The month ends and the week begins with a new chapter in "New Seeds of Contemplation" - Solitude is Not Separation, by Thomas Merton.
Some people have perhaps become hermits with the thought that sanctity could only be attained by escape from other people. But the only justification for a life of deliberate solitude is the conviction that it will help you to love not only God but also other people. If you go into the desert merely to get away from people you dislike, you will find neither peace nor solitude; you will only isolate yourself with a tribe of devils.
It is so important to understand that we are who we are as God's people when we are drawn back to that which we are - God's people. We are no isolated faithful ones...we come to the fullness of our being as we are brought home again into the midst of others. Solitude has a way of helping us come back and be reattached and welcome the other. Again, Merton has a way of pressing the point so that it is shocking. Isolation as a move into a "tribe of devils" is a powerful image. For in such a tribe, no one is close...it is a tribe of separation that is sustained by such separation and therefore misses the wonder and joy of what it is to be the community of God's people - saints...all of us.
Connection: When we breathe, we let out and we take in. Taking time to enter into moments of solitude within this day is a part the blessed cycle that includes taking time to enter into moments of relationship with others.
Holy Spirit and Power of Life, you bring us together and you give us space to walk alone. In all times, we are inspired to enter more boldly into the life you offer us. At times it is not as we would like and yet it carries us to new levels of experience that continue to shape the whole community of saints. Amen.
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