DAILY REFLECTION --- FRIDAY October 6th

Did you every play with the Ecclesiastes reading which most of us know: There is a season for everything and so forth. It is in the 3rd chapter, verses 1-11. What caught me are two different translations: one uses 'a time' and the second uses 'a season'. Seasons, as we know, come and go and come again and so forth; 'a time' is, so it seems to me, a one time event. So what is this about? What is the writer trying to say ... to me, to me today, to me where I am on my spiritual journey?

Throughout our lives, even our days, there are many seasons. What I need do is simple: make certain that I take the time to comprehend the new season (whatever it might be), to let it absorb my thinking, my feelings. It is only when I make room for letting the Holy Spirit penetrate my thick skull that graces abound.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Bruno, who founded a unique monastic group. Living almost completely solitary lives, the Carthusians are men truly blessed with the time they have for contemplation. He refers to the solitary life as "the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbor. Many wish to come into this port, and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it." Maybe Bruno is talking to us in our era ... so busy, feeling the pull to solitude, even for ten minutes each day ... but not convinced enough that what God promises to us will give us the time that brings peace to our hearts.