Continue telling stories

Weekday Reflection: Monday of the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)
(Gn 28:10-22 / Mt 9:18-26) 

I find it coincidental--or better yet providential--that as I decide to revive this old blog, I end up starting with a reading, the one from Genesis 28-10-22, that started all things about Bethel: the story of Jacob, journeying and deciding to sleep in a shrine, and making use of a stone for a pillow, started to dream of a stairway connecting heaven and earth, and angels climbing up and going down on it. Upon waking, he decided to call the place Bethel, the abode of God, to capture his own experience of finding God in unexpected places,

“Truly, the LORD is in this spot, although I did not know it!”

The story of Jacob's dream is the first reading of Monday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time. It's the reading for today. Some say it's just a dream, like any other dream. However, for the Israelites, God speaks to his people in many ways, including dreams. Jacob, in his journey from Beer-sheba towards Haran, experienced that the dream wasn't just ordinary. It was a divine encounter reminding him that as he journeys through the many stages of his life, God will always be with him, most especially in those moments he least expects.

Life is a journey. Life is like that ladder connecting heaven and earth, and through all the ups and downs in this stairway, God's messengers will also be there, helping us, guiding us, inspiring us to trust in his providence. The responsorial psalm for today cannot but capture this message:

In you, my God, I place my trust.

 Life as a journey takes on many forms. Some travel fast, while others slow. Some travel light, while others bring with them all that they need and want. Some travel adventurously, taking all possible detours to explore the countryside. Some even take risks of being lost in order to genuinely find their true selves. While some journey in togetherness, others prefer solitude, in order to live deeply and to "suck out all the marrow of life" in the famous words of Henry David Thoreau.

But through all these, there is a dreaded form that we seek to avoid--to walk aimlessly.

To walk aimlessly is to walk without a purpose, without a destination. It is the sort of walking that undermines itself. It is simply the movement of our feet, in total absence of a goal that brings us from one point to another.

In the gospel reading of today, there are many journeys. There is the official journeying to meet Jesus in order to desperately beg him to revive his daughter who just died. There is the woman suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years walking up to Jesus believing that if only she could touch the tassel of his cloak, she shall be healed. There are the disciples of Jesus who follow him wherever he goes. And of course, there is Jesus himself, walking, traveling, journeying among towns and villages preaching, healing, driving out demons, bringing the Good News to all people he encounters along the way.

In all these walking, journeying, traveling, there is always a spot where the Divine is encountered. In the wise words heard in preaching, in the mighty deeds of healing, and let us not forget, in the humble moments of realization that God is with us, and will help us, and to whom we really put our trust.

Such events in life's journeys are singular moments that we need to treasure. These Divine encounters are the treasures that make our life rich and meaningful. We are born into a world and gifted a name. But our name is empty. It is the significant moments of life, the great ups and downs, that fill this empty name and make it meaningful--that is, make our life full of meaning.

We hold on to this meaning. We cling to this meaning. This defines our life. This defines our name. And it is this meaning that we share to others, for them to find their own meaning.

And so, we must continue telling stories.... our own stories that make our life meaningful.


       Image: Jacob's Dream by Spanish painter Jusepe de Ribera, art completed in 1639.

When the student is ready, the teacher arrives

Sunday Reflection: 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)
(Ez 2:2-5 / 2 Cor 12:7-10 / Mk 6:1-6) 

The first time I heard of the Oriental saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher arrives", the first thought that came to me was that, a teacher can never be late. I thought it was about the teacher having the discretion as to when he or she would arrive to begin class. But then, I started to think again...

The saying is not about the teacher. It's about the student. It's about the student attaining to a sufficient level of readiness to engage oneself in the learning process to be facilitated by the teacher.

In a way, one can also say, when the community is ready, the prophet arrives. Unless the community has attained the right disposition for the preaching of the prophet, unless the people of the community have opened their minds and hearts to the words of the prophet, the prophet, the spokesperson of God, can never evangelize fully to the community.

Therein lies the difficulty in being a teacher or prophet. After all the hard work in preparation, after all the commitment and passion for ministry, a prophet's hands are tied--so to speak--by the chains of the community's readiness to listen to him.

