In days of old, repentant souls trampled the world underfoot, left everything behind to seek God in the desert ... in solitude.
In our day, we are shown how to do this more practically. In the midst of clamor and chaos, much like Christ experienced in the way to Golgatha - we can find that solitude in holy recollection, carrying within us the passion of Christ ...
Solitude
We, the ordinary people of the streets, do not see solitude as the absence of the world but as the presence of God.
Encountering him in all places is what creates our solitude.
For us, being truly alone means participating in God's solitude.
God is so great that nothing can find room anywhere else but within him.
For us, the whole world is like a face-to-face meeting with the one whom we cannot escape.
We encounter his living causality right there on the busy street corners. We encounter his imprint on the earth.
We encounter his Providence in the laws of science.
We encounter Christ in all these "little ones who are his own": the ones who suffer in body, the ones who are bored, the ones who are troubled, the ones who are in need.
We encounter Christ rejected, in the sin that wears a thousand faces.
How could we possibly have the heart to mock these people or to hate them, this multitude of sinners with whom we rub shoulders?
The solitude of God in fraternal charity; it is Christ serving Christ, Christ in the one who is serving and Christ in the one being served. - Madeleine Delbrel
Very nice. Some find God better as they write a meditative journal. He is more present when the sky is blue for some rather than under a grey sky. Not all are called to work with the hungry but all are called to help the hungry....the remote donor makes the on site food giver possible. For Lent I kneel each half hour to thank the Father for so loving the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The "world" is normally the enemy in the NT but not there in that sentence. He so loved both the good and evil ( the world) that He gave His only Son into scourging, thorns, crucifixion and the organ havoc that follows upon crucifixion. The Father agreed in some real sense to lose some aspect of the Son's prescence and to give Him over to pain and death in some sense while remaining God..." I am the Lord and I change not".
ReplyDeleteBack to the blue sky above a wave filled ocean. I sense Him a lot right there because there is mystery in the ocean and depth in the sky with its distant clouds.
a very thoughtful and beautifully written reflection. Thank you Bill you have made my day.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Wallace. You've made mine.
ReplyDelete