Dear LCC Community,

It seems that every person I talk to these days is deeply concerned with the drastically increased vulnerability of so many people and families in our country. We are groping for reason in the hope of envisioning positive change and relief for those who are afflicted. We want to find ways we can help.

 

I attended a bi-monthly veteran’s discussion group recently, where the topic was “moral injury.” This is what happens when a soldier has realized s/he is involved in an immoral action, and they are forced to act immorally. They may be ordered to kill innocents, and the pressure on them is too great to refuse. Or they may be moved to provide medicine or other aid to innocents, but they are blocked from that loving action by a command structure or by peer pressure from their brothers/sisters in arms, which is a bond at the deepest level. And so these veterans suffer moral injury… a soul wound… and it stays with them for the rest of their lives unless they are able to receive and apply powerful soul healing.

 

Moral injury can occur in our everyday lives… perhaps when we think of a possible action that might help heal our current crisis—as simple as writing our congressional representatives—but we don’t do it because we think it won’t make enough of a difference. Or perhaps we want to make a difference but we stop shy of finding a way, however modest.

 

We’re about to enter our season of Lent (March 9 is the first Sunday in Lent), which lends itself well to this issue when we hear the cry of John the Baptist to “repent,” which means to admit we need to find a new way… a way to return to the sacred.

 

Our society has paved over the sacred in so many ways… profits over well-being, intolerance over respect, power over collaboration, and​

all the rest. But this is not the end of the story. Whatever need we feel for cleansing and renewing… for releasing stagnation… we can find help in the stories and teachings of our tradition, as well as in every wisdom tradition.

 

I pray that we commit ourselves to recognizing the sacred in our lives and committing ourselves to protecting it and sharing it. Be particularly kind to someone, especially if they have different political views. Speak up for human rights and dignity when the chance arises. Connect to the unfathomable beauty of nature and find a way to help protect it, even if it’s giving just a few dollars to an environmental organization.

 

May we ask ourselves what we hold most sacred in life, and may we embrace and protect it. Because when we do, we will discover more of the sacred, we will be fed by it, and we will heal moral injury for ourselves and for the world.

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Peace and blessings,

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Lee

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