Saturday Thoughts

Here is a movie I really want to see. I haven't seen a movie in a theater since 1998, and this one looks really interesting:



The quote at the beginning looks to be from 1 Kings 19:11-13, but from my poor reading of German, the quote appears to be that of God not being in the strong wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire, but rather in the soft wind. This does not correlate with what I found in the Douay-Rhiems Bible. I am confused. THANKS TO HISTOR THE WISE, I FOUND IT IN 3 KINGS 19: 11-13, where Elias meets God on the mountain.

Anyhooo....

Every year, I go on a silent retreat at a retreat house run by Opus Dei, and while we do not go to such extremes of mortification over the four days, it still is an edifying time for me. It is a chance to step back from my busy life and take stock, to spend the time in prayer and thought. Blogless.

When there is no talking, the mind ceases to concentrate on the next thing to say, the next witty or sage pronouncement that I am constantly searching for in my day to day life. In the silence, no noise coming in and nothing preparing to go out, God will speak to me...provided I am not humming the 'Batman' theme song to myself.

After a few days, I am ready to return to my Wife and Noisykids, to a house where someone is cooking Play-Do in the microwave just to see what will happen, and toilet paper rolls are scattered about the floor of the bathroom like spent shell casings of some monstrous gun, rather than being neatly stacked away. While I feel a slight pull to the quiet of a contemplative life, my calling truly is to that of a man in the world trying to bring himself and his family closer to God every day.

Saint Scholastica and Saint Benedict, pray for us.