Spirituality for Beginners

Fr. Bede's almost-daily reflections. When it comes to the spiritual life, we're all beginners. I also send these out by email. Contact me at bcamera@anselm.edu. God bless!





Friday, August 4, 2017

Not filling up the time

Friday, August 4, 2017
I sat on a bench in the cloister this afternoon,
waiting for the bell to ring for prayer.
I had 12 minutes to wait—not a long time,
yet long enough that my inclination
was to consider what to do
to fill the time.

We do that a lot, don’t we?
Trying to fill time with
something.
God forbid the time be left empty!

But wait! Maybe that’s what God
is inviting me to do: just to remain
empty
for that dozen minutes.

So I stared at a grassy area
before my feet,
and noticed how silently the grass sat there,
and coveted that simple silence.

Thoughts got quiet, in the presence of the present moment.
Nothing from the past got through to me, none of it mattered
in this one precious moment,
concerns for the future dropped away as well,
and I was free---me and the green
grass and the fresh air
and the timelessness.

It was if I was being protected and
cared for, and unburdened, unsullied, unprepossessed,
and then the bell rang

and I gave thanks
and headed inside to pray
with words.


Have a wonderful weekend. God bless you!

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