Sr. Margaret Funk, OSB

GIVEN RECENT EVENTS IN THE NEWS, IT IS CLEAR THAT WE DESPERATELY NEED LISTENING HEARTS – OPEN TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO GOD!

We have just completed the first intensive of Living from the Heart here in the Lower Mainland.  The emphasis was on opening deeply to the way of the heart in our own experience and prayer.  It never fails to be a rich experience of people coming from different backgrounds learning to listen to each other and to move from conceptualization or emotional reactivity to real encounter with God and with each other.  I found a speaker introduction given by Sr. Margaret Funk, OSB at a Thomas Merton conference that speaks so well to this gift.

She says that to be open to the way of the heart we need to be seekers, to be in touch with our own experience, and to welcome the experience of another in such a way that the differences don’t divide. The focus is our common spiritual ground.

And I quote (bold added), “You need not fear loss of ground beneath your feet. The voice Thomas Merton imparted was a confidence in one’s own intuition and practice that is rooted in tradition but wide and open in view and welcoming in heart. What Merton did avoid in dialogue was using the voice of a teacher, preacher, or scholar.  His voice was that of a peer sharing or a pilgrim visiting or a friend meeting.”

Sr. Mary Margaret Funk, OSB