“Be Still and Know That I Am God”

Do you ever feel that God may not hear your prayers? Do you think that there are so many other things God has to take care of that He may not be listening? We have all heard the story in Luke’s Gospel of the man who was so persistent that even at midnight, after banging on the door of a friend’s house for hours he was able to get his request for help granted. Perhaps that is how we believe God will respond to us. We just have to be persistent, storm the heavens, and be faithful in our prayers.

On the other hand, maybe that is the problem. We are doing all the talking. God always listens, but do we? In our world today, silence is often missing. Have you seen the movie “Into Great Silence”? It is 162 minutes of the day-to-day lives of a group of Carthusian monks living in France. There are no car chases, violent fights, or phones ringing. Only silence. It’s not surprising that it didn’t last long in the theaters. Why would anyone sit and watch a movie about silence? But we should. It is a reminder to us that we do not have enough of it, and we are often uncomfortable when we have to endure it.

God wants to be with us. God wants to enjoy our presence and endures our harangues and fits of conversation because it means we will spend time with God. To get to know others, we have to spend time with them. And when we truly grow to love them, we want to spend more and more time with them. Do we always have to talk when we are with them, or is it enough just to BE with them?

So, can we not simply rest in God’ presence? Is that too much for us to handle? God’s love and patience are deep and long lasting. God will always be there whether we take five seconds, five minutes or five hours to acknowledge it. Our challenge is to take that time out of our oh-so-busy days and let God claim our presence and just rest in the presence of the One who loves us beyond all others.

Sister Pat is a member of the RENEW staff, a Dominican Sister, and a huge Notre Dame Fightin' Irish fan.