In the Gospel reading (Mk 6:1-6), Jesus returned to his hometown. It was a very risky move. He only left it, a few years before. Yet, in the places where he has been, there were only praise and admiration that followed him, and also remarkable news of healing and accounts of driving out demons from the possessed. In a short span of time he has attained the status of celebrity among townsfolk everywhere, and notoriety among the Pharisees and other religious leaders.

And now, he decides to return to his hometown at the head of a group of disciples. When Sabbath came and he began to teach in the synagogue, how was he received by his own townspeople?

They said, “Where did this man get all this? 
What kind of wisdom has been given him? 
What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! 
Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? 
And are not his sisters here with us?” 
And they took offense at him. 

Following all the questions of the people, the last sentence summarized what they were feeling inside, what they truly had in their hearts--they took offense at him. They were offended, annoyed and resentful that a person, a commoner, someone of their equal, or perhaps they even thought someone beneath their level, would dare preach to them with such lofty and wise words. Yes, they took offense at him. For them, Jesus is not a notch above them. He is just one of them--came from them, among them--and hence, has no right to be a teacher, a prophet to them.

Jesus would have loved that his own people would benefit much from what wisdom he has to share. Jesus would have loved that his own people would share in the great things that the Almighty can work through him, the miracles, the healings, the great deeds he has done everywhere else. But the gift he offers to them is refused. He as a prophet to them is refused. The wise counsels are refused.... all because the people would rather close their ears to his preaching. All because the townsfolk would rather close their eyes to the wonders he makes. All because they would rather close their hearts to the presence of God in the person before them.

Amidst the many things that he can do to them,  Jesus felt powerless.... because of the people's lack of faith in him, the people's lack of trust in him.

He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Perhaps the teacher has yet to come, because I am not yet ready as a student? Perhaps the prophet hasn't arrived yet, because we, as a community, are not yet disposed to his preaching? Perhaps God is still in wait to encounter us, because we haven't prepared ourselves to encounter his greatness.... greatness already present in our midst?

Ako ba ay lingkod na laging handa?

Sunday Reflection: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time 
(Wis 18: 6-9; Heb 11: 1-2.8-9; Lk 12: 32-48) 

Mayroon tayong kasabihan, “kapag wala ang pusa, naglalaro ang mga daga.” Siguro may katotohanan ang kasabihang ito dala ng paniniwala na ang mga daga ay takot sa mga pusa; hindi nila magagawa ang anumang gusto nilang gawin kapag naroroon ang pusa. Kung kaya naman kapag napansin ng mga daga na ang pusa ay wala, ito’y pagkakataon ng mga daga na maglaro at gawin ang anumang gusto nila nang walang panganib at pangamba. 

Kung may katotohanan man ang kasabihang ito, ito ay para sa mga pusa at daga lamang. Nakakatawang isipin na kalimitan, ito rin ang pag-iisip na umiiral sa ilan sa ating naturingang tao. Para tayong mga daga na naglalaro nang walang humpay at gambala kapag walang pusa na nagbabantay, nagmamatyag, at pumipigil sa ating pagsasaya. Hindi masama ang magsaya. Ang katanungan lamang ay kung nagagampanan natin ang ating tungkulin sa gitna ng kasiyahan. 

Hinahamon tayo ng Ebanghelyo na laging maging handa sa pagdating ng ating Panginoon. Ayon nga sa talinhaga, ang mga lingkod na maaabutang handa ay magiging mapalad, subalit ang mga hindi handa ay parurusahan dala ng kanilang kapabayaan. 

Ano ba ang ibig sabihin ng pagiging handa? Una, ang taong laging handa ay hindi nagpapaliban. Wala siyang bahid ng kung tawagin ay mañana habit. Ito ay ang pag-iisip na ipinagpapaliban ang mga dapat gawin ngayon sa ibang oras o ibang araw. Ito’y tumutukoy sa mga taong pag tungkulin o gawain ang pinag-uusapan ay madalas mangatuwirang “mamaya na lang yan, marami pa namang oras!” Sa pag-iisip ng mga taong ito, ang oras ay parang lawa na hindi makakaranas ng tag-tuyo. Mayroon pa ring bukas na darating. Wala silang pagkakaunawa ng huling araw o oras. Subalit sa totoong buhay, ang bawat tungkulin ay may palugit, at ang hindi makakatupad nito ay matatawag na walang pananagutan. 

