I’ve been trying to “sell” this contemplation thing for some time now.  It seems people just can’t find the time to sit in stillness.

Just recently I had an aha moment as I watched my beloved puppies sleeping. It made me realize there’s more to contemplation than I’ve been letting on.  Yes, it’s relaxing. Yes, it brings peace. Yes, it changes you, but how?  Then it hit me – every time I see my dogs sleeping or just being still I get this urge to lay with them and hug, kiss and caress them.  I get this overwhelming loving feeling in my heart.   Let me be clear, I love them always but these times of stillness move me the most.  I just don’t  get the same overwhelming feeling when they’re running, jumping or eating – when they’re “busy” living their lives.  Can you see where I’m going with this?

Yes, God is always with us.  As a matter of fact, during one of my latest retreats I came across an interesting sign.  It read:  Bidden or not bidden God is present.  The translation – Invited or not invited God is present.  There is no doubt in my mind that God is everywhere.  However, I believe that our state of being has everything to do with the distance He keeps or at least how we perceive the distance He is keeping.

Just think for a moment about how you feel about your children (or pets if, like me, you don’t have children).  Wouldn’t you agree that there’s something about these precious gifts being still and silent that makes you want to hug and kiss all over them – to squeeze them into you?  That’s what I believe God feels.  He wants to love us, embrace us, speak to us and transform us.  Unfortunately,  He can’t get a word in edgewise when we’re too busy to acknowledge His presence.

That’s where contemplation comes in.  Imagine being still and God getting the same overwhelming loving feeling for us I talked about earlier – except as with all things God – it’s even more so!  The love He feels toward us is magnified.  WOW!  That’s it!  That’s when He’s closest – in the STILLNESS.  That’s when we can FEEL Him  – in the STILLNESS.   THAT’S when we will be fed, transformed and truly happy!

I think of all the things we do in life that require work.   We want nice things in life so we spend most of our day working at a job that sometimes we don’t even like.  We want to be healthy so we eat some things that we’d rather not and we go to the gym to work out and honestly cannot say we “like” it.

Day in and day out, we do a number of things that require real WORK, either in terms of labor or in terms of psychological manipulation and yet we do them  because they lead to something we want.  They lead to results, something tangible, something visible.  THAT’S where the problem lies.  This contemplation thing, the just “sitting” doesn’t bring about results we’re used to.  So we’re not in a rush to just sit and waste time.  But I promise you, it’s not a waste of time.  You may not see the results you’re used to seeing, but change is happening.  Transformation is happening.  God is working, He is there in the midst of it all!

I recently read the following excerpt in the Liturgy of the Hours:

In good pastures and on the high mountains of Israel, I shall feed them. And their grazing ground shall be there, that is, the place where they will rest, where they will say: “I am happy”; where they will say: “It is true, it is clear, we are not deceived.” They will find rest in the glory of God, when they find rest in those grazing grounds. And they will sleep, that is, find rest, and they will rest in good pleasures.

He never ceases to amaze me!  How He guides me in my reading – where everything I come across at a particular point in time seems to have a common theme.  I understood the “mountain” in this excerpt to symbolize the stillness I have been alluding to.  We are told that the mountain is the grazing ground where we will find rest, where we will be happy.

We don’t have to go hiking to climb “the mountain.” But we have to climb the mountain to be fed, to find rest and happiness.  Will you take some time this week to climb and sit atop the mountain?  God bless you!

“There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.  And lying at his door was a man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.  Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.  When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham.  The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.  And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me.  Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’  

Abraham replied, ‘My child, remember that  you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.  Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.  He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them lest they too come to this place of torment.’  But Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets.   Let them listen to them.’  He said, ‘Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’  Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'”   Luke 16:19-31 New American Bible translation

As I was preparing for mass today, I logged onto Bishop Barron’s website Word on Fire.  It’s a website I’ve recommended in the past (for Advent and Lenten reflections).   I can’t remember if I’ve ever recommended his weekly homilies (I probably have).  He gives such great homilies and challenges us to think beyond the usual.  Listen here to his thoughts on the Gospel I’ve shared above.  A few things he said gave me pause.  The first was the fact that when we are separated from others we are separated from God and vice versa.  The second is that God is the creator of all things and so He is owner of all things and the last was we too, like the rich man, have Moses and the prophets.

I hope this homily encourages you and moves you to action.  God bless you!