A Quiet Time, with Tools

What a marvelous day.... I went to Mass this morning at Visitation Convent, had coffee with a priest friend, then came home and read, prayed quietly and put up the last three of nine outdoor lights on our house (a bone chilling 10 degrees out.... but warmer than it has been or shall be soon here in MN) I also had the chance to sit by the fire and read and just think.... a luxury indulged in all too infrequently.

I am striving to finish up Meg Funk's book Tools Matter... for Practicing the Spiritual Life. The entire book has deepened my hunger for alone time with God. She has a fine sense about her writing, not really a "how to" manual, but very practical, and steeped in Benedictine/ Monastic/ Spiritual Practice Wisdom.

Here is a little slice which I hope will encourage you to pick it up and read more.....

"How can we tend the garden of our souls? Are there any tools? How do
these tools work? This book is a brief presentation of tools foundin the
Christian tradition and how they worked for the early monks and nuns.
These monastics were people like you and me, They felt the same
impulse we do-- they needed help.

To find that help they went to visit the early hermits, quiet dwellers in the
desert, and asked them, " and asked them "How do you do it?" "How do I do it?"

These wise persons taught them to guard their hearts, to watch
their thoughts, to spend time in vigils, to fast, to confess, to practice
ceaseless prayer, to practice prayer of the heart, and to do manual labor,

to name a few of the recommended practices."

Advent II... Back from Retreat, I Begin Again

I'm back from my Advent Retreat at Our Lady of Spring Bank Abbey (Cistercian) near Sparta, WI. It's too soon to blog about content and results, although suffice it to say now that it was a very blessed time.

However, God has a great sense of humor. This commentary on Sunday's Gospel reading from a Cistercian came my way via e mail while I was gone. And to add even more fun, Blessed Guerric's memorial was celebrated while I was the Abbey.

I really like Guerric's emphasis on beginning again each day. Can we do that this Advent season?

Blessed Guerric of Igny (around 1080 – 1157), Cistercian abbot Sermon 5 for Advent


“Make straight the Lord’s path”
“Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Brothers, even if you have advanced greatly on this way, you still have to
prepare it, so that from the point where you have already arrived, you might
always go forward, always stretched out towards what is beyond. Thus, since the
way has been prepared for his coming, with every step that you take, the Lord
will come to meet you, always new, always greater. So the righteous person is
right to pray thus: “Instruct me, O Lord, in the way of your statutes, that I
may exactly observe them.” (Ps 119:33) And this way is called “the path of
eternity” (Ps 139:24) … because the goodness of him towards whom we are
advancing is unlimited.

That is why the wise and determined traveler, even though
he has arrived at the goal, will think of beginning.

“Giving no thought to what lies behind,” (Phil 3:13), he will tell himself every day: “Now I begin (Ps 76:11 Vulgata) …

May it please heaven that we who talk about advancing on this
path might at least have set out! To my understanding, whoever has set out is
already on the good way. However, we must really begin, find “the way to an
inhabited city” (Ps 107:4). For Truth says: “How few there are who find it!” (Mt
7:14) And many are those “who go astray in the desert.” (Ps 107:4) …And you,
Lord, have prepared a path for us, if we only agree to go on it… Through your
Law, you have taught us the path of your will by saying: “This is the way; walk
in it, when you would turn to the right or to the left.” (Isa 30:21) It is the
path that the prophet had promised: “A highway will be there… No fools go astray
on it.” (Isa 35:8)… I have never seen a fool going astray when following your
path, Lord… But woe to you who are wise in your own sight (Isa 5:21). Your
wisdom has taken you away from the path of salvation and has not allowed you to
follow the Savior’s folly… A desirable folly, which at the time of God’s
judgment will be called wisdom and which does not let us go astray, away from
his path.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus, and help us begin again today.

Studying in the Quiet- Part II

Some time ago I wrote about the need for quiet- to say less, to meditate more. http://catholicgeek.blogspot.com/2006/10/studying-in-quiet.html

One friend said he would look forward to seeing what happened. Perhaps he said it tongue in cheek, knowing my gregarious nature would not allow me to remain quiet.... at least not long enough to have any lasting effect.

Here is the progress report.

I have found some very quiet spaces in my life that I never knew existed before.

Last summer a trusted confessor, Father Cyril Gorman of St John's Abbey, gave me the penance of staying after Mass and sitting quietly and pondering. It took a few months but now the practice has set in of staying for just a few moments after Mass is over. Sometimes I relish Christ's continued presence, pray for my day, or just pray over and over that favorite prayer of John Paul II, "Totus tuus".... totally yours. Sometimes I just sit in no particular action at all, just sit. However this started, I've found it makes Mass more meaningful. It "sticks to my ribs" longer as I continue to ponder the readings and the prayers and the people I encounter while I return to my car for the trip to work or home.

A second result of being open to the quiet has been an increasing desire to do less and to stay home more. I am less involved in my parish and other outside activities now, a deliberate choice, and I am finding that less is more. When I do things now I relish it more deeply, as if I am more present than before to what is going on around me. I have to admit that part of this change is probably atmospheric... after all it is Fall-approaching Winter here in Minnesota, a time when people tend to settle in for the long winter's nap. But it's something deeper than that. I can't quite explain it yet. But I am happy that it is happening... an increase in contentment and gratitude for where God has placed me.

The last is the most difficult. I am trying to learn to speak only when spoken to. I am naturally outgoing, gregarious, some would even say aggressive. So this is very hard for me. But listening is a valuable skill that often gets overrun by the need to plan one's one response to what others are saying and doing. God help me to speak less and listen more, to others and above all to Him.