A summertime bloom of color

Hello, Novice  and Jane. Welcome to the August Monday Mewsing.

Do you find it hard to believe that summer is soon over? I sure do.

In this learning session Amma Jane reflects on awareness of God's Presence. Then, I share my thoughts about planning a personal retreat or quiet day . Both come under the umbrella of "Presence of God," one of the four areas that you mewed would help your human.



Br. Ricky, OSB-F

Novice Master



Please join me and mew our opening prayer together.

Presence of God - Part 3

To read Parts 1 & 2 tap your paw here

What is it to be aware of God’s presence?

I would like to feel God’s presence, to have a strong, visceral sense of the Holy One. But for me, and maybe for you as well, this just doesn’t happen. Or if it is really happening, I am clueless. Truth be known, I doubt that I am even up to such profoundness.

Instead of praying for feeling God's Presence, David Adam prays for awareness. 

I think that being aware of God’s presence is different from feeling God’s presence. 

Feeling puts an inward focus on ourselves. 

Awareness has an outward look, drawing us into the present moment.

While most of us cannot conjure up feelings that God is present, we can cultivate awareness. 

Synonyms for aware include alive, awake, conscious, attentive. You and I can then be alive to God, awake and attentive to God. In each of these our gaze is outward toward God and not toward ourselves.

The Rule of St. Benedict and Awareness

.The Rule of St. Benedict a is a guide for developing an awareness of God. Benedict offers many ways to cultivate this awareness.

Listen!

“Listen carefully, my child, to my instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart. This is advice from one who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice.” Prologue 1

The first word in the Rule is a call to awareness – Listen. Be present, be expectant, be open to God as God works through others, the situations of life, and our own intuition. Be there….fully. Trust that God is in that moment. Listen and look for God in the conversations and situations of life.

Br. Carwyn, OSB-C

(Order of St. Benedict - Canine)

Br.. Ricky’s Welsh friend and model for listening

(Amma's favorite model, too!)

Wake Up and Be Attentive

“Let us get up then, at long last, for the Scriptures rouse us when they say: It is high time for us to arise from sleep (Rom. 13:11).  Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from the heavens that every day calls out this charge: if you hear God's voice today, do not harden your hearts" (Ps. 95:8). Prologue 8-10

Little Henry awake to the light of God in Nurse Jacqueline's eyes.

God Permeates All

“We believe that the divine presence is everywhere.” RB 19.1a

We turn our outward gaze God-ward everywhere because God is everywhere. We look for that Divine presence in everything. We put on different glasses and strive to see everything as an ongoing revelation of the Holy.



Mind and Voice Together As One

Our minds are to be in harmony with our voices

Detail from The Ghent Altarpiece by Jan Van Eyck, 1432

Worldwide Novice Benjamin mews, "Even with one eye I can be attentive to God."

“The key to the seeker’s quest

is not in finding just the right piece of holy real estate

on which to stand,

but rather in so preparing his or her awareness

that any space he or she occupies

can become thin through faith.”

Steven Charleston, The Four Vision Quests of Jesus

The Blessing and Challenge of a Personal Retreat or Quiet Day

Retreats offer time to recharge our spiritual energies and spend focused time with God. In addition to providing a boost in our spiritual practices, retreats and quiet days offer much needed rest and refreshment. 

What is the most difficult thing about a quiet day or personal retreat? 

JUST GETTING AROUND TO DOING IT! 

You and I can mew that we are too busy to take time away from our normal duties. But listen up.

Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor

Amma told me all about Frances Perkins who was the first woman to be in a Presidential Cabinet. She was Secretary of Labor under Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1933-1945. Can you imagine how busy she was? Add to responsibilities as Labor Secretary the extra of pressure as a woman on the Cabinet. How did she manage? Here’s how.

Ms. Perkins was an Episcopalian and a woman of great faith. God was first in her life. In her words, “I came to work for God, FDR and the millions of forgotten, plain, common working men.” 

Ms. Perkins who was instrumental in FDR’s New Deal and the establishment of Social Security, took day-long retreats every month at an Episcopal order of nuns, All Saints, in Maryland. 

In the Episcopal calendar, Ms. Perkins is honored as a Public Servant and Prophetic Witness on May 13.

