15 Minute Retreat: Where God is Present

In a quiet place, read slowly through the following passages and poem. Pay attention to each word as you read. Which ones jump out at you? Turn them over in your mind. Let them sink into your heart. Don’t feel you have to understand everything or say anything. Simply breathe in these living words from our God.

Isaiah 43:1-2, 5
[And God said,] “Don’t be afraid. I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. ..Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”

[Pause for silent reflection]

Psalm 16:11  [Lord,]You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

[Pause for silent reflection]

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things

In your final minutes, close your eyes and focus on one or two words or phrases you’d like to carry with you into the rest of the day. Then whisper a prayer--of your own, or the one below--thanking God, whose other name is love, that God is always with you.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,

St. Patrick