A Tribute to Bede Griffiths

I write this to share in the 10th anniversary of Bede Griffiths' death as celebrated by the World Community for Christian Meditation at the University of Reading, England this August 2003.

http://www.wccm.org/BedeGriffiths.html 
 

 

    BEDE GRIFFITHS AND MY LIFE JOURNEY  

 

 
     Forty five years ago Bede Griffiths touched my life when I was a young seminarian at the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. I read and reread his autobiography, THE GOLDEN STRING. Little did I know or he know that my life journey would take me from his inspiration to being open to Ghandi, Thich Nhat Hanh, Telhard de Chardin, John Henry Newman,John Main, Thomas Merton, Bill W. and AA Spirituality, Drs. Hal and Sidra Stone and many others of this caliber.
 
     His broadness of vision opened me to the essential core of all world religions and to see the unity at that core, a God who is love poured forth in the Cave of our Heart by the Holy Spirit as Paul teaches in Romans 5. I put  this truth  in different terms coming from the Hindu tradition. In the Upanishads  they speak of the spirit of the One who created the universe as dwelling in our heart. This same spirit is the One who in silence is loving us all.
 
    The reality of his  Golden String has guided me through many ups and downs in the Institutional Church and in my own personal priestly life and ministry. Besides serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a Diocesan Priest. I have been lead and guided and inspired by his broader and inclusive vision to minister in India for many years, South Africa, Nigeria and  the Phippines where I write this from now.  
 
     Thank you Bede Griffiths for your inspiration and all inclusive vision which has kept  me alive and open and also still an active Catholic Priest.
 
Fr. Bill Whittier
Written at Assumption College, Manila, Philippines
April 24,2003