Beatitudes of simplicity, solitude and silence.

Though I lead retreats regularly, I rarely get to attend one as a retreatant. Every year the Badger pays for me to go with him to his church parish weekend, and that’s usually the sum total. But last year I went to a retreat at Penhurst, exploring prayer and writing.

This morning, sorting through my belongings on the usual hunt for things to chuck out, I came upon two journals – one a bullet journal I started, the other meant to be a kind of thinking journal or something. Anyway, journals aren’t really me, I’m no Thomas Merton; and, though I gave bullet journaling a good go, I still prefer keeping my diary in my computer. It has the added advantage that when people ask me to do things I have to say, “I don’t know. Can I tell you later?”

But I’ll keep the journals until they’re full, using them to make notes on things. I like reporters notebooks best, but the journals will do until they’re used up.

Anyway, at this retreat I went to, I took one of these journals along, and we had to do a couple of writing exercises – which I wrote down in the journal I came across today.

The first one was that we had to write our own version of the Beatitudes. Obviously upstaging Jesus is a dubious endeavor, but at least it makes him laugh. Here was mine.

BEATITUDES OF SIMPLICITY, SILENCE & SOLITUDE

SIMPLICITY

1

How blessed are they who live simply,

For status, power and wealth are burdensome,

Clutter is time-consuming, and in complication is infinite weariness.

2

How blessed are the frugal,

For they can afford to be generous, they are not demanding,

And they sidestep the demon of worry.

3

How blessed are they who can let go,

For they walk free from the encumbering of possessions,

Their daily routines are peaceful, and they give other people space.

SILENCE

1

How blessed are they who speak softly,

Not an annoying mumble I mean, but without stridency or aggression –

For they can be heard better than those who harshly insist.

2

How blessed are they who move quietly,

Mindful of how they walk, handle objects, close doors and blow their noses –

For they are very nice to live with.

3

How blessed are they who spend long hours in silence,

For silence fosters the living Word,

In silence the Word matures – silence offers space to think again.

SOLITUDE

1

How blessed are they who are content in their own company,

For they are restful to those they encounter.

2

How blessed are they who accept the essential solitude of every human being,

For they make peace with the grief of exile,

The existential loneliness of the human condition.

3

How blessed are they who do not seek attention,

Who pass through life as unobtrusively as moving light.