AN INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE TRIBUTES TO FRIENDS OF SHANTIVANAM
- WE REMEMBER THE MANY FRIENDS OF SHANTIVANAM WHO HAVE MOVED TO THE FURTHER SHORE -
please scroll down for earlier tributes
Remembering my mother with love from Tina
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
All things are passing away
God never changes
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing
God alone suffices
St. Teresa of Avila
MAHASAMADHI DECEMBER 16, 2021 (age 94)
Go, our beloved mother and sister, our spiritual mentor and friend,
Go, in the freedom of the Spirit across the infinite space of that ONE HEART
You knew so well, and loved so profoundly in this life.
Treading lightly into death just as you did in life,
On a pathway strewn with roses and thorns,
You walked with unswerving steps like an arrow flying to its mark.
We see you now radiant as the dawn,
Your life deeply dyed in the colors of the Lord,
Ekahridoyananda- you of the bliss of the ONE HEART.
We meet you between the dark and the light
Where the Eternal Flame of Love burns,
And where you now permanently abide.
The tears flowing from our eyes are not tears of sadness.
Each tear a kiss from the Divine affirming that you are alive.
The door of our hearts have been flung wide open
In an unhindered flow of communion.
We hear your gentle invitation: come, come to the Source,
Come to the UNBORN, yourself unborn,
Come and taste the sweetness
Of this ONE SACRED HEART which I have found,
And from which there is no returning.
THE TOMB OF SISTER MARIE LOUISE
AT THE ENTRANCE OF ANANDA ASHRAM WITH THE ENTRANCE TO THE TEMPLE OF SHANTIVANAM IN THE BACKGROUND
MAY SHE CONTINUE TO GUIDE ANANDA ASHRAM IN SPIRIT TOGETHER WITH FR JULES MONCHANIN, SWAMI ABHISHIKTANANDA AND FR. BEDE GRIFFITHS
SR MARIE LOUISE PASSED AWAY ON SUNDAY 12TH MARCH 2017 AT 08:45PM AT ANANDA ASHRAM (PHOTO SHARED BY SR. SANJEEVANI)
“You will never find rest until you discover your inner Montserrat!”
(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
Raimon Panikkar
Our Original Source
my personal tribute to
Raimon Panikkar
(Barcelona 3rd November 1918 – Tavertet 26th August 2010)
by ROLAND R. ROPERS - please click on pdf file below.
ORIGINAL SOURCE in memory of Raimon Panikkar.pdf Size : 9483.363 Kb Type : pdf |
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Fr. Bruno Barnhart osb Cam. (l931-20l5) A wisdom whizzard with a Boiling Heart!
Arthur Paul Barnhart was born April l0th, l931 in Long Island, N.Y. and as his beloved community of Camaldolese monks described his passing - as "Fr. Bruno Barnhart" "he passed peacefully into the arms of Holy Wisdom on November 28, 20l5." Indeed, Fr.Bruno was a wisdom whizzard with a boiling heart! , leaving behind for the rest of us among written books: The Future of Wisdom. Fr. Bruno described the "attraction that we experience in the Eastern spiritual traditions today as the magnetism of wisdom: a knowing which is life, inner experience and union". And he saw this as that which drew his great friend and spiritual teacher at Shantivanam, Fr. Bede Griffiths - to India, and what Fr. Bede communicated to us in his talks and writings.
After Fr. Bede passed to the Other Shore on May 13, 1993, Fr. Bruno came annually to celebrate Fr.Bede's Mahasamadhi (anniversary of death day), at Osage Monastery Forest of Peace in Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Fr. Bede had visited O+M some five times and was present for our first Eucharist celebrated on a canvas on the Forest floor with our small community of Benedictine Sisters and several temporary members. He called O+M "the Shantivanam of the West" and said it was the most peaceful place he had ever been, always sharing some of his wisdom gifts with us.
Fr. Bruno would come each year to help us celebrate Fr. Bede's "Maha" which always included a wonderful sharing from Fr. Bruno on some aspect of Fr. Bede's wisdom writings. We would invite neighbors and friends and a few of the pastors from surrounding Churches including our own Catholic pastor. And from this "audience" there came forth interesting questions, the answers to which were much appreciated coming from Fr. Bruno. This was the climax of the celebration which followed a meal for all present after an earlier afternoon trip to the new Hindu temple with a short input from our friend, Raj Ragavan on some aspect of Hindu wisdom.
We usually prepared a large basket of food for the Hindu priest and his wife and after receiving a blessing we departed for O+M for supper and Fr. Bruno's input on holy Wisdom' wherein he would tell us in one way or another:
"The event of Christ, through Baptismal initiation, has endowed us with a unitive divine light in which everything--the world, history, and our own being--can become newly transparent, that is, intelligible." (from: The Future of Wisdom)
Sr. Pascaline Coff, osb
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Father John Oliver passed away suddenly on the 4th July 2013. He was an Anglican priest, who founded the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative (CTII) in South Africa following the Parliament of World Religions which was held in Cape Town in 1999. Fr. John was a tireless supporter of interreligious harmony and was always ready to support initiatives promoting peace and dialogue among religions.
“One of my heroes, Fr Bede Griffiths, a Benedictine monk who lived for over half a century in India running a Hindu Christian Ashram, says that ‘the time has come to share one another’s spiritual riches’. And ‘the meeting has to take place, not with doctrines and arguments, but at the level of interior experience.’
It is my experience working in the CTII that real dialogue happens when we speak from the heart and share our common humanity.”
Fr. John Oliver