Holding the Tension; Living with Interruptions
“How did Jesus do it?”, she said. On the third day of her silent directed retreat, this question rolled out of her mouth with the same amazement one might have seeing a volcanic crater for the first time. The question emerged out of an interruption she had on the first day of her retreat when she received an urgent text just when she was about to shut off her phone. This unwelcomed text interrupted her desire to be left alone for five days of quiet. At first she felt annoyed, but the urgency of the text was too great to ignore. She tried to find someone else who could help the person in need until she finished her retreat. The assistance she received was not enough to leave her completely free of thinking about and having to respond to the situation. This person had a mental illness. She could not simply sweep it off or set it aside.
Her experience and question brought to mind how often, in scripture, Jesus was interrupted while he was on the way to go somewhere or to do something, often by people he encountered who were in need of healing. At times crowds were pressing in on him with hope for their healing. How did he deal with so many demands and not lose his cool, she wondered. How do we deal with the many demands on our time and energy and stay calm and patient?
While interruptions are a fact of life they can create a real tension in our lives. They invite us into a choice – to engage or not to engage. Sometimes they feel annoying because they interrupt our plans and they take us away from what had intended to do. Some interruptions are of a magnitude that they demand our attention and we can’t ignore them. This type of interruption requires more of our time, and energy and can leave us depleted if we do not balance it with a life of prayer.
St. Eugene de Mazenod had many demands on his time and energy and, most certainly, many interruptions. As a young priest he tried to respond to the multiple needs he encountered all by himself and he wore himself out. He learned the hard way that he needed community and gathered others around him. He also learned that after going out on a parish mission and ministering with much intensity, there was a need to withdraw and pray. Action and contemplation—holding the tension between the two.
Like St. Eugene, we experience these tensions as well – the tension between meeting the needs of others and getting enough time for rest, play, and prayer; between the need to take action in the world and the need for solitude and silence; between time for ourselves and time for community life. The list goes on.
We cannot make interruptions go away but we can learn to hold the tension by creating and carving out time for rest and prayer. If not, we will surely either become ineffective or burn out. Perhaps learning to hold the tension is a spiritual discipline.
As the retreat unfolded, this woman and I reflected together on how Jesus withdrew to a quiet place regularly for prayer, often leaving everyone to wonder where he went. It was this divine connection that flowed through him and that he connected intentionally with that was the source of his ability to meet these demands, we concluded. Perhaps it was synchronistic that she was on a silent retreat when this event happened as it brought into focus something she was struggling with and it helped her move forward. “I’m going to plan to take a ‘Sabbath day’ once a week”, she told me. “A day to withdraw and be by myself.”
We just celebrated the Labor Day long weekend. The leisurely and slower days of summer are beginning to fade and the busier demands of the rest of the year are opening before us. As our work life increases in intensity we will surely face more interruptions and more demands on our time and energy. How well we hold these tensions can make all the difference in our lives and the lives of those around us. Can we take the time we need each day for silence and solitude and allow God to fill us up? Can we embrace community life and allow others to accompany us? Can we make time for play—having fun with friends and family?
Can we truly take a Sabbath day once a week and rest with the Lord?
“And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all that work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work he had done in creation.” (Gen 2:3)
(The story in this article was told with permission)
By Debbie Doornbos – Provincial Associate
