Fr. Rudy V. Da Souza, OCD
Only a MASTER Can Generalize - as you will oserve while reading this!
Community Life
WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA LAY CARMELITE REGION
The Palisades Retreat/Archdiocese of Seattle:
October 8-10, 2010
Retreat Director: Father Rudolf V. D’Souza, OCD
www.rudyocdhomilies.org/
Theme of Conference is: Community Life
FRIDAY Evening Conference
Community is Trinitarian – because there is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. God the Father is the Creator, God the Son is the Redeemer, God the Holly Spirit is the Sanctifier.
God has created us.
Look at the life of Jesus; he was a very creative man. He dined with all kinds of people, he cured people.
Our communities need to have that creative space; there is always something new. In our communities we can be kind, generous, we can smile, we can laugh.
God has created in this universe all types of people. We are all called to redeem one another.
We are all called to be Saviors.
“I have called you to have life in abundance.”
He always healed, preached.
We are a community of redeemers. If we are not going to become redeemers we will become museum pieces.
How can we redeem one another?
First – we need to Appreciate one another.
Find out (when you pray) — are you praying to God the Father and the Blessed Mother:
“God give me the first place in heaven!” What about the others? We are in competition with one another. As human beings, we are all the same.
We are going to create wonderful communities when we shed our self importance. Being the son of God – He died as a Slave.
The most important task – in our daily life – is to carry our Cross.
We cannot redeem our brothers and sisters – if we think only of ourselves.
Pick up your cross – and give a helping hand to others.
The Spirit of Forgiveness must reign because then they will be communities more than just for the sake of the name community.
Look at the story of the Prodigal Son.
The father was waiting for the son to come back.
The son was the worst enemy of his brother.
When we fail to make communities, then we need to enter into ourselves.
Ask: “What am I doing wrong?” – and not looking at – what is wrong with others.
Communities suffer because we are not able to forgive!
To forgive requires a deep going into yourself. Our mind has 15 billion cells.
And each time we are tense and worried, we are loosing more than 5,000 cells.
It puts pressure on the brain.
Spirituality really starts with our whole being.
When you do not forgive your enemy, you are really the loser.
You will end up with all kinds of illness in the body: heart problems, etc.
People who live longest, forget about their enemies.
Forgiveness is such an important part of our life. When we forgive we are going to create wonderful communities and families. This is the work of being the redeemer.
Only when we become redeemers will we create a wonderful, happy community.
Your life is a prayer. God the Father accepts you – as you are.
What is holiness?
Purity?
Don’t go beyond certain limits, as God is not pleased with that.
Accept everything as it comes from God.
Some of you might be questioning God…this is prayer.
Look at the Book of Job; he is always questioning God.
Sanctifying — is eliminating all that is evil.
Communion: We are being united with the Lord.
Becoming one in spirit, one in mind and heart.
Community: let us all be United.
Communication:
Without communication we cannot have community,
Love, patience, self-respect.
Try to be fully present where you are.
This is the best way to overcome many of our problems.
Just enjoy what you are doing right now.
When you watch tv, only watch tv.
When you drink tea, only drink tea.
Control your thoughts during that time
and you will advance in getting over undesirable habits.
Your capacity to perform will double in one month.
The Lord says “I am who I am.”
You must tend to yourself and I am who I am.
A human being is a powerhouse because we are endowed with God.
We can all enjoy abundantly without limits.
There is a lot and more for everybody.
Jesus said by worrying you will not add a day to your life.
If you are happy, you make others happy.
Community springs from within.
When we change our heart, we can create a new world like Mother Teresa.
One good act a day will change you.
Saturday Morning Conference
Community as our experience:
Peter, along with other members of the disciples, wanted to be a leader; first with their own personal, private adjendas.
How can a community be formed after our experience?
There are 3 important locations:
The Mt. of Beatitudes, Mt. Tabor, Mt. Calvary.
This is even true of married couples.
Mt. of Beatitudes …. Poverty,
Mt. Tabor … Prayer, Charity,
Mt Calvary… Obedience, Faithfulness
Mt. of Beautitudes: Poverty,
Blessed are the poor, pure, meek, those who thirst for righteousness, and the persecuted.
These all help us to keep the real community spirit.
We have the obligation to teach, preach.
The Mt. of Beautitudes is a pulpit.
In order to form a community we need to have these atitudes.
We are being persecuted by the TV (advertisements), newspapers and other people.
Jesus says blessed are you when you are persecuted.
We need to find means to get along with others while being merciful.
Then the Lord will show you mercy.
Show mercy to those around us who are weak.
Mt. Tabor:
All community members have defects.
