Tag Archives: spiritual

One Pilgrimage, Two Sisters

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It was a cold, brisk April dawn as I entered the church. This was to be my fifth pilgrimage to Monte Camera Sanctuary from the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. Located in the hills, about five miles from the tiny Italian village of Pieve di Compresseto in Umbria, this sanctuary is devoted to Mary. Since 1647, the townspeople, full of faith and prayers, have been climbing to the tiny chapel to celebrate the Feast of the Madonna of Monte Camera every Tuesday after Easter.

The first pilgrimage took place 376 years ago when the bubonic plague was devastating the population. Those who were well enough went in procession to this sanctuary to pray to the Madonna, asking her to intercede on their behalf. When they returned, everyone who had been sick was miraculously cured. Since then, the villagers have returned every year in procession to this chapel to commemorate the miracle. This year was going to be different for me, as I was planning to carry a special prayer.

You can read more about my pilgrimage (which I hope to join next week as well) to this beautiful sanctuary and the prayer that I carried with me. This story was published as a “Spiritual Journey” by Unity Magazine (April/May 2024).

Feel free to enjoy and share “Sacred Journeys: Two Sisters Pilgrimage.” (Note that the graphic makes more sense if you open the pdf and view it in two pages!)

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A Glimpse of Infinity

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After graduating from the University of California Berkeley in 1987, I moved to Fukuyama, Japan—about 400 miles south of Tokyo—to teach English. People often ask why I decided to go to Japan, but the reality is that Japan chose me. At that time, I longed to take a year off and travel abroad. Having applied for English teaching positions in more than fifty countries, the school in Fukuyama was the one that invited me to come.

I arrived knowing only three words in Japanese: hajimashite (nice to meet you), arigatoo (thank you), and sayonara (goodbye), thanks to a Japanese friend who helped me learn some helpful phraes before I left. I practiced constantly.

The author at the Sanzen-in Temple in Kyoto in 1987.

I ended up staying two years in this beautiful country. I learned to speak Japanese and to read enough of the language to decipher grocery labels and train schedules, and I was blessed with making many Japanese friends, some of whom I am still in touch with 35 years later.

You can read more about my time in Japan and the transpersonal experience that I had while visiting Sanzen-in Temple in Kyoto. This story was published as a “Spiritual Journey” by Unity Magazine (September/October 2023).

Feel free to enjoy and share “A Glimpse of Infinity.” (Note that the graphic makes more sense if you open the pdf and view it in two pages!)

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I Cannot Live Without You

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I stand here ironing
t-shirts
a green dress
your shirt for work.
And think how absurd
with a genocide
not miles away.

An endless litany of words
drained of all meaning and force.
Genocide, ethnic cleansing,
displacement, occupation,
hostage and liberation.
Under siege and mass atrocities.

Words without context.
Terrorist. Nazi. Zionist. Fascist.
Hamas. Antisemitic.
Jew. Christian. Moslem.
Massacre and holocaust.

Slippery collective shadow
ruthlessly reckless.
Animal. Beast.
Less than human.
Savages.

I ease the iron across a tablecloth
as the numbers move before my eyes.
2.3 million, hundreds of thousands.
1400 dead… 3000 dead… 5000 dead… 8000 dead.
732 entire families dead.
Under the rubble dead.

Non-stop bombardment.
Whispering within
the sliver of silence
not one word.
Peace.

Only the voice of a Jewish grandmother.
Turns to her captor,
shakes his hand,
“Shalom.”
Only the voice of a Palestinian grandmother
learns her daughter dead,
her granddaughter dead,
 “Please come to me in my dreams.
   Because I cannot live without you.”

I stand and iron
your handkerchiefs,
my white summer dress
to hang in closets and place in drawers.
But how to wash and iron
this epic human tragedy?
And in what drawer
do I place it?

Please come to me in my dreams.
Because I cannot live without you.
God’s mercy.
God’s charity.
Love and kindness.
Justice.
Empathy and compassion.
But most of all
Peace.

Catherine Ann Lombard
November 1, 2023