Editor’s word: Sacred House: The Prayer E-book suggests six steps of prayer and contemplation for exploring the day by day Scripture passages: The Presence of God, Freedom, Consciousness, The Phrase, Dialog, and Conclusion. We’ve invited our Ignatian bloggers to discover every step in a sequence starting immediately.
The Presence of God
“‘Be nonetheless, and know that I’m God!’ Lord, could your spirit information me to hunt your loving presence an increasing number of for it’s there I discover relaxation and refreshment from this busy world.” (The Irish Jesuits, Sacred House: The Prayer E-book 2026)
Our line of 14 cyclists strikes simply by means of the countryside on a weeklong bike and barge journey from Amsterdam to Bruges. With pretty surroundings, succesful guides, and the simple firm of strangers who share a ardour for biking, we have now all that we may ask for this week.
As I cycle in the course of the pack, my thoughts is chattering concerning the trip, the wind, the shut proximity of the rider in entrance of me, the too-frequent stops, and the mechanics of the bike. Why is my thoughts stressed with these issues? The place is the stillness I discover on my bike that enables me to entry a connection to God?
After the trip on day two and a bathe on the barge, our cycle tour hosts name for a second of silence earlier than dinner: gratitude and, simply as rapidly, “Bon appétit.” By days three, 4, and 5, I lengthy to discover a time and place for sustained solitude and deeper connection.
From metropolis to city to hamlet within the Netherlands and Belgium, we go historical church buildings standing shuttered or locked. Some serve a Sunday-only mandate, and one affords weekday Mass twice weekly, whereas others have been repurposed for housing, artwork facilities, or shops. Any given weekday, not one is offered for drop-in worship. Church buildings are closed to seekers of stillness or supplication.
What number of of those monuments to religion stand empty—ornate and punctiliously constructed fortresses of religion constructed for the ages. Trustworthy residents of the Center Ages pooled their wages to construct probably the most elaborate and pious symbols of religion. Would a single church have its doorways unlocked after we rolled by means of a historic city for a break? Our biking resumes a well-known cadence after a break.
I take a flip donning the yellow vest to trip sweep, which suggests using within the again all day to make certain nobody is left behind. It’s right here, lastly on day six, the place I really feel God’s sustained presence.
“Don’t sit within the silence, ready for God to talk,” Thomas Merton wrote in Contemplative Prayer, the slim 1969 quantity I packed in my suitcase. “Let the silence communicate for God.”
Using extra slowly because the sweep, I guard the rear, keen to help if a rider falls again or stops the bike for any purpose. I invite the divine to talk to me within the quiet of the agricultural route. We transfer by means of the countryside, the solar glistening on the canal. The one motion is the flip of our pedals, an nearly rhythmic cadence resembling a meditative state. Right here I mirror first on the luxurious Dutch hydrangeas, plump dairy cows too quite a few to rely, and a small herd of black Landrace goats lounging lazily subsequent to our bike path. Prayers of surprise, reward, and thanksgiving come extra simply. Gratitude flows for the unbelievable sights, congenial fellow vacationers, and the bodily achievement of biking the Netherlands.
I really feel the presence of God and the need to proceed within the stillness for the remainder of the day. Guarding the rear, reflection comes by means of the day by day Examen. I discover what I’ve been eager for, the prayerfulness that Merton calls, “freedom from focusing alone ideas, the silent self-forgetting dialogue, and the letting go that makes room for God.”
The stillness is pierced because the chief indicators, and the cyclists forward sluggish to a cease. The moments of prayerfulness are fleeting, but I really feel renewed by the grace of inside connection. Even in motion there may be stillness, and in stillness, an consciousness of God’s presence.
My cathedral is the outside, and in stillness, the door is all the time open.