MFT66

My dear friends on the net, today we are going to talk about solitude. Webster is very stingy with his definition of the word solitude. He simply states: 1 : the quality or state of being alone or remote from society : SECLUSION. 2 : a lonely place (as a desert)

Thomas Merton, that great Catholic theologian said: “It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say.”

What were we made for anyway, but to know God. What is the most important aim that we should set for ourselves but to know God. Once we realize that knowledge of God is the main business that we are on this earth for, life will much simpler. And the problems that seemed insurmountable will just fall into place.

However most of us have an infinite void in our hearts that we attempt to fill with noise, other people, busy-ness, possessions, and so on. This is a major sickness in the culture in which we live. We seem to have a strange compulsion to have noise. We've got to have noise! Silence is creepy, even frightening. Noise helps us live in denial. Noise keeps us concentrated on something else-anything else! We just can’t stand to be alone with ourselves.

Perhaps you know someone who cannot be in the house alone without the television or radio blaring away? Or do you know someone who has trouble "doing nothing?" Maybe you are acquainted with someone who cannot ride in the car without having music playing, and as loud as it will play? It could be that you know someone who is terrified of being alone? That person might even be you?

All our attempts to fill our infinite emptiness with finite things are simply a long string of distractions that occupy our mind until we slip into blessed unconsciousness. Think of all the things people do to "get their mind off it"-whatever "it" might be doing.

What would happen if we embraced being alone in quiet as an opportunity to become aware of God's presence? We just might find the One thing that can fill the infinite emptiness in our hearts. Solitude and silence, combined with an engaged mind. These are the practices to open our lives up to the grace of God. God says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). They are the practices of waiting on the Lord. They are active stillness. They are readying one's heart to receive.

I’ve been reading a lot about the Essenes lately and they had some pretty good ideas about solitude. Each Essene was required to respect the privacy of others--their solitude, their intimate and private lives. Solitude was regarded as sacred, because, when one was alone with oneself, one was in the presence of God, the Source of all being.

In silence and solitude, we discover that our infinitely empty lives can only find fulfillment in an infinite God. So in silence and solitude, we seek Him-and find Him!