Finding Our Inner Gumby

                      “Unknowingly

         We plow the dust of stars

       Blown about us by the wind

         And drink the Universe

           In a glass of rain.”

                     ~Ihad Hassan

It has become a joke in the house this year, that we (the novices), are striving to find our inner Gumby.  You remember Gumby?  That green claymation character who made a cultural resurgence in the 1980’s?  He could stretch and change into anything.  For us this year, his example has become second only to Christ's.

Sr. Katy Pereira, Sr. Bea Tiboldi, Sr. Anne Knight, Sr. Joye
Gros, Sr. Christian Atienza, Sr. Kathy Flynn and Sr. Sharon
Zayac at Jubilee Farm, 9/26/2013.

The past week was no exception.  We spent a day at Jubilee Farm (the Springfield Dominican Center for Ecology and Earth Spirituality), learning about the New Universe Story.  Our host, Sr. Sharon Zayac, led us through a day of education, reflection, and intellectual discussion on the subject.  We read the beginning of Journey of the Universe by Brian Thomas Swimme and Mary Evelyn Tucker for preparation.  As a group, we discussed the importance of story.  We thought about how it forms the base of our belief systems and assumptions.  We imagined a new context for theology, one situated within the structure of our scientific knowledge of the universe.  We discovered that we are related to zucchini. We acknowledged ourselves as participants in the Holy Mystery.  And this stretched us. 

As the deeper journey of discernment unfolds, God continually asks us to challenge our own deeply held assumptions and beliefs.  Whether it is being opened to a new paradigm for theology or our relationship with earth, I find the tension signifies areas requiring growth.  Living within that tension and cultivating inner elasticity is challenging.  However, we continue on this journey with the hope that, like Gumby, we will be transformed.