​ 
We offer you this meditation from the mystic, Howard Thurman as you embrace all that will come in 2023. This piece, “Through the Coming Year” is featured in his book, Meditations of the Heart. May it encourage you in the days ahead. 
 
Grant that I may pass through
the coming year with a faithful heart.
There will be much to test me and
make weak my strength before the year ends.
In my confusion I shall often say the word that is not true and do the thing of which I am ashamed.
There will be errors in the mind
and great inaccuracies of judgment...
In seeking the light,
I shall again and again find myself
walking in the darkness.
I shall mistake my light for Your light
and I shall drink from the responsibility of the choice I make.
Nevertheless, grant that I may pass through the coming year with a faithful heart.
May I never give the approval of my heart to error, to falseness, to vanity, to sin.
Though my days be marked
with failures, stumblings, fallings,
let my spirit be free
so that You may take it
and redeem my moments
in all the ways my needs reveal.
Give me the quiet assurance
of Your Love and Presence.
Grant that I may pass through
the coming year with a faithful heart.

Written by: SGTI Student Eric Budzynski
 
I give thanks to native and Indigenous traditions for teaching me to know myself as earth, water, fire, and air; to remind myself to live in harmony with these elemental forces and to allow the constancy of their universal language to guide my own actions in responsible and sustainable ways. Brother Wind, Sister Moon, Grandmother Tree, Grandfather Bird, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
I give thanks to the ancient messages of the Vedas and Bhagavad Gita as a gift from beyond just as the sacred waters of the Ganges flows from the height of the Himalayas. Not needing to limit the Oneness to an archetype of form but a vast explosion of divine, opulent and generous expression allows those sacred and timeless messages to speak to all hearts of all beings. Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
I give thanks to the followers of the Covenant in trusting the might and power of the One God and the willingness of that god to touch and intervene with the humanity of the world created in its own image. In giving daring and bold proclamation to thrilling and prophetic voices, those heralds still echo clearly throughout the ages as a message of promise and hope to a New World yet to be known or seen by the children of Adam & Eve. Adonai, Abba, Moses, Noah, David, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.  
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
I give thanks to Siddartha for offering the Middle Way as a path to peace and awakening and a realization that to live fully is to live in acceptance and awareness of all that life affords and offers each of us. May I dwell with you in the divine abodes of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity and continue to know, recognize and understand my own humanity in that of all beings. Tathagata, Guanyin, Buddha, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
I give thanks to Christ and his beloved community of saints as witnesses to the impenetrable power of love as victor over death and hatred. Centuries of inspired art and expression have given my own life purpose and meaning to know, touch, taste, see, smell, and hear the invitation to share in your creative reckoning as a faithful believer in your own incarnation. Gregory, Cecilia, Paraclete, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
I give thanks to the author of mercy and to the willing harbinger of his message of peace in a humble prophet. You ask us to surrender, soften, and break open ourselves time and time over to learn your love so that we may never be removed from it again. Faith, prayer, offering, fasting, and pilgrimage show us the path to the essence of your being. Allah, Muhammad, the Merciful One, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
I have now arrived nearer to the other shore where You wait patiently with my own resistance and unknowing. This is the place where words fail and end and lose meaning. Sound gives way to the complete and unshakable wisdom of silence and Presence. You offer patience, curiosity and love as a way to ultimately see my own Youness radiantly reflected in You and in everything around me. All You that have gathered to help me bear witness, hear my message of welcome and gratitude.
 
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
Now our minds and hearts are as one.
 
(Inspired, with gratitude & humility, by the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address. In partial fulfillment of Certificate In Interfaith/Interspiritual Direction/Companionship.)
 

We are currently living in times that have been called unprecedented, uncertain, difficult and ripe with opportunity. What can we do to engage with these trying times, rather than deny or withdraw or disconnect? What assumptions are confronting us that we can look at and possibly change if change is needed? 
 
The times are calling us to access our spiritual resources, including emotional, physical, mental, etc. and consider what tools and relationships we have to buffer against harm (e.g. stress) that may be caused to ourselves or others. 
 
Pir Zia teaches us that when we suffer from illness we can attend to what is needed by getting in touch with patience, slowing down, ceasing to take for granted, watching the breath, breathing to be held by God, and becoming close to those who are dearest to us. We hold these truths in our heart-minds and bodies as we hope for transformation on a global scale. 
 
The following are healing words and prayers from an interspiritual collection of the Sufi Healing Order. You may want to memorize some parts of these, read them multiple times aloud or silently, and/or hold them in your hearts and minds. 
(language may be altered to reflect modern thought and practice)
 
Short One Line Sufi Prayers (located in the Mysticism of Sound) 
Help me to serve your cause. 
 
Oh Spirit of Guidance, throw your  Divine Light on my path.
 
Open my heart, that your spirit I may reflect. 
 
My life is changing and taking a better turn. 
 
My mind is still, my thought is steady, my sight is keen, my life is balanced. 
 
Harmonize my soul, God, with all people and with all conditions. 
 
My body is healed, my mind is fortified, and my soul is illuminated by the grace of God. 
 
Hindu Prayer 
Lead us from darkness to light 
Lead us from sickness to health 
Lead us from death to immortality 
Om, Peace, Peace, Peace. 
 
