TWILIGHT AND BED: Finding a sacred time and place to pray.

Rising very early before dawn, he left
and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35

Where are the deserted places at which we pray? Years ago, when I bought a copy of Fr Ed Hayes’ Prayers For A Planetary Pilgrim,  he expressed the need for all people to establish a sacred place in their homes where they could pray. He suggested that in that place sacred objects be placed, e.g. a Bible, a prayer book, a sacred image or statue, all that a person holds sacred. It was there in that dedicated place where one could find a place free from the distraction of life and pray.

In most homes with children, finding a space dedicated to prayer can be a real challenge. When I was growing up my family would gather around the dinner table for prayer. We would say our meal prayers there. We would often follow our meals with a rosary, particularly during Lent. The family table was our sacred space. But where is the sacred space in my home today?

As I was reflecting on this passage this week, I found that I do not have a formally dedicated place in which to pray. In some ways, our dog, Belle E Button (a Boxerdore … part Boxer/part Labrador) has done a better job in establishing a sacred spot for herself. She has one chair in the living room that is exclusively hers. When she needs solitude, she climbs up on that chair, curls into a ball and and lays there in quiet. Observing Belle, I thought if the dog has enough common sense to find that special place for solitude, why is it that I, further up on the food chain, am still unable to establish a place for myself.

I thought that rather than trying to artificially create a formal prayer place, my time would be better spent reflecting on my own lived patterns to find the place where I naturally tend to do my praying. I found that that place was my bed.

The most sacred place for a married couple is their bed. It is not only a place for rest. It is the most intimate and holy of places for a married couple, rivaling the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple. It is upon that sacred altar that a couple expresses the fullness of their love sexually. It is upon that altar that their children are conceived. It is upon that altar that their intimate thoughts and concerns are expressed and shared. When Ruthie lays down beside me, it is the place where I feel most fully complete. It is my sacred place.

I have found that it is in my bed that I find myself praying to God the most. I can rattle off all my obligatory prayers in all sorts of locations, but it is in bed that my most intimate prayers to God are expressed. It is in bed that I reflect most intimately on my God.

It is the Twilight times of the day, between wakefulness and sleep at night, between sleep and wakefulness at morning  in which I communicate the most intimately with my God. I can lay in deep reflection for close to an hour and never know how much time has past.

Twilight and bed, the time and place in which I find intimate communion with God. Where is your sacred place?