This Divine Solitude

With the advent of August, many of us will be returning to school or other busy activities that follow the end of the summer and the coming of fall. Our daily schedules can be hectic and our lives very full of commitments and plans that require a lot of our time and attention. In the midst of all this, it can be very difficult to keep a healthy balance and remember to reserve a space in our schedule for our Creator and true Spouse.  So, before we find ourselves up to our elbows in the business of classes or work or household labors and realize only at the end of the day the that we’ve given no time or thought to God, here’s a little advice from St. Francis de Sales about what he calls “one of the most certain means to spiritual advancement.”

   

“During the course of the day recall as often as possible . . . that you are in God’s presence. Consider what God does and what you are doing. You will see his eyes turned toward you constantly fixed on you with incomparable love. Then you will say to him: ‘O God, why do I not look always at you, just as you always look at me? Why do you think so often of me, O my Lord, and why do I think so seldom of you?’  . . .

Birds have nests in trees and can retire to them when need arises and stags have brushes and thickets where they take cover, hide, and enjoy the cool shade during the summer. So also our hearts should each day pick and choose some place, either on Mount Calvary or within our Lord’s wounds or in some other place near him, as a retreat where they can retire at various times to refresh and restore themselves during their exterior occupations. There, as in a stronghold, they can defend themselves against temptations. Blessed will be the soul that can truly say to our Lord: ‘You are my place of strength and my stronghold to give me safety, my roof against the rain, my shade against the heat.’

Always remember, then, to retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others. This mental solitude cannot be violated by the many people who surround you since they are not standing around your heart but only around your body. Your heart remains alone in the presence of God. . . . 

Indeed, our tasks are seldom so important as to keep us from withdrawing our hearts from them from time to time in order to retire into this divine solitude.”

--St. Francis de Sales, “Introduction to the Devout Life”