September 3

Third Day – September 3
Today was a talking day at all meals. OK, I confess, I talked at meal time, all of them. Today was a talking day for the monks. I also talked at the gift store. I shared with the storekeeper about Father Liam Lawton and his praise music from Ireland. So I have not maintained 100 % silence. I met a retired priest from Lubbock, TX at breakfast. One of the Monks engaged me in conversation at lunch. He was from Poland and has been here in the USA for two years. He knew all about Oklahoma, though. He was stranded in OKC for a day since when the bus arrived late for 8:00 a.m., it was already full. He had to wait for the next bus. He explored downtown OKC. At supper I was ready to talk. The Monk seated next to me was preparing for a sabbatical himself. He said, “I’m not taking one of those $4,000 trips to Europe.”
Cynthia, an Oblate who has just been placed in charge of the registration office said, “You could go as a Spiritual Director for free.” And I chimed in, “but that would not be a sabbatical, would it?”
Though he seemed surprised he smiled and nodded agreement. I wonder, where do you go for sabbatical when you live at a retreat center?
I finally met my Spiritual Director after supper. His name is Sam. We set a time to meet at 11:00 tomorrow (Thursday).
I set my own theme for today based on Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God”. My goal was to simply Be Still. It’s hard to be still. My mind keeps rushing on. I even thought about going up the hill to call Linda about something at the house. It seemed important at the moment, and then I told my mind to “be still.” I rested this afternoon, dozed off telling myself to be still. The thought just occurred to me, that before I can Be Still, I need to simply Be. Imperfect though I am at silence today, I can feel my self relaxing some. If I’ll just stop trying so hard to relax, and simply be.
Thanks Lord, for the walk this evening. For hearing the Sister sing praises to You from across the river. And for another beautiful sunset.