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Photo:
Satchidananda Ashram, Buckingham, Virginia |
Saint
Francis is still alive and working miracles; this is a true story of the power
of his caring love.
At
the end of summer, 1985, my family and I had been living at the Satchidananda Ashram in Buckingham, Virginia for 3 months.
We were getting settled in a little brick house on an acre of forest land
recently cleared to build several houses. Devotees had come together to help
build the LOTUS, Light of Truth Universal Shrine, to be dedicated July 20,
1986.
On
moving in, one of my first projects was to prepare the little house for winter
rains by planting winter-hardy greenery around the perimeter in the bare orange
clay earth.
On the
long front of the house was a full length porch, screened to keep out
mosquitos. Below the porch ledge I planted a low ground cover of bushes
surrounding a 3 foot tall statue of St. Francis.
Now, to get into the story
In
this rural countryside of pine and oak forest the end of September marked the
beginning of deer hunting season. Driving the winding country roads between the
ashram and Charlottesville was bound to produce at least one deer sighting,
either in a field or your car headlights. Deer were prolific.
The
first day of deer hunting season began with a bang. Even from the 650 acres of
ashram land we could hear guns popping.
Looking
out the front window on that early noisy morning my daughter and I were stunned
to see 6 wild deer standing right next to our house, in a clump around the
statue of St. Francis.
These
deer must have felt the humble peacefulness of St. Francis and were drawn in to
the sanctuary of safety. When we opened the door the deer dispersed, but the
lesson from St. Francis remained with us: kindness to others lives on and on.
Dear St. Francis, thank you for being with
the creatures of the forest that morning, offering a refuge of safety beyond
your lifetime on earth, literally, down through the centuries.
I
see this as another proof that love permeates time, place, space
without bounds. We have so much to learn.
St. Francis to the Rescue and photo credit copyright © 2011
Susan Helene Kramer
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