This is the poem that 2011 San Antonio Peace Laureate Patti Radle provided to be read at the Blessing of the Peacemakers yesterday. It was performed by Narjis Pierre and Jonathan Hardy of the peaceCENTER’s Core Team.
PREAMBLE TO READ BEFORE THE POEM IS READ:
This poem is written in honor of Reverend Ron Rolhieser, of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who has been a Top Chef in the kitchen of the interfaith community—nurturing the recipe that gives room in the world oven for different voices and finding ways to share, tolerate and unit those voices.
For Fr. Ron Rolhieser, the Reverend with the Right Recipe
(What’s in red is read by a second person standing some distance from the first reader.)
It’s like lasagna
It’s like lasagna if you’re attentive to the process
All those layers of great stuff:
Noodles
Tomatoes
Onions
Spinach
Seasonings
Cheese
And more…
All those layers of great love and thought:
Jews
Muslims
Christians
Hindus
Sikhs
Buddhists
And more…
There’s some work that has to be done to get them all together.
Can’t just throw them in the dish.
Can’t just throw them in a room.
Gotta offer a comfortable setting—like some olive oil
Like the Oblate Whitley Center!
Gotta make sure the ingredients are ready
–don’t want to pick the spinach that’s not ready
–don’t want to chop the tomatoes too big
–don’t want to have a lot of cracked noodles
Gotta make sure the oven temperature is right
Watch the timing
Watch your time—don’t want to undercook
–you know, it just gets mushy, won’t stand up right
Don’t want to overcook, you know…
–makes you disinterested
–you might need repair work
–you lose the flavor
–it gets dry
–what do you do with the burnt part?!
When it’s done just right, you can still see the ingredients
–you see the cheese
–you see the onions
–the onion hasn’t become a noodle
–the cheese doesn’t become a tomato
But ohhhhh, Ohhhhh… (putting them all together)*, cooked just right…nothin’ like it
…a spectacular dish to offer the world
So, it’s like lasagna
It’s like lasagna if you’re attentive to the process…
So that’s it: the recipe for a creative and effective Interfaith Community.
…If done with lots of love and care, you won’t even notice if there are a few cracked noodles.
*What’s in the parenthesis is said together