Ikalawa, ang taong laging handa ay hindi lamang nag-iisip ng pangkasalukuyan, kundi pati rin ang bukas at ang mga darating na araw. Hindi lubos ang ating paghahanda kung ang pinagkakaabalahan lamang natin ay ang pang-hinaharap. Bahagi ng pagiging handa ay ang pagiging maagap sa kung anumang darating na pangyayari. May kasabihan na ang magaling na manlalaro ng chess ay inuunahan ang kanyang katunggali ng maka-tatlong galaw. Hindi siya nakasisiguro sa susunod na galaw ng kanyang kalaban, subalit sa kanyang pag-iisip, alam na niya kung ano marahil ang susunod na galaw at kung ano ang kanyang magiging panabla sa galaw na ito. Ang bagay na ito ay nasasalamin din sa pabula ni Aesop tungkol sa langgam at tipaklong. Habang nagpapakasaya ang tipaklong sa napakagandang panahon, ang langgam naman ay walang humpay sa pag-iimbak ng makakain para sa panahon ng tag-ulan. Kinalaunan, ang langgam ay may kinakain habang ang tipaklong ay nagdaranas ng gutom. 

Ikatlo, ang taong laging handa ay may tiwala sa Maykapal. Hindi natin tiyak kung ano ang mararatnan natin sa darating na araw. Katulad ng sabi sa Ebanghelyo, “darating ang Anak ng Tao sa oras na hindi ninyo inaasahan” (Lukas 12:40). Ang mahalaga ay gawin ang gampanin sa araw-araw at ang mga bagay sa hinaharap ay ipagkatiwala sa Maykapal. Gaya nang nabasa natin sa Ikalawang Pagbasa, “kinalugdan ng Diyos ang mga tao noong una dahil sa kanilang pananalig sa kanya” (Hebreo 11:2). Si Abraham ay huwaran sa pananalig sapagkat tumalima siya sa utos ng Diyos na humayo sa lupang ipinangako sa kanya, bagama’t hindi niya alam kung saan paroroon, kung ano ang mararatnan niya, at anong mangyayari sa kanya at sa kanyang asawang si Sara. Mahirap paniwalaang magiging Ama siya ng mga bayan at ang kanyang magiging lipi ay kasindami ng bituin sa kalangitan at sindami ng mga buhangin sa dalampasigan. Paanong mangyayari ito kung sila ni Sara ay matanda na? Sa harap ng mga halos di kapani-paniwalang pangako ng Diyos, si Abraham ay nagtiwala pa rin sa Maykapal, at ang pananalig na ito ang naging huwaran sa lahat ng salinlahi. 

Nakakatuwang isipin na sa Ebanghelyo, naitanong ni Simon Pedro kung ang talinhaga ni Kristo ay para sa kanila o para sa lahat (Lukas 12:42). Matapos mabasa at mapagnilayan ang mga pagbasa ngayong linggong ito, matanim nawa sa ating isipan na hindi mahalaga kung para kanino ang talinhaga ni Kristo. Ang mas mainam na tanong ay kung saan natin ilalagay ang ating mga sarili: sa mga lingkod na handa, o sa mga aliping pabaya?

Catholic Understanding of Marriage

In the Catholic Church, there is a specific way of understanding marriage. The sacrament of holy matrimony is about the union of a man and a woman and how this union mirrors the eternal love, forgiveness and understanding that exist between God and Humanity.

A Christmas Homily

The spirit of Christmas is more than the festivities, the rejoicing and the laughter. The spirit of Christmas is the arrival of hope, that there is reason to hope. Christ wasn't just born in a manger. We are the ones who are born, raised and live in a manger... Christ only decided to be born there---just to be with us and give us hope. That's why he is called Emmanuel... God-is-with-us.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

God prepares us before he tests us

People often complain that God treats them unfairly in sending sending them trials, sometimes even regardless of how huge or small such trials may be. They often say that God's sends them "suprise quizes" likes the ones we have at school where, without previous notice the teacher would announce at the start of the class that there's an exam for his or her subject and that we need to immediately put aside our books and notebooks and get a pen and a sheet of paper and answer the following questions. We complain that it's unfair, that we should be forewarned, that we may be prepared for these "surprise" testings.

