words”. And we are initiating a movement to
establish a “Peace Pole” in our nearest city, Placerville.
In the face of war… The phone rings, “What can we do to
help the cause of peace?”, the caller asks. An email arrives,
“How can I help the PP Center spread the message of peace?”
The mail comes, “What can I do for peace in my country?”
Let’s share Peace Pilgrim’s message of inner peace with
them. Let the light shine and spread all over the world.
As a new day begins, some of us gather together in the living room.
I sing a few songs, accompanying myself with my guitar. We sit in
silence for 30 minutes. Then I say these words: “May we who
have dedicated our lives to peace serve in humbleness. May we know
truth. May we be compassionate. May our hearts be open to giving and
receiving love. And may we experience joy in all things."
It is my joy to share these words with you. Your presence in the circle
of the Friends of Peace Pilgrim is an inspiration to me. Even though
we have not met, you give strength and encouragement to our work of
peace. We are one; all cells in the body of humanity.
Teamwprl
in California
(index)
By Martin Buchholtz
It was late at night, perhaps around 10 in the evening or so, when
my car finally found its way onto the Friends of Peace Pilgrim property
in Somerset, California on February 18th. Having driven across the country
from my former residence in Boston, I was glad to have finally arrived
at my destination.
Often did I read about John and Ann Rush, but to meet them in person
was an experience of a lifetime – I felt as if I had personally
met two sages: certainly they seemed to be old and wise, yes, but there
was something more about them that touched me the very first time we
met. Being long-time servants of humanity, they do seem to have an aura
about them, an air of lightness that transpires when you see their gentle
spirits and meet with their resolute minds.
When I had left my last job in January I stayed at home awaiting for
inspiration on what was to come now. One morning when I had just finished
my early morning meditation, it hit me “out of the blue”
that I should go to the “Friends of Peace Pilgrim” to offer
my services there. Immediately I felt an everlasting joy. I contacted
Kathy Miller and she was overjoyed to have another volunteer coming.
Friends of Peace Pilgrim were in need of a computer specialist, and
as I had some experiences in computers and database creation I knew
why I was meant to go! Thus I packed my things into my car and headed
off west.
Kathy is a practical visionary with a peaceful heart and soon put me
to work at organizing all the translation efforts of the Peace Pilgrim
materials that are going on around the world. To do this, the best thing
was to create a database of all completed and ongoing translation efforts
that are known to us, for easy referral. In the works is now a Microsoft
Access-run database that will integrate most of the functions of the
previous database, will add some additional functions and will be compatible
with modern computers.
There are so many beautiful things that are happening here at the Peace
Pilgrim Center every day, starting with Kathy’s singing and playing
the guitar in the morning to taking an occasional walk among the beauties
of nature that surround us. I would also like to mention the wonderful
spirit that prevails here: a spirit of peace, of wonder, of encouragement,
and of being true to oneself.
I encourage anyone who feels inspired to come here and do “the
work” to follow their dream! It is worth every ounce of it and
it benefits not only oneself, but also all of our brothers and sisters
in all parts of the world.
It seems that the database will be finished by the end of May. I would
like to invite all readers of Enlace to write, call or send us an email
if you either have already completed or are in the process of completing
a translation of any of the Peace Pilgrim materials, if you are a regular
distributor, have a Peace Pilgrim Study Group, or even a Peace Pilgrim
Center.
Request
We are looking for a volunteer
interested in translating the Peace Pilgrim documentary “An American
Sage” into Spanish. For more information please contact Mary Newswanger.
(Apdo. 38-5655, Monteverde, Costa Rica. Tel: (506) 645-5082. eMail:
emnews@racsa.co.cr)
Sabian Corner
(index)
| The symbol of a flying airplane
symbolizes the potential to "rise above it all"; the
choice is to either escape easily from immediate conditions or
use time as an opportunity to see things from a wider and more
balanced perspective.
May the SPIRIT of PEACE be with OUR GROUP'S EFFORTS - to be sure!
(Sabian
Assembly: www.sabian.org)
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Anecdotes
from my Correspondence
(index)
By Mayte Picco-Kline
From Costa Rica:
"We are to become the message. We are to become peace, become
health, become wholeness. That's a message that I can embrace. As
I learn the lessons for myself, I can try to teach them to my children.
What do you think?"
