Food & Spirit

Food is inextricably entwined with Spirituality. We feed our spirits in the same way we feed our bodies – often in the same act.

Recognizing this, all religions have rituals which involve food or fasting--be it a Jewish Sabbath or Yom Kippour, Christian Holy Communion or Lent, Muslim Eid or Ramadan. Practitioners of the oldest religions fed the Spirits the Life Essence of the Sacrifice, and often dined on the rest.

Even our secular rituals often involve food – going to “our” restaurant, sharing a pizza with a friend, turkey and pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, or the traditional summer barbecue.

Here at the Grail Center, food is an important part of our programs and community life. From pot luck dinners to ritual Agape meals, from organic gardening to workshops in canning and freezing, awareness of what we eat and how we eat it is often a central feature of our gatherings.

If we are striving to live holy and whole lives, then being conscious of the food we eat is an essential part of that journey. Eating then becomes a sacred act. We  shouldn't “live to eat,” but neither should we “eat to live.”

Instead, eating can be a sacred ritual that reminds us and binds us to the wholeness of life as well as a force to build and deepen community.

This can be expressed in many ways. Even within the Grail, we affirm a multiplicity of paths, and know that each of us must build our own rituals that express our own spirituality.

For some, it may be making certain foods taboo. You may decide to avoid all animals, four-legged animals, agri-business-farmed animals, non-organic foods; eat only locally grown foods, etc. It may mean taking the extra effort to know the “where” and “how” your food was produced, and the working conditions of those whose effort brought it to you.

It might mean conscious-eating, focusing on the act, feeling gratitude for the food, the plants and animals that produced it and those who brought it to you.

Eating might be a ritual part of your communal life, deepening the bonds that connect you to others. Cooking together can be a nourishing and loving act. Or eating might be, for you, part of your solitary, mindful meditation--being totally and completely present to the act and the food.

Perhaps it is a way of affirming your place as part of the physical world, your role as one of the many beings in the food chain, both as predator for other animals, and as one who remembers that the plants you eat produced the oxygen you breathe and used the carbon dioxide you produce.

We also need to remember that our spirituality needs to move beyond ourselves. We are part of a whole.  We cannot be truly satisfied when others are hungry and we have done nothing to feed them. Muslims fast during Ramadan so that they may know the pain of hunger that the poor are feeling. Many of us fast and then give the money that would have been spent on food to feed others.

And it is not enough just to give charity, important as that is. We must also address the structural causes of the pain in the world and strive for prevention, not only temporary succor.  There are many ways of doing this. One example is the Just Food Campaign, that connects communities and local farms with the resources and support they need to make fresh, locally grown food accessible to all New Yorkers: justfood.org/. Another is the Fair Food Network: fairfoodnetwork.org/. There are also  campaigns that tie together human trafficking, slavery and the treatment of migrant farm workers, such as the Coalition of Immokalee Workers: ciw-online.org/.

And of course, right here in Cornwall, we have the Cornwall Community Coop (cornwallcoop.com/) which continues to make local, healthy food available to us through the Cornwall Farmers Market.

So, enhance your eating, let it feed your life and your connection to all of Being.  Make it a spiritual act.  BON APPETIT!

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Art & Soul

Life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one. (Stella Adler)

There are many ways to be an artist, and many forms that art can take--as many as our imagination can create. As long as we are aware that art and the soul can be found in everything created out of love for beauty and truth and goodness, we give a special treat to ourselves. We can get out of the most brutal winter blues in the time it takes to walk through an exhibit, listen to a piece of music, or eat delicious home made food.

If we are able to see, feel, taste, and hear, if we can be present to what is offered to us and suspend judgment for awhile, art truly connects us with the best of who we are as human beings. It reminds us that we have a soul that longs to be nurtured.

At the annual Holiday Art Show and Sale at the Grail Phoenix (patiently and efficiently organized by photographer Mary Ann Neuman), women artists and crafters are invited to bring the fruits of their labor.

Jewelry, sculpture, paintings, photographs as well as home made bread and artisanal food are offered to an appreciative public eager to meet the artists, explore their work, and experience the joy that beauty can bring.

Artists are often anxious about showing what they have created. Doubts about the value of their work can arise, even as they try to remain committed to the first impulse that brought them--after many years or only a few weeks--to create and then “exhibit” their work.

What will others think of my creation? Will they like my photographs? Or…my very special cranberry bread? Will others appreciate my painting? Will they understand what I am trying to show, or say, or manifest? Will they realize how much soul and hand work it took for my creation to be brought into being?

