Journal of Sacred Work

Today's meditation was written by Cathy Self, Senior Vice President for the Baptist Healing Trust.

     This week's conversations on justice and right choices bring to mind the idea of reverence as a means to making right choices and  creating justice in our world. A retreat leader once suggested that reverence rests in the quiet places – in fingering a newborn's tiny toes or holding the hand of a grandfather. Reverence, it seems, is found in the sense of awe and ritual and gazing on a deeply crimsoned leaf or the deeply lined face of the one looking to us for relief. The reason for reverence resides in becoming open to what is transcendent. Some have suggested reverence is beyond human control or power, and certainly beyond manipulation. Yet its presence and gift are undeniable.

     Look at the picture of Rembrandt's "Return of the Prodigal Son" (above) and see if you find   reverence there. In reverence we encounter the other in awe and mystery and Love. In the quiet of a retreat space I was invited into reverence with these words: "The face of reverence is our own self-portrait. We look at ourselves and know the tender place within where Love dwells. The key is to feel the reverence go deep and to give it away at the same time." To be able to see other beyond the things that differ and divide is to hold the other in reverence. Surely we have that very opportunity each and every time we encounter others with the promise of healing! I wonder how you have experienced reverence of those for whom you care. What is your sense of awe and mystery in the giving of health care in your work?