Spiritual

Summer often brings vacation days, trips to flee the routine and extra "me" time. It can be a season to rest the body. It also can be a time to renew the mind and refresh the spirit - through reading. But where to start? Here are some suggestions. Gandhi, the Man: The Story of His Transformation by Eknath Easwaran Nilgiri Press / 1997 / $16 paperback This is a fairly short and easy-to-read book, with lots of pictures and stories, but it is loaded with spiritual wisdom and power. In showing how Gandhi got to be such a great spiritual being, it inspires its readers to some of the same greatness.

As afternoon light tried to filter through the thick, stained-glass windows of Sharp Street United Methodist Church last weekend, Marco K. Merrick pounded out the bass line of a spiritual on a raw-sounding piano, singing along in a raspy voice: "Great day, the righteous marching. Great day, God's going to build up Zion's walls. " From the tightly packed pews in front of him, basses and baritones of the Community Concert Choir of Baltimore picked up the vocal line tentatively at first, but gained in confidence with each measure.

She's made a living -- and a bundle -- out of talking about miracles. Now Marianne Williamson, best-selling author and spiritual friend of the stars, is embarking on a mission that is truly miraculous: She wants to change American politics."

He pulled on a Terps visor, to the crowd's delight. He rubbed noses with Gov. Martin O'Malley. And the Dalai Lama was met Tuesday with rounds of applause from a crowd of 15,000 at the University of Maryland, College Park's Comcast Center. "Sit down," the 78-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said in a firm but friendly voice when he approached the podium and the crowd rose to its feet. "No formality! We are [the] same. … The way we are born, the way we die: no formality. " Clad in red robes and his trademark spectacles, the Dalai Lama appeared at the university to give an address on peace, compassion and fellowship as part of the Anwar Sadat Lecture Series.

The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth."So wrote Chief Seattle of the Suquamish Indians in a moving 1852 letter to the United States government, which had proposed to buy land from his people. "All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself."Those words of almost a century and a half ago could stand as the theme of "Rejoining the Spiritual: The Land in Contemporary Latin American Art," an exhibition at the Maryland Institute consisting of seven installations by Latin American artists living in the United States.

As Christians and Jews explored the heights and depths of spirituality together under the dome of a big synagogue in Pikesville, questions, doubts and parables were the shared road signs.Wednesday night's discussions were part of a two-day program of the Pearlstone Institute for Living Judaism.The Rev. Christopher Leighton, director of the Institute for Christian-Jewish Studies, which co-sponsored the event, said such cooperative spiritual programs help people of different faiths bring "order out of chaos" as they "face the rage of a Louis Farrakhan or a Baruch Goldstein."

The state fire marshal's office has determined a fire Saturday morning that caused about $300,000 in damage to Our Lady Center Inc., a spiritual retreat center in Ellicott City, began accidentally, investigators said yesterday. Fire investigators believe candles left burning after a 9:30 p.m. service ignited combustible materials near the altar. Howard County firefighters found the chapel, in the 3300 block of Rogers Ave., in flames when they arrived about 4 a.m. Saturday. Our Lady Center has no regular congregation, said Madeline Lancelotta, 86, whose husband, Frank Lancelotta, donated land for the center in the 1970s.

EVEN IF ONE believes, as I do, that the urgent moral danger to America has arisen from the conservative side of the political divide, it's important to ask how one's own side may have contributed to the present crisis. Take, for example, the failure of American liberalism to present its message in a way that resonates at a deep level. For many Americans, it's not enough that the trains run on time, that the bureaucracies administer their programs, that America just be an address at which they live their private lives.

St. Joseph's Church of Odenton will join other churches in the Archdiocese of Baltimore in RENEW, an international spiritual program.This 2 1/2 -year program will give Christians of all denominations an opportunity to evaluate the spiritual aspects of their lives and become more aware of their gifts and talents, said the Rev. John Harrison.Participants in RENEW will take part in five six-week sessions in the fall and during Lent, with each session having a comprehensive theme.Leaders of RENEW hope to foster a vibrant spiritual community and become more involved in social action.

