I thought I would write a little on Contemplative prayer . It is really in a sense the goal of all prayer the El Dorado ,so to speak, the voice of the angels in heaven, the Pearl of Great Price. In understanding a little of Contemplative Prayer we understand all prayer and true Spirituality. Matthew 13:46 …45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. III. CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER 2709 What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: "Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us."6 Contemplative prayer seeks him "whom my soul loves."7 It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself. Cathechism of The Catholic Church I will use my great teacher St Teresa of Avila as a template but my words and my experience and my thoughts on this will be my own. So I invite you to read with me Chapter four of The Doctor of the Church's great book on prayer, 'The Interior Mansions (Castles)'
St Teresa speaks of this prayer in her fourth Mansion as the ,'Prayer of Quiet,'. (Chapter Three} which you can read online in the link I give below. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/teresa/castle2.viii.iii.html
My favorite too! A good beginners book is Fire Within by Father Thomas Dubay. It explains St Teresa and St John of the Cross in easy to understand terms, and also explains the many different supernatural events we may expect to receive in Quiet Prayer if we are in a state of grace and actively seeking to communicate with God. I gave this book to a co-employee who had been away from the Church for 40 years and was about to spend 10 days in jail. He was at rock-bottom in his life at that time. He came out of jail and came up to me with a big grin on his face, and said he had fallen in love! I assumed he was going to return to his wife but he said he had fallen in love with GOD! He did return to his wife, got sober, went to confession and back to Mass. Quiet prayer is for everyone!! Even those who think they are too far gone in sin. St Teresa says that if that is the case we should practice it just so that the Divine Surgeon can have us still and quiet to work on us and heal us. I also helped a friend start practicing it and within 3 days she called and was filled with joy and excitement as she had been in quiet prayer and suddenly saw Jesus loving eyes looking at her!
Interesting that this subject has come up now. I have put myself on a quest regarding this subject just recently. I have lined up writings that I want to read...St Teresa of Avila's Autobiography "Life of St Teresa of Jesus" and "Way to Perfection". Also, St John of the Cross's "Ascent of Mount Carmel" and "Dark Night of the Soul". I have read "Interior Castle", "The Fire Within", and "The Three Conversions in the Spiritual Life" before and plan on re-reading them. Also the early writings of Thomas Merton which are marvelous in this contemplative area. I find this mystical contemplative aspect of our Faith by far the most fascinating and required part of our Faith. To me this seems like the most important part of a spiritual walk. Everything else is good but verges on superficial. This contemplative path seems to be the blueprint for what it is all about. What can be more important than an understanding and pathway to union with God. All of the other aspects of our Faith teach about how to know God which is great of course and vitally important in the beginning stages but this aspect teaches how to be resting in God's presence intimately (how to be in love with God). I know that I am stuck in the early purgative mansion but also can see the path laid out by St Teresa of Avila and others as the path I desire to be on. It rings as the most vital and most desirous path to be on. Nothing else seems more important to me in pursuing. As I read books like "Interior Castle" I sense my soul being illumined and on fire desiring for what they describe. This aspect of our Faith speaks to my soul more than any other. I also find the most interesting posts to read on this forum are the ones where people like Padraig and others describe their personal experiences on this mystical contemplative journey...utterly fascinating.
4... Some books advise that as a preparation for hearing what our Lord may say to us we should keep our minds at rest, waiting to see what He will work in our souls.137 But unless His Majesty has begun to suspend our faculties, I cannot understand how we are to stop thinking, without doing ourselves more harm than good. 6...By ‘painful effort’ I mean any forcible restraint we place on ourselves, such as holding our breath.141 We should rather abandon our souls into the hands of God, leaving Him to do as He chooses with us, as far as possible forgetting all self-interest and resigning ourselves entirely to His will. 7. In my opinion, when God chooses to place the soul in this mansion it is best for it to do as I advised, and then endeavour, without force or disturbance, to keep free from wandering thoughts. Padraig, In your experience, what are effective means of resigning ourselves into the hands of God while dealing with an overactive mind? How do we avoid the painful effort and forcible restraint Teresa warns of? Safe in the Father's Lap!
You remind me of the Words of St James, which I often think of when I remember the Cursillo, Carmel. That anyone who brings a soul to God leads to our own salvation. I always thought this logical, for in leading a soul to heaven how could God ever permit that we ourselves wind up in hell? A very good reason for Apostolic work. "He must know that he who causeth a sinner to be converted from the error of his way will save his own soul from death and shall cover a multitude of sins" (St. James 5, 19-20).
