Next week’s visit of Pope Francis to the United States is shaping up to be a historic event. With some thoughts on Pope Francis here’s our own Karen Clark with an extra edition of her Path of She.
As a woman and a witch, the Catholic Church has not been my best friend, nor the best friend of so many other groups that don’t fit the Church’s doctrines of the good and the worthy. But a fresh wind blows through this ancient institution in the form of Pope Francis.
I found my common ground with Pope Francis in his words reaching out to atheists: “We must meet one another doing good.”
Yes! Absolutely. Let us meet each other in the good.
I don’t care that your politics, religion or spirituality differ from mine, or about any of the myriad of particulars that mark us as dissimilar. I honor that how you walk this Earth is your personal business. But I do care, from the depth of my soul, about creating a better, more loving and sustainable world together.
So let’s step to one side of the conflict and camps of difference, and meet in the good.
Meet me in the inside-out living of our best qualities and nature.
Meet me in embracing the beauty and power of our differences.
Meet me in acts of kindness and goodwill toward our fellow human beings.
Meet me in resisting the tyranny and abuse of others wherever it shows up in our lives.
Meet me in falling deeply in love with the Earth, and in protecting Her fragile, essential systems.
Meet me in the smell of fresh baked bread, the laughter of children, the kiss of wind and sunshine on exposed skin, the sweet bite of a crisp apple, and the brilliant orange-pink light of a new dawn.
Meet me in the good inside and all around us, just waiting for us to turn our faces back to a love- and life-centered ethos.
Meet me in the good and together we can create our lives and this world anew.
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