I've been retired 6 years now and have celebrated my 50th anniversary of ordination. I want to take to heart the words of Jesus in Mark 6:31: "Come away by yourselves to a desert place and rest a while." There's no desert handy for me, but the phrase "an out of the way place" captures the idea for me. While my home right now is far from quiet with lots of company, usually it fits the bill for an out of the way place. I can go whole days without seeing or talking to anybody. It is very much what I had hoped my retirement would be after 50 busy years.
Buddhists teach that a person's life is divided into three parts: the first part for education and growing up; the second part for continued learning, through marriage and raising a family, involvement with the life of the senses, the mind, and the spirit; and the third part a time of withdrawal from responsibility, letting go of the things of this life, letting God take over. (quoted by Dorothy Day in a column in 1975 as she was retiring from her very active life.)
I am encouraged by Jesus and Dorothy Day and the Buddhists to keep true to my original hope for retirement.
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