«Come now, insignificant man, flee for a moment from your affairs, escape for a little while from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toils. Abandon yourself for a little time to God and rest for a little in him.
Enter into the inner chamber of your soul, shut out everything save God and what can be of help in your quest for him and having locked the door seek him out. Speak now, my whole heart, speak now to God: ‘I seek your countenance, O Lord, your countenance I seek.’» Saint Anselm (1033-1109), extracts from Proslogion
People in our own time, just as those of the twelfth century, find it difficult to leave their burdensome occupations and enter into themselves in order to rest in God.
Burdens and worries accelerate us, stimulate our activity, prevent us from being in the present, and make it more and more difficult to rest in God.
But we have to do it! We must stop, breathe deeply, calm down, enter into our soul, close the door, and, in silence, seek the face of God. It is not difficult. He is waiting for us with a smile, and He puts His arm around our shoulders, and draws us to His heart, like a Father in love with His child, while He says to us: “It’s about time, my child. How I longed to be alone with you”. And like little children, we lay our heads on our Father’s lap.
It is necessary to seek God’s face to confirm how much He loves us, to be alone with Him, to rest in Him, to feel His love, to enjoy His tenderness, to embrace Him like newborn children. This is how our trust in God will grow. And this is how we will move forward in our life, in our family, in the world, effectively, but with serenity and peace.
Lord, grant that I may always seek your countenance, that I may look into your eyes, eyes that look at me with tenderness and fill me with confidence. In them I will be able to see myself and others as you see us. That look is the one that matters. Not ours. If I have intimacy with you and trust you, I will see people and events with your eyes: that is true wisdom, the source of our peace.
“Lord, let me see with your eyes,
may I speak with your words,
may I listen with your ears,
may I work with your hands,
may I want with your will,
may I love with your heart.” St. Josemaria
Father Tomás Trigo
