ALONE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 18^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time  is, “Alone!”

Last night I noticed the word “alone” in a sentence from today’s gospel: “When it was evening he was there alone.”

What thoughts and feelings does that word "alone" trigger for you? How do we deal with being alone at times?

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Sometimes in the gospels we notice Jesus going it alone. It seems he needs space.  He disappears - hides - prays - needs to be all alone.

We also notice in the gospels that Jesus sometimes wants to be with others - to pray with others - to have companionship.

Sometimes he wants to be with others. When Jesus sent his disciples out, he sent them out two by two. When he climbed the mountain of transfiguration, he did it with 3 of his favorite disciples: Peter, James and John.

The Transfiguration scene was yesterday’s gospel. Today’s gospel has Jesus going off alone into the mountains.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how good am I at being alone. 

The obvious answer is, “It all depends.”

A COUPLE OF QUOTES

Someone said, “Solitude is being alone when you want to be alone; loneliness is being alone when you don’t want to be alone.”

Is that true for you? Has that been your experience?

I noticed a quote yesterday from Anton Chekhov, “If you are afraid of loneliness, do not marry.”

Is that true? 

Answer: “It all depends.”

Sometimes it’s nice to take a good walk all by oneself - alone - and sometimes it’s good to take a good walk with others.

Which is worse: to be a shut in or to be shut out?

Answer: "It all depends."

GOD IN THE INNER ROOM

Epictetus [c. 50-120] the first century Roman slave  - who became a Stoic philosopher wrote, “When you close your doors, when you darken within, remember never to say you are alone. You are not alone. God is within. Your genius is within. And they don't need light to see what your are doing.”

Jesus said close to the same thing when he told us in the Sermon on the Mount - Matthew 6: 6 “When you go to pray, [don’t pray to catch the attention of others]  - go to your private room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.”

Sometimes when we pray we feel alone - even though we’re in a crowd. Sometimes when we pray - alone or with others God seems absent. Sometimes when we pray with others, we feel so absent from them. We don’t feel connection of community

Sometimes it’s worth reflecting upon Jesus in prayer. When he prayed in the garden the night before he died,  the others were close by - but asleep - and it seems he felt very alone.  We know how alone Jesus felt on the cross - even though Mary and John and others were  down below.

So the answer is: It all depends.

CONCLUSION

One answer for our reflections on what we think and feel about being “alone” is to bring our reflections to both God and to others.

Prayer is sharing.

Prayer is communicating and being in communion with God.

Communication is sharing with friends as well - whether on mountain tops or in gardens or when we’re on the cross.

And sometimes they walk on water and show up at our boat - and smoother sailing is the result. Amen.