Sacred Siesta

There is, for me at least, an empty space in the middle of the day - the mid afternoon time, I mean - between, I would say, 2.30 and the early evening. Yes, it's a rather vacant time for me - not my best time of day! If I have been able to get up (fairly) early and do what I can up to post lunch, I am left with not knowing what to do or not having the impetus or enthusiasm to do the things I want or should. And so I find myself longing for the middle of the evening - usually about 8pm - when there seems to be a reason and permission to do certain things. It may be that the end of the day is ticking closer and so it gives that added impetus to get on with things and get things done. Alternatively, it also gives you permission to do nothing: the day's work is done and it's time to relax in a slumber in front of the TV and wait for the time when tiredness makes you unable to do anything!

Yes, it's the middle of the afternoon that's a useless time for me. Of course, it's rather different when you're in work or in a routine but when there is no routine or work forced upon you, or you are able to work to your own rhythm, things are made more difficult by the afternoon slumber. So, I propose a major change to the way we live! It will mean a number of things, I think, including a change in the weather which I think will be the most difficult thing to achieve! You see, the Mediterranean countries have got it right. At the hottest part of the day things begin to close down and slow down, and people take to their siesta time. Of course, each country that takes a siesta has its own specific practice or tradition but the idea is much the same. In parts of Argentina, for instance, it occurs between 1 and 4 pm and the time is held as 'sacred' - nobody wants to be disturbed!

I'm glad I found that word 'sacred' attached to my plans! My mind turns back to the words of the Psalmist: 'He gives to his beloved sleep!' (Psalm 127). In fact, I've just done a quick cross reference on biblical texts on sleeping and it rather supports my cosmic plan. Of course, sleep doesn't have to be about laziness. I wouldn't want to step on St Benedict's toes for whom laziness is 'the enemy of the soul' and who had a healthy and helpful work ethic. I've got some back up plans as well. If the weather doesn't change I may have to move to Spain or Italy in order to justify my Siesta! of course, I'm not averse to that option - it would be rather nice! But, since neither the weather nor the climate will change today, nor will I be magically transported to Rome (not today, anyway!) I think I may just switch off my mobile phone and go to bed.

It's Nun too Easy!

Have you heard the one about the three nuns who fell out? No, me neither! But you can bet the punchline includes the word 'habit!' The word 'punchline' is also quite apt, mind, especially in the case of the convent being closed down in Italy because two of the three nuns left there found the Mother Superior so difficult. It's reported that they'd had enough and finally turned on her, scratching her face and throwing her to the ground. But the fight continues! Mother Superior has vowed to stay where she is, despite the intervention of the Archbishop and now the Vatican. So wait on the next news item as she chains herself to the convent gates or organises a 'pray in!'

The news item brings to mind a story that Cardinal Basil Hume once told in one of his books, of a young novice in a convent who was having a few difficulties. Mother Superior's answer was blunt and profound. 'Don't drag your cross, sister, carry it.' It's easy to see the funny side of the story from Santa Maria in Bari but there's a more important point, too. One of my recyclable school assemblies is to introduce (in a virtual way, of course) a number of different friends I have, each with different jobs: Sarah the teacher, Jon the homeless worker, Kate the computer programmer, Vivienne the children's doctor and Patrick the monk. The young people then have to organise them in order of who has the most difficult job. They invariably declare that the monk has the easiest 'job'! Of course, if that was the case our convents would be spilling over and our monasteries would have a queue to get in for surely, none of us in our right mind would go out of our way to make life difficult for ourselves! So why not be a monk or nun - it's easy!

But easy, of course, it is not! The story of the three nuns shows the frustrations of living together in community, the pure humanness that spills out and over into extreme behaviour and which becomes a caricature for gaps in the news. It shows, too, that none of us is perfect. St Benedict, the father of Western Monasticism, called his monasteries 'a school for the Lord's service.' In other words, we always go on learning - though I'm not sure he had in mind the playground fights and bites and the scratches succumbed in a school yard fight! Or maybe he did. Holiness is a natural thing. The easiest and the most difficult thing in the world. Which is why so many us get it wrong and so many of us make mistakes on trying to get it right. So, it's back to school for all of us, I think! Just keep your nails to yourself!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7023245.stm