The call to holiness is a call to transform loneliness, which is a word that expresses the pain of being alone, to solitude, which is the word that expresses the glory of being alone with God. Here is how a Christian turns loneliness into solitude.

Each morning let the first words you say be, “Jesus is with me. I claim His presence.” In the middle of the morning, stop wherever you are and whatever you are doing, close your eyes for a moment and say, “Jesus is with me. I claim His presence.” Then at noon repeat it and sometime during the afternoon when your energies are depleted, repeat it again. Finally, the last thing you do before falling asleep, look up at the darkness and say, “Jesus is with me. I claim His presence.”

Practice the presence of God by placing yourself deliberately before God every day in your prayers, by praying the Jesus Prayer many times during the day, by wakefulness and inner attention to each word you pray, and by shutting the doors of the senses to be alone with God for a few minutes each day. For it is by practicing the presence that the presence becomes real.

Another thing that can help you practice God’s presence is to dwell, when you stop for a few        moments in God’s presence, on God’s power and peace. Think about the spiritual strength of Christ flowing into you. This practice is, in effect, the closing of the cell door to your body, the door to your lips to words, and the interior door to spirits. Like a person in a telephone booth with the door open, we are bombarded daily by the many conflicting voices of the crowd. What we need is to close the door on the crowd daily and listen to the voice of God Who is trying so hard to speak to us. In the beginning it takes patience since we are not used to hear God speaking to us. Once we become accustomed to placing ourselves in the presence of God and bringing quiet to our minds and spirits, we will begin to experience God speaking to us. It takes time. The important thing is not to become discouraged