16th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
‘You must come away to some lonely place’
Jesus invites His friends to come aside to a lonely place to rest a while. He understood the importance of having rhythm and balance in life. He was teaching them that no fruitful work is possible without the practice of solitude. If they are to journey out to others they must first make the journey inwards to regain their perspective and recharge their spirit. Solitude is the ordeal that gives us the right to speak. Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary General of the United Nations extolled the necessity of solitude in these memorable words: ‘Speak only out of silence; act only out of stillness’. It is out of silence and solitude that worship springs. The cultivation of a healthy silence is of the essence if the celebration of the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day is to have meaning. The ‘little encounters’ during the week prepare the ground for the ‘great encounter’ on the ‘Day of the Sun’. These ‘little encounters’ or ‘minute vacations’ can happen over a cup of coffee in the early morning or in a quiet corner of the house when the family has gone to bed. The important thing is to find that sanctuary place each day where God can speak to the heart. God is the friend of silence.
‘You can hear the footsteps of God when silence reigns in the mind’.