Scripture:
Reflection:
Today we celebrate the feast of John, Apostle and Evangelist. We also are experiencing the quiet time between Christmas and the Epiphany. This “quiet time” is something I need in my life. I need this time every day but it seems particularly important to me between the busyness of the Christmas holiday and the beginning of the New Year with all the resolutions, etc. This quiet time is underrated in our world of 24/7 news (most of it bad) and constant e-interruptions!
This time is like going on a retreat. It is a perfect time to remember and experience my relationship with God, everyone and every part of creation around me. I recall the words from Psalm 85, “Peace is promised to God’s people”. Being at peace in God’s presence and silence is better than every blood pressure pill I am ordered to swallow every morning.
I can call this time prayer but I prefer to refer to it as a time of simply being open to the movement of God within and around me. It is a time of intimate peace. This is especially helpful in this stage of my life when activities have become more circumscribed by health, resources and energy. I relish these moments as an unearned grace.
These moments also act as fuel for my acts of kindness with others, my efforts for justice in our troubled world, my striving to be a better person to those around me and in relationship with me. I guess my reflection today is to strive to carve these moments out every day and in our new year. Maybe this would be a good year to spend time at one of our Passionist retreat centers or just in a chapel at one of our Passionist communities.
In any case, I am promising myself more of this “quiet time”. Indeed, as John refers to it, the “Word was made flesh and dwells among us” and in these quiet times, “within us”. Peace be upon you.
Terry McDevitt, Ph.D., is a member of our Passionist Family in Louisville, Kentucky.