Our psalmist for today knew what it was to be “athirst for God”. In ancient times when water was not available at the turn of a tap as it is for most of us in our country today, folks could relate to the desperate need for water day by day. They would understand the magnitude and reality of the psalmist’s thirst language far more than we. Realizing that, can you begin to get in touch with the longing to know the life-giving Presence of God’s Love bubbling up from deep within?

Once we become aware of our thirst for the Divine, the prophet Elijah’s story that we read from the Hebrew scriptures today gives us a clue as to how we might prepare ourselves to have our thirst assuaged by the Beloved. Note the Holy One did not show up in the three traditional theophanies, but rather in “a sound of sheer silence” (a still, small voice, KJV). Like Elijah, we are invited into the sacred silence of Divine Presence.

It is helpful to be silent at least once every day, to enter the inner sanctuary of silence within our souls, to be attentive to the Holy Spirit who dwells within and who speaks to us when we pause to listen. Macrina Wiederkehr at a retreat I recently attended recommended “Seven Sacred Pauses” through the day, maybe no longer than five minutes, but time to stop what we re doing and breathe, focus on what is going on around us, both within and without, and give thanks for it all as we listen to our life where Everything Belongs as Richard Rohr puts it. Such pauses help balance our work, leisure, and prayer life and fill us with the living water of Love.