A TIME TO RETREAT
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent
My dear encountered couples:
“By now they have been with me three days and have nothing to eat.” The people Jesus fed with that seven loaves of bread and a few small fish were with him for three days. Did you ever realize that? They were with him three days. A whole crowd followed him around, listening to what he had to say and receiving the benefits of his miraculous cures. How many of us would spend three days with Christ - and without a convenient store near by?
Not many people make retreats anymore. Too busy. Making a living and watching TV takes up all our time. If we don’t work we don’t eat, if we don’t relax and recreate we won’t work well. That’s very true. But it’s also very true that we have a spiritual part in us that is not separated from the rest of our parts.
Throughout each of us there is a need for God, a sort of spiritual viaduct extending throughout our bodies and souls waiting to be filled to overflowing. When this need is neglected we become like trees without sap, like plants without vitamins. You see what shape trees and plants are in these days, don’t you? Where the weather is cold and snow has taken the place of rain, trees and plants have died, or at least have gone into a deep sleep. They cannot be their lively, productive selves.
Neither can we without the sap of God. We all need the grace of God, the wisdom of God, the love of God flowing throughout our entire selves. Unless we take time, a lot of time, and often, to be off with Christ, we will become like the dead trees and plants. That crowd of people in the gospel spent three days with Jesus, listening and learning and being touched by his goodness. How much time do you think you need to spend with him?