Read about Ms. Perkins' faith here.

Br. Ricky mews, "Ms. Perkins is pretty easy to spot in this historic photo op

of the signing of the Social Security Act."

Are you convinced that you can make the time for a personal retreat or quiet day?

Let’s move on to how you can do this.  



A Quiet Day/Retreat at Home or Away from Home?

There are advantages to being at home. You are in a familiar space. You don’t need to pack anything or go anywhere. You can even establish a new relationship with your residence.



Illus. Prior John's temporary work area

A retreat at home is more easily managed if you live alone. But a home retreat is more difficult if you share a household. This is the challenge that we have in the Feline Cloister with all of us milling around. Sometimes we don't even follow Benedict’s instructions on restraint of mew (RB 6).   

You could try a home retreat day and see how it goes. But the better option is, if possible, to arrange a retreat or quiet day at a monastery or retreat center or church.

“My personal retreat is impossible here!!”

Preparation

Let felines, family, and friends, know what you will be doing and why. Provide dates and times you will be away. Tell them that you will be disconnected from technology.

Decide how you think to best spend your retreat time. Some suggestions follow below. If you have a spiritual director, seek input from this person as to how best to guide your time. 

As you prepare and things to do at home or work come up in your mind, write them down to be done later. The same can be done during the retreat. 

***Disconnect from technology*** – computer and cellphone, and even a phone landline if you still have this. Taking this important step will eliminate lots of distractions.

What To Do on a Quiet Day or Retreat

Retreat time is a balance between meaningful activity and totally-open-for-God time where we do not do anything, but just be without plans or an agenda. Here are my thoughts on meaningful activities.

Lectio divina on scripture or the Rule. The daily lectionary readings may be used. These can be planned ahead of time. However, if the Spirit moves you to a different resource go with it. 

Read a Spiritual book

Have specific times for prayer

Take a walk or other exercise. You could even work in the garden, doing this with recollection of God and for a short time and in a relaxed manner 

Amma’s spiritual director for many years, Sr. Margaret Brackett, R,S,M, (Sr. Peg), would recommend some kind of handwork; knitting, embroidery, woodworking, etc. This is like the desert mothers and fathers who would do work such as plaiting reeds. They would recite the psalms while they did their work.

Attend worship if you are in a place that has services.

Prepare simple meals. The act of meal preparation can be a prayer.  

Exercise Illustrations

Benedictine Oblate Bernadette

on her exercise break

Sr. Espy, OSB-F,

on her exercise break

To Keep in Mind During the Quiet Day or Retreat

Move more slowly.

Rest if you are tired.

Be in the present moment. If thoughts of things to do come up or worries, write them down. Release them from your mind and body.

Have an anchoring verse from Scripture of the Rule or from your lectio divina.

Avoid the “T’s”. Television, Technology and Telephone (I.e., landline or cellphone)

Expect interference from the Evil One. Sr. Peg always said that when we get close to God the Evil One gets more active to try to lure us away.

Vary your activities.

Journal.  

Beware of the Evil One. 

Should its hiss be heard, turn back to God

A Few Verses from the Rule for Meditation

I would recommend using verses from the Rule as sources of meditation and reflection. Here are a few that I have found rich for reflection.

“Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God. “ Prologue 9

Last month I suggested two verses to keep before us. On a retreat we can practice both. 



             “Seek first the kingdom of God.” RB 2.35 and Matthew 6:33.

             “Prefer nothing whatever to Christ.” RB 72.11

“Listen readily to holy reading, and devote yourself often to prayer.” RB 4.55, 56

“Yet all things are to be done with moderation on account of the fainthearted.” RB 48.9

“We believe that the divine presence is everywhere…” RB 19.1a

Ending the Retreat or Quiet Day

Little Ella delighted that her feline friend Fritz had a wonderful Quiet Day

Sr. Espy, OSB-F, finding privacy for her Quiet Day

(until Ama appeared with her IPhone)

Please review the Novice Promise on your own and continue with your Benedictine studies. I will be offering more ideas on our four target areas to help your humans.

Thank you for reading and studying this Monday Mewsing.

© August 2023 Jane Tomaine and Br. Ricky, OSB-F