Once in a while, a quiet event is what stays with you.

	Above: Maya Angelou photographed at The Peacemakers Table with students of the Life Experience School during morning meeting.

So has been the case of the morning meeting I attended once again this week at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn. "Morning meeting" is a ritual of passing a bowl with water and having people mindfully wash each other's hands. It can be for visitors like me, and you, but it has also included the likes of Mother Theresa, and Muhammed Ali. The ceremony is basic, yet, filled with meaning for anyone who takes part in it.

Since my first time there, I have felt a sort of openness that means a lot to my sense of spirituality. I like what goes on among new connections and see it as symbolic of the possibilities for peaceful relations among all human beings. I also appreciate the students of the Life Experience School, or Strawberry Fields Alternative High School, in Millis, which my daughter Katherine attends.

The sound of the theme song from "Brother Sun, Sister Moon," from Franco Zeffirelli's movie, filled the room as it started. (I watched that movie as a teenager in Brazil and again recently while there. Beautiful!)

Everyone sat quietly around the table. My daughter Katherine poured the water from a small jug into the big brass bowl and, with a gesture of respect, dipped her hands in the water, soon turning to her friend Liz who was prepared to dry Katherine's hands before passing the towel to Ali and dipping her own hands into the water.

We wash hands because they are our instruments to go into the world and do our jobs to make peace," he said. "Had God given us intellect without hands, it would have been for naught," he later added. "So morning meeting is a time to bless one another's hands in this simple ritual of sharing, camaraderie and compassion. It is a time to count our blessings and give thanks.

The rhythm established, everyone followed their lead taking a turn at dipping his or her hands, only to turn around and have them dried by their neighbor.

All along, people smiled or simply made eye contact. The bowl made its way back to where it started and Katherine carefully folded the towel, covering the jug with it. Then Phil, across the table, started the ritual of "the passing of the finger," beginning with a touch of one of the bronze hands in the middle of the table and touching his heart area before touching the tip of my index finger. I, in turn, looked to my left and touched my mother's finger and she touched her neighbor's and so on. Again, the ritual went around the table and Phil touched back the other bronze hand to end it.

At this point, Lewis Randa told the group we would have five minutes of silence and reminded everyone that in silence our spirits communicate with each other. I saw heads down as well as smiles; five minutes of no action seemed to do us a lot of good.

Why, I wonder, did we welcome this? To me our shared time provided a rare moment where distractions from technology and every noise around gave way to a reminder that we are people who appreciate each other.

Another wonderful thing I noticed yesterday, as I have before, is how Lewis and Meg Randa, co-directors of the Life Experience School, along with the teachers there, make the students the key participants of rituals and conversations.

The group was asked about any recent synchronicities in their lives. Lewis and Meg encourage them to stay in tune with what we think are coincidences and to relate them back to the group. They also encourage conversations about what is not going so well -- conundrums -- as well as any commendations for each other. There were plenty.

By now several beautiful songs had been played. I asked Lewis if this was a ritual of friendship and solidarity and he said yes, but also more:

"We wash hands because they are our instruments to go into the world and do our jobs to make peace," he said. "Had God given us intellect without hands, it would have been for naught," he later added. "So morning meeting is a time to bless one another's hands in this simple ritual of sharing, camaraderie and compassion. It is a time to count our blessings and give thanks."

Lewis bought the brass bowl we used during his trip to Assisi in 1986, where he went to disperse the cremation remains of Norman Nyland, a student at their school. A child with autism, he loved animals and shared St. Francis birthday, so his parents chose to do this.

This trip coincided with the Day of Prayer for World Peace, with Pope John Paul II and many other religious leaders.

As a pacifist among them, Lewis said he decided to cut small clippings of an olive tree to offer as lapel pins to the many leaders, as a symbol of their commitment to pacifism. He filled the bowl with water and added the olive cuttings. Many were eager to pin the little branches on their own clothes but the Muslins were more comfortable with the idea of having others recognize them as pacifists, so their peers were happy to place the olive cuttings for them.

As Lewis got back, he created this ritual with the bowl of water passing around a table, first with people drying their own hands, then with that task shared with one another.

I have heard many people sigh and say how much they appreciate the treasure of having the Peace Abbey. Yesterday, it was no different.

"When I go to places like this, I have a feeling I want to stay there," my mother said.

"It's always like this," said my friend Pat Huffman. "The treasures are in our own backyard."

Anyone interested in taking part in morning meeting should call the Peace Abbey at 508-655-2143 or log on to www.peaceabbey.org.