Retreatment: NUNFUN

I was at the Medical Mission Sisters (MMS) Holistic Health Centre, in March 2020 for another round of alternative treatment, they requested me to guide the retreat for their senior sisters (two are about 90 years young and the other four are in their energetic eighties) at Prashanti Care Centre located at a scenic hilltop overlooking Pune city. These sisters have spent more than 50 years caring for the poor and Mother Earth through alternative forms of healing.

The theme ‘Come Dance with Me’ was provided by the punch line from the poem by the Sufi mystic, Hafiz “God Knows Only Four Words”. The sisters blissfully embodied the vibrations of the popular hymn ‘Lord of the Dance’ by Sydney Carter who envisages a Dancing God from creation to resurrection and beyond. We also gloriously laughed while meditating on the profound trinitarian insight of the twelfth century prophetic-mystic Meister Eckhart: “In the heart of the Trinity the Father laughs and gives birth to the Son. The Son laughs back and gives birth to the Spirit. The whole Trinity laughs and gives birth to us.” Genuine spontaneous laughter is a testimony to the God of abundant joy.

The Hindu tradition celebrates Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance), who danced the world into being, and Zen Buddhism offers the ‘Laughing Buddha’. The Christian Greek tradition speaks of perichoresis (the circular dance of the Trinity). It was quite a surprise, rather a shock, to discover that in Christianity the Trinity can be reinterpreted as the dancing and laughing Trinity. Besides dance, the hidden humour too in the Bible came alive in myriad ways. The playful yet provocative and prophetic humor of Jesus Christ that inevitably culminated in his crucifixion, was quite revealing and liberating, to say the least. When the Risen Christ leapt out from the tomb and teasingly joked with his nonplussed disciples after the resurrection, they failed to recognize him as they were fixated on his crucified image. Voltaire, the renowned nineteenth century philosopher and Jesuit alumnus, captured the allergy to laughter in religion when he remarked: “God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.”

Responding like little children to the Cosmic cum Comic Christ we sang and danced, played and laughed, shared and sat still. The words of Rumi, the Sufi mystic, rang so true: “In order to understand the dance one must be still. And in order to truly understand the stillness one must dance.” Besides an hour each day for Mass, interactive inputs and various forms of mindfulness and movement meditation, the rest of the day was spent in silent contemplation. The insightful interreligious and universal inputs, video clips, action songs, personal stories, spontaneous jokes, and relevant anecdotes functioned as antidotes to the mushrooming viruses of nationalism, fundamentalism and anthropocentrism. Karuna (cosmic compassion) was contemplated and cultivated to counter the rapidly spreading viruses aggravating the cry of the Earth and the poor. We vibrated and gyrated with the popular sayings: “Rougher the sea better the dance of the dolphins” and “Tough times require furious dancing.”

The awareness of our intimate connection with all of creation that originated about 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang as well as the Sacred Mystery, who continues creating with humans as collaborators, stimulated us to plumb the depths of our being and becoming. Life and death were viewed as part of a gift economy which consists of paying it forward to the unfolding mystery of the universe. After thoroughly enjoying and sharing the gift of life we can joyfully accept the gift of a new life. How true the brilliant insight that we should be immensely grateful to the stars that exploded and died aeons ago so that we can be born as stars today. A truly mutual, integral process of ‘Give-Receive-Dance’.

I have never enjoyed a retreat as much as this in all my life. It was a privileged time to embrace and share deeply in the vision of the MMS namely “To Be a Healing Presence in a Wounded World”. The retreat cum treatment turned out to be a refreshing and rejuvenating “retreat”ment with loads of fun. Truly ‘fun’tastic to dance and laugh with nuns in the meditative space of a retreat! Doesn’t this sound crazy to those accustomed to traditional retreats? Friedrich Nietzsche, the nineteenth century radical thinker, would readily respond:

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”

Here I would like to share some testimonies of this refreshing experience.

I enjoyed the wholeness of being in God, who is the innermost centre of my life. The dancing helped to get in touch with the mystery of stillness. The mindful focus on breath and meditative walking led to the mystery of movement. Through the creative Eucharistic celebrations, Prashant inspired us with his practical wisdom, experience and spirituality.

I was touched by the wonder of our earth, sky, humans and creatures with all their variety and diversity. I feel called to let my gifts flow, envelope the surroundings by my presence, smile and touch. It is a privilege to partner the Lord of the Dance in the ongoing creation of the universe.

This retreat with a difference integrated creation spirituality in a holistic way. I plumbed the depths of encounter with God with joy and ease. Despite my age I danced wholeheartedly with the Creator as well as the trees, flowers and all of creation.

I became aware of my love for every leaf, every grain of sand, every ray of light thus perceiving the divine mystery in all things. Beautiful flowers and medicinal herbs provide food for the body and soul. The incredible joy of laughter and dance is truly healing.

The anointing of the feet and the body blessing were profound healing experiences. So were the fantasy meditations on the seashore dancing with Jesus and Mary.

I was overwhelmed with gratitude when counting the many miracles and blessings in my life. Through the mindful walking meditation I came into deeper contact with God, the centre of my life and the centre of the universe.