Its true Contemplative Prayer is indeed the Pearl of Great Price. It reminds me of what Jesus said about we as true disciples being sons of the house rather than mere hirelings or wage earners. So we become true children of love and not just there for the dough. I notice this in work. I picked up the Cistercian Spirituality of , 'Work is Prayer' and so as a form of prayer and penance I work very hard even when no supervisor is looking. Others who are merely wage earners collapse into heaps as soon as no eyes are on them. The difference between us is what I do I do for love , what they are doing they are doing for money. I am a child of the house hold ,so to speak. So with Contemplative prayer , the prayer of love we start to act from motives of love rather than fear or duty and the world changes. As St Augustine says , 'Love and do what you will'. St Bernard of Clairvaux in writing of this compares it to a 'Sweet wine', which indeed it is. The sweet wine of love which sweetens all of life. http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com...es_of_Contemplation_Bernard_of_Clairvaux.html 'Let us take our stand on the tower, leaning with all our strength on Christ, the most solid rock, as it is written: He has set my feet on a rock, he has guided my steps. Thus firmly established, let us begin to contemplate, to see what he is saying to us and what reply we ought to make to him. The first stage of contemplation, my dear brothers, is to consider constantly what God wants, what is pleasing to him, and what is acceptable in his eyes. We all offend in many things; our strength cannot match the rightness of God’s will and cannot be joined to it or made to fit with it. So let us humble ourselves under the powerful hand of the most high God and make an effort to show ourselves unworthy before his merciful gaze, saying Heal me, Lord, and I shall be healed; save me and I shall be saved. And again, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul because I have sinned against you. Once the eye of the soul has been purified by such considerations, we no longer abide within our spirit in a sense of sorrow, but abide rather in the Spirit of God with great delight. No longer do we consider what is the will of God for us, but rather what it is in itself. For our life is in his will. Thus we are convinced that what is according to his will is in every way better for us, and more fitting. And so, if we are concerned to preserve the life of our soul, we must be equally concerned to deviate as little as possible from his will. Thus having made some progress in our spiritual exercise under the guidance of the Spirit who gazes into the deep things of God, let us reflect how gracious the Lord is and how good he is in himself. Let us join the Prophet in praying that we may see the Lord’s will and frequent not our own hearts but the Lord’s temple; and let us also say, My soul is humbled within me, therefore I shall be mindful of you. These two stages sum up the whole of the spiritual life: when we contemplate ourselves we are troubled, and our sadness saves us and brings us to contemplate God; that contemplation in turn gives us the consolation of the joy of the Holy Spirit. Contemplating ourselves brings fear and humility; contemplating God brings us hope and love.'
I was touched Terry when I read how gentle and kind St Teresa was about distractions in prayer. At one point she refers to falling asleep during prayer and more nor less saying, 'Well if I fell asleep during prayer I must have needed it'. I love this about her , her humanism, her humour, her gentle kindly motherliness. Nevertheless I found in prayer sometimes to avoid banging my head against a brick wall a certain amount of ducking and diving was necessary. For instance picking the best time of the day for prayer and giving it to God. For some this is morning, for some day time for others evening or night. In this we are like the Israelites who gave the best , unspotted lamb to the Lord. Malachi 1:8 "And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?" Run out of time again...more later.
Can't remember where I read this, long ago, but I find this helpful when dealing with distractions: I imagine I'm floating just under the water, and the distracting thoughts are like leaves that land on the surface. I just let them float past, without giving them any thought. The hardest thing for me when I began contemplative prayer long ago was understanding that success is in spending the time. It is time for the Lord to do with as He wills. I just get lost in there, and usually come away with no understanding of what transpired, but trusting that it was good.
Padraig, Thanks! One of the difficulties I've had in prayer lately is with dosing off- the frequency is something I'm not used to. When I met with my spiritual director on Wednesday, Fr. Edward suggested shifting place and time more than changing methodology. He said if the dryness is from God and not rooted in any underlying sin, then I'll have to live with it and trust! He insisted on my perseverance, though. Safe in the Father's Arms!
