FAITH MATTERS 

Finding God in the Hidden Place

At our staff Chapel prayer this morning, we spent time reflecting on the words of Jesus from Matthew’s Gospel:

“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.” Matthew 6:6

Our reflection was accompanied by Sieger Köder’s artwork The Hidden Place, an image explored by Gemma Simmonds in her book The Closeness of God. Köder’s work invites us to look beyond the obvious and to consider what it might mean to enter the “hidden place” of which Jesus speaks.

Perhaps this hidden place is not simply a physical room. Perhaps it is that deeper place within each of us where we can move beyond the noise, expectations and distractions of everyday life and simply be present to God.

This reflection connected strongly with my recent experience at the ECSI Intensive course I attended in Warrnambool last month. One of the challenges of Catholic education today is to consider how the Christian story can continue to speak meaningfully within our contemporary context. Our Catholic identity cannot simply be something we inherit, display or repeat. It needs to be encountered, interpreted and recontextualised so that it can speak into the lives and experiences of people today.

Art can provide a powerful way of doing this. Köder does not simply illustrate the words of Matthew 6:6; he invites us to enter into them. The familiar Scripture is presented in a way that encourages us to look again, to ask questions and perhaps to discover something we had not previously noticed.

This is at the heart of Recontextualising Dialogue. We honour the richness of our Catholic tradition while allowing it to enter into genuine conversation with the world in which we live. Scripture, art, our experiences and the questions we carry can meet one another — and in that meeting, something new can emerge.

Perhaps that is also an invitation for each of us.

In the busyness of school life, where is our hidden place?

Where do we find the space to move beyond everything we are required to do, and simply be?

And when we enter that space, are we open to discovering that God may already be there, quietly waiting for us?

A Prayer

God of the hidden place,

amid the noise and busyness of our lives,

draw us into the quiet places within.

Help us to recognise your presence

in Scripture, in one another,

in our experiences and in the world around us.

Give us the courage to look again,

to listen deeply, and to allow our faith to speak anew

into the lives we live today.

May we discover that in seeking you,

you have already drawn close to us.

Jesus light of the world, guide us

St Joseph, journey with us

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us

Alison Wright

Director of Faith and Mission