Listen attentively under the tree

Brian J. Pierce, OP, author of We Walk the Path Together: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh and Meister Ekhart, writes:

"I was invited to take part in an indigenous religious ceremony with the Lenca Indians in Honduras several years ago. Mixing ancient Lenca rituals with Christian prayers, the elderly rezador, or shaman, performed the ceremony while holding a freshly cut pine bow in his hands. I later approached him and asked about the symbolism behind the frequent use of pine branches in Lenca worship. He looked at me with his wide, dark eyes, and said:

"Oh, you do not know? Then let me tell you. If you sit quietly beneath a pine tree in the early morning hours, before the sun rises, and listen very attentively, you will hear the pine tree singing to God." (9-10)

Psalm 96:11-12
"Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult and everything in it. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord."

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Lenca Indians
"The Lencas are one of the seven largest ethnic groups in Honduras. Numbering 100,000, they live in the central department of Las Paz, and the western departments of Lempira and Itibuca, as well as in some smaller communities in the northern part of the country. Their homes are made form bahareque a mixture of mud and bamboo. Their communities lack all of the basic services such as running water. Roofs are made of clay tiles or nylon. In a twenty square meter room there is a bed and a kitchen. The bed is made from pieces of plywood tied to posts and sunk into the dirt floor. Eight people usually occupy one bed. At night the cold mountain air seeps through the cracks in the walls and results in frequent respiratory illnesses. Many Lencas work on coffee plantations and harvest. "