A thought after Silent Retreat

One thing, of many, that I’ve taken from my silent retreat at the monastery is ‘Let thine eye be single.’

There was a sense of peace in the monastery which can only come from knowing God’s presence in a place. 

In the world, our eye isn’t single. Because our focus and our desires are fragmented and dispersed we leave a lot of space for the enemy to get in.

We worry about this or that, we desire, this or that, we fill our lives with this or that. And it creates cracks for the enemy to disturb us, either psychologically, physically or materially.

In the monastery, it feels as though you can endure anything because God so permeates the atmosphere you feel tangibly held in His arms. He provides all that is needed even in the sparseness. Perhaps the sparseness in itself is providence.

I can bring something of this to any place by keeping my eye single.

If I am seeking Him moment to moment, I’m making a monastery for Him in my heart.