Doing and Being on Sabbatical

In less than two weeks, I will begin a sabbatical for the months of May, June, and July. Then in August I will take a vacation. I’ll return to St. Mary’s on Monday, August 25th.

Many people have asked me what I am going to do on my sabbatical. I have given this a great deal of thought as well. I plan to do some writing, to travel up to Canada a couple of times, and to teach a course on pilgrimage in North Wales in the UK.

I was thinking about then when, all of a sudden, I realized that these are but things I will encounter along the way. There is more to a sabbatical, indeed more to living life, than meets the eye.

Abd-Kháliq Ghijduwání makes this clear when he says, “Your journey is towards your homeland. Remember you are traveling from the world of appearances to the world of Reality.” When I hear these words, I realize that what I will be doing, if I’m going to have a refreshing and fulfilling sabbatical, is remembering. It is my work to look for glimpses of Reality, the Beloved, in the appearances of everyday life and experiences.

In the Catskills, in Canada, at home, in Wales, in conversation with friend and stranger and Mary Jo, will I be present enough to recognize in all appearances the presence of the Beloved? In your journeys this summer, will you recognize Love in your midst?

This is the work that is set out before you and me—to taste the beauty of the Divine in the mundane ways and byways of our journeys.

So what do I want to accomplish on sabbatical? Should I write a book, shoot another documentary, or do something else to ensure that I’ll have something to show for my time? My good old type A personality is raring to prove that I was constructive during my sabbatical.

Yet there is a silence that beckons me beyond accomplishments that my ego can point to with pride. That silence reminds me that the work I have to do is remembrance of the Beloved whose Love is around me and around you each moment and each breath. If I do remember that—say, at least a quarter of the time—well, then, I just might have accomplished something!

May God bless you and be with you on your journeys this summer. And may the gift of remembrance carry you through appearances to the arms of the Beloved.

Joel t