BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 2, 2026
When we think of “holy spaces,” many of us picture stained glass windows, rows of pews, or polished stone floors echoing with hymns. But what if the most profound sanctuaries are not enclosed by walls at all? What if a spiritual presence waits not in a building, but in the soil beneath our feet, the rain on the trees or the quiet stillness before dawn? It is time we start recognizing the sacred in the living world around us. The forest isn’t a place you visit to find the sacred. It’s a place where the sacred has always been. We should stop trying to fit religion into a white box with four walls. Go outside and experience the sanctuary that is always there — nature. ~ Kathryn Gatewood, graduating senior at UMaine, studying ecology and environmental sciences