It's a Noisy World!

               Silence has become an important part of my day.  Spending three days away from home helped me to realize how little I interact with the “world” in my daily routine.  While enjoying a few days of work in Chicago, I found it difficult to find silence.  The trip began with an early morning plane ride. I had planned to catch up on the sleep I lost by getting up at 4 pm to get to the plane.  My seat with next to a group of colleagues who were traveling together and they talked the entire flight.

               My walk through Mid-Way airport was punctuated with music that filtered throughout the terminal. As I entered the hotel lobby, my eyes were drawn to the large screen TV that was placed over the reception area. Later that day, I wanted to do write, but the bed in my hotel room was inviting, so I brought my computer down to the lobby.  The volume on the TV was so loud, that I couldn’t concentrate to write.  

               I met a friend at a restaurant that didn’t have a large TV or music!  We enjoyed a two hour dinner sharing our family stories and professional challenges.  The final event of the evening was a chance to meet my brother who just happened to be in Chicago, just five blocks away from me.  I arrived in his hotel lobby early and pulled out a book to read, only to find the volume on the TV, even bigger than the one in my hotel lobby, to be too loud to concentrate.  After my brother arrived I asked if we could turn the volume down.  Much to my delight, the bartender turned it off, saying that he was tired of the non-stop talk too!

               The weather didn’t cooperate.  I had hoped to take my computer to Grant Park and spend an hour or two writing.  The cold, rainy weather meant I needed to be inside. I spent parts of the next day working in a coffee shop and finally left when my head hurt from too much noise.  As I walked through a number of stores on the Magnificent Mile, I wondered at the idea of having TVs in all kinds of retail stores.  Does that help the shopping experience, or does it distract people from making purchases?

               Much of my time was spent writing in my hotel room where I had wonderful silence.  During the visit, I ran across the following quote by Kierkegaard:  If I could prescribe just one remedy for all the ills of the modern world, I would prescribe silence. For even if the word of God was proclaimed in the modern world, no one would hear it; there is too much noise. Therefore create silence.

               At the end of my trip, my husband picked me up from the airport.  I got into the car, gave him a kiss and turned off the radio.  He looked at me puzzled and I just smiled and said, “Let’s enjoy the silence”.

Fruits of a Retreat

As I begin this Sunday morning, I am peaceful and joyful.  I am enjoying just the beginning fruits of a retreat.  It has been a tumultuous week.  It began with a packed schedule, included a surprising opportunity to significantly expand my business, important work for my clients, and all of the various family activities that comprise a week at the end of the summer. 

Only because of God’s Providence, my retreat took place on the lush, green grounds of a rural Franciscan monastery, the property of a contemplative order of sisters. I lived in a hermitage, walked a half mile or so to the Motherhouse for prayer three times a day, cooked my own simple meals on the hot plate and I read and prayed and walked and prayed and went to mass and sat on the swing and prayed. Mascara did not touch my lashes or color my lips. Birds and grasshoppers composed my music for the week. For a short time, I had a back and white jumping spider as a room mate (and neither of us is worse for the experience)!

For five days, I indulged myself in the extravagance silence of a retreat. The days rolled from on to the other without a “to do list”.  Since my watch battery died, I listened to the chapel bells for the time of day.  I worshiped in the chapel, in various pray gardens outside and as I walked the acreage both in the fields and in the forest. 

I prayed before the Blessed Sacrament for hours, joined the sisters for Mass and prayed the Liturgy of the Hours each day.  I was delighted to participate in the Franciscan Feast of the Portiuncula on August 2^nd.  This is the chapel that was used by St. Francis in the city of Assisi.  On that day, the sisters drove into Steubenville to worship at a model of the Portiuncula, leaving me 2 hours to pray alone in the chapel.  I had Him all to myself!

I meandered through portions of St. Catherine’s Dialogue.  I had time to read and re-read sentences and then to ponder over them. Sometimes it seemed as if God’s words to cascade over me as I read.  I explored using some of St. Dominic’s pray positions and found that the strange physical positions helped me focus on praying.

I prepared simple meals and ate them on the swing that hung outside my cabin.  I walked to the Mother house at 5:30 in the morning without a flashlight – the full moon lit my way.  I didn’t look in a mirror all week.  It may not sound like luxury to you, but the days tumbled upon each other.

Friday came before I knew it. It was time to enter back into the world. Unlike the last silent retreat, there were no great revelations.  Yet I have confidence that this time spent with our Lord will have more benefits than I will notice.  I attended the final prayer time with the Sisters, realizing that I will fondly remember the graceful way that they float through their days in their grey habits with white veils.

As I rise on this Sunday morning, I know that the first fruits of this retreat are the peace and joy that I feel.  I fondly remember the graceful way that the sisters floated through their days in their grey habits with while veils.  Lord, may I float through praising and worshiping you!