What I say is that God is definitely more sensible than that. For reasons beyond my comprehension, God does send crises, trials, testings in our life and quite often, they do come as a "surprise." But is such really the case?

The feast of the Transfiguration offers us so many themes to reflect, themes that abound in the general topic of Christian Life. One of the central concerns of this event in the life of the early Christians is that Jesus was preparing his disciples for that "great trial of Faith" that they will encounter in the Cross. After having revealed his eventual tragic death to his disciples, he called some of them to be witnesses of his true destiny: the Glory of the Resurrection. His message was clear, the gathering darkness of the Night is only a prelude to the grandeur of Daylight.

Unfortunately, even this simple preparations sessions weren't enough, or perhaps they weren't so clear to Jesus' disciples. This is obvious in Peter's remark of staying in the mountain and building three tents. The fact that Peter misunderstood the whole scence was evident in the gospel observation that while Peter was still speaking a voice was heard from the clouds saying "This is my beloved Son.... listen to him."

The question is: did Peter listen? Was he attentive? No! This is obvious because on the next occasion wherein Jesus revealed to his disciples that he shall be handed over to the enemies and shall be tortured, will suffer and eventually die, Peter was the first to say that he shall not allow this to happen. To which Jesus retorted, "Get behind me Satan!" Yes, Peter's stubbornness to insist on what he thinks, rather than pay attention to how Jesus was preparing them for the Crisis of the Cross was crystal clear.

But before we eventually have this totally bad image of Peter, the point for reflection is this: aren't we all like Peter? Do we not share in the same predicament, or condition of stubbornness before the formative hand of God? God will never test us beyond our capacity. He prepares us for the day of test; it is us who couldn't pay attention to how he is preparing us.

INTRODUCING SANTA GIANNA

THE STORY
It was April 20, 1962, on a Good Friday, a pregnant lady in full term was admitted to Monza Maternity Hospital in Italy. Unlike other pregnancies, the pregnancy of Gianna Beretta Molla was critical. She was suffering from a painful uterine tumor or fibroma diagnosed during the second month of her pregnancy. It was a critical pregnancy because it was a choice between the life of the mother or the child. During that time, she and her husband Pietro, both Italians, were given the choice to either terminate the pregnancy and save the mother’s life or carry the pregnancy to full term and endanger the mother’s life. Gianna told her husband to save their baby.

Gianna Beretta Molla was a medical doctor specializing in Pediatrics who came from a large Italian family of deep religious upbringing: she has two brother priests, and a religious sister. She herself during her early life was contemplating of becoming a nun after receiving her medical degree with honors. However, after a Marian pilgrimage, she discerned that God was calling her for the married state. Immediately upon returning home from the pilgrimage, she met Pietro. Both Pietro and Gianna were of deep religious convictions, having high regard for marriage and the sanctity of family life. The marriage bore them four children, the last of which endangered Gianna’s life.

Black Saturday, April 21, 1962, a day after Gianna’s confinement, she gave birth to their daughter Gianna Emanuela. After which, Gianna suffered excruciating pain for six days refusing pain medication so that she may suffer more like Jesus. On the seventh day, Saturday within the octave of Easter, Gianna died of septic peritonitis in their home. It was April 28, 1962. She was 39 years old. Because of her love for life and for her children, she surrendered her own life to give life for her unborn child. Knowing that she would have to give a part of her own life to extend the gift of life given to her child, she willingly consented. She bore concrete witness to the passage: “No one has a greater love than the one who lays down his life for another” (Jn 15:13).

On April 24, 1994, Year of the Family, Pope John Paul II beatified Gianna Beretta Molla at St. Peter’s Square in the presence of her husband, children, and her brothers and sisters. During one of the International Celebrations of the Family attended by John Paul II, Gianna Emanuela, the last that Gianna gave birth, who is now a medical doctor like her mother, gave a testimony that made the pope shed tears: “Dear mom, thank you for having given me life two times: when you conceived me and when you permitted me to be born, protecting my life.... And so my life seeks to be the natural continuation of your life, of your joy of living, of your enthusiasm, and it finds its full meaning in the engagement and in the dedication to whoever lives in suffering.” On May 16, 2004 Gianna was canonized a saint of the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II who, during his homily, gave recognition to this married woman as a “a simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love.” She was a first among women saints of the Church who was recognized precisely because of her own motherhood. Her feast is celebrated on April 28.

