Lectio
The Value of Solitude — St. John Climacus
“Let the remembrance of Jesus be present with each breath, and then you will know the value of solitude.”
— St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent,
Meditatio
The original Sabbath was solitude. It was God’s solitude in God — God resting within Godself, amidst the vastness of God’s own creation — resting within the very world He had made. When we rest in God, therefore, when we take time to pause and to exist solely for Him and with Him, we are returning to this original Sabbath — this original state of divine rest with God and in God.
In this way, Sabbath rest is not about withdrawal from the world, but rather it is about finding space within the world to be still, to experience ourselves as utterly alone with God amidst God’s creation, and to allow this solitude to be our sanctuary, our comfort, and our physician.
Sabbath is a breath of intention, a long exhale in a world of uptightness and held breaths. It is a sigh of relief. It is an opportunity to remember the Lord our God who came to us, to meet us where we are — in our toil, our exhaustion, and our confusion. He loves us face-to-face, in the flesh, as Christ Jesus. And by way of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, we are never truly alone.
Oratio
Rest In Your Rest
when I rest, Lord
may I rest in You
in Your love
in Your mercy
in Your forgiveness
amidst a world
so often devoid of these
may I rest in Your face
the face of Jesus
the face of Christ
my gaze unbroken
by fear or desire
by want or worry
may I rest in Your rest
taking Your yoke upon me
giving all of me
to all of You
until Your breath
becomes my own
Contemplatio
This solitude is not empty — it is full of Him, closer than your own breath. Let every held tension in you soften, and let this be enough for now. Hold this in stillness, withholding nothing, and let Him take it from there.
Related Scripture
“He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Held Fast, Lifted Up: Thomas Merton and the Paradox of the Cross (Lectio Divina), which finds God present in the desert’s solitude rather than in escape from it — the same aloneness-that-is-not-loneliness this post traces through Sabbath rest.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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