An Invocation
Where does the sacred dwell? It dwells in those things beyond our grasp, beyond our power to manipulate or control – a selfless deed, a silent prayer, a star-filled night. It lies in those things that cannot be reduced to our personal concerns, but rather lift us up, inspire us, and serve as a doorway to a vision greater and more perfect than our own.
What makes a human being sacred? It is the part of each person that can never be touched, that exists in this world independent of myself, an essence that will always remain beyond. For in grasping it, I grasp only its shell, in defining it, I limit only myself. But when I recognize the uniqueness of the other, when I cease to regard a human being as a mere object in my life, but remember that he or she is the center of his own world, as true and as complete as my own, then I sanctify and uplift the other, and they become a doorway to a world higher and more noble than mine.
How do we build a world that is sacred? When we no longer regard its creatures solely in terms of our needs, to use or abuse. When we treat each thing with respect, allowing it time and space to grow. When we remember that all things have a greater purpose in the service of God. Then creation becomes a doorway to the fullness of being, and a life in the service of the Holy One.
May it be the will of the One who is totally beyond, yet who dwells in the heart of every human being, to open our hearts to all that is sacred in this world, in ourselves and in others. May we help each creature find and fulfill its purpose in life, and in doing so, may we see the Divinity in every being. And so may we pass through the doorway into the holy sanctuary of the world.
What makes a human being sacred? It is the part of each person that can never be touched, that exists in this world independent of myself, an essence that will always remain beyond. For in grasping it, I grasp only its shell, in defining it, I limit only myself. But when I recognize the uniqueness of the other, when I cease to regard a human being as a mere object in my life, but remember that he or she is the center of his own world, as true and as complete as my own, then I sanctify and uplift the other, and they become a doorway to a world higher and more noble than mine.
How do we build a world that is sacred? When we no longer regard its creatures solely in terms of our needs, to use or abuse. When we treat each thing with respect, allowing it time and space to grow. When we remember that all things have a greater purpose in the service of God. Then creation becomes a doorway to the fullness of being, and a life in the service of the Holy One.
May it be the will of the One who is totally beyond, yet who dwells in the heart of every human being, to open our hearts to all that is sacred in this world, in ourselves and in others. May we help each creature find and fulfill its purpose in life, and in doing so, may we see the Divinity in every being. And so may we pass through the doorway into the holy sanctuary of the world.