Artists hope to encounter their “soul friends,” people who inhabit the same spiritual space where they live; those who understand their language without needing for it to be translated.

Finally, at the opening reception, a

spiritual dialogue between the artists, their art and the public takes place. From this dialogue, new ideas might emerge, as well as new insights into our own nature, our desires or life plans. That’s the magic of entering the Art Zone: we can feel inspired to use more of our own creativity and imagine new possibilities for future projects that we never contemplated before.

For what they bring to the world and to us, for their talents and inspiration, we wish to thank all the women artists who participated to the 2011 show: Joyce Davis, Alaina Enslen, Susan Silverman Fink, Lynne Goldman, Barbara Smith Gioia, Beverly Halley, Natasha Mercado, Susan Minier, Joy Gilinsky Monte, Mary Ann G. Neuman, Rita Ponessa, Simonetta Romano, Emily Thomas.

May your new year continue to be filled with the joy of creating, and the satisfaction that comes from being “seen” and appreciated.

******************

An Answer To Prayers

Our guests may notice something different in the silhouette of the Phoenix retreat house.  After completion of the new decks on the south side of the house, we were able to remove the outdated fire escape on the north side. 

Our contractor also removed the old dilapidated storage room that had been added some decades ago onto the roof of our beloved  Prayer Room.

The Prayer Room roof was never designed to hold that weight. So we held our breath--and, yes, offered many prayers--as we waited to see what damage may have been caused to the structure of its roof and walls. 

There was some slight splaying of the beams and rafters, but it has been repaired. The exterior bricks were removed from the top portions of the walls, any rotten wood replaced and the bricks replaced with carefully matched mortar. 

We are grateful to our fine architect, Jeffrey Small, who is also our neighbor and knowledgeable in historic restoration. We are also blessed with an excellent construction company (featured last year as contractors in an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!), Hearthstone Contracting of Washingtonville, owned by Andy and Margaret Stahl. 

All of their workers, artisans and staff have been most capable, courteous and careful with our beautiful retreat house as they worked inside and out. 
 

In addition to the major work on the Prayer Room, Hearthstone also re-configured the exterior door that opens to the west so that it would open outward rather than inward and comply with county regulations as a proper fire egress. The door was then restored so that it looks even better than before.

Many prayers, chants, blessings and songs have been offered up within the walls of the room known to us as the Prayer Room for as long as any of us remember. The warmth of the original wood paneling, the arched shape of the ceiling, and the slant of light from the corner windows all create a sense of place that opens the mind and heart. With these improvements the room will graciously host many more years of spiritual restoration and renewal.

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Where Do You Find Hope?

We began a new spiritual book study group this January.  Six of us are reading The Hope: A Guide to Sacred Activism by Andrew Harvey. Long-time environmental activist, teacher and Grail member Joy Garland recommended this book to us. 

The main thesis of Harvey’s book is that we are at a seminal point in history—an elbow in time—when social activism is increasingly informed by spiritual mysticism from many traditions. When spiritual yearnings and cosmic mysteries nurture the active life, a sacred activism is formed that can change the world. This joining of two significant paths or ways of being in the world-- social justice and spiritual deepening-- speaks to the core of what the Grail has been about since its inception. In our reading we have found it both practical and inspiring, grounded in reality yet hopeful about true world transformation and the part we all have to play through our inner work as well as our activism.

Harvey is a Rumi scholar and philosopher as well as an author who has written nine books, including The Essential Mystics and The Return of the Mother, where he elucidates the importance of developing a sense of the Feminine Divine.

Our study group begins with the lighting of a candle and 15 minutes of sharing based on the Ignatian examen—some version of the two questions: “Where did you feel closest to God today?”  “Where did you feel most distant or alienated from God today?” 

For the rest of the hour, we discuss the issues that arose for each of us in the section of the book we read. 

If you had joined us in our first gathering, what would you have written down in response to the question: What are ten things that are sacred to you?

This inquiry is one of the “Ten Things You Can Do Right Now” that opens the book. It’s an enjoyable and worthwhile read that keeps alive the hope for a more just and caring and ecologically sound world.

If you are interested in joining our book group contact us at grailconh@igc.org. All are welcome.
 

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Reflection

from Andrew Harvey's The Hope

I had the honor once of being at an intimate gathering in Paris with Nelson Mandela. He spoke to us, calmly and humbly, about the 27 years of imprisonment he had endured and of the lessons he had learned. At the end, none of us could say anything. Then someone asked him if he could sum up what he knew now, at this stage of his life (he was in his early 80s at the time). He thought for a long time and then began: "There is a force in the universe--call it God or spirituality or whatever you like--that wants the victory of truth and justice. This force will help you if you are steady, humble, brave, and patient. Never, ever give up, however bad things get." And then he smiled a smile that had the force of soft lightning.