Climbing signifies always making progress (morally, socially, psychologically). Climbing is always being in formation.
Example, the formation of rock marble takes millions of years.
In the same way in order to form your brain, you need to read serious books about spirituality, such as prayer.
We can stimulate the brain in a natural way by reading books.
Climbing is always doing what you want to do.
The human resources are more important than natural resources.
Jesus asks his disciples, “let us climb the mountain!”
As you climb, a larger area is opening up for your viewing.
Knowledge is so important, even for community living.
Socrates said that the greatest knowledge you can have is to know thyself.
According to the experts, every day we have more than 50,000 thoughts.
One thought is linked to another thought.
The sad part of it is that 45,000 of those thoughts are good for nothing!
Climbing is streaming our thoughts.
Climbing is a very important aspect of our life.
We cannot just let things go.
We cannot just let our emotions go in an unruly way.
Our thoughts in our mind runs like a wild horse.
Most of the time our pre-judgements of others
does not tally later on, after we get to know them.
Any person that confronts you finds you are immediately tense.
Try to always nurture positive thoughts.
The greatest wealth we have is our health.
This is a kind of climbing, by not neglecting our body.
When our body is neglected then our brain is neglected.
Discipline for your body is hard work;
Give attention to what you are reading.
Listen to your body and you will not get sick.
If we are not happy spiritually, we will not be happy. Luke 21 17.
In the Catholic Church there are many things to enhance our spiritual life:
The rosary, seminaries, churches, houses of spirituality, Bible, statues, prayers.
In Italy there are more than 25,000 churches.
In Rome there are more than 1,000 churches.
The Catholic Church is an unbeatable organization.
You will never find another organization in the world like the Catholic Church.
We have more than 1 billion, 200,000 members.
The Catholic Church provides us lots of possibilities for improving our spiritual health.
We live only once; we must never give up.
Keep growing intellectually every day, and in every thing we do.
We must work at building community.
Staying on the mountain signifies that we will have wonderful experiences
(marriage, employment, anniversaries).
On those days we are so happy that we don’t speak ill of others.
On Mt. Tabor, Moses was the law giver, while Elijah was the spirit giver.
The laws which we make today are derived from the 10 Commandments.
This teaches respect for others.
St. Paul says that for the spirit (patience, peace, kindness, etc…) there is no law.
St. Paul is saying that when you live by the spirit, you don’t need the law.
There is a happy blending of the law and the spirit.
Then we can hope to form loveable, helpful communities.
Often in our excitement in prayer we forget all others.
We cannot take for granted some of our other community members.
We cannot deny other community members their rights.
Charity begins at home.
Take care of your family first, then you can help the missions and the church.
Being on top of the mountain doesn’t mean forgetting others in our family.
We must see to the need of our neighbors.
The cloud on the mountain always symbolizes mysteries.
It is a mystery when we have been generous to others, and yet they don’t love you. Our poverty, uncertainties, etc. are all mysteries.
The one individual we need to listen to is Jesus.
“This is my beloved son listen to him.”
We listen to Jesus in our prayer.
We can become happy families and communities when there is a blending of happiness and the spirit.
END
Saturday Afternoon Conference
(continued from morning session)
When the disciples heard the voice say, “this is My beloved Son”…., they were in fear. We need to ask for courage.
This courage we need to get from one another.
We also need to be in communication with God.
Humans and God.
How do you communicate with God?
When we are in constant communication with God, we get courage.
Remember the story in the Bible about the house which was built on rock? Today we have been taught to be self-sufficient; everything is well programmed.
We have many people around us to sacrifice to help us.
We are living in a human network.
Today with one blow we can send a letter to hundreds of people by an e-mail.
When you try to solve a problem on your own, it can be very difficult, unless you have 10 or 11 people around you to help you to solve the problem.
Living alone is not the solution, living in community is the solution.
We can live in a community with all imperfect persons.
When we are sick the will be there for us, to help us.
When Jesus is there, be not afraid.
John Paul II used to say, “Be not afraid”.
If we are deeply rooted in Christ we should not be afraid.
We need to be like Jesus assuring others in our community.
We should ever be ready to Shepard others.
We are all called to be good shepards.
The parent has to say to the children, “I’m there, do not be afraid!”
God invites all of us to be good shepards.
How did the apostles come down from the mountain? Joyously!
Coming down the mountain is coming down to daily realities, daily crosses, pain and sorrow.
Jesus said that we need to come down; we cannot stay on the mountain all of the time. Jesus is now marching toward Jerusalem and His Cross.
One day each of us will be alone, suffering our cross.
