Meditation for October 9, Where Are You?

Where art thou when thou art absent from thyself? - asks the Imitation of Christ (Bk. ii, Chap. v).

Indeed, where am I?

I esteem myself so little that I am never so happy as when I am away from myself. I act as if there were no longer someone dwelling within me - Someone really worth while.

Is everything outside my interior dwelling, where God lives, so much more interesting that I give it precedence over my Sacred Guest?

This reversal of values is a strange way of manifesting apprecia­tion for the genuine in life; to that which has no value, I attach great importance, for the supreme good I show no appreciation.

The Ancient Fathers did not hesitate to give advice along these lines, for example:

If you aspire to the interior life, learn to separate yourself from the
things which do not count.

In silence and tranquillity of soul the interior soul progresses.

You will advance so much more in divine intimacy if you concern yourself less with exterior friendships and distractions.

Close your door, that of your soul even more than that of your cell, upon your interior; keep company with Him who never leaves you and whom you perhaps abandon.

Says the Imitation again, Attend wholly to thyself.

As soon as your exterior duties cease, enter within yourself. Imitate the priest: when he has to keep the chalice uncovered he does not hesitate to do so, but as soon as he no longer has a reason for keeping it uncovered, he replaces the pall.
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)