o
not forget about us, and keep us in your prayers!”
These are the words that a native family told me before leaving the
Rosebud Indian Reservation, and these are the words that often come back to my
mind during my prayer and studies, now that I’m back in the Windy City.
But let me start from the beginning.
Humans cannot be separated from creation because they are an integral part of it. Nor can activities be separated into sacred and secular: all reflect the connections between God and creation.
As part of the formation training that will lead me in a couple of years to the Priesthood, I spent a couple of months in the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Having been enriched so much by this experience, I would like to share with you something about the new world that I discovered working with Native Americans, and about the way this new reality has affected my person, my prayer life, and my identity as a missionary.
First, some words about the rich and fascinating spirituality that I discovered among the Lakotas. Living and working with them day after day, I perceived that “creation’ seems to be the key word at the base of their spirituality. They think of creation not as the activity of God at the beginning of the world, but as the permanent manifestation of God’s creative power. Thus, everything in this universe is an expression of the spiritual power filling all of creation with the breath of life.
Humans cannot be separated from creation because they are an integral part of it. Nor can activities be separated into sacred and secular: all reflect the connections between God and creation.
All of creation is sacred: trees, human beings, rocks, the sun, the wind, and the four directions.
The Circle, one of the most cherished symbols of the Lakota people, represents living in harmony with creation. It implies maintaining a sacred relationship with all living things in the universe and showing reverence for Mother Earth.
The sacredness of relationships is one of the most important aspects of the Lakota-Sioux culture. For them all relationships on earth are symbolic and expressing sacred ties between a human being and the Great Spirit (Wakan Tanka).
The words Mitakuye Oyasin (“We are all related”) express well their respect for relationship. This is clearly seen in all inclusive and coextensive family life. In the Indian homes children are surrounded with relatives as with a warm blanket.
This wording “we are all related” is said every time before starting a ceremony as a reminder of the big circle to which we all belong. When I heard this expression for the first time, I could not help but think of the dream of our founder Blessed Guido M. Conforti: “Make the world a single family.” Somehow, I could relate these words to my own life and the reasons why I decided to become a missionary.
Lakota people helped me to see that this dream can be a reality by showing me how everything and everyone is related to one another, by presenting a world that does not separate the profane from the spiritual but sees all reality in a spiritual sphere.
My idea of mission suddenly took a completely new meaning. I went to the Reservation in order to help these people. I left realizing that they had helped me.
Lakota spirituality led me to rediscover the beauty of the vocation to which I have been called. I really experienced God’s presence while sweating with them during the hot and steamy sweat lodge ceremonies.
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)