ELECTIONS

I’ve begun praying about the elections. It’s never too early for me. I have no idea how to choose what is best for our country—liberals or conservatives. The news isn't any help. It’s so noisy. Their arguments don’t help me to know the candidates beyond what promises I hear from them--promises that they most likely can’t keep. What choice do I have? The liberals will try to correct their false idealism and the conservatives will ignore the cry of the poor. Which candidate offers our country a promise of transformation? I don’t recognize any Lincolns in the crowd. I hate to rationalize. Maybe I won’t vote.

What would Maria expect of our young people, now adults, coming of an age to vote? Will their new freedom be exploited by the current morality; or will they have the peace of mind to bring a new sense of democracy to the table? Will they have the courage to work through their visions and know how to collaborate with the remnant of the learned? Will they know how to vote? Will they vote?

SECRETS

I love to snoop around in scripture and discover its secrets. When I began reading Maria Montessori’s discoveries I found the same pleasure. She worked to discover the secrets of childhood and found she had discovered the child . . . “an enigma . . . with the highest potentialities, though we do not know what he will be,” says Maria. She observed the child working out his natural tendencies through movement and in time becoming the adult. She created a method and materials to guide the child to a standpoint of happiness and normalization.

The gospels have their secrets also . . . words to lead one on the pathway of life, discoveries to enrich their journey to a state of happiness where love is their companion. Love presents the most perfect environment for all of us but especially for the child. Another famous quote of Maria’s: “The unknown energy that can help humanity is that which lies hidden in the child.” That energy lies hidden in all of us, scripture and Maria tells us. Love is our greatest instrument to bring about change in our world—to bring about peace and an end to wars.

(comment below or email connieripleylujan@gmail.com)

LITTLE CHILDREN

I like to read a bit of scripture every day. It calms my questioning mind—helps to ground my doubts and confusions. By chance, I happened to turn to the verses in Mark’s gospel about Jesus telling his disciples that if they welcomed the little children, it was the same as welcoming him. The disciples didn’t get it. They wanted to be the first to sit with Jesus, not with the children. Jesus told them they would be last. If they wanted to be first they would have to be like the little children. Mark says Mary Magdelene was the only disciple who understood Jesus.

Maria Montessori spent her life being with the little children. She knew they were our hope and promise of a peaceful world to come. But Maria didn’t just believe in the little children as Christians believe in Jesus; she was a scientist who observed, studied all the sciences, and knew that the child creates a new man, a new culture in collaboration with the loving adults and environment around him.

I believe it is love that gets destroyed, crucified, when we fail to respect the child and neglect his need for beauty and love. I’m speaking not only of the child in our arms, but the child in our self—the child in our hearts. If we do not love our self, how will we know to love the child?

(comment below or email connieripleylujan@gmail.com)