THE MESSAGE
In the Gospel according to Saint John we hear of the great love the Father has for all of us, for all of his creation, such that he sent us his only Son that all of us dead to sin, may be reborn in grace and attain salvation (Jn 3:16). For the person who has come to grasp the full meaning, the depth, and the immensity of this love of God, everything becomes relative. The only absolute is love, love in the way that God has loved us. We hear in the writing of Saint Paul how “God who is rich in mercy, revealed his immense love” (Eph 2:4) He sent us his Son to deliver us from death to sin, to life in grace. And in all things that God has done to us, we deserve nothing. Everything is grace, an undeserved, unmerited favor of God given freely to humanity because of his love. This is the “good news” that we hear proclaimed in the gospel each day. Jesus himself gave concrete expression of that love that the Father has for us. As a God, he doesn’t have to undergo all the troubles of suffering, dying and rising again. Yet, he willing surrendered himself, even his life. Jesus grasped the depth of the Father’s love, and hence, everything becomes relative. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14).

THE CHALLENGE
Today, the Church challenges us to immerse ourselves in that love of the Father, to grasp the full meaning, the depth, and the immensity of his love. And from there, give it concrete expression in our life, in our ministry in the Church, and service to the society. We will never run out of people to love, persons to give concrete expression of this love. This is each person’s vocation, the the daily incarnation of our call to holiness. We need only to forget ourselves a little more, set aside our prejudices and hurt feelings, be convinced that only love is absolute, and then surrender ourselves to the Father’s love that lies hidden in our hearts. Love is at the heart of human nature. God created us in love. The most spontaneous thing that a person does is to love. And others have witnessed to this, even at great cost. If we only look around ourselves and look closely at one another, one may find many instances also of love concretely and daily lived. The life of Santa Gianna is only one shining example of to what extent a mother can love her child. Normally the Church would counsel that the life of the mother be given priority. But Santa Gianna’s love went beyond. She had lived her life to the full and she freely surrendered the rest in order to give a second life to her unborn child. May each one of us shine forth the very same love that nailed Christ to the cross, the very same love that brought about humanity’s salvation.

Setting our Eyes on the Ideal

Reflection: 27th Sunday in OT

We find ourselves living in a time where societies and communities become fragmented, where institutions become divided, where relationships are broken up. We say that the family is the basic unit of a society, and within that basic unit, there we find the paradoxical unity of husband and wife; two persons united in matrimony, united in life, and united in their aspirations for their children. However, nowadays, we are noticing certain trends in thinking that break up the very core, the very identity of what we take as the basic unit of society. There is the growing phenomenon of single-parenthood; the phenomenon of co-habitation especially among the young adults; the dwindling population of the younger generation; the so-called “gay rights movement” that demand for equal opportunity in the society, not just in the work place, but also in the institution of married life. And what’s going to be next? Gay couples seeking adoption of children to somehow realize in their partnership the least semblance of a family.

The gospel and the first reading point directly to the issue of marriage and divorce, a thorny issue both at the time of Jesus and even in our times. Decisions have been made, compromises have been upheld, and sometimes made standard. In effect, the face of the reality of married life has been a sea of change, yet despite the makeovers to please a certain segment of the society, if not conform to prevailing ideologies, the ideals remain the same. This is the point of Jesus’ discourse. The Pharisees were intent to pit the teachings of Jesus against the prescriptions handed down by Moses. They raised a prickly question, and Christ responded. Not to contradict the Mosaic prescription, but to point to the Pharisees where their eyes should be gazing: the ideal to which rules and codes of conduct are mere humble stewards that accomplish and err at the same time.