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NOW ON YOU TUBE!

Welcome to the

Cornwall Grail Center

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9Ir30ZE5tg

Quick Links

Upcoming Events

Food & Spirit

Art & Soul

Answer To Prayers

Where Do You Find Hope?

Dear Friends

Grail Labyrinth

Thanks To Our Donors

And Thanks To...

Local Friends

Make A Donation

Reflection

Dear Friends:

The grounding for all the work we do at the Grail Center is our commitment to spiritual search. In this issue of The Dove we focus on some of the various ways our diverse spirituality is expressed. In our care for our Prayer Room, or the food we eat; in the art we create and exhibit, or the books we read and discuss, you can find some indication of how far-ranging our spirituality extends. Our sense of the Spirit is also present in our nurturing of a high school student in her research on Human Trafficking, and in her decison to choose such a topic. We can feel the Spirit moving in the energy generated by our new Labyrinth...and in the local friends and Grail members who helped create it, or who tend our garden and grounds, or support our programs and projects. Most of all, the Spirit is with us when we gather together in Community. The pictures we've chosen and our new video on You Tube (click here) will hopefully communicate our deep gratitude for the Community of Spirit that keeps us thriving.

--Sharon Thomson, Editor

This Issue's Contributors:

Lucy Jones

Simonetta Romano

Emily Thomas

Upcoming Events

January 27-29: Play in the Snow Weekend--annual family fun with or without the snow

Wed., Feb. 1, 7pm: Art, Commerce & Community

a Meet The Makers discussion

Sundays, Feb. 5, 12, 19. 26, Mar. 4 (snow date) 2-4:30pm: Photography Workshops with Mary Ann Neuman

Wed., Feb 8, 6pm: Grail Circle of Friends with Pot Luck--open, on-going discussion group

Tues., Feb. 21, 7pm: Oscar Talk with award-winning filmmaker Barbara De Fina

Wed., Mar. 14: Grail Circle of Friends with Pot Luck--open, on-going discussion group

Sun., Mar. 18, 1-4pm: Introduction to Italic Calligraphy--workshop with Rita Ponessa

Tues., Mar. 20, 6pm: Spring Equinox Celebration at the Labyrinth followed by Community Pot Luck

Wed., Mar. 28, 7pm: Perspectives on Cuba with Cuba Trips organizer Emily Thomas--part of our Conversations from a Global Perspective series

Apr. 6-8: Easter Retreat--time out for quiet, reflection and celebration of the Holy Season

Wed., Apr. 11, 6pm: Grail Circle of Friends with Pot Luck--open, on-going discussion group

Tues., Apr. 24, 7pm: Seeds of Hope with Brigitte Stark-Merklein of UNICEF--part of our Conversations from a Global Perspective series

Wed., May 9, 6pm: Grail Circle of Friends with Pot Luck--open, on-going discussion group

Sun., May 20, 1-4:30pm: Art Journal Workshop with Susan Minier. Create a finished journal using a wide variety of media.

Wed., June 13, 6pm: Grail Circle of Friends with Pot Luck--open, on-going discussion group

Wed., June 20, 6pm: Summer Solstice Celebration at the Labyrinth followed by Community Pot Luck

June 22-24: Metanoia Retreat for Grail members

For more information

or to register for these programs contact: grailconhsharon@igc.org

Visit our website

for calendar updates: www.thegrailatcornwall.org

Grail Labyrinth

photo by Wongee Joh

Our guests and neighbors continue to express their enthusiasm for this new addition to the Center. In 2012 we will celebrate the Passage of the Seasons on each Solstice and Equinox with public gatherings at the Labyrinth followed by Community Pot Luck meals. Please consider joining us for one or more of these festive honorings of our shared Journey on Mother Earth.

