Silence: from Isolation to Encounter

A couple weeks back, I came across an "e-retreat" offered by Archbishop Christopher Prowse entitled Silence: from Isolation to Encounter. When I started, my life seemed really "loud" and I felt the need to return once again to being silent with Joe. I really wasn't at all surprised to find that a stained-glass image of Joe was present there in the background of the first episode. He once again made a more quiet "appearance" in the final episode on Mary. 

As I went through the retreat (usually watching an episode about every other day), it began to become evident to me, that Joe is a model of moving from isolation to encounter in silence. I can only imagine how alone and isolated he must have felt when he was deciding to divorce Mary (Mt. 1:19), or how abandoned he must have felt when he had to flee his home country to a foreign land (Mt. 2:13), or how empty he must have felt when Jesus was nowhere to be found for three days (Lk. 2:48). In each of these occasions, Joe remains silent, and in this silence, he encounters God's Presence.

If you have time (and honestly, who actually doesn't have the time to devote 20 minutes every other evening), I encourage you to enter into this time of retreat. Whether you enter into one episode a day, or one every other day (or perhaps every two days), I don't think it will be a waste of time. Do not be afraid to enter the silence. God is waiting... go and meet him!