Jimmyiz, Me, too! I've been struggling in prayer of late, so I went back and re-read Chapters 8-10 of Book I in the Dark Night of the Soul and also Chapter 6 of When the Well Runs Dry by Thomas Green, SJ. I hate to admit that I haven't gone further into St. John's Dark Night than Book I because it's enough for me to identify with the dark night of the senses, let alone the dark night of the soul. Padraig highlights Thomas Green's book on p.13 of the Seven Gardens of Prayer Thread (10/1/12). It's my favorite because he is so easy to understand. I'm often very . I'll pray that God follows up the increase in your head knowledge with more of His tender and loving heart knowledge. Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
Carmel333, God bless you for your witness. I should do more of this! After all, every Catholic should because it's part of our baptismal call! Safe in the Flames of the Sacred Heart!
I have to say, I was led to this prayer by God Himself, so I started out just enjoying and not really knowing what it was. Since I was alone, I would run home from work to be alone with God. I would stay up all night just to be alone with God, I avoided most humans and just wanted to be in prayer etc.. The person who gave me the book Fire Within, did so because I had no idea what was happening to me, and the intense knowledge of and conversation with God to me was suddenly fading away. This had been going on for about 9 months, and I really had no life without this intense prayer and love I was receiving from Jesus, and I was devastated when it faded away. I say faded because I still had a knowledge of Him with me, and would do anything now to be receiving such favors for so long a time. I had to "come down from the mountain" per sey, and it was a blow. But we are not here to be coddled, we are here to be servants of God. I still have wonderful quiet prayer every day, and I still have conversations, or locutions with Jesus, but it is not where I am in what I found out later was a beatific vision anymore. I still don't know why all this happened to me. But anyway, I joined the 3rd Order Carmelites in 2001 and 1/2 hour of quiet prayer daily is part of our rule. It is SO beneficial and necessary I really think the Church should teach more about it to our youngsters as a part of religion and CCD.
Carmel333, could you explain a little further, help me understand how to start practicing quiet prayer?
Sure, although there are many methods, but this is how I was taught. To begin with, it's best to be in a state of Grace, meaning of course not attached or living in any Mortal sin, and having made a recent confession. So assuming you are in a state of grace and receiving the sacraments (I'm sure you are Hope, just in case anyone else is reading ) If you are not in a state of grace, please DO start this prayer! but just beware that the devil HATES this prayer, and if you do not have the armour of God on, he will start to attack. Do NOT give up though...forwarned is fore-armed! So lets get right to it! : 1. Find a quiet place where you can be alone and comfortable. A Lazy boy, the couch, a lawn chair, whatever. 2. Set a timer for ten minutes, or just have a clock handy. To begin, do this for 10 minutes a day. If you want to do longer is fine, but the point is to give Jesus this 10 minutes EVERY day. Faithfulness to this is important, whether anything happens or not. 3. Sit back and close your eyes, make the sign of the cross, and mentally just put yourself in the presence of God. You can start by looking at a favorite picture of Jesus if that helps. Just be quiet in mind, as if you are waiting for Him to speak and you are at attention. 4. If your mind wanders (and it will think of the silliest things!) just say "Jesus" softly to yourself and go back to listening and just basking in His presence. He IS there with you even though you dont' see Him, and He is going to teach you now how to quiet your soul. Think of Him saying "be still and know that I Am God" 5. When the ten minutes is up. Stop. At this point you may pray more or just talk to Him or do verbal prayer if you want to pray more. But that 10 minutes was just for the Prayer of Quiet. 6. Set a "Time with Jesus" and stick to it everyday. For a week do this prayer faithfully. Even if you have time for no other prayers it is best to skip all others and do this for this week. If you do littanys of prayers, try to put them aside to do this. Don't feel guilty about missing all your other prayers you do if that is the case. Its not a competition and better to put all your efforts into learning this. You will start to look forward to your time with Jesus each day and so will He. Let us know how it goes!
Mario and Padraig, I hope you don't mind my responding. Distractions are going to happen until the prayer of union in the 5th mansions (a pretty advanced state of prayer) and at first this completely focused prayer may only last as long as a Hail Mary, as St. Teresa writes. The mind will wander without your willing it to do so. The best way to handle it (in my opinion) is to quietly call the mind back to God without getting upset or annoyed by the distraction, and continue with your prayer. The Lord is not going to be surprised that your mind wandered. You just don't want to notice you're distracted and then willfully continue to think about the distraction. It takes some practice to calmly bring the mind back and avoid the pride that causes us to get upset with ourselves when the intellect goes off on its own. The late Father Dubay talks about this topic in his Contemplation series on EWTN, especially in talks 11-13. http://tinyurl.com/dubaycontemplation
Thanks Mario...I will have to take a look at this book by Thomas Green also. Your prayer is for exactly what I am lacking. I have worked a lot on the head knowledge but am still lacking very much in the heart knowledge area. Keep waiting for that very very slow drip from the head to the heart to become like a river flowing. Thanks for the tips Carmel and Rosa. Excellent stuff.