As members of the Pan Africa Christian Women Alliance filed out of the conference room at Western Maryland College, Mary O. Nasibi sang softly to them."

The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader for Tibetan Buddhists, will speak in May at the University of Maryland as part of the Sadat Lecture for Peace, an annual series that has drawn world leaders such as Madeleine Albright, Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter. The event will be held at 10 a.m. May 7 at the Comcast Center on the College Park campus. Tickets are free but required. "It is very important that we expose our students to the broadest cultural and international diversity possible, and help them become global citizens," University of Maryland President Wallace Loh said in a statement.

Op-ed contributor Mickey Fenzel recently wrote about "the malady of America's soul" and whether we have the will to heal it ("The malady of America's soul," Dec. 18). The tragedy in Newtown should challenge us all to begin a conversation has long been needed. My first thought on reading his commentary was of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's most famous quote: "Some are guilty, all of us are responsible. " The culture of the United States has changed in the last several decades.

For Michael Meyerson, the Great Seal of the United States encapsulates the struggle over the relationship between religion and government that has become a defining characteristic of our nation. The front of the seal, with its famous eagle, olive branch and arrows of war, is entirely secular. But the reverse, in which the eye and the inscription both refer to a divine providence, is "undeniably religious," Meyerson writes. Americans are constantly reminded of that duality, since the seal has been reproduced on $1 bills since 1935.

While growing up in an African-American Baptist church, Harris Thomas was taught homosexuality is an "abomination in the eyes of God. " As a young minister, he disparaged the gay lifestyle even while secretly pursuing it. Today he heads a Baltimore church that serves gay Christians of color "right where they are. " Grace Harley, too, grew up in a mainstream black church. She discovered the gay underground as a teen and lived as a lesbian for nearly 20 years. But God freed her from homosexuality, she says, a "blessing" she gladly recounts as a straight minister based in Silver Spring.

Renee Stout is the winner of the 2012 Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize, but a look at her photos, prints and other creations gives a glimpse of another woman — Fatima Mayfield. The woman is an alter ego Stout created, pulling her name from those of a poor, friendly elderly neighbor named Fatima and a vendor of mystical and spiritual supplies in Washington known as Miss Mayfield. Stout said she began using the character nearly two decades ago to overcome her own shyness about making observations about culture and spirituality.

Rabbi Arthur Green, an authority on Jewish thought and spirituality, will speak Sunday, Feb. 12 at 10 a.m. at Oseh Shalom congregation, 7515 Olive Branch Way. His topic is "Jewish Faith, Thought and Spirituality in the 21st Century. " Green has lectured widely throughout the United States and the world.

Overcome with emotion, Kay Ballard had to pause several times during yesterday's Prayers for World Peace, an event she coordinated to bring a diverse range of spiritual leaders to talk about peace. "This is a difficult, darkened time," Ballard said. "This is a somber and sobering time. But there truly is hope. If you doubt it, just look around at the artwork of the children." And there, on the walls, were children's drawings of various nations' flags and symbols of what peace meant to them - rainbows, interlocking hands and doves.

While their classmates cavort on Christmas break, more than 500 college students are gathering this weekend at a Baltimore-area hotel, studying the Bible and talking about their love for Jesus. The annual Christmas Conference for Campus Crusade for Christ, a nondenominational Christian ministry active at more than 1,300 colleges and universities nationwide, is drawing students from the mid-Atlantic region for a three-day meeting at Marriott's Hunt Valley Inn. It is one of nine such conferences taking place this weekend nationwide.

Each January, many followers of Jesus observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It was begun more than 100 years ago by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Originally, the friars were an order of Episcopal priests who joined the Roman Catholic Church. Christian unity has been a part of their mission since the order's founding, as it should be for every Christian. You may have heard that the Episcopal All Saints' Sisters of the Poor in Catonsville were officially received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Only 51 percent of American adults are currently married - a record low - down from 72 percent in 1960, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census data. There are three major factors behind these trends. First, the number of never-married Americans has nearly doubled, from 15 percent to 28 percent, from 1960 to 2010. Pew said that many couples are cohabiting instead of marrying because "they fear divorce. " Why? Many are adult children of divorce who do not want to live through such pain again.