In my daily living, I have little time for
[God] and little time for myself. I am
completely involved from morning to evening in all the things I have to do, and
I even succeed in eluding my own grasp, because I do not know how to be alone
with myself. My job possesses me; the society in which I live possesses me;
entertainment of various kinds possesses me; but I do not possess myself. And this means that I gradually go to seed
like an overgrown garden, first in my external activities and, then, in my inner
life, too. I am propelled along by my
activities, for I am merely a cog in their great machinery.
But now God has drawn me out of all
this. I am obliged to be still. I am obliged to wait. I am obliged to reflet on myself; I am
obliged to bear being alone. I am
obliged to bear pain and I am obliged to accept the burden of my own self. All this is hard.
But may it not be the case that God is
waiting for me in this stillness?
--Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI,
A Very Personal Advent of
One’s Own
Image source: Rembrandt, The Dream of Joseph (1645)
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