SUNDAY, July 19 7 Pentecost

A new centering prayer group started at my church. The only place for it to meet on Sunday mornings was in the library. Sounded perfect.

But the library shares a wall with a restroom and the nursery and is on the main hallway to the parish hall. Meditating through the flushing and wailing is a challenge. One of the more ironic conversations overheard from the hallway was an elderly parishioner who extolled the virtues of his new hearing aid which could be controlled with a simple twist to cut out all noise. Those of us around the prayer table briefly opened our eyes and cast knowing looks: we needed such a device for our centering prayer room!

But over the weeks, those who return to God's presence in the prayer room for one hour a week have come to realize that merely shutting the doors and drawing the curtains sets us apart from that almost inescapable busy world outside. We can hear the chatter, but we listen for God.

A deserted, restful place is anywhere Christ is.

PRAY for the Diocese of San Joaquin  (Province VIII, U.S.)

Ps 89:20-37 and 2 Samuel 7:1-14a –OR– Ps 23 and Jeremiah 23:1-6; Ephesians 2:11-22

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