We no longer live in a society where the teachings of the Church hold certain predominance, particularly those that fall short of the immediate concerns of religion. Despite this shortfall, one can still aim at what is morally good, if not religiously good. We need to be conscious of the law of gradation. The prescription of divorce by Moses was good considering the circumstances of the people themselves: it was because of their “hardness of heart” that such a prescription was made. That was a good solution, perhaps even the best considering the characters of the persons involved during that time. However, such a prescription remains a servant to the ideal to which we need to set our eyes on. The Pharisees erred not because they were obedient to the precepts of Moses. Being leaders of their religion, their error was the failure to point to people, to lay bare to the people the ideals which are God’s ordinances. They have fallen into the pitfall of lazy contentment, the entropy of idealism, the sedimentation of aspirations. Christ wasn’t happy with the realities that confronted him during his time, nor should we be content with the compromises of own time. Following Christ, we need to lay bare to other people the divine destiny that God has personally shaped for each of us; we need point to them the ideals that nudge us continuously lest we fall into the lethargy of contentment. We have to help others set their eyes on the ideals, at least from time to time.

Prayer Reflection: Fidelity is Fecundity

Today in Rome, we are celebrating the beatification of Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916). A solitary man who sought God, replied to the voice of God calling him to be in the wilderness. His life was transformed by His grace. My Jesus, allow me your grace to transform my life also. Let me hear your voice more clearly amidst the noises I hear, day in and day out. Just a while ago, before I went here in the chapel of St. Emerentienne, as I was leaving my room, I noticed that the lights in the toilet were turned on. I felt that pull in me that, to conserve energy I should turn them off, but this bad habit of rationalizing to excuse myself started again. I started thinking that probably someone was inside. But your voice told me to better check it because if there's no one, it's a huge waste of electricity. Plus, it definitely won't cost me much time to check. And so I did. I checked and found that none was there. Lord Jesus, even in small things I see clearly how you always make an effort to guide me. If such be your designs in small things, there is nothing by which I could even think that in big responsibilities, you do not guide my life. The problem really is that I fail to turn an attentive ear to your voice. And even if sometimes I hear your voice, this habitual mechanism of rationalizing to excuse myself commences. And so, another opportunity to conform my will to yours passes unproductively. Allow me not only the grace to hear your voice, but likewise, transform my heart so that it will only seek that which you wish. Allow my pleasure to be your pleasure. Transform me inwardly, from within, by your presence within me.

Today's gospel reading (Mt 25, 14-30) is about the time of reckoning, that at the close of the day, we present ourselves before our friend Jesus and offer to him the fruits of our labors. And he desires that at the end of the day, we have become productive. Not simply for the sake of being productive, but that whatever God had given us, we have made good use of them, and everything put to good use multiplies abundantly. God calls us to be faithful to him, be vigilant for his coming, but it is not a passive vigilance, or a barren fidelity. To be attached to Jesus is to be attached to a trunk of profound productivity; that as a branch to this tree, we cannot but bear fruit, for this trunk is teeming with the natality of grace that exceeds passivity and inaction. Fidelity is fecundity. We cannot remain barren in Jesus who is life. Blessed Charles de Foucauld stove to remain faithful to God, and behold, we are reaping the bountiful fruit of his fidelity--by the hundred fold.

Universal Need for Solitude

I've just started with this blog to start sharing reflections on contemporary people's increasing need for solitude. It is not so much a form of simply being alone from the sometimes imposing and constricting presence of other people, be they be friends or foe, but something much deeper than a simple sense of wanting to be a alone. The solitude of which Bethel speaks is not an escape, but a response to a singular call to be with someone--God. The solitude that Christian tradition speaks of is precisely this, that God lovingly calls us to be with him, to be alone with him.

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. And he said to them, "Come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while" (Mk. 6: 30-31a).

The practice of spending moments of prayer and silence has been part of the tradition in the Church since her very beginning. From the time when Jesus welcomed back his disciples after sending them on a mission; to the time when St. Anthony of Egypt (c. 251- 356 AD) received the divine call to go to the desert, initiating the hermitic tradition in Christianity; to the formation of monasteries and secluded convents (c. 6th century); up to the present generation, solitude has been the backbone of the spiritual legacy of the Church. The Old Testament narrates of countless instances of “going to the desert” to pray and encounter Yahweh. But the singular model for us remains the solitary figure of Jesus who goes “to the mountain to pray, spending the night in communion with God” (Lk. 6: 12).

To enter into solitude is not a thing that we make when we are already tired and we wish only to rest and be left alone. To enter into solitude is to respond to a call of God who loves us and wants to be with us: “I will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart” (Hosea 2: 14).