Taste of Silence

GERMELINA LISING-SALUMBIDES

Sit One Hour with the Lord

Fully aware he was going to be crucified and die, Jesus first shares a meal with his friends and then invites them to pray and “watch” with him. 

“Watch “: sit in quiet contemplation – preparing both mind and soul.

In the past, I would do my Holy Hour with the Lord equipped with my Bible, a missal for the litanies, a novena or two, and definitely my rosary. And when there was time left – meditate. Now, I have reversed the process. I do my contemplation, and then I recite my prayers. I pick up the Bible, read Scriptures, preferably the reading of the day. I inevitably find work or a phrase that speaks to me. It is as if God himself had a message for me.

I do my “watch” – by being in quiet contemplation. Instead of reciting my praises, needs, and wants, now I prefer to sit and listen to his. It is no longer my agenda of what I need to say to him, rather, what he needs to say to me. To sit and be with him.

Definitely, God’s words and thoughts are in the Bible and devotional prayers. Of course, our Lord always wants to hear from us. Always. A loving Father who is always attentive to our concerns.

Centering Prayer*

But in Matthew 26:38, God asks to be with him. To “watch” with him. This, to me, is the essence of  “Centering Prayer.”

A sage once wrote: a smart man knows all the answers. A brilliant man knows how to ask the right questions. A wise man knows how to listen.

How does one listen and  “hear” the voice of God and know the desires of his heart? Surely not by our physical eyes and ears – but with our spiritual heart and soul. This, I do, in centering prayer.  I close my eyes, take my breaths, and rest in him. Beyond my words, beyond my thoughts.

In Matthew’s narrative, the disciples failed and fell asleep at the Lord’s request to watch with him. Sometimes, I, too, fail. But when I stay and “watch “ with him, I open my heart, open my mind, set aside ego concern, and lose myself in God’s Infinite Love. At times the Lord gives me answered prayers, sometimes new instructions, but more often, it is just with him – where no words or thoughts are needed – attuned to his will and resting in his love.

*A Christian method of meditation with an emphasis on interior silence.

This article was taken from May 5, 2019, Parish Bulletin of Santuario de San Antonio Parish, Forbes Park, Makati, with the contributor’s permission.