As Lent appraoches, this short meditation by Fr Augustine on the nature of a retreat into the desert might prove useful.
The silence of a retreat is to provide us with the emptiness and space of the desert.
Empty yourself and see that ‘I AM’
1) For the hyper-active there is the desert of solitude and inactivity where we learn the painful art of doing nothing.
2) For the perfectionists there is the desert of imperfection where we learn that our compulsive need is often met at the expense of love and lays a heavy burden on others.
3) The academic may need to enter the desert of solitude to discover what ways scholarship has been allowed to substitute for warm relationships, and erudition has kept people at bay.
4) The do-good-er will probably have to enter the desert of powerlessness and learn how, for the sake of love, and in order to respect the need for distance from one another, it is necessary sometimes to be useless.
5) The change-resistant addict to routine may have to discover the desert as a space of flux and a constantly changing landscape; a trackless waster with no fixed paths; a place where the wind of the Spirit can disturb everything and one’s safety is to be guided by the heavens. For those who are compulsive givers but disabled receivers, there is a desert of need and inadequacy where we face the reality of our emotional deficiencies and manipulative powers.
6) For the stars seeker there is the desert of ordinariness where we learn the meaning of true humility and genuine inner authority.
7) The quietest learns, in the desert, that the true peace-making is not a matter of taking the line of least resistance. it is costly in the extreme and requires boldness of confrontation and holy rage.
8) the clown may have to enter the desert of desolation to learn that life’s pain cannot be forever repressed or masked by engineered fun and artificial enjoyment – a desert where escape is impossible and pain may, for the time being, fill the horizon.
The desert is a great teacher and all the time God is waiting to run to meet us int he middle of it.
The teaching that GOD IS ONE IN THREE tells us a great deal about Him and hence something about the propose and meaning of human life.
God is one but He is not solitary
God is rational
God is interactive
God is a community
God is interpersonal love
God speaks
God creates
The Three are in an eternal love affair with each other. They are inviting us to join Their dance of loving joy and joyous love. If the invitation is frightening, the reason is that we are being called to join very fast company. We are free to bring our friends….
Msgr Augustine Hoey obl OSB 