id quod volo

Friday, March 16, 2007

Lenten Reflection - Friday, 3rd Week of Lent

Being Alone With God

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." - Mark 12:30

Hiddenness is an essential quality of the spiritual life. Solitude, silence, ordinary tasks, simply being with people, sleeping, eating, working, playing are facets of life that Jesus lived and invites us to live. It is in hiddenness that we can find a true intimacy with God and a true love for people. Even during his active ministry, Jesus continued to return to hidden places to be alone with God. If we don't have a hidden life with God, our public life for God cannot bear fruit, just as a fruit tree cannot bear fruits unless its roots are grounded in the earth through hiddenness. Like much of in nature which grows in hiddenness and silence, the human spirit grows in hiddenness and silence.

Solitude allows us to be alone with God. There we experience that we belong not to people, not even to those who love us and care for us, but to God and God alone.

"My soul is at rest in God alone, my salvation comes from God." (Psalm 62:2)

"Resolve to spend some time today alone with God."

adapted from Henri Nouwen

Fr. Tri Dinh, SJ
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