Well Kathy, if you do get lost be sure to remember to come up for air!! I do like your imagery on letting the leaves float on by. Since the season of fall is soon upon us, it would be great if all the leaves would float by and then I wouldn't have to rake them! Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
You know Terry prayer, especially deep prayer is not so very different to sleep, believe it or not. That I suspect is why God talks so often to His Faithful in dreams. Scientists have shown that both sleep and prayer produce Theta waves in the brain. So they're both close cousins. In the monastery at Vigils in the middle of the night the monks used to go back to their cells to pray and read. This would have just put me fast to sleep so I used to take the sheep dogs (all ten of them) for a walk to pray in the forest. I still go up the mountains for my best praying. Psalm 121 A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. I am afraid an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament would be an hour in la la time. Also when I did pray in front of the Tabernacle I always did it marching up and down. This is what I mean by ducking and diving, pick a way of praying that suits you, not only you r soul but your body and Spirit. For my spirit I like to sings hymns out loud...very badly but I thnk my angels like it for sometimes I think I can hear them singing along when they are not laughing. You know I never thought it an accident that Mary very often appears on the mountains, I don't know about dogs but she likes the hills and I like to walk with her up there. Be flexible find the prayer bed that most suits yourself.
A little something on prayer{and dosing off} for you Mario, from St. Jane Frances De Chantel Prayer Our Lady calls us to prayer. She also asks us to read the lives and writings of the saints. The following reflection on prayer was written by St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641), who was a mother, widow, contemplative and spiritual director. She and her friend, St. Francis de Sales, founded the Congregation of the Visitation. Prayer is a pure elevation of our minds to God, believing that He is more in us than we are in ourselves. Our success in prayer depends on this, and not on discourse and considerations, of which if we are deprived, we need not be troubled. Neither should we be troubled when we sleep at prayer, provided we resist it. Let us patiently suffer it and keep ourselves before God as a statue to receive all He sends (cf. Saint Francis de Sales, On the Love of God). It gives Our Lord pleasure to see us fighting sleep all the time of prayer. We must bear with it and love our abjection. Prayer is a hidden manna, neither known or valued, save by those to whom it is given, and the more we taste it, the more does our appetite for it grow. ... A soul who has this spirit of prayer does more work in one hour than another, who is without it, will do in many; and her work done, she hastens to converse with her God, for this is her repose. However, it is only to the obedient that God thus communicates Himself…. In prayer we should freely unburden ourselves to God, telling Him, Our Lord and Master, in the most familiar and confidential way, everything, great and small, of Heaven or of earth, much or little. We should open our heart, pouring it all out to Him without reserve; recounting its burdens, its sins, its aspirations; revealing our whole self; seeking repose in His company as with a friend on whom one relies and to whom one confides both the good and the bad. This is what Holy Scripture calls pouring out his heart like water in the divine presence (cf. Lam 2:19), manifesting not only those things that are of great importance, but even the most insignificant of things. Seeing that Divine Providence governs all, and that we can do nothing without its assistance, it is wise to confer with God, for whatever good comes to us in any way, it comes from Him. Let there be no timidity in our supplications; He does not like it. And as Pradraig has said sleeping is a close cousin to prayer. I have had some great things happen in the state between sleeping and and wakefulness in prayer. That being said, I do ask my angel to wake me when I fall asleep, and many the times are when I fell asleep in prayer and woke and found my arm being shaken. A soft voice saying, you are being called to prayer. View attachment 1307
There is a nice story about the (Baroness ) St Jane Chantal. When she was just converted she had her servants and her entire household tortured on her knees praying with her day and night, driving them all crazy. The she took St Francis De Sales (Bishop of Geneva) as her Spiritual Director and he ordered her to knock all the pious stuff on the head. One of servants said of this, 'Thank God for Fr De Sales before he came we were never off our knees but now you would hardly think the Baroness ( St Jane) was a Christian at all!' As someone who was always being twitchy around the pious I have always loved that quote. Clonard Monastery is full of them. Scarey “If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master's presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in Our Lord's presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed.” St. Francis de Sales
Thank you for the thread Padraig and for your instruction on "quiet prayer" Carmel. You read in the messages, Our Lord says, get quiet and you will hear Me in your heart. We should persist, myself, I'll try contemplative prayer for a couple of days. Then, I won't continue the next day or I fall asleep.
