18 May 2020
Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter
“On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer.
We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there.” (Acts 16:13)
The Acts of the Apostles gives us today a whirlwind account of the places visited by St. Paul and his companions (including Luke, hence he writes “we went…”): Troas, Samothrace, Neapolis and finally Philippi in Macedonia. There Paul went from the hustle and bustle of the busy and important downtown of the city, and went just outside the city gate, by the river, to pray.
In the midst of orders to shelter-in-place, when many busy and important city downtowns have been abandoned, it is the outdoors, riversides, parks (if open), in a word, the beauty of creation, that many have sought. These places of beauty may also be places of prayer. Informally, we may contemplate our Creator laboring in the trees and the birds, giving them life and all they need, and we may consider how He gives the same and more to us His creatures. Formally, these may be places where we allow the fullness of the truth of God’s love for creation to sink in as we pray with a chapter from Scripture (eg Gen 1, Ps 136, Ps 148, or Ps 33).
The outdoors may also be places where the Holy Spirit brings us to other people to whom we may “give a reason for our hope.” (1 Pt 3:15) As fear and sorrow at the human and economic suffering from this pandemic reveal the emptiness of previous distractions which many relied on, people are looking for solid sources of peace and reasons for joy. “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify,…” (Jn 15:26-27) Like Paul, the Spirit may lead us outside to lead us into conversations (albeit distanced six feet apart) in which we can share hope and comfort and build relationships with others which will strengthen them in faith now and in the days to come. Let us pray for the grace to seek and to find Christ outside, so that no matter where we are, we may “sanctify Him as Lord in our hearts.” (1 Pt 3:15)