Our Meeting Place

Feast Alabang Leaders’ Retreat – October 28, 2011

I was late. I had to go up to my room to get my bible. Everyone had found their nook – their meeting place with God. I still had to search for mine…that place where God will tell me to stop so we can sit and talk.

I made my way up the knoll where the grotto was. There by the side of the grotto’s pool was my spot. It was an imperfectly perfect place.

Imperfect. The stone on which I sat was jagged, uncomfortable. There were ants on the other stones beside it. In a few minutes the path back to the retreat house will be dark as the sun draws the curtain over the canopy of trees above me.

Perfect. Mama Mary was behind me just as she always is – praying for me to her son. The ants didn’t take a single nip at me even if I was in biting distance. And a nearby lamp turned on to give me light just as the dusk set in.

My spot. It lies beside the pool much like the setting in the passage we were asked to ponder upon. John 4:1-42 was about the Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well.

My reflection: When we come to drink the living waters, the conditions are not always comfortable. But we sit with the Lord in any circumstance. We serve even when it is difficult. And our Lord, Jesus, gives us protection from the bites of reality. He gives light to guide us over the rough path so we can find our way safely home.

Thanks to IC de Guzman for the retreat attendees' photos.