I am afraid Jackie we cannot, 'Choose' to do Contemplative Prayer, God does the choosing for us. We are like little babies sitting at the bottom of a very high set of stairs, He comes down them, lifts us in His arms and sweeps us away. All we, little babies can do is hold our arms out and wait for Him to lift us..if He will.
Your pic is soo..cute. Thank you for your wise words. Contemplative prayer, when you know of people personally who do hear Our Lord, we desire it too.
St. Terese, the Little Flower said she never received the gift of quiet prayer. God does choose to whom He gives the gift.
Neither should we be troubled when we sleep at prayer, provided we resist it. Let us patiently suffer it and keep ourselves before God as a statue to receive all He sends (cf. Saint Francis de Sales, On the Love of God). It gives Our Lord pleasure to see us fighting sleep all the time of prayer. We must bear with it and love our abjection. ___________________________________________________ “If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master's presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in Our Lord's presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed.” ___________________________________________________ Padraig and Hope, Thanks for each quote! Safe in the Father's Arms!
I am not too sure of this. It may be she had it and simply didn't know she had. Priests report from the confessional that older Catholics speck to them, often of , 'Getting lost in prayer' they try to say a prayer and on thinking of God they just, 'Get caught up in it' Lost. Whereas in fact they are deep in Contemplative Prayer without even knowing it. The wise priest does not get caught up in complicated explanations but simply tells them to carry on that they are doing fine. If an automobile is working well we do not need to know how its going just that its taking us to where we want to be. I studied up on it because I was interested in it and also because I wanted to check if I was going of the rails. But the automobile of prayer would still have taken me there ,even if I had not looked under the bonnet. St Teresa says that there are three great graces of prayer. 1 The grace of prayer itself. 2 The grace of understanding prayer. 2 The grace of being able to explain prayer to others. Of the three of course its the first that is the biggy .For if its not broke there's no need to fix it. St Terese of Liseaux's never needed either fixed or understanding as she was driving the best sports rally car in the world.
After my mother died I found her little prayer book. It was a little torn booklet, really torn and battered covered with tape to bind it together in so many places it looked like a silver ball. The cheapest and smallest of things really and so simple I suppose a small child could have read and understood it. Yet it had been my mothers lamp and guide to prayer I suppose for most of her life. Well as I stood looking at it sadly I thought of my own path. Reading whole libraries of books on prayer and the lives of the saints on mystical theology and spirituality and even much imput form other religions and faiths, having the chance to meet several real saints and discuss their prayer life with them as well being in contact with many holy and good Catholics from all over the world and gaining insight from this...And yet you know on looking at my mothers little old prayer book thinking to myself that for all my learning and praying I had maybe not got as far as my Mother with her five cent taped together sad looking little booklet. For I recalled a conversation I had with her in the few months just before she died. We both knew she had just a few short months left to live and I was encouraging her to go to confession weekly to get her old pot scrubbed before showing God her hands were clean before dining at the Eternal Feast . But she looked at me blankly and siad something to me I believe I will never forget. She said, 'Padraig, I ahve eben trying to go to confession but I had to stop. Because everytime I go in there I just can't think of anything to tell him!' Well you know that just stunned me to silence. Because she wasn't saying this in any kind of arrogant, I got it made way she was just telling it as it very simply was. And I could compare this to myself who had plenty and plenty of things to keep the poor priests busy with. Thenat her funeral I met a woman whom I had never met before but who had know my mother from childhood. and who said to me with great earnestness, 'I knew your mother from childhood and she was always good and we children often commented on how good she was, I just want you to know this. You had a a very,very good mother'. So on looking at the old prayer book these things came into my mind . My mother wouldn't have know Contemplative prayer from a sweet potato. But she lived it, she lived it. St Augustine once said that , 'Love is letting the other person be'. When we encounter the Mystery of Faith, the Mystery of Prayer I always think that it really is that a mystery. And every persons life is a mystery and will always be a Mystery and we just have to step back a little and make a little room for mystery. That's the trouble I think with the pious, they think they've bought it, boxed it up and brought it home to set on the mantlepiece. When this really isn't so. And when I looked at my mothers prayer book I realise I am glad that this is so. That I'll have to wait for heaven and meet her again before I ever understand her journey or she, mine.
