Lebh Shomea

6/4/09
Lebh Shomea is a Catholic retreat house, a house of quiet and prayer, located near Sarita, Texas. The Hebrew word "Lebh" is translated as "heart". "Shomea" may be translated as "listening" or "understanding" or "discerning." It comes from I Kings 3:9, where Solomon is asked by the LORD what he wants. He asks for a lebh shomea.
That's what I want also. So I go to this retreat house once or twice a year, simply to be quiet, to be still, to wait on the Lord. I read a lot. I rest a lot. I walk in the woods a lot. I pray a lot. But we don't talk. Except at chapel each morning where we are asked to listen to the scripture lessons and share in faith with a neighbor the Word we heard for us.
One of the members of the core community will also deliver about a 3 minute homily. We will have the sacrament of communion.
I like to go to this retreat house right before annual conference in Corpus Christi. You must understand that annual conference is not necessarily quiet. It is full of motions, amendments, speeches for and against. Yes, there are worship services, and lots of reunions with old friends in the hall ways. But I find myself growing quickly tired of Robert's Rules of Order. So I try to enter conference with a lebh shomea.

Love,
Pastor Lynn