THANKS TO OUR DONORS

in 2011

Martha Ackelsberg
Adams Fairacre Farms


Penina Adelman


Louise Ballinger


Carol Barton


Ellen Baxt


Marcia Bedard


Heather Teagan Blackburn


Judith Blackburn


B'Not Esh


Patricia Callahan Booth


Barbara Breitman
Brid's Closet


Rose Mae Broussard


Wendy Budzynski


Dorothy L. Calvani


Joan M. Carlough


Penny Carr


Frances & Thomas Carroll
 Jacqueline Carroll


Tom Carroll III
Chesapeake Group Inc. &

Doug Land


Robert Cincotta


Neil Connolly


Vivian Corres


Marge Corrieri


Bethann Witcher Cottrell
Judith Cox


Marguerite Coyle


Mary Therese Coyle
Brendan Coyne


Theresa C. Czerwinski
Wilma Dalton de Vega


Esther Darbouze


Barbara Defina


Virginia Deters
Devitts Nursery & Supply


Patricia Dillon


Jackie DiSalvo


Mary Divito


Harold  Egeln, Jr


Mary Farrell


Thomas B. Fenlon


Brigitte Ferrari-Cicero


Susan Fields


Ceci Figueroa


Susan Fink


Kathleen Fisher


Eva Fleischner


Naomi & Arthur Fonseca


Mary Fordham


Claire Fordrung


Joy France


Greg Francuz

Evelyn Francuz
Allison Freese


Joy Garland


Barbara Gibbons


Mary Gindhart
Barbara Smith Gioia


Marian April Goering
Lynne Goldman


Elise Gorges


Grace Gorham


Joan E. Gussak


Beverly Halley


Diana Hayes


Elizabeth Heath


Jeanne Heiberg


Martha Heidkamp


Grace Heising


Bernard Heter


Cherie Holman


Mary Ann Holthaus
Home Depot
Jones Farm


Lucy Jones


Sharon Joslyn


Alexa Kane


Carol Kaplan


Laura Kaplan


Renee Keels


Richard Kelly


Angelina Kraemer Kleinbub


Linda Kolts


Anne Kraus
Deborah Krikun


Joann Lamb


Debra Lambo


William & Patricia Larkin


Colleen Duffy Leidy
Leo's Restaurant & Pizzeria


J. Michael &

Patricia Linnehan


Peg Linnehan


Ana Lipkowitz


Mary Kay Louchart


Betty Lou Lovett


Marian Lucas


Andrew and Jeanne Maroney 
Frances Martin


Carole Spearin McCauley


Carol McDonnell


Elizabeth McGivney


Laura McHugh


Frances McLaughlin
Maureen McNamara


Natasha Mercado


Anne Mercier


Nancy & R. Timothy Minkler


Molly Mortell
Jacki Murray


Catherine T. Butler Muzio


Patricia Myers
Nature's Pantry


Mary Ann Neuman


Roshi Pat O'Hara


Arthur & Ginny O'Leary


Elva Orlandini


Ilene Osinski


Trina Paulus


Nancy Peckenham


Rita Ponessa


Tina & Greg Robie


Maclovia Rodriguez


Loretta Rokey

Simonetta Romano


Fr. Gerald Ryan


James Sanders


Lenie Schaareman

Eileen Schaeffler


Audrey Schomer


Marian Schwab


Cynthia Schwartzberg


Michael Seitz


Elizabeth Shafer


Carol Siemering


Bernice Belair Sisson


Carol Skyrm


Jeff and Pamela Small-- Hawks


Patricia St. Onge
Studio 208 & Lynn Peebles


Marie Sutter-Sinden


Maureen Tate


Rose Taul


Emily Thomas

Sharon Thomson


Esther Ticktin


Stephana Tikalsky


Nancy Traer


Dianna Trebbi


Carolyn Vadala


Ruth Vargas


Kay Voss


Barbara Wall


Leslie Weisman


Louise Westling


Francine Wickes


Jean Wilson


Teresa Wilson


Sharon Wood
Sally Wortman


Patricia Young


And Thanks

to Lena Cheyne...

photo courtesy of Ken Cashman &

The Cornwall Local

http://thecornwalllocal.com

...for her splendid program on The International Trafficking of Women & Children on Jan. 17th. The Wahingtonville HS senior was nervous (this was the first time she ever made a presentation outside of the classroom) but intrepid as she introduced us to the shocking results of her research on the topic. In her interview with The Cornwall Local, Lena said she was inspired to study this issue two years ago when she heard about it at a program here, and then discovered more when, sponsored by the Grail, she participated in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Lena says that the reason she decided to pursue such a difficult topic was that the stories she heard about it were "heartbreaking." She plans on continuing her study of international affairs upon graduation in June.

Getting By

With a Little Help

from Our Local Friends

Garden Tenders

Groundhog Chasers

Cookers

Rock Haulers

Labyrinth Builders

Dream Makers

Advisory Board Members

Art Show Organizers

Concert Givers

Workshop Takers

Program Presenters

Event Attenders

Celebrators of All Kinds

Just a few

of the local friends

who make us possible.