I have an addiction.
Well, I judge it to be an addiction, it definitely takes up quite a bit of time, whenever I have a pause in life, I do it.
When I am bored, I do it.
When I wake up and after I say my prayers (usually), I do it.
At night when I lie down to go to sleep, I do it.
If we are in the car and there’s a lull, I do it.
So what do I do? I logon to Instagram.
I enjoy it because it’s quick, I can see what my family is up to, I can look at and read some very inspiring and uplifting memes. Some even further educate me on my faith!
Yup, I can give you quite a few reasons why this addiction is not really an addiction but a resource 😉
Truth is this, I have neglected my writing in favour of sharing, posting and reposting memes.
Furthermore, I also judge that logging on to IG allows me to avoid thinking and being still, being silent.
I just started reading Mother Angelica’s Answers, Not Promises, and I have to tell you, it is filled with gems!
But the one gem in particular that has brought me to my laptop tonight is her wisdom on silence.
Mother Angelica shares with us that one of the things that she learned bugged us the most is that God is always SILENT.
Her response to us, we should listen.
Yup. Listen to Someone that seemingly won’t speak to us…funny, huh.
She does hit the proverbial nail on the head, however, as she goes on to say that since we have loud voices, we figure that He must have a louder voice! She clarifies that it is precisely this flaw of ours, this nature of ours, our finiteness, that gets us into trouble.
I take this to mean that we put limits on God. We place upon Him our characteristics and traits, our reasoning and thus, our lack of comprehending Him, understanding His ways.
I will be perfectly honest, I have a quite a time trying to be patient and merciful, I can’t seem to quite get it down, and to think that He is Love, Patience, Mercy, Forgiveness…nope. My finite little mind does not quite get it.
And that’s why I am not the fourth Person of the Trinity (a joke that goes back to a Confession I had with Fr. Mario, he’s awesome!)…
Back to silence. How then do we listen to God?
She instructs us to Be Still. To listen to Him in the Silence. She shares with us that “God does not work in noise and commotion. He works in absolute quiet. […] I realize that it takes time and faith to know that silence is, in fact, the sound of His presence. But if you take just a few minutes every day to stop and listen to the silence, you will begin to be more aware of God’s presence. […] Once we attune ourselves to silence, we learn that it is not just the absence of noise. It is the presence of God Himself.”
Be still and know that I am God
~ Psalm 46:10
My goal then, to do my Liturgy of the Hours and remain silent.
Oh, and as for IG, try to wean myself a tad more, besides, as Fr. Mario told me, I need to focus 95% of my time, attention, and prayer to that and those upon whom I have a direct impact (yes, Confession again). Still pray for those big things which I cannot change of course, but focus on that which I can.
Crux Sancta Sit Mihi Lux †
From The Pews 
Leave a Reply