Stitching Together Words

Judy Traeger, Editor/Curator (Independent Contractor)

Since 2008, I have been blessed to support Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations, first as a volunteer and eventually as a contract editor. Once Managing Editor Mark Longhurst gives me an assignment, I create a rough draft for each day of the week.

An Answered Prayer

My first experience of a Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) conference was the “Everything Belongs” gathering at the year-end threshold, as 1993 turned into 1994. Richard was in a liminal space since his mom was dying. He flew from her bedside in Kansas for the conference in Albuquerque. I think in his moment of need he must have totally relied on God to teach through him. And God did! In fact, his breakthrough book Everything Belongs is in many ways a transcript of that conference. 

I remember praying afterward and asking if God wanted me to be involved with the CAC. Well, I’ve been involved since then! True to his name (“Rohr” in German means “conduit”), Richard has been my lifeline to God’s love. Whenever I was down, I would put on a Richard tape and clean the house. Somehow, I always felt God in a way that was just what I needed. 

Researching and Stitching

Longtime CAC Board member Russ Raskob once compared what I do to the work of a seamstress. (My mom was a seamstress.) He said I stitch together words from Richard and others to draft a meditation. I like that description, though it sounds easier than I make it. I like to think I put so much effort into researching because I care deeply about supporting meditations that are truly helpful to people and the Earth. In reality, I’m sure my own ego and Enneagram Sixness are involved! Right now, I have twenty different documents opened about “Life as Participation,” filled with voluminous notes on teachings from Richard and others. 

I love to learn, and it’s a real blessing to have a whole team of loving people with wonderful suggestions for teachers, books, and approaches. It’s equally amazing how the topics I’m working on tie in with my life. Sometimes insights and clarity come through other activities, church groups, or even in the middle of the night! The best feeling is sending the rough draft of a week to Mark and knowing that the team will polish it and fill in the gaps before Richard updates it and gives it his blessing. 

The Truth Comes in Silence

It’s a delight and an honor to participate in spreading the teachings of Richard and other Christian contemplative teachers. Contemplation is an absolute necessity for this work. At the CAC morning sit, on the day I’m writing this, Living School Director Tom Eberle shared a quote attributed to Einstein, “I think 99 times and find nothing. I stop thinking, swim in silence, and the truth comes to me.”