New Year’s Day, 2002.

We have been turned away by priests twice in one night. There are no open hostels. Even the local police won’t take us in!

It is now 10:30 at night, and we are exhausted, cold, hungry and walking on a fast, slippery road to a town eight kilometres away, with no idea where we will sleep.

And then, in the darkness, we see a sign:

LA PIADINA.

Alberto would later tell me it sounded to him like the Spanish word “piedad” which means pity, mercy or compassion.

We cross the road without thinking, our feet crunching through the ice and snow. There are several buildings, all locked up. Alongside one building, however, a long corridor leads us to a dark, open space. Tall brick walls encase us, sheltering us from the cold. Looking around, we find a wooden ramp, hay, large towels and a trough for feeding animals.

A manger.

Even in the retelling of this story twenty five years later, we still feel the stillness, the holiness of that moment, the safety, and the Presence that was making Itself known.

At the same time, through the loving lens of A Course in Miracles, we acknowledge the many fears and judgments we were projecting, especially upon priests. We recognize we were seeing ourselves as separate from our brothers, interpreting as real all that was happening to us, believing we were at the mercy of situations and people rather than experiencing in convincing forms the effects of our beliefs.

We were doing the best we could.

And the Inner Teacher (Holy Spirit) was using every rejection, every fear, every judgment and disappointment to teach us that our true safety lies not in the world;

But in remembering the Presence that has never left us.

Perhaps this is why the night remains so vivid after all these years.

Not only was it holy because something extraordinary happened.

It was holy because, for a moment, we recognized what had been there all along:

The holiness of Who We Truly Are.

Offered, as always, with love and gratitude,

Mony and Alberto

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