God was not in the mighty wind. He was not in earthquake or in the fire. He appeared in the quiet whisper.
A. We think of where our attention is diverted today in our modern world. To cell phones and computers and other modes of technology. To the television and radio that is blaring all the time. We don’t really want to sit in silence, do we? We are drawn to the loud voices that are blaring at us all the time. They get our attention. The silence either unnerves us or it is too ambiguous.
I alway try to make time for silence in my life. I went on a month long silent retreat in Spain last summer to pray the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius. It was hard work to get used to the intensity of praying so much each day. To leave behind all the activity that usually accompanies my daily life. In August, I am planning to go to California for two weeks to visit my sister, where I hope to spend a lot of the days hiking the mission trail in prayer and silence.
I remember the first time I went on the Camino, the secretary at St Mary in Yazoo City asked me how she was going to get ahold of me. I told her that I was not going to take a cell phone with me and she would have to reach me by email, which I would check about once a week. She thought I was joking with her, but she realized that I was taking this seriously. I told her that I needed to unplug in order to truly listen to God and to pray.
In our daily life this may be hard to do, but this is why we priests are required to go on retreat each year. All of us need to find the opportunity to listen to God in the quiet whisper.
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