Article about a retreat at Merton's hermitage, etc.

http://imagejournal.org/page/journal/articles/issue-12/bodo-essays

This is a pretty good article about a Franciscan on retreat at Merton's hermitage. It reminded me of a conversation I had with one of my bosses, who, on hearing that I was considering retiring to a monastic schedule, more or less permanently, asked me if that wasn't too big a change for "someone like you." I asked him what it meant, someone like me. He said, "Well, you're a people person. You like being around people and they like being around you. You have so much to give." I thanked him and hurried away so I could giggle.
Yeah. Right. (Laughing hysterically now.)
My inner experience is not that of a people person. I would describe myself as a "God person" who manages not to run amok, laying waste to the land, only because I love God more than I am screwed up! AA taught me that there is a God, and I am not it, but if I give myself over to God, I can be relieved of my insanity one day at a time. It taught me that I can be as crazy as I want so long as I don't scare the people around me.
It also taught me that if God permits me to retire from constant interaction, then that will be all right too. I find it so much easier to be alone. I don't get lonely - never have - even in my worst drinking days I didn't get lonely - and now, I sort of like myself, after 35+ years of sobriety and daily prayer and meditation, it's even easier. Silence is not scary to me. It is a treasure!
I feel grateful today for the gift of inner silence.
Sr. Patti