As we remember that each one of us is a cell in the body of humanity
we can see how each one of us contributes to the whole picture of
PEACE. I believe, as you said, that a great Shift is occurring --
we are part of a great movement that is not necessarily of our making,
but we still hold a personal responsibility in terms of how we go
through that major transition and what we do to facilitate the process
in others - be they our children or other people that are part of
our lives. I believe those who are learning to live in harmony with
the universe and all that is are moving into the Age of Light and
are becoming conscious participants in this SPIRITUAL AWAKENING. The
choice resides in each one of us.
Here's an affirmation I love to use in my meditations:
"I
thrill anew to COSMIC LOVE and HARMONY."
A true application of the Golden Rule is most meaningful in this context.
Another way to speak of it is in terms of living in each other, a
person of talent is primarily one who lives in others no less than
in himself.
You say it, dear friend, we are to become the message.
Light,
Love, and Blessings.
From Florida, USA:
"Dear Mayte: I am very sad… I was encouraged for a few
days, sending the message of Peace to 'the world'. I even sent messages
to the soldiers in the war ... I do not know if they will have the
opportunity to go to the internet and to look for Peace Pilgrim…
exhaustion has conquered me…."
I understand the pain harbored in your heart. In truth we are living
during a very difficult time in the history of humanity and it is
important we all remain united to give us the strength needed to continue.
The realities of the war go beyond what we see on television and you
are certainly conscious of it. Pope John Paul II has said with authority,
“…every war is a failure for humanity.”
In spite of the fact that is difficult to see it now we are moving
into a new era of SPIRITUAL AWAKENING. Many millions of people in
the world are achieving new levels of awareness and desiring deeply
to live in peace. It is important to be patient and to know that everything
occurs in harmony with God and the universe. We are in constant growth
and development in our individual and global evolutionary process.
Everything we do for peace has a divine purpose and it is important
we recall that each of our activities contributes to the total plan
of peace, whether or not we see the results.
Your sensitivity demonstrates your understanding and human compassion.
We will continue forward knowing that we are sowing the seeds of Peace.
I will be happy if we continue in contact as you wish. I feel the
vibrations of PEACE deeply in your heart. Let’s continue giving
words of encouragement to all that need them. Let us live in peace...
in the understanding that when sufficient numbers of us experience
inner peace, we will then have peace and harmony in the world.
Choose
Your Choices
(index)
When
we make the choice to learn,
we realize the other choices that have always been available to us.
The choices we make are dependent upon the choices we see before us.
The choices we see before us are dependent upon our state of open
mindedness.
Our state of open mindedness is dependent upon our willingness
to embrace and learn that which is still to be understood.
Qasim Bashir
London, England
Artistic
Expressions
(index)
"All is in order in our hearts while we continue meditating
and praying for Peace each day so that as night arrives we rest serenely,
and every night so humanity can see the radiant sun of a new morning."
Marta
Ecco
Florida, USA
photograph by Bruce
Nichols
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Before you speak, ask yourself…
is it kind,
is it necessary, is it true, does it improve on the silence?
Sai Baba
Shared by Lama Dudul Osal Dorje
Quito, Ecuador
|
*****
And
I began to see with your eyes…
And I began
to see with your eyes… in the last instant of dusk. Before that
the night began to close. Were blue, sea and sky. Horizon without
limits. Sea and sky, sky and sea… blue, blue, blue. The swell
of the Limpid sea. Sky. Swell of the sky. The limpid sea. Where the
sea? where the sky? Horizon of union. The You and the I? Totality.
The I and the You? Immensity. Simply Humanity. Union. Totality. Divinity.
Blue immensity in the dusk. Immense totality. Love and Awareness.
Totality.
SFC, Argentina
*****
Common
prayer to the World Chain of Prayer for Peace:
"I AM A CHANNEL OF DIVINE LOVE."
Shared by Néstor Hugo Almagro, Argentina
*****
Sharing with Children about Peace
(index)
By Mayte Picco-Kline
Children learn
what they live. From my experience giving Peace talks to children in
México, and Costa Rica, I have come up with some suggestions
to introduce children to the idea of inner peace and to the Peace Pilgrim
messages. Let me share here some of them.
I recommend to invite children to be involved from the beginning of
the session, sharing their thoughts and feelings as this fascinating
subject is explored. Session can start with a general question to bring
alive their interest and enthusiasm. It can be as simple as... What
do you think PEACE is? Facilitate sharing and provide core ideas.
 It
is useful to give plenty of examples related with the meaning of inner
peace from personal experience, the Peace Pilgrim book and/or other
related materials. Most children need practical applications of the
concepts to enhance understanding.
