The Gospel: John 1:35-42
John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God.”
The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,
“What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” — which translated means Teacher —,
“where are you staying?”
He said to them, “Come, and you will see.”
So they went and saw where Jesus was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,
“We have found the Messiah” — which is translated Christ —.
Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,
“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” — which is translated Peter.
After the Gospel:
Brothers, it’s one of those Gospels you like to hear,
an auspicious gospel to begin our retreat…
Jesus, gathering disciples around Him …
Not to study the Torah, become experts in the Law or Jewish tradition,
but Jesus simply calling his disciples: “Come and stay with me.”
And they came and stayed with Him the rest of the day.
You can imagine they spent time talking and teaching,
conversation would have been nice, but it wasn’t required.
You can also see silence,
it was perfectly fine to sit and enjoy the stillness,
and relax being together.
That was the basis of Jesus’ invitation: “Come and stay with me.”
He was calling them to spend time with him, enter into a friendship with Him,
enter into a personal intimate level of training with Him.
“Stay with Me.”
Which is the heart of our vocation.
We can be tempted to think it was so much easier back then,
to live in His world which wasn’t dominated by clocks and calendars, telephones and bells,
it would have been so much easier to be prayerful and reflective and live in holy leisure
as we followed Jesus around.
Look how we have to struggle to find periods of silence and solitude and prayer,
they really have to be purchased at the expense of other activities,
which appeal to us as “useful things.”
You notice this in the Retreat House, when retreatants volunteer to do things – anything to keep busy – because they’re not used to silence and solitude and prayer.
Even in monks, where work and manual labor are a built -in part of a balanced lifestyle,
our perceptions can get distorted,
overwork can result from vice, not virtue.
Cassian tells the story of an elder passing by as a young monk was breaking up
a hard rock with a heavy hammer.
Next to him stood a demon who grabbed the hammer to slow down its swinging and cushion the blow.
The brother naturally became tired, had no energy left, wanted to stop and rest.
That’s precisely when the demon would urge him on with boasts of pridefulness and thoughts of failure, persuade him to resume the heavy work again.
Finally, the old monk intervened, saying:
“Brother, you are not working alone. There is another here whom you cannot see;
he’s less a helper than your oppressive taskmaster.”
That’s one extreme, a trap we can easily fall into:
overwork, ambition to work hard, get things done by our own ingenuity and strength,
making sure we remain unchallenged in the driver’s seat.
The other extreme is idleness, daydreaming, not using the time at hand to bear the best fruit.
We know of people diagnosed with a terminal disease, given only a short time to live,
who turned that into their sudden motivation,
made up their minds to live every day to the full,
not to postpone doing today the good which is within their reach,
not to fail to exploit the richness of each available hour.
Our retreat is like that, our yearly time of reflection and leisure,
an opportunity to become greater “lovers of the book.”
It can be like a Second Novitiate, where we remember why we came here,
where we re-arrange our priorities and motivations,
re-dedicate our hands, our heart, our tongues to His service.
We can begin by praying for the three essential monastic virtues, triplets that always go together:
Perseverance, because we’ll never be chaste or obedient or humble or anything else unless we persevere.
Mindfulness: to set aside everything else that’s going on, and see how TODAY is all that matters, it’s all that’s given to us.
And Patience, because everything is to be done at the opportune time, nothing will happen because we snap our fingers: Now!
Our retreat gives us room to breathe.
A chance to see the tyrants that are inside us, not outside.
A chance to be quiet and listen.
Time to hear Jesus speak to us and ask:
“What are you looking for? Come and see. Come, and stay with Me.”