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By Gregory Goings

On May 2, while a wedding was being celebrated in Trinity's sun-filled nave, artist Indigo Raffel and I gathered a few people in the Trinity Museum to finish a ceremonial gesture that began in January. Indigo had led nine people in the creation and dedication of a rangoli, an Indian mandala of welcome and purification, for the Trinity exhibit Visions: The Art of Radical Abundance.

The materials of the rangoli come from nature, and were contributed by people from New York and other parts of the country. Storyteller Regina Ress contributed the most surprising elements to the rangoli: four ordinary sticks from Costa Rica that have a poignant connection to New York City. In her own words:

In August 2002, I was invited to bring the story and pictures of New York City and the attack of 9/11 to the Cabecar tribe, a group of indigenous people living in the eastern mountains of Costa Rica. After a journey literally through a river and up the stream bed of the mountain, we sat in the simple community house, built by volunteers. I showed picture postcards of the city and photographs of that fateful day in 2001. In my halting Spanish, I described New York and what happened there.

I gave Otillio, the cacique (chief), the postcards. He requested the book of photographs of the attack, which I left with him. The women and children then drew pictures for me to bring as messages for the children of New York.

Some months later I received a box containing four sticks. There was no note included. I e-mailed my friend Gail Nystrom, who has a small foundation in Costa Rica. It was her volunteers who had built the community house and it was she who had taken me to the Cabecars. I asked her if she knew why they had sent me the sticks. Her answer stunned me.

Otillio and other elders of the tribe had meditated upon the information and images I had brought until they had a clear vision of the city. They then performed a healing ceremony for New York City and the whole Earth.

The Cabecar have almost nothing in the way of material goods. Their houses are made of sticks, with thatched roofs and dirt floors. They, along with a few other small indigenous groups, are virtually invisible in their own country. But there are other kinds of riches than monetary. However poor the Cabecar are materially, they have a depth of spirit and an understanding of life that is rich and enriching. They know that when one suffers, all suffer. They know that we must all care for one another.

The Cabecar live in a place called Pozo Azul – Blue Well. From their deep understanding of the interconnection of all life on Earth and from the generosity of their hearts, they poured the water of their love onto our wounded city and planet. This understanding and concern for all of us, was and is a gift and healing for all of us. It is Radical Abundance in action.

These sticks were carefully lifted from the table when the rangoli was dismantled and taken to the churchyard of St. Paul's Chapel. Deborah and Eileen Hope, both Trinity parishioners, suggested that the sticks should become part of the "Healing Garden" being planned for St. Paul's.

We laid them in the ground around the pine tree at the northwest corner of the churchyard. Do they resonate with prayer or speak to the dead? That's not for me to say.

Gregory Goings is the exhibits designer for Trinity Wall Street.