Last Sunday, we were given the story of the sending off of the disciples to do missionary work. If we can remember from last Sunday’s gospel, Jesus gave them very clear instructions on how to prepare themselves for the evangelizing mission – no food, no money in their belts, etc. The gospel for this Sunday recounts the return of the disciples from their missionary work. As the Gospel mentions, Jesus and his disciples had a sort of evaluation meeting, where the disciples shared with him “what they had done and taught.” Realizing how tired and exhausted they were, Jesus asked them to take some R&R, some rest and recreation. They were invited to go to the “desert.” In the Scriptures, the desert signifies “communion with God”, “a place of spiritual reawakening.” Before Jesus started his public ministry, he spent 40 days of prayer and fasting in the desert. And most known prophets in the Scriptures start their prophetic ministry by withdrawing first to the desert as a form of spiritual preparation.
What we have in the gospel today is Jesus trying to teach his disciples and us the best rhythm or pattern of Christian life, striking a good balance between work and rest. In a world where there is always constant activity, where to be productive is always equated with doing something, the gospel today is a refreshing reminder of the importance to slow down, to pause time to time, to find time to go to our own desert place so that we can keep things in proper perspectives and to keep the essential things in life together. In short, we all need silence time to time so that we can listen carefully to what God has to say to us. No matter how busy our life is, finding time to retreat to our own mountain to pray is crucial if we want to keep our batteries of life going. Christian life would not be possible without finding our own spiritual oasis, where we can be recharged spiritually, where we can pick up and put together the pieces of our own fragmented selves. How can we keep on working, delivering what we need to do, if we are disconnected to the ultimate source of all things, who is God himself? And where do these things happen? It happens in prayer, our rest and recreation with God. Prayer is our lifeline to God. If we analyze it well, everything that we do, whether it is on a personal, work or spiritual level, is all about relationship – our relationship with God and our relationship with others. This desire to grow in our relationship cannot possibly happen without prayer. Just like it is impossible to keep a human relationship going – like friendship or marriage without sound and honest communication – our relationship with God cannot grow if we do not have that
constant and regular communication with Him through prayers. In my short experience in marriage counseling, lack of communication is always the primary reason for disagreements, which many times will result, to separation and divorce. This is the same dynamic with our relationship with God. Prayer as our medium of communication with God is a dialogue, not a monologue. We are not just the only one doing the talking, but we also need to find time to listen to what God wants to say in the silence of our hearts. The self-centeredness of the human person can still be manifested or seen clearly even in the noblest desires like in prayers. How many times in our prayers do we find ourselves monopolizing the conversation— and as soon as we finish asking what we want, we are done with our prayers, and we do not leave any space or time to listen to what God wants to say to us in silence to what we just asked Him? Silence is a huge part of prayer. It is through silence where God communicates at His best. That is why in the liturgy, like at the beginning of the readings or the liturgy of the word, we take some time to pause to dispose ourselves to listen to the Word of God. We must still the inner chatter—as what a famous phrase says, “we calm the monkey mind.” To hear the voice of God, we need to pause and stop the mental noise. It’s like telling God “Okay, I’m here, God. Your move.” That is why it is so sad if the only form of communication that a person knows are the formula prayers. In as much as the formula prayers, like Our Father, Hail Mary and so on, are great and wonderful treasures of the church’s prayer life, one should not just stop there. Prayer is an on-going relationship. It is a mutual sharing of experience – that means there is a great need for spontaneity – that means we are able to really talk to God using our own language – that we are able to express to him our fears, our joys, happiness, and also our frustrations and difficulties. The formula prayers are actually there to help us to become spontaneous later on. One does not rehearse what he/she wants to say to a good friend. It is always a spontaneous conversation. Looking at our unique prayer life, what is the quality of our prayer? How spontaneous are we? Do we find ourselves doing more of the talking, or do we also allow God to communicate to us in silence?
We would be surprised that the more we invest time in silence, the more we become better communicators and better in handling our relationships— because in silence, we are given the opportunity to reflect on the right words to say and the right steps to take. To withdraw time to time from the busyness and craziness of life does not mean to turn our back to the world, but rather, we retreat so that we can face the world anew with a renewed spirit and hope. As what a famous biblical scholar said, “we must never seek God’s fellowship in order to avoid human fellowship, but in order to fit ourselves better for it. The rhythm of the Christian life is the alternate meeting with God in the secret place and serving one another in the market place.” – Fr. Cary