By Celia E. Ceballos, 2025 RiSG participant
Opening Grounding
I live and work on Lenapehoking, the unceded homeland of the Lenape people. This grounding
matters because place matters. The land beneath us holds history, memory, struggle, resilience, and
story. And so much of Rooted in Sacred Ground invited me to return to that truth: that who we are,
where we stand, and what we inherit all shape the way we show up to our work and to one another.
I currently serve as Director of Mission and Values at Good Shepherd Services in New York City, and
entering this new year has brought a quiet, tender kind of hope. But I came into the retreat holding
something heavy too…the weight of a heartbreaking loss that was still fresh on my spirit. Grief has a
way of hollowing out our inner space, of making the world feel both fragile and sharp. And yet, it
can also make us more porous, more open, more attuned to the sacred when we encounter it.
At the retreat, the stillness met me exactly where I was.
One image keeps resurfacing: a circle of people breathing together in silence. The room was hushed,
but not empty. It felt as though the land itself was holding us; steady, patient, present. In that
moment, for the first time in a while, I felt myself exhale. Not because the grief disappeared, but
because there was finally room to set it down for a breath.
When I think back on the experience, what rises first is that sense of return of remembering the
ground beneath me, the ancestors behind me, the community beside me. It felt like spiritual
homecoming. The second thing that comes to mind is a sense of deep exhale. A sense of
remembering. A sense of returning to something steady and sacred within myself.
The Sacredness of Place
Reflecting on where I am situated, Lenapehoking, I feel the sacredness of this place every day. New
York is layered with countless stories: ancestral, immigrant, cultural, political, joyful, painful. The
land remembers the Lenape, their stewardship, their displacement, and their enduring presence. It
remembers generations of people who sought refuge, who built community, who carried traditions,
who resisted, who survived.
This sacredness shows up in quiet ways:
in the brownstones that have witnessed lifetimes,
in the waters that have held centuries of movement,
in neighborhoods where culture is kept alive through food, rhythm, language, and love.
To live and work here is to walk with reverence.
To remember that the land we occupy is borrowed.
To move with humility and responsibility.
To listen for the stories that came long before our own.
In my role at GSS, I am continuously invited to approach this place with care, to honor the
communities we walk alongside, to resist saviorism, to center partnership, to acknowledge histories
of inequity, and to show up with a spirit of accompaniment rather than authority. The retreat
reminded me that this, too, is sacred work: tending to place, tending to people, tending to story.
Rooted in Sacred Ground: What It Opened in Me
Although I am not a practicing Catholic, I felt deeply welcomed at the retreat. The space was held
with a kind of gentle presence that was open, reflective, grounded. This allowed everyone to show
up authentically. It helped me slow down long enough to hear myself again!
In the quiet moments, I reconnected with my own sacred ground:
my Afro‐Mestiza Puerto Rican ancestry,
the lessons grief has carved into me,
the joy and responsibility of leadership,
and the deep values that guide my work.
The retreat also stirred a spark…a sense of possibility for our community at GSS. I found myself
imagining what it would look like to create and co-create even more spaces like this for staff: spaces
that encourage reflection, grounding, and storytelling across identities, faith traditions, and cultures.
Spaces that allow us to ask, What is the sacred ground I stand on? And how does it shape the work
I am called to do?
This experience reminded me that mission is not simply organizational. It is personal, embodied, and
spiritual. As one of the main facilitators who introduces the GSS Approach to our staff, I see every
day how mission comes alive not in our documents or frameworks, but in our relationships. It lives in
how we treat one another, how we listen, how we honor the communities we walk alongside, and
how we root ourselves in purpose even when the world feels unsteady.
I left Rooted in Sacred Ground grateful for the facilitators, the participants, the honesty shared, and
the spaciousness to reconnect with my inner stillness. But I also left with clarity: that our stories
matter, our histories matter, and the land we stand on matters. And when we take the time to honor
all three, we find our way back to a mission rooted in belonging, dignity, and love.
Life has been moving fast, but I’m learning to carve out small spaces to rest and reflect. These
moments keep me rooted. Thank you and everyone that participated for the experience that I
needed to have at that time. Nothing is coincidental. May you find the pause you need, the breath
that steadies you, and the grounding that reminds you that you are never walking alone.
Celia E. Ceballos, 2025 RiSG participant