The Silence of Contemplation

Lisa asks if "the silence of contemplation" is possible in the life of a working parent?  For me the answer has been yes, with a lot of cooperation from my husband and daughter. 

Perhaps at least in part becuase I returned to Catholicism some years ago after spending a number of years as a Buddhist (almost two years of which were spent living essentially in a monastic environment), time for contemplation is as necessary for me as the air I breathe.  And so for at least the last five or six years or so (i.e., beginning when Elena, now 13, was 7 or 8 or so), I take the first 30-45 minutes of each day in quiet prayer.  It took a while for my daughter to respect that time - in the beginning there were all sorts of important things that just couldn't wait from her perspective....then she shifted to standing in my doorway saying something like, "I'm not interrupting your prayer, I'm just waiting to see if you are finished."  But for some time now, if I'm sitting and the door is closed there is no interruption.

My husband's faciliation has been even more instrumental.  Every year I go off for at least one 8-day retreat and sometimes a second shorter one.  Although I'm sure the period of single parenting is not convenient, he happily does so.  (And the retreat periods are in addition to putting up with lots of trips for academic travel as well as weekends spent at the Jesuit retreat house of which I am a member of the adjunct staff.)

Ultimately, I think our goal as Christians is to live our lives out of a contemplative stance - to be contemplatives in action.  However, I think contemplative prayer is necessary in order to develop that ability.

As Michael suggests. learning to shift from telling God to "listen[ing] with [our] hearts to God who speaks" takes time.....perhaps more time for those of us who are used to being the speakers (and writers) during the rest of our day.