After returning from a two-week vacation in a North Carolina Smoky Mountains cabin, I have a better understanding of why it is important to have a special location in the home for prayer. It helps create the visual, sounds, and pace of praying in a remote solitude.
The prayer-related objects in my home move me out of sight of the world, favorite music or outdoor sounds help me hear a special type of silence — more like the silence God creates, and the window through which I can see the clouds and trees, give a better sense of God’s pace carrying me through time.
Lighting a candle incorporates and provides all these elements and I have a better understanding of what it can represent in creating the solitude for prayer.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
A flame in the flower. A Benedictine oblate blog
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Thank you for visiting my blog. Your posts regarding silence are spot on! Cassian is a favorite of mine too, along with St. Teresa of Avila, Pennington, Keating and a few others.
ReplyDeleteYou may enjoy reading "On Being Separate" from The Church and the Land by Fr. Vincent McNabb (a major founder of the Catholic Land Movement.)
at this link
http://www.freewebs.com/plaincatholic/onbeingseparate.htm
That's me away then.
Hey, thanks for the links! I don't have an area set aside for prayer, which may be a reason it's so hit and miss with me. I guess I need to do something about that.
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