Buddhist Prayer-  Brahma Viharas 
With the thought of LOVE let me contemplate the world and may this 
LOVE extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of LOVE increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
With the thought of COMPASSION let me contemplate the world and may this 
COMPASSION extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of COMPASSION increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
With the thought of JOY let me contemplate the world and may this 
JOY extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of JOY increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
With the thought of PEACE let me contemplate the world and may this PEACE 
extend to its four horizons. 
And then with the thought of PEACE increasing beyond measure, 
let me encompass the whole universe Up to its confines. 
Amen.
  
Jewish Prayer/Affirmation -Shema
Sh’ma Yisrael               Listen and hear 
Adonai Eloheinu        The Divine is God 
Adonai Ehad               The Divine is One 
Amen
 
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi 
God, make me an instrument of your peace: 
Where there is hatred, let me sow love; 
Where there is injury, pardon; 
Where there is doubt, faith; 
Where there is despair, hope; 
Where there is darkness, light; 
Where there is sadness, joy. 
O divine Creator, grant that I may not so much seek 
To be consoled as to console, 
To be understood as to understand, 
To be loved as to love. 
For it is in giving that we receive, 
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, 
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. 
 
The Hopi Elders Speak 
By Oraibi, Arizona Hopi Nation 
You have been telling the people that this is the eleventh hour. 
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the hour. 
And there are things to be considered: 
Where are you living? 
What are you doing? 
What are your relationships? 
Are you in right relation? 
Where is your water? 
Know your garden. 
It is time to speak your truth. 
Create your community. 
Be good to each other. 
 
Rachel Naiomi Remen, MD 
The purpose of life is to grow in wisdom and to learn to love better. 
If life serves theses purposes, then health serves these purposes. 
And illness serves them as well, because illness is part of life.

~ Jeanette Banashak, PhD, EdD

In light of the Coronavirus health warnings, we have all become more aware of the importance of hand washing. ​

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann from Mishkan Chicago, one of SGTI's partners in interfaith learning, shared a beautiful Jewish blessing with her congregation about hand washing.  We thought it was lovely and so timely, of course.

With this prayer, we can reorient even the most mundane and repetitive task toward the sacred. We can bring what might cause duress to spiritual practice. Imagine yourself washing your hands and viewing this as prayerfulness, or as an opportunity to take a deep breath and receive a beautiful blessing.

https://www.ritualwell.org/ritual/blessing-washing-hands-during-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR02zucjQ22Y4vhl4nJxqw7K3Ht5I3duKsTvY4y7ybFd-Dxi6fz60HiFoI8&mc_cid=68cae03973&mc_eid=67f093db45

​We send blessings of good health to everyone! May inner calm and clarity be yours. 

​Interspiritual Meditation - Christian Meditation
Week 4/7
 
Nada te turbe,
nada te espante
todo se pasa,
Dios no se muda,
la paciencia
todo lo alcanza,
quien a Dios tiene
nada le falta
solo Dios basta.
 
Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.
 
-St. Teresa of Ávila

Here at SGTI, we've just completed the second Residential Institute for our 18 mos. certificate program for interfaith/interspiritual guidance. Key to our learning about how to hold presence for and engage in sacred listening with people of any and all religious, spiritual and secular philosophies is interfaith immersion.

We maintain that it is not enough to engage in "book learning" about traditions other than our own to keep our hearts open and our listening skills fluid. It is not enough to have speakers come to talk about various traditions either. In order to build and maintain interfaith and interspiritual understanding, we need hands-on experience--immersion. 

While in Chicago this week, we had two interfaith immersion experiences: at the Bahai House of Worship of North America in Wilmette, IL, and IMAN—the InnerCity Muslim Action Network located on the south side of the city. At each site, we had the unique opportunity to participate in religious services and to speak one on one with members of each tradition. At IMAN we also shared a meal which is always one of our hopes with any immersion experience. 

When we connect this way--heart to heart—interfaith merges with interspiritual and we learn just how similar we all are, especially within the context of spiritual values. Our practices and rituals may sometimes feel different, yet, we are able to connect on a deeper level by cultivating appreciative knowledge, one of the other core principles of our unique SGTI curriculum. 

At IMAN, there was the call to prayer in Arabic, a "sermon/message" on gratefulness, and a felt sense of sitting on holy ground with one another, Muslim and non-Muslim, to experience the Sacred. The women students of SGTI were warmly greeted and spent time after the Friday prayer service with the physician's assistant of their health clinic. Her joy of service was evident and contagious. And inspiring! 

Why interfaith immersion? Because by engaging in this way, we become deeply aware of how much alike we are. We all want to be happy, to feel safe and free, to do meaningful work, and to worship in our own way. And because, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opponents into friends. It is this type of understanding and goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age."

(Source: imancentral.org)

SGTI cofounder, Jan Lundy, offers this reflection on a powerful spiritual practice that can be engaged in by any person of any spiritual tradition. She provides an interspiritual breath prayer (peace inducing!) you might find useful for your inner life, as well. 

​This piece is currently being featured on the blog at Spiritual Directors International. View it here:
​www.sdiworld.org/blog/journey-sacred-breath
​