TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Tetteh Kofi Hadjor - My Blog
Tetteh Kofi Hadjor - My Blog
Aiding Travelers Crossing the Terrain of Transformation!
About this event: Blog Action Day 2008
Related to country: Canada
About the book: "Making the Law Work for Everyone: Working Group Reports"

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic


Aiding Travelers Crossing the Terrain of Transformation!
(Out of the Cold Program at St. Michael – The Personal Reflection of a Spiritual Traveler)
By
T. Kofi Hadjor,
Key words: Homeless, Traveler, Marathon Runner, Respite, Communion and Renewal

In from the Storm of Existence and the Cold!

Every year, from November through early April, an eternal ritual is commemorated in the basement of St. Michael’s School facility at 66 Bond Street. The ritual of offering a refuge to weary travelers.

We detour from the path of our journey (in search for help, solutions and meaning) to St. Michael. We come from all directions, pulled by the magnetic force that is the program at St. Michael’s. We come because, unlike the many false starts we have experienced over the course of the week and since our last visit, St. Michael is a sure bet. We can count on what St. Michael has promised and delivered to our caravan of travelers for many years, with compassion, courtesy and love. We come to shelter from the initiatory storms of existence.

Drawing it’s vision from the teachings of Christ, the Out of the Cold program provides refuge for travelers who are homeless or those on social assistance who have run out of money and have nothing eat. Then there is the rare visitor who comes on Saturday morning to quietly partake in the celebration of communion in solidarity with the weary travelers who, by this time, are about to return to their well traveled path, trapped in the vicious cycle of the search that has no guarantees like those of the St. Michael’s program.

Beginning with the ritual celebration of communion on Friday night, the travelers retire for well needed rest. During this time there are visited by varied dreams. Enveloped by the night, they may have uplifting dreams; some may be visited by recurring nightmares of their journey. Whatever their dreams, they get rest to renew them for what lies ahead. With clockwork, around 7 am, with the rising Sun on the south eastern horizon, the dormitory is converted into a dining hall. The dedicated volunteers ready to serve communion to the travelers who have just woke up from their sleep. We receive breakfast and a lunch bag to take with us as we leave the refuge to continue our journey.

You cannot help but wonder about what motivates the tireless volunteers who give up their Friday and Saturday to attend to the Travelers. Whatever their motivation, I am guided by the charge the illustrious one from Galilee; to love the Lord thy god with all their heart, with all their soul, with all thy might and to love your neighbor as yourself!

Following this dictum, the volunteers perform the ritual of washing the feet of the disciples. They ritually cleanse the mattresses on which unclean travelers have slept. Then they clean the dirty tables, empty the garbage, clean the kitchen and perhaps do many other things behind the scene invisible to the travelers. They do all this without payment, with only the occasional expression of gratitude coming from those been served.

But such is the lot of the awakened soul. You receive without payment so you give without payment. Thus by grace they receive, they give in grace. Such is the practical teaching of St. Michael’s Out of the Cold program. It is a nursery that promotes the promise of what is to come; a world rooted in the eternal vision of creation. A world in which the will of creation as expressed in the universe is embraced and lived by humans!

Doing this requires that there are visionary builders like the volunteers of St. Michael’s Out of the Cold Program who are prepared to live the tenets of the call of paradise. They are willing to invest in showing a darkened world the glimpse of what an enlightened world can be like; protecting and aiding the frail, the weak and those stranded on the initiatory path of life.

For in doing so they know that the marathon runner will always call at the feeding station for nourishment and refreshment. So they are willing to provide it to people who on the surface may appear to be strangers. But those with discerning eyes, when they look deeper, will find the treasure of Christ’s teaching; that the traveler is me and I am him/her. The traveler is a mirror reflection of myself and is in fact me.

Extending help to people (all things) at the critical moment of need is to partake in the holiest of gestures; to facilitate the crossing into a higher state of being. A confirmation that hope will always triumph over despair; a confirmation that the wheel of fortune always delivers as promised. That as it was in the beginning so it shall be forever and ever, Amen!

Contact Information
Website: Green Pastures Society http://greenpasturessociety.org
Website: Universe Africa http://universeafrica.com
Email greenpasturessociety@yahoo.ca
Email info@universeafrica.com
Blog Address http://zircorn.tigblog.org/

July 15, 2009 | 7:01 AM Comments  0 comments

You must be logged in to add tags.


Tetteh Kofi Hadjor's Profile

Tetteh Kofi Hadjor's Friends


Latest Posts
"How Great Thou Art!"
Take My Life And Let...
Devotion to My God!
Universe Africa - Our...
Aiding Travelers...

Monthly Archive
October 2008
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
September 2009

Change Language


Tags Archive
adoration classicalpiano cosmology cosmos discrimination earth economicdomination flute helpers homage hope life mime mobilization peace poverty refuge respite sacrifice selfdiscovery spiritualrebirth suddendiscovery thanksgiving themysticwarrior thepath theway theweboflife travellers universe war

Filter By Type
Events
Travel
Topics

Friends
CHequipo10A
Abigail Ngulube
Adham Tobail
Amit अमित
Anam
anita
Anthony Asael
Arun Khadka
Atta ur Rehman Qureashi
BrianG
bubbles
Cape Farewell
Crystal
DakotaStorm
Danish Khan MCP, CompTIA A+ & CompTIA Network+ Certified Professional (webmaster@mdanishkhan.tk)
Dave Matthews
davyk
Digital Parrot
Duncan
ellabella11
Eszter
Eu
FeatherRyder
Go2GurlTBAY
hapi
harya
Ikahota
It's Getting Hot In Here
Jo Anne
Julia
Kirsten
Kughan
LauraK
Lucia
Luciana Brasil
Mafer
Maged Hassan
Man of the Green Meadow
Martin
nguyen thi ngoc bich
Pastor Eliah mauza
Pr@su,सूर्य
Prince
Rain
Rerenga
Reza Salim
Sabrine Herrira
Samson Sigl Wena
Sessi
smith
Stewart Abdul Yareki
swami avadhootananda
UGIRASHEBUJA Jean Luc
Usigbe George
vas
wangzhaoqiang
Yashoda
محمد مطر

Links
www.universeafrica.com


26502 views
Important Disclaimer