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The Sun, Moon, Teachers, and the Creator: In Thanksgiving: Ode to the Amalfi Coast ~ PART FOUR
Updated: Sep 2
We have arrived at the final segment of our journey of GRATITUDE for Travel, Learning, Nature, and Mindfulness. The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address has provided the framework to share my pilgrimage with you.
Do you believe in coincidences? Do you believe that when you are acting according to your truest self that often, “coincidences” happen?
This final reflection could be a coincidence. I choose to believe it is a reminder to trust my instincts, and in this case, write “just because” I am drawn to do so. I got reinforcement for this belief during Sunday Mass yesterday. On this very day, the last of my reflections on creation and gratitude, the Catholic Church beings its “Season of Creation.”
September 1st marks the first day of the Season and the culmination is on October 4th. This final day is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology and a beloved figure across Christian denominations. This month-long period is dedicated to prayer, reflection, and concrete actions to care for the environment and all of God’s creation.
I hope my reflections have made your eyes a bit wider, your heart a bit bigger, your spirit open, and your mind unleashed to be curious and full of wonder!
THE SUN
Greetings to the Sun, who without fail, each day brings the light of a new day.
We are witnessing the earth changing as it gets warmer each month. We, too, feel that change. The sun’s power and impact on us was acute while we traveled along the Italian coast.
It was unmistakable that the month of June should have welcomed us with pleasant temperatures in the high 70’s and low 80’s. Instead, we were enveloped in high 80’s and low 90’s with full sun, few breezes, and very humid days. We had no choice but to acknowledge the sun and its heat. We had to pay attention, listen, and adapt. It was yet another metaphor to be less active but be more present and respect the earth, our bodies, and our limitations.
Despite all the adaptations, the sun gifted us by how it glistened on the water, glowed at sunset, greeted us at sunrise, and sent us home with golden kisses on our skin and in our eyes. Given those gifts, we are reminded that we’re just a visitor on this planet. Going forward I am committed to finding ways to take care of the earth in small ways and larger ones and doing what I can to learn and grow as a creature living on our planet.
THE MOON
We put our minds together to give thanks to our oldest grandmother, the Moon, who lights the night-time sky. The Haudenosaunee believe she is the leader of women all over the world, and we know the moon governs the movement of the ocean tides. By her changing face we measure time.
As for me, I delight in the fact that my Native American neighbors believe the Moon to be a "She" and is the “original” grandmother of us all. She is beautiful and awe-inspiring. I can often be heard swooning, “Look at the moon!”
How is it that she was glowing full and round and colorful for our time on the Amalfi Coast? She did that all on her own. I got to witness her shining brightly on the water, casting a glow along the sea and its boats, bringing romance, calm, awe, and beauty.
THE TEACHERS
Thank goodness we had many teachers accompanying us on our travels. Without our guides, we would have missed so much. Our constant companion and thought leader, Paolo brought with him a lifetime of friendships, relics with stories, ancient scripture, small details that resonated, local sayings and traditions, and personal memories of time spent in his beloved Italy.
Our local tour guides Ludovica, Leah, Alessio and Valentino shared their knowledge of the past and significance of the present. We felt their passion for their country, cities, stories, sacred spaces, superstitions, crafts, foods and more. They were all learned teachers.
We were teachers to each other, sharing our thoughts each day, and stories of parents and grandparents coming before us from every province and town in Italy. We offered kindness to each other, hints and tips from traveling, company walking up a long hill, or an extra seat at a breakfast table.
We walked on the streets of the excavated city at the Herculaneum. The people and streets were buried by the unexpected arrival of a hot and life-altering volcano. How acutely and loudly the early citizens spoke to us in the ruins. Their joy, resourcefulness, skills, art, and appreciation for the fact that life is hard and short. We saw evidence that they lived in the present and didn’t take life for granted. For example, if having a garden wasn’t possible, then they painted flowers and trees on their walls.
The greatness and enlightenment of teachers in the present day and across the centuries greeted us and reminded us that our minds and lives are one and infinitely connected.
THE CREATOR
Finding God in all things was an easy thing to do on the Amalfi Coast. God was everywhere.
God surely blessed our marriage while we were there. He bestowed a gift to us that we could not have dreamed. In a spontaneous visit, on the day of our anniversary, my husband and I stopped in the Chiesa di San Pietro in Ischia, Porto, during their daily Mass. With perfect and serendipitous timing, we held hands and sang the “Our Father” just as we had 33 years ago… on our wedding day…in another Italian Church, St. Anthony of Padua, in Utica, New York.
Seeing God in all things was found not only in the churches, cloisters, and cathedrals but in small walkway grottos decorated with flowers, candles and prayer cards of loved ones lost.
God was in the lemon trees and the refreshing bitters that quenched our thirst at the end of day.
God was in the welcoming smile or joke from a travel companion. God was in the love found in a story of a beloved father who was an example of steadfast faith and family and who courageously took them to another country.
God was in the helping hand who brought us from boats to dinghies and into 3-legged open-air taxis with kindness and patience.
God was in the trees, the food, the sea, the morning coffee, the mountains and hilltops, the wind, and the sun.
God was in the hands of the artists and craftsman who shared their process of quality and beauty and with the priests and curators who shared their sacred spaces and holy relics.
God was with us to keep us safe, to bring us there and home again. Cars, trains, buses, planes and more somehow got us to and from another country.
God beckoned us in the countless nativity scenes. Nativity scenes were made of every shape, color, size, and form, and even entirely made of seashells. One beautiful nativity found in a cathedral in Sorrento depicted every food and way of life found uniquely in that area.
God was in the abbey and its people who painstakingly built and lovingly preserved it on a high hill in a small town called Procida.
God was in the hearts of the families who sponsored the sculptors in the Sansevero. God was with us in the sculptors who showed us their vision of the holy man, Christ, veiled in death. Unforgettable.
God was present in the heart and smile of an 80-year-old Neapolitan taxi driver named Franco who exuded joy and hugged you tight.
God was present in the eyes of Italians who were thankful for any attempt to use their language even in the smallest ways like saying, “Buongiorno, Grazie, or Prego!”
May we be grateful to our Creator, whoever he or she may be. May they know that we see and feel him or her and that we understand the grace and gift we have in our lives and in our beautiful home called earth.
I will close with the words of beloved poet Mary Oliver, “Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.”
May our minds come together as one. Amen.