Kids love to ‘touch’ so if you have available a Peace Pilgrim
tunic - let them sense it! They usually find this experience most attractive.
Show pictures and other materials you may have so children obtain a
visual image of her. You may choose to sing a song from the Peace Pilgrim
CD.
In some occasions, kids greeted me with beautiful hand-made posters
in which they selected their favorite phrase from the Peace Pilgrim
materials and pasted along a photo of her. The posters were going to
be a present for their parents and they were exhibited at the classroom
during my talks. This is a great way to prepare children for the experience
to come.
Here's a great exercise. Make copies of some pages in the Peace Pilgrim
book and select inspiring sentences. Cut them in individual phrases,
fold them and put them in a basket. Let each child randomly select a
piece of paper from the basket. Then ask them to volunteer in reading
their selected sentence to the group, and share how that idea relates
to his or her own personal experience at home or school. I have found
this to be a powerful exercise to foster understanding. In many cases
those phrases become a screen of prophecy to be used to solve a personal
situation. Many children have been deeply affected by this exercise.
They love it!
Let them consider how they can apply in their own life what they’ve
experienced in the session. Ask them to share it with the whole group
as they feel comfortable doing so.
Invite children to ask as many questions as they wish. I have had sessions
in which at the same time more than twenty hands wanted to have their
turn to talk.
This is the beginning of an experience that can be enhanced through
other sessions at school or through personal examples in the way parents
live at home.
Praying
for Peace
(index)
By Bert Gunn, Connecticut, United States
I have received so many wonderful and thoughtful emails from many
of you telling of your prayers for peace and actions to promote good
will and peace in the world, from 'small' to 'large'. I just want
to thank you all for your work for peace in all its forms. Thank you
for acting on your beliefs, what ever they are.
Thank you for praying for peace.
Thank you for praying for wisdom and compassion for all the leaders.
Thank you for all your actions for peace.
Thank you who show kindness in so many ways
kindness with your families and friends,
kindness with those you struggle,
kindness with those who hurt you,
kindness with honesty and strength.
It is possible to be strong and kind at the same time.
Thank you for caring. Thank you for showing that care.
Please keep praying for the best outcome possible. Pray for peace,
justice and compassion for all the peoples. Let us pray that we act
more with concern for the health and well being of all: food, health
care, housing, education, etc. for all the peoples of this world.
Let us pray for the humane evolution of the human species. Let us
pray that we all realize that we are world citizens, as Tlakaelel
says, Cosmic citizens. What happens to each of us affects all of us.
Personal
Growth and Healing
(index)
The spiritual
path is the inner way of mystic tradition – our teacher lies
within. When we’re looking for guidance or truth that is the
most direct path, but guidance can also come from outside sources.
Before accepting any advice as true for ourselves we first need to
develop discernment – that inner sense of confirmation to what
we hear or read. It’s that same sense of confirmation that comes
when we perceive things directly from the inside.
Cheryl
Canfield
California, United States
Appreciating
Peace Pilgrim and Her Work
(index)
“Peace
Pilgrim walked and walked with the light of God… the sensitivity,
the tranquility and the freedom of her life made her great”.
(Emilia Kuri Cristino, México)
I would like to tell the Enlace Internacional
family that Peace Pilgrim’s words about fear are a profound
truth: “If we fear nothing and radiate love, we can trust that
good things will follow. Know, my family, that my triumph is due to
the practice of that great thought.
(Martha María Morales Batista, Costa Rica)
Welcome
(index)
A warm welcome to our newest
friends in the Enlace Internacional circle: Paola Penazzo, England;
Mitch Teplitsky, Karen Carnabucci, Paty Reissenweber and Patti Hudson,
USA; Silvia Rodríguez, Uruguay; and Celia Olivera, México
Reflections
(index)
(Participate
in this section by selecting a phrase or sentence from the Peace Pilgrim
materials. Please indicate source and page.)
As you have peace in your
life, you will reflect it around you and in your world.
(Victoria Novik Assael, Chile)
I am not here to judge
my human fellows, I am here to love and to serve.
(Hna. Magdalena de Jesús,
Chile)
God is the life force,
without which the universe would not exist.
(Zoraida Consuegra, United States)
Inner peace is found by facing life squarely, resolving problems and
searching beneath the surface of life
where the verities and realities are to be found.
(Pedro Roblejo Ramos, Cuba)
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