Long time good friends share long hours of good times: sightseeing Churchill Downs, Maker's Mark distillery, and golden tobacco drying in unpainted barns. Jeanne planned a "Three-Ring Circus" in which each of the 3 of us would take a turn and share the story of our lives since our last visit. What fun! A perfect blend of play, work, and prayer. As a Benedictine Oblate, I treasure the experience of community, hospitality, balance, peace, and prayer while a guest of the Dominican Sisters of Peace at St. Catherine's.

        It was like a field trip in a way, to stand on the corner of Fourth and Walnut in Louisville where Thomas Merton experienced an epiphany, his graced revelation of "immense joy of being human, a member of the race in which God himself became incarnate." A field trip then became a pilgrimage which included the days I spent at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Thomas Merton's monastic home, praying the Hours with the monks and, myself, praying in the immense solitude of the Abbey; solitude except for the rhythmic call of the bells. The Cistercian monks devote themselves to silence and prayer - ora et labora - and the work of their hands. The focus of their lives is "God Alone" as written in bas relief over the enclosure gate.

In the solitude, much like Merton's 'epiphany' I sensed the presence of God Alone. My reflection:

The Rhythm of Life

       The Rhythm of the Hours - is in proper order. It is we humans who mess it up. First it begins with the rhythm of the bells. Each hour: first 3 bells, then 6 bells, then 9 bells, and then the hour. It repeats over and over and, with confidence of its continued occurrence, that is all we need to know. To live in the rhythm of the hours - no late nights, no wasted days - is to live with intentionality. Everything unfolds properly with intentionality and awareness.

          The Rhythm of Life - flows with the day, into God's presence. Praying the Psalms every third hour offers our feelings (through the words of the Psalmist) to God and God responds to those feelings (through the words of the Psalmist). God prays back to us. It occurs over and over; hence, we pray constantly and the Holy Spirit prays with us.

          The Rhythm of Importance - God Alone is of sole importance. Nothing else matters. The sign over the Abbey enclosure, God Alone, reflects the reason for this place. To seek God Alone is the reason people have entered into silence for centuries. All else flows from the encounter with God in silence: our prayer and our work - ora et labora - and our recreation which is our celebration of joy.

            Prayer, work, play - all in rhythm, lead to God. If we allow ourselves be duped.

*You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped; you were too strong for me, and you triumphed - Jeremiah 20:7.