Living in the moment

One of the things about being human is that we are so easily distracted. Someone once told me that psychologists reckon that we spend the majority of the time in our thought world either replaying interactions from the past, or else rehearsing potential interactions for the future, but very little time just being present in the here and now. This awareness has come to the fore for me quite strongly in recent times.

At the Women in Ministry retreat in Hobart last week, Sue Gormann led us through a contemplative process of self-examination based on an Ignation spiritual exercise. As part of this, we meditated on a passage from Luke's gospel (Luke 10:38-42), and considered how in this passage, Martha is so busy doing all the tasks to provide hospitality for Jesus, that she misses the opportunity to just be, and allow his presence and words to captivate her, as Mary does.

We spent time in silence considering the things in our own lives which might distract us from the "better part" that Jesus speaks of (v.42); allowing the awareness of these things to gently bubble to the surface. Later we shared some of this with each other, and then went further, to look at what decisions (about these or other things) we may need to make, and what action (or deliberate inaction) may be required as a response to this.

This was a particularly rich time for me, as I was able to acknowledge that there has been a particular thing that has been a fairly major distraction in my life in recent months. As I thought and prayed about this in the solitude and silence, it became clear that there is some action I need to take as a next step to resolving the situation and hopefully removing the distracting element of it. It was good to be able to share this insight and commitment to action with some of the sisters at the retreat, and sensing their support and prayer will be with me as I pluck up the courage to take the risk to act (and then deal with the consequences of acting).