I have to confess that I dozed through the homily at Mass this morning; I can't remember a single word of the book I was reading; and I have an awkward feeling that prayer this afternoon was spent in what we call "the prayer of gentle drift." Before people start emailing about the dreadful laxity of nuns nowadays, I suggest everyone takes a second look at today's reading from I Kings. God isn't always to be found where we expect, nor is he always expected where he is to be found. I had to spend part of today doing something I heartliy dislike, and to my shame, I did so with much interior grumbling and resentment; but if I can claim to have met God at all today, it was in that unwelcome task. God was so gracious and I so ungrateful, but part of me is immensely glad to have been reminded that the search for God is always a response to something he has begun. The opening words of the Rule of St Benedict command us to "listen" and "bend close the ear of the heart". When we're really straining to hear, a whisper is all that is needed, no matter how great the din that surrounds us.