The longing for a place that offers peace and solitude during a stressful time; we all long for that place sometime in our lives. Human nature calls us to it, that longing for a quiet spot that helps us to unleash the clamor into the air, to give it up, let it rise up and let God deal with it. A place for which to re-gather ourselves back with God, who always seems so far away in times of disquiet, times of stress.
Perhaps we dream (fantasize?) of a place like the one we read about or saw a picture of, a cave-type grouping of stones or a wooden hut deep in the woods, perhaps used by a saint. Or maybe that corner in your own house that you never really found the time to arrange, that room with a view or the comfy chair. In the real world, our own real worlds, the day to day world of our lives those quiet places are hard to come by. We go off in the morning (or whenever) to our jobs, whatever they may be, and are usually absorbed into them for the rest of the day. Oh yes, with the occasional time to send God a quick message ("Bless us O Lord, for these thy gifts...") but usually not much more, the work day takes over until the evening and then perhaps we can more easily lift our mind and heart to Him. It is an uneasy life we live, knowing that we never do enough, we are always one step behind. We read the stories of the saints and long to be like them, to speak like them, act like them, pray like them... Sometimes we forget that they were just like us, men and women of this earth, who like us strove to be more like our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Why them and not us? Stupid question. We have our lot in life, our vocation, husband, wife, religious, whatever. God has given us the grace we need, it is up to us to use it to get to heaven. It was the same for the saints. Each was given grace by God and, like the servants in the parable, them, like us are to use that grace to our advantage, Use it wisely, that is what the saints did. We are called to do the same. We are called to think outside the box, to think in the supernatural, in order to grow in the grace of God. That means to not daydream of that perfect place to speak with God or to put it off until this coming Sunday or if God permits, time before the tabernacle during the week. The time to speak to God is now, when we are sitting at our desks, or driving that truck, digging that ditch, correcting that paper or leading a country. Take a moment to acknowledge Him, to ask our Mother for a favor or ask our Lord for His intersession. The saints did this all the time, they practically lived in that state here on earth. Raise your mind to God, live in the supernatural as much as you can. Talk with our Mother and to the saints. Plead. They will listen.