African Goodwill Network

This month we highlight the Great Invocation in Ewe.

EWE, also written as Evhe, is spoken by the Ewe people located in the southern Republic  of Togo, southern Benin, the south-eastern parts of the Volta Region of Ghana, and parts of Nigeria. Native speakers of Ewe are approximately 3.1 million.  (1999 –  2003).

There is a Christian legend of St. Francis, who in midwinter called out to an almond tree, “Speak to me of God!” and the almond tree broke into bloom.  It came alive. There is no other way of witnessing to God but by aliveness. Thich Nhat Hanh, a  Vietnamese Zen master, poet, bestselling author and peace activist, is a Buddhist monk heading the  meditation community of the Plum Village Monastery in the South-of France. He recognised that aliveness is what the biblical tradition calls the Holy Spirit; that it is the breath of divine life; the ultimate source of all aliveness. Thich Nhat Hanh wrote, “If we touch the Holy Spirit, we touch God …as a living reality.” (Thich Nhat Hanh, The Living Buddha, Living Christ, Rider Books, Random House, UK. 1996)

How can we show our aliveness in the Holy Spirit on a daily basis?  By living an invocative life. Invocative living means living a simple rhythmic life, focused on the essentials; just taking time to sit in quietness generating goodwill and love to all around us; by living a purposeful life where our motives are pure and spiritual; taking time to be alone with the still quiet voice within rather than constantly running away from ourselves and hiding in the distractions and non essential activities of life.  We are urged to have a spiritual goal in life, and to let go of everything standing in the way of our view of that goal. Spiritual quality is the true constant in life that never dies, for it is the Christ force and only grows more beautiful and profound as the heart is steadily opened up to it.

The Holy Spirit is the energy of love and understanding. Mindfulness is like  the Holy Spirit. Both are agents of healing.  When we have mindfulness, we have love and understanding, we see more deeply, and we can heal the wounds of our own minds.  When we touch deep understanding and love, we are healed. When mindfulness is in us, the Holy Spirit is in us, and our friends will see it, not just by what we say, but through our whole being.

Let us invoke, “The point of love within the heart of God” in order for “love to stream forth into the hearts of men,” and “may Christ return to earth.”
(Second Stanza of The Great Invocation.)