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| Shoes removed for the Luminous Lodge Retreat (Photo by Lisa Rose, OSB) |
Putting our sandals away as summer and fall are leaving us, we
take out our winter shoes and snow boots to prepare for winter.
Allegorically, in the scriptures, “shoes” also refers to “our
path,” “our journey” in life.
Exodus 12:11 says: “…You are to be dressed for travel with
your sandals on your feet.” Paul, Eph. 14-15 says, “So stand ready with truth
as a belt, righteousness as your breastplate, and as your shoes a readiness to
announce the Good News of peace.:
Some years back, while visiting a Trappestine Monastery, I
participated in their daily walking meditation outside, all with bare feet.
Shortly, after coming home, I dreamt that I lost my shoes and
after looking all over, I did not find them.
The experience I had with the Trappestines had something to
tell me about my journey. What could it be? What does “having lost my shoes”
tell me now? Is it trying to tell me something about my walk in life, my
vocation here and now?
As I was focusing on the dirt below my bare feet, I came
closer to the meaning. Am I too focused on my ministry and not enough on nature
and the earth below my bare feet? Am I taking enough time enjoying the outdoors
to be nourished by it? How can I help to take better care of the earth? Is God
telling me to trust the soul of my heart and the gut more?
Thich Nhat Hanh, the author of Peace in Every Step, invites us to a gentle bare foot walk on the
dirt and, in doing so, to imagine your toes as kissing the earth below. Do that
gently with each step, left, right, left, right. This felt like a truth I was
meant to learn. While taking my ministry seriously, I need to stay close to the
“earth.”
While on Mount Sinai, God told Moses to take off his shoes for
the soil he was standing on was Holy Ground.
Margaret Mandernach, OSB
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