Title:The Last Word with Lisa Directo Davis

Near Dahlgren Quad at the corner of Old North Way and Library Walk stands the oldest and smallest building on campus, erected in 1792. A silver plaque welcomes visitors to Anne Marie Becraft Hall and the John Main Center (JMC), where “all are welcome.”

This unassuming refuge, which might easily be missed amid our hectic lives, embodies what it hopes to offer to all: stillness, silence, and simplicity. It invites all to come uniquely as individuals from all spiritual, religious, or philosophical persuasions—or from no particular tradition—to gather with others in solidarity.

As the program director for the JMC since October 2019, I’ve crossed the center’s threshold many times both in-person and virtually. An intentional practice of stillness and silence in solitude or with others helps us transition from the inordinate demands of unrelenting “doing” to the simple essence of “being.” During these harrowing and precarious times, there is nothing more urgent than to create, hold, and cultivate such a space.

During the pandemic, on both global and intimate scales, we have become witnesses to each other’s own unique losses as well as everyday acts of compassion and courage. What anchors us as we pivot from moment to moment between feeling oceans of grief and finding reservoirs of resilience? How can we attend to our suffering world with healing and justice, wholeness and hope, love and peace?

The writings of Jesuit theologian Walter Burghardt and Carmelite pioneer William McNamara describe “contemplation” as engaging in “long, loving looks at the real.”

In practicing meditation, we begin to redress our pervasive inattentiveness towards ourselves, each other, and all of creation which is at the root of so much suffering in our world. Fundamentally, the contemplative and meditative discipline of paying full attention to “the real”—whether in silence, stillness, or Ignatian imaginative prayer—is an intentional and responsive act of love.

As we prepare to re-enter the thresholds of our lives, the hope then, for all who practice these ancient, universal practices, is to fortify both our own basic healthiness of spirit and to attend more lovingly to our complex, contemporary realities “reformed, reunited, re-created,” as John Main once said.