There are very few who see this picture from wordpress.com who don't feel a hankering in the heart for peace and quiet .. but for what? Deep within each of us is the yearning to be free of worries, free from the daily trials that fall upon our shoulders.
It is the day-to-day worries, especially in stress-filled times like ours, that distract us from being able to answer that inner calling, the need for time alone. Most of us today find ourselves racing from one demand to another. Was life meant to be this way? I don't believe so. Neither did Jesus.
Invited to dinner with Martha and Mary and perhaps other guests, Martha, as we know, carried a heart that was so concerned with perfection. Everything she was doing had to be just right. Sound familiar? Yet there sat Mary. She was answering that inner call for peace and quiet, that yearning to respond to the call that wanted to be heard, that wanted to share in the wisdom of their invited guest.
We may not have Jesus dropping in and out of homes as a dinner guest in our times. However, we do have houses where the residents do stop throughout the day to listen to that inner voice of the Holy Spirit. Those houses? Monasteries where the monks and sisters find time to be with that inner voice, to be within the world of silence, listening to the Holy Spirit. Yes, it is a privileged life. No, it is not impossible for us to live a similar life even in the rat-race world surrounding us.
We have to be like Mary and chose a time and place to listen, to hear what God is saying to us. Did you do that yesterday? If you did, bravo/a for you. If you didn't, surely it was because you were too busy. Promise yourself right at this moment: "I will find five minutes when I stop my engine. Five minutes when I will relax my mind and let my heart listen for the voice of God.
