39 Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. 40 There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

*Luke 22, NLT

Our writing today is on quiet and solitude as spiritual practice. To begin, I offer an exercise from the Spirituality and Practice website. Try it, and let it lead you into some prayerful quiet prior to continuing the Teaching for today:

This prayer is best said with a rhythmic chanting of the words and a pause for contemplation after each line. The phrase is from Psalm 46:10.

   Be still and know that I am God.
   Be still and know that I am.
   Be still and know.
   Be still.
   Be.

*www.spiritualityandpractice.com .

After Supper with his closest group of followers, Jesus went outside Jerusalem to pray alone. The Scripture informs us of an important, but easily missed point – this solitude and quiet in prayer in the Mount of Olives was a habit of Jesus. And, on this night, what does he do. Jesus goes there, takes three of his followers a distance, tells them to pray, and he prays farther on by himself.

We are reminded at key points in the Gospel of Jesus praying alone. These several references show that Jesus linked solitude and quiet as essential to his public work and relationship with the One he called Father.

Very little in Western cultures encourages quiet and solitude. Many of us have background noise all the time: driving and working with music in the background - even though we may not be listening; talking on the phone; sending and receiving emails and text messages; eating with a television on; going to a restaurant with televisions lining the walls and music roaring. None of this is in itself wrong, yet, our cultures are evading something in such feverish reliance on company and sound. We, frankly, are incessantly seeking to escape ourselves and, also, God, even while we long for the benefits and blessing of quiet.

Quiet and solitude are not meant to be a burden, but a joy. And the burden is absent when we cherish the intent of such quiet, calm, and aloneness spiritually, which is so much more than just absenting yourself from others and turning sound off:

The goal of a quiet life needs to be clear: it aims to promote a restful, calm spirit where spiritual priorities become more and more dominant. This withdrawal is not an invitation to isolation and navel-gazing. Rather, it wishes to grant the possibility to penetrate deeper into reality and to live from the heart.

*Quote of Trappist Michael Casey in Derkse. A Blessed Life.

In summation, what is the intent of the spiritual practice of regular periods of quiet and aloneness. Says the Benedictine Wil Derkse: “It is therefore about a lifestyle with few stimuli, precisely in order to live a more intense spiritual life” (A Blessed Life).

1.What would a more intense spiritual life than you now enjoy look like? Do you desire a more focused, disciplined spiritual life?

2.How do you presently practice solitude and silence as spiritual practice? If you do not have an intentional practice, how might you integrate a sensible practice of quiet and solitude into your life? If you do have such a practice, how might you integrate that more into your life?

3.For one week, fast from something that brings noise into your life. This could be television, radio, computer....

4.Once a week take a God Walk. Find a place in nature to walk in silence and with open heart to the Divine Presence. If you wish, you can take with you a concern or matter for spiritual discernment and offer it in quiet prayer. On the walk, stop at intervals and experience fully the sense of the moment and atmosphere.

5.Begin consciously choosing to be patient and mindful in everyday situations that would usually lead you to feel rushed and impatient. An example, rest and relax at stop lights. Also, leave for work earlier, so you do not rush to work.

6.Explore a practice of Silent Prayer. There are sites on the web to read up on these. One of the following you might find attractive: Centering Prayer, The Jesus Prayer, Christian Meditation, or Breath Prayer.

7.Become more aware of any tendency to speak too much. Practice reticence in speech. Likewise, appreciate the silence in the gaps within conversation.

8.Plan a yearly retreat, if possible, of at least a week in solitude and silence. And plan a half day or, better, one day, monthly for solitude and silence.

9.When going to public worship, go in time to spend at least ten minutes in prayerful silence before the service begins – if you cannot get this in the sanctuary, go to another room or have a quiet time outside. If possible, take a meditative walk before leaving.

*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life and with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, with friends and under a vow of simplicity. Brian is an ecumenical-interspiritual leader, who chooses not to identify with any group, and renounces all titles of sacredness that some would apply to him, but seeks to be open to how Christ manifests in the diversity of Christian denominations and varied religious-spiritual traditions. He affirms that all spiritual paths lead ultimately back to Jesus Christ. He is Senior Chaplain for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, Punta Gorda, FL.

*Brian welcomes responses to his writings or submission of prayer requests at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.

*Contact the above email to book Brian for preaching, Spiritual Direction, retreats, workshops, animal blessing services, house blessings, or other spiritual requests. You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.