Article January 27, 1986 Issue

Hide and seek

[Original in Spanish]

RAÚL MORALES

Among the games of my childhood that I most fondly recall is one called hide and seek. In our version of this game, we had to hide so as to make it hard for the child acting as jailer of the prison or guard of the stockade to find us. Even though we might be quickly found, it was still possible to win the game if we were rescued or freed by a playmate at the last moment.

We all knew that although one could find good places to hide, eventually all the hiding places would be discovered. As adults we may also feel at times that we cannot find good places of refuge from evil, from the concerns of daily living, or from the sensualism of the times we live in.

A very dear friend of mine used to say that often when he was praying he would seem naturally impelled to be at peace as though hidden in a quiet place from the world. Then he could commune with God. He would reach this "place" as a result of prayer and spiritual inspiration, and it would often be the starting point for a subsequent serene and directed action. My friend had seen, too, that such an attitude was not selfish, nor did it mean running away from problems or from the world. On the contrary, it was a most effective means of finding solutions to daily challenges.

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