I love this book – it is one of my top 10 most important books. I read it every year at the beginning of the year as a reminder to Follow My Dream! This is a simple parable (don’t expect Shakespeare or any other literary giant) simply told. Its importance lies more in its enduring message as we follow the shepherd Santiago on his quest. Like many of us who pursue our dreams, his journey is riddled with many setbacks and there are times when he is ready to give up – but, he perseveres and learns the language of the world while pursuing his Personal Legend.

“… no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.” ~Paolo Coehlo, The Alchemist

Head over to www.charterforcompassion and join us!

One of my missions in life is to help spread peace on earth – I believe that the way to do this is to learn about people who are different from us and not judge things we don’t understand or agree with. This is a big reason why I became an Interfaith Minister.

The charter for compassion was created with the idea that we need more compassion in this world and towards each other. I hope you will find it important enough to sign along with the rest of us!

Peace and Blessings to all of you!

Rev. Tricia

Rest In Peace

by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
inspired by the poems of Thich Nhat Hanh

I am a World Trade Center tower, standing tall in the clear blue sky, feeling a violent blow in my side, and
I am a towering inferno of pain and suffering imploding upon myself and collapsing to the ground.
May I rest in peace.

I am a terrified passenger on a hijacked airplane not knowing where we are going or that I am riding on fuel tanks that will be instruments of death, and
I am a worker arriving at my office not knowing that in just a moment my future will be obliterated.
May I rest in peace.

I am a pigeon in the plaza between the two towers eating crumbs from someone’s breakfast when fire rains down on me from the skies, and
I am a bed of flowers admired daily by thousands of tourists now buried under five stories of rubble.
May I rest in peace.

I am a firefighter sent into dark corridors of smoke and debris on a mission of mercy only to have it collapse around me, and
I am a rescue worker risking my life to save lives who is very aware that I may not make it out alive.
May I rest in peace.

I am a survivor who has fled down the stairs and out of the building to safety who knows that nothing will ever be the same in my soul again, and
I am a doctor in a hospital treating patients burned from head to toe who knows that these horrible images will remain in my mind forever.
May I know peace.

I am a tourist in Times Square looking up at the giant TV screens thinking I’m seeing a disaster movie as I watch the Twin Towers crash to the ground, and
I am a New York woman sending e-mails to friends and family letting them know that I am safe.
May I know peace.

I am a piece of paper that was on someone’s desk this morning and now I’m debris scattered by the wind across lower Manhattan, and
I am a stone in the graveyard at Trinity Church covered with soot from the buildings that once stood proudly above me, death meeting death.
May I rest in peace.

I am a dog sniffing in the rubble for signs of life, doing my best to be of service, and
I am a blood donor waiting in line to make a simple but very needed contribution for the victims.
May I know peace.

I am a resident in an apartment in downtown New York who has been forced to evacuate my home, and
I am a resident in an apartment uptown who has walked 100 blocks home in a stream of other refugees.
May I know peace.

I am a family member who has just learned that someone I love has died, and
I am a pastor who must comfort someone who has suffered a heart-breaking loss.
May I know peace.

I am a loyal American who feels violated and vows to stand behind any military action it takes to wipe terrorists off the face of the earth, and
I am a loyal American who feels violated and worries that people who look and sound like me are all going to be blamed for this tragedy.
May I know peace.

I am a frightened city dweller who wonders whether I’ll ever feel safe in a skyscraper again, and
I am a pilot who wonders whether there will ever be a way to make the skies truly safe.
May I know peace.

I am the owner of a small store with five employees that has been put out of business by this tragedy, and
I am an executive in a multinational corporation who is concerned about the cost of doing business in a terrorized world.
May I know peace.

I am a visitor to New York City who purchases postcards of the World Trade Center Twin Towers that are no more, and
I am a television reporter trying to put into words the terrible things I have seen.
May I know peace.

I am a boy in New Jersey waiting for a father who will never come home, and
I am a boy in a faraway country rejoicing in the streets of my village because someone has hurt the hated Americans.
May I know peace.

I am a general talking into the microphones about how we must stop the terrorist cowards who have perpetrated this heinous crime, and
I am an intelligence officer trying to discern how such a thing could have happened on American soil, and
I am a city official trying to find ways to alleviate the suffering of my people.
May I know peace.

I am a terrorist whose hatred for America knows no limit and I am willing to die to prove it, and
I am a terrorist sympathizer standing with all the enemies of American capitalism and imperialism, and
I am a master strategist for a terrorist group who planned this abomination.
My heart is not yet capable of openness, tolerance, and loving.
May I know peace.

I am a citizen of the world glued to my television set, fighting back my rage and despair at these horrible events, and
I am a person of faith struggling to forgive the unforgivable, praying for the consolation of those who have lost loved ones, calling upon the merciful beneficence of God/Yahweh/Allah/Spirit/Higher Power.
May I know peace.

I am a child of God who believes that we are all children of God and we are all part of each other.
May we all know peace.

I just wanted to share this beautiful video created by several Interfaith Ministers from different seminaries. Remember what we can do together!

Remember to keep peace in your heart!

Love and Bliss,
Rev. Trish

This is a poem that has been going around for a while. I thought it might be good to post here as a reminder…

What Does it Mean to Be a Minister?

by James Dillet Freeman

It means to make yourself small so that others may feel large.

It means to make yourself a servant so that others may feel their mastery.

It means to give so that those who lack may receive.     

It means to love so that those who feel unloved may have someone who never rejects them, someone with whom they can always identify.

It means to hold out your help to those who ask and deserve help — and also to those who do not ask or deserve it. It means always to be there when you are needed, yet never to press yourself on another when you are not wanted.

It means to stay at peace so that those who are contentious will have someone to whom they can turn to stabilize themselves.

It means to keep a cheerful outlook so that those who are easily cast down may have someone to life them up.

It means to keep faith and to keep on keeping faith even when you yourself find little reason for believing, so that those who have no faith can find the courage to live.

It means not merely to live a life of prayer, but to turn your prayers into life — more life for you, more life for those to whom you minister.

It means to be God-centered and human-hearted, to involve yourself in humanity, and to keep your vision on divinity — and so draw forth in all around you the human form divine.

It means to share in the great moments of life – in birth and sickness and marriage and death — and at all times, whether of crisis or of celebration, to bring comfort and a blessings and, above all, a sense of a presence that sometimes we cannot see and of a Meaning that often we overlook.

This is what it means to be a minister of God and a minister to humanity.

I hope I can strive to be a minister!!

Peace and Blessings!
Patricia