"Absurd comes from the Latin surdus, meaning 'deaf'. Obedience comes from the Latin ob audire, meaning 'to listen to'. Our busy world too often makes us deaf to the voice of God who speaks to us in silence.
Thus it is not surprising that we often wonder, in the midst of our occupied and preoccupied lives, if anything is really happening. Our lives may be filled to overflowing--so many events and commitments that we wonder how we'll get it all done. Yet at the same time, we might feel unfulfilled and wonder if anything is worth living for. Being filled yet unfilled, busy yet bored, involved yet lonely, these are the symptoms of the absurd lifestyle that makes us inattentive to spiritual realities.
I came here [a retreat into silence and solitude] to listen to the Voice whispering in nature, in Word and sacrament, in the people who have crossed my path and touched my life. Today I wandered along a nature trail through a dense redwood forest humming aloud, 'When through the woods and forest glades I wander...' I have a vivid image of myself staring up at one-hundred-fifty-foot redwoods in stillness, feeling tiny and insignificant and whispering, 'How great thou art! O Abba, who is man that you should be mindful of him?' At night I have been staring, shivering, up at the stars. There is a freshness about finding the Milky Way when you haven't seen it for a while. The stars call us out of ourselves."
--Brennan Manning, The Signature of Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment