More on Solitude

“In silence you leave the things of the world for the things of God. In solitude you leave the things of God for God alone.”?

That quote was told to us by John Weborg on the first Sunday of the Spiritual Direction course I took last week. It was a day of silence, and if we wanted, solitude.

The rule for the day, for that"s what it was, simply a rule and not a law, was a rule of silence. We did not have to talk or communicate with others, all day long. And from that vantage point we could move into times of solitude, and I did. Tentatively at first, but more and more as the day went on. Like a child receiving a wonderful Christmas gift and all day long she returns to it to see if it"s still there and if its all true, so did I return again and again to the place of solitude.

I confess its one of the ways I am made, that this solitude with Christ was a gift to me. It certainly isn"t for everyone, indeed there are different languages and ways to communicate with Jesus. But for me it was like a piece of the puzzle had finally fallen into place. I felt as though I had found home.

The week was about discernment, about listening. Listening to God, listening to ones self, listening to others, and listening to the world. This listening is something one may practice and shape, and it is an amazing gift to offer.

Consider what it means to be listened to. How deeply moving was it to talk with Jesus and for him to hear you. Whether you were a woman or a leper, a child or a slave, He would stop to listen, to look at you, and to place his hand on yours. You would be heard, maybe for one of the few times in your life, you would be heard.

We all want to be listened to, we all want to be heard. And it is given to us to listen, in Christ"s name.

May we learn the gift of using our two ears twice as much as our one mouth.

This course is going to be a good one.


Peace.