Padraig, This idea of journey is very important. My wonderful wife, Geralyn, has been visiting Rachel and toddler Dairinne before their little family moves out to California in two weeks. Presently, Geralyn is on the way home and still has about seven hours to go. When she arrives, the journey will be finished. But it seems to me that prayer in one sense never arrives. In fact, if I come to believe that I've "arrived" in my prayer life, chances are that I'm actually going in reverse. Could one actually consider the Beatific Vision in Heaven as a type of uninterrupted contemplative prayer? For all eternity we will be plumbing the depths of God. The great beauty is that His love, goodness, and wisdom are inexhaustible! And then, when we receive our resurrection bodies, it will be something altogether new . What a marvelous journey we embark upon when each of us responds to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Praise God for His invitation! Safe in the Barque of Peter.
When I think of heaven ,Terry, I always think of the conversation of St Augustine and his mother had on the night before he left Italy for Africa, their last parting, just before she died. We do not know what they said to each other only that they sat up all night talking . I would so much like to have been a fly on the wall listening to them both, what marvellous things we would have heard and learnt. One thing I have noticed through prayer. Sometimes I take a notion to pray to certain folks who not canonised saints but through knowing or knowing off am convinced are in heaven. my logic being that since they are not canonised they will not have been deluged by requests by prayers and since some of them have known me they might take an interest. A funny way of looking at things ,maybe, but that's me. But I notice sometimes I am told to ,'Let them be, ' ..that they are 'busy', and 'should not be disturbed. ' This do not disturb sign tagged on some of them leads me to believe heaven is a very dynamic place were we all have our role to play. It also leads me on to think that the canonisation of saints is no accident. So St Therese of Liseaux said she would spend her heaven , 'Doing good on Earth' and Padre Pio said that he would not himself enter heaven until the last of his spiritual children had entered. I notice when praying to the saints how attentive they are , like door keepers always ready to answer the knock .So that is one of their roles as kind of door keepers, always ready to answer our knocking. The Mother of God particularly so. I am always touched by this. That love does not end at death, in fact it seems to deepen. Padre Pio, for instance is much more active and powerful now than he was when alive.
It seems to me that the Saints are even more attentive these days, if that were possible. After Mass, I pray my own personal litany of the Saints. Lately, I've been asking them to inspire my prayer with their intentions, since they have a better view of things and know better than me what prayers are needed. God is so good to us, through His angels and His Saints!!!
I find, Kathy when I read the life of a saint my heart takes fire. I just want to emulate them. I read a nice story about the Cistercian Thomas Merton (Fr Louis of Gethsemane Abbey in Kentucky Not too long after his conversion and entrance into the Church he was doing post grad studies at Columbia in New York. He hung about there with a few young Catholic friends . He happened to mention to them that he wanted to be a saint. Off course all the guys laughed at him considering this to be an arrogance and too much. But they asked their Professor about this, who seems to have been a very holy man and he said that the eternal calling of all of us is to be saints. Of course years later in the Council Document Lumen Gentium (Light of Nations) this was confirmed.
