Recollection and Meditation: Our Lady’s Life

Recollection and Meditation: Our Lady’s Life

Br Vince Michael K. Sabal, SDB

November 24, 2010

In our present world, communication seems to be very instant. One can gain access to information in a split second. The comfort of clicking a button to talk or to inform is enjoyed by those who are into these technologies. The culture of the internet, cellular phones, telephones and the like are here to provide us with the needs to interact notwithstanding the distance, time and space. With these technologies available, friendships and relationships are also formed. Even bonding moments can be put into memory and captured through digital cameras, and videos. With all these modern means of communication, there still arise vague relationships and even misunderstandings. Unfortunately, people are in to shallow and superficial relationships that are products of text messaging and online social networks. In all of these, there is still something lacking. We didn’t find peace amidst all these comforts. There must be something more. In the end, people are still thirsting for meaning. How can they find this meaning if they do not take a pause and see how their life had been? How can they discover this treasure if they are distracted with a lot of noise around?

A story is told of a man born in a city in Spain from a poor family. As a boy, he was employed as a laborer in a farm outside the city. When he grew up, he married a lovely girl, but after the early death of their son, they agreed to live in continence. This man went to church every morning, was always in a prayerful disposition even while working in the fields. He was aware of God’s presence even in his work. One time, his fellow workers complained that his religious practices caused him to be late at work. To test the truth of this accusation, the master wanted to observe him. One day, his master hid himself to watch him coming to the fields late but to his astonishment, he noticed several angels assisting him in his work while he prayed. The fruits of the daily prayer and work of that man was seen during the harvest time when he was able to gather more than the rest of the farmers.

A life of recollection is a life which renounces exterior things and uses them only in so far as they are necessary to the interior life. Unfortunately however, practical ignorance of the interior life is extensive. Many are being seduced by false doctrines now in fad, that activity and hardwork are the only things that matter, thus minimizing the value of the interior life, which obviously is the real life of the soul. Any kind of work not well founded on a strong interior life is doomed to be barren and fruitless both for oneself and for others.

God especially likes to communicate with souls leading a life of meditation. I just recalled the story of the prophet Elijah when he was told by God to stand before Him on top of the mountain. “Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave” (1 Kings 19:11-13). In that gentle whisper, Elijah recognized the presence of our Lord.

We, Salesians, even in our active life, are reminded by Don Bosco not to miss the half an hour meditation time in the morning, the daily Mass, the Sacrament of Reconciliation and other practices of piety. In the Salesian Constitutions, it is clearly stated that “for us, mental prayer is essential. It strengthens our intimate union with God, saves us from routine, keeps our heart free and fosters our dedication to others. For Don Bosco, it is a guarantee of joyous perseverance in our vocation” (C 93).

Actually, when I was in my high school years, I was so amazed by my Rector then who was devoutly praying the Breviary in his office amidst our talking, laughing, and playing of some musical instruments there. After his prayer, I approached him and asked, “Father, are you able to pray even if we are too noisy here in your office?” Then he simply answered, “As a Salesian, we must learn how to pray even in the midst of the noise of our boys. It is the interior silence that matters so that one could really pray and commune with God.”

As active contemplatives, we are exhorted that our apostolate should be the overflow of our interior life founded on prayer. Prayer starts with interior silence. When there is silence, there is peace and when there is peace, there is love, and when there is love, there is God. Every activity should be a fruit of prayer and meditation and that makes it apostolic. It is in this way that we acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in our apostolate.

There is also someone whom we can look up to as model of deep and profound meditation. That is our Blessed Mother herself. Her life was a constant meditation and recollection and this was seen in the way she lived her life. No one saw her; no one knew her activities on the place where she lived yet God was especially delighted in the simplicity of the way she lived, and it was in that silence and solitude that He spoke with her most intimately. The Angel did not appear to her in the street, not even publicly at the Temple, but in the solitude of Nazareth. It was there that Mary felt herself to be all God’s and that God is all for her. In her home, an intimate communication between God and Mary took place. It was in the solitude of the retreat at Nazareth that the great mystery of the Incarnation took place.

Mary’s meditation was perpetual. If she leaves the house for some time, it was out of charity, as in the Visitation; or out of obedience as when going to Bethlehem for the census with Joseph; or to Egypt to escape from the wrath of Herod; or to the Temple at Jerusalem to present Jesus, their first-born son; or out of empathy and unity during the most painful moments of her son’s suffering and death on the Cross. She never undertook any journey merely for the sake of recreation or amusement.

We look upon our Blessed Mother, wholly devoted to household chores even on days when pressing duties seem to claim all her time and attention. Even then, she knew how to sanctify these circumstances, being conscious of the presence of God, who never leaves her for a moment. In this way, all things in Mary contributed to a greater deepening of her interior life.

We journey with our Blessed Mother who by her life lived in recollection and meditation reflected her Son, Jesus Christ. Let us also deepen our relationship with the Lord whom we commit to follow believing that our “tireless works are made holy by prayer and union with Him” (C 95).