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Workshops to focus on achieving peace every day
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Sister Mary Horgan, S.P., will lead workshops titled "Peacemaking In Everyday Life" at Genesis Spiritual Life Center in Westfield in February. Reminder Publications photo by Lori Szepelak
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By Lori Szepelak
Correspondent
WESTFIELD Sister Mary Horgan, S.P., believes that peace in our everyday lives is possible -- if we take the time to learn the basic skills to make it happen.
Sister Horgan will lead informative workshops titled "Peacemaking In Everyday Life" on Feb. 16 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and again on the evenings of Feb. 28 and March 6 from 7 to 8:30 p.m., both at the Genesis Spiritual Life Center on Mill Street. Sister Horgan serves as spiritual director at Genesis and provides a host of workshops and retreats throughout the year.
"We pray for peace, for the end of war and violence in our communities, and we continue to experience both war and violence," said Sister Horgan during an interview with Reminder Publications. "I would invite us to think about another aspect of peace, one we can enter into and experience in our everyday life. Think of the first line of the very well-known hymn, 'Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.'"
Sister Horgan, a member of the Sisters of Providence in Holyoke for 53 years, likes to quote many individuals from history when she talks passionately about peace -- and how we can all benefit from the wise teachings of others. She especially singles out anthropologist Margaret Mead, who wrote, "Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
"I think about that phrase and connect it with our constant quest for peace," Sister Horgan said.
She explained that peace is conceived and born in the inner world of each one of us, in our spirit, and in order to touch that inner world we need some spaces of quiet.
"These moments of quiet are necessary in order to touch the inner wisdom we have as human persons living life each day," she said. "It only takes a second or two of quiet, once it becomes a practice."
For example, Sister Horgan suggested that instead of reacting in anger or sarcasm to a verbal retort or something that disturbs us, a moment of quiet reflection may help us to either ignore the comment, or return a patient response, rather than react in anger.
"To respond kindly to someone who was not nice to us breaks patterns of violence and strengthens patterns of peace," she added. "To share a smile with a person who looks like they need one, to reach out and lend a helping hand to someone in need, spreads peace."
Sounds too simplistic?
"We will never have peace on earth until it truly does begin with each one of us," she said, adding, "peace within and around us, in our families, our places of employment, our cities and states, in this very fragile world of ours, where acts of violence and war never seem to cease. If each one of us strives to break the patterns of violence, peace will prevail."
Sister Horgan promises an engaging workshop of reflection and conversation on peace and peacemaking gleaned from her extensive research on historical figures as well as those individuals preaching peace in today's society. She plans to share the insight of persons ranging from Vietnamese priest Thich Nhat Hanh and Jesuit priest John Dear to "prophets of peace" including Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi and Pope John Paul II, and how their teachings can impact our everyday life.
"Let each one of us remember we have a responsibility to play a real active part in creating peace and nonviolence," said Sister Horgan, adding, "our words, actions and attitudes are powerful and contribute to and build patterns of peace and nonviolence."
Horgan noted that by the end of the workshops, she hopes participants of all ages will walk away with a better understanding of peace, how to achieve inner peace and how to make a difference in one's community by getting involved in projects that can range from Peace Walks and Peace Poles to a Circle of Peace.
She added that as a society quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., "it is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; its nonviolence or nonexistence."
For registration information on Sister Horgan's presentations, call Genesis at 562-3627 or visit www.genesiscenter.us.
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