St John the Baptist
Reflections from a Nun
After a visitor had been here for a week I heard her remark that when people asked her what she had done in a monastery for a week she would tell them. I got up, and then I prayed. I picked fruit, and then I prayed. I washed dishes, and then I prayed. I walked the dog, and then I prayed. Ate lunch then I prayed. In a similar fashion she continued on with her daily activities.
There are many things I wonder about and I proceeded to wonder how long would an individual-any individual- go along in this way before going to the next step. That led me to wonder what kind of prayer did our visitor engage in.
Now have you ever wondered what John the Baptist was doing in the desert those many years, besides surviving the desert? What kind of prayer do you think he was engaged in? Some of the scripture like psalms 139 “Where can I go from your spirit and where can I flee your presence” (and so forth) that John must have learned indicate belief in a God that was in all things and everywhere present. Perhaps he hunted for food and then prayed, as did our visitor. There are numerous theories about John being a part of the Qumran community or the Essenes but I can’t imagine he was not led also by the Spirit of God. He recognized someone very special when Jesus came to be baptized.
When a person becomes shall we say, “enlightened”, the world doesn’t change. The person sees the world out of different eyes. Some of us believe intellectually that God Is and is in all things. That is the intellect, what about the rest of our being? If we see or really experience God in all things, our prayer is different. Truly, it is Wisdom. We look at things in an entirely new way. The person who is currently annoying me or that problem I can’t make a decision on, takes on a new perspective.
Essentially prayer is the lifting of the heart and mind to God and is as varied as each of us varies from the other. We know that any idea or picture of God we have is incomplete-not accurate. God is so much more than anything we can imagine, so how does one lift one’s heart and mind to this unimaginable God? Most of us have had an experience of something greater than ourselves, something different that we can’t quite explain or sometimes wonder if we did not even imagine it. If there is nothing else, it is to the memory of that experience we can lift our heart and mind to.
It is good to begin and end each day with a prayer, to begin and end each task with a prayer. Words are very useful but a mindful intent is equally prayer. The next step I referred to earlier is becoming aware of God in all things. It is relatively easy to think of God when considering all the beauty of this world and the goodness of others. Some consider even pain and suffering as coming from God. I do not believe God wants us to suffer. God did not want John to be beheaded or Jesus to die, but God is with us, helping us to endure and to find some good that comes from our pain. If we do not see any good, God at least helps us to endure.
Recently I was talking to a couple in their 60’s. They have both tried numerous times to stop smoking. After stopping their pills -their latest attempt-they were still sick for a good four days. Again thwarted, they made it clear that they would find a way to stop smoking. In this morning’s first reading Wisdom is preferred to all other things one might gain. May we have the same determination as that couple to listen to the Spirit and attain Wisdom. Let us find our way to prepare the ground by learning to pray, to be mindful of God’s presence, to be listening so that we are being “guided into the way of peace”.
Christ is in our midst.
