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We are a center for experiential education, rooted in the Gospels, encouraging the transformation of human consciousness through contemplation, and equipping people to be instruments of peaceful change in the world.
Assisi 2012
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| The Living School
Dear Friend,
St. Francis, who wanted to own nothing, asked the Benedictines if he could have the "mere use" of a “little portion” of their large land holdings below Assisi to establish his new lay community. There he personally rebuilt the tiny church of "St. Mary of the Angels"—pictured on your invitation to Assisi 2012—which still stands today beneath the canopy of a large basilica.
The site holds such spiritual energy, drawing together major world leaders many times (twice with Pope John Paul II in the 1980s and again this October 27 with Pope Benedict XVI). Here Henri Nouwen, as he told me, could not stop crying—a similar experience to that of Simone Weil.
The tiny church is still called the Porziuncola or "the little portion.” Every August 2, we Franciscans still "pay" for this use by presenting the Benedictines with a basket of fish! (I always say, there would be a major religious war if the Benedictines ever tried to reclaim their donation from us "poor" Franciscans! It became the sacred birth place of the Order, starting in 1209.) But it is a nice trade: We get to look poor and they get to be generous!
So we chose the metaphor of the “little portion” and the physical location in Assisi for my last planned trip to Europe. This occasion will provide a unique opportunity to pass on the specific vision of the Center for Action and Contemplation to our European leaders as well as help us gather support and funding for the launching of my dream, a Living School here in New Mexico in 2013. I will be teaching on the seven major themes of the Living School.
YOU are each a "little portion" of a much larger vision! We all are, aren’t we? Allow me to play on the metaphor of the Portziuncola or “the little portion:” If each of you is able to put forward $2,013 to attend Assisi 2012, “we get to be poor and you get to be generous.” This is our mendicant tradition.
Welcome, if God so calls you to join us!
Richard
