I interrupt my mornings with Eugene de Mazenod for just a day or two.  I have come to a place called Galilee Centre which sits on the Ottawa River, right where it meets the mighty Madawaska River here in Arnprior, Ontario.  I arrived yesterday and began almost immediately to slow down, my pace became more relaxed, less hurried as though a laziness had invaded my being.  Of course it could be due to the extreme heat we are experiencing – but it is why I came.  To slow down, to try to simply ‘be’ and to listen.

I find myself looking forward to all that nature has to offer and there is a quiet excitement within me at all the possibilities – even if they be no more than to sit in the sun of the day and fall asleep.  I think that somehow I have grown very tired and I know I need to be renewed – I want to be renewed, with the external layers of busyness removed, with the armor of busyness taken away, with the distraction of constant noises and input quieted.  Here the Spirit will speak to me.  I have come here to rest and pray, to simply ‘be’ and to listen.

I’ve come to once again  be still so that I might hear the whisper of God and allow that breath to travel through me, to fill all the nooks and crannies of yearning, to soothe and to console and then to regenerate and re-enliven me.

I pray I will be able to remain vulnerable and not dress in any armour, that I won’t try to hide from my Beloved. I pray that I will allow God to pick me up and carry me rather than trying to show how strong I think I am.  I think that I will allow God to feed me the sweetest of waters that I will find in the beauty of the morning sunrises and the calm of the water that is not far from my window.

So I will sleep and wake, pray and ponder, listen and perhaps hear in the beating of my heart that of God’s.