The temptation of interruption is a sin I battle with constantly.

“The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service and the fruit of service is peace.”

― Mother Theresa,

When I returned from retreat a few weeks ago one of the first things I did was to buy a wristwatch. It was one of the spiritual insights I received during the retreat…I needed to buy a watch. Why? Simply put, by the third day of the retreat I was discovering a deepening prayer and a quiet that went beyond the silence of the retreat and absence of the daily “work” of ministry. It was a memory of prayer I had had before but a prayer that had gone missing recently.
What was the difference? It was the wristwatch…or the lack of one. Like many people I had begun using the ever-present cellphone as my go to time keeper. It seemed easier to just look at the cellphone face and see that it was 1:49 p.m. just as easily as it was to look at my wrist and see its was 1:49 p.m. but there was something more.
I know that many of you have guessed already but the little insight was how often I looked at my cellphone…even if for just a second…as an interruption and distraction in my daily life. On retreat, because the cellphone was sitting quietly on the closet shelf throughout the day and night I quickly found myself slipping into the remembered habit of not seeking the interruption or distraction of the cellphone, especially in prayer, throughout the day.
Sadly, coming off of retreat, the old temptations began to place themselves in front of me…yes, I had my watch on during my Holy Hour in the morning…but what if I got a call, a text, a Twitter beep or one of a hundred different distracted excuses for just interrupting my prayer time to check and make sure I hadn’t missed anything important. It is the lie that I tell myself as I seek to avoid God’s call to silence.
One of the oldest understandings of our hearing the voice of God is in the silence of life. In 1 Kings 19:11-13 we hear these words of blessing, “The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?””
We know this innately in our souls, when we are quiet we are better able to see the blessings of life like the image of grandparents sitting quietly as their grandchildren scamper about in joy and seeing in the quiet of their hearts grace and hope flow forth in their lives. We hear it when we sit looking out on a vista of great beauty contemplating the grandeur of creation. We feel it as the man and woman stare deeply into the eyes of the other recognizing the blossoming of love.
I’m still working on it…staring deeply into the Eucharistic presence of God, quieting my soul to hear the powerful whisper of blessing. Going off, as Jesus does, into the community of Trinitarian love, to be quiet and know the presence of our Father.
God Bless,
Fr. Mark