Others will come to help, but they cannot stay forever with you.
What is Calvary?
Here we have different kinds of suffering.
The 3 vows which we have to live are poverty, chasity, obedience.
They are related to faith, hope and love….look at picture below.
Physical sufferings:
More than 500 million people are not able to get up from their beds and are dependent on others (AIDS, accidents, blindness, drowning, drugs, suicides).
There are more than 2 billion people who are not able to get their daily proper bread.
Yet we spend billion of dollars doing space exploration, while our brothers suffer without bread. St. Paul says that he is fulfilling what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ (look this up).
Psychological sufferings:
The tortures that people under go by members of their own families. Have you seen the film Slum Dog Millionaire?
In the city of Bombay some orphans are blinded, maimed, etc. and sent out to beg. Other children are used for organ donations. Mental torture.
Sociological sufferings:
Drug and alchool abuse for example.
How many people have now become addicted to pornography, which is a sociological curse.
We have to accept our sufferings as they come from God.
Because we are still hanging on the cross.
In this we are a visible sign of Christianity in the world.
As Carmelites, we are filled with the living zeal of Elijah.
By doing this we are instilling life into others.
Martyr’s blood is the seed of the Church.
The cross is never negative, it is positive.
Spiritual sufferings:
When we try to overcome our weaknesses, such as our sexuality, marriage problems.
If you have a problem, keep trusting in God.
God sees that you are trying.
There is no guarantee that we will not sin any more, as that is human nature.
Jesus accommodated all kinds of people; church is for all kinds of people.
We need to bring solace and help to those who are in need.
Weakness is the strength of our communities.
Moral sufferings:
Moral and spiritual topics were combined as one.
When we sin, and say I should not have done that….God has already forgiven you. God is always ready to forgive you.
Christ forgave all the sins which were commited after He was on the cross. Just like when we cut our finger, the healing starts immediately.
Global sufferings:
All suffering put together, floods, earthquake, wars…
END
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Saturday Evening Conference
A PLAN FOR BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITY LIFE
There are certain things happening everyday in our life.
The community is like a wheel, the spokes of the wheel are the members of the community. As the spokes radiate out – the further each person is from the community.
We need the spokes to be close to the wheel for a healthy community.
We need all types of people in our community; variety adds to life. Our communities are like a flower garden, we need different kinds, colors to add an interesting variety to the garden. If all of the flowers were the same we would become bored by the garden within 5 minutes.
Because of this hospitality, our country, our community thrives.
When Jesus was preaching – all kinds of people were listening to him.
We must learn right here – on how to get to Heaven.
Look at your daily life. We have different kinds of life.
The basic kind is mineral life (is like mineral water); water is life which is filled with creatures which can be seen under a powerful microscope.
Vegetative Life.
Minerals are absorbed by trees and vegetable life. And they live because of the water.
Animal Life:
They live because of the water and the vegetables.
Human Life:
We consume the mineral life, the Vegetative Life and the Animal Life in order to live.
Divine Life:
Life is so interesting and complex.
In order to be divine, human beings must be consumed.
Take up your cross and follow me; death and resurrection.
In order to get life – we must lose it.
There are millions and millions types of life on this earth (under the sea, on the earth, in the air). You take care of the life God has given you. We need to look at our daily life by becoming conscious of what we do.
Plan for today; live in the present moment.
We lose our sense of life when we do things because others are doing it – and we may not understand WHY WE are doing it.
We need to thank the Lord for all that He has done for us all our life.
The family should come together for just one sitting of a meal each day.
There you will share, speak and make connections with one another.
You begin to live that union and communion spirit.
The Mass does this – our Lord was very smart.
In Communion – we all take from the same bread.
To Build Community we need to have:
Recreation time:
Gives us new life, we feel enthused.
We play cards, dance, joke with one another’s life’s experiences.
This is when we connect with one another.
Work: which is Worship:
Man must till for the maintaining of his family.
Work keeps us alive, healthy, living long and it teaches us to do something noble.
Conscious work, conscious speech.
Be conscious of what we are going to say.
We need to use words in a wise way.
Rest is important in building community:
Bring books with you when you go places.
Go visit those in the hospital who are sick.
When we enter into their situation, our problems become less.
To help us become better members we need to think of others.
Take some time to help the needy, keep in touch with the workers.
Have hobbies (writing poems, collections, write a story or letter, e-mail, gardening, pets).
Animals are real shock absorbers in helping you to feel needed.
These help us to keep alive.
Watch and pray:
Jesus said watch and pray.
Be aware of the time of prayer.
Watch people and nature; there are so many beautiful things around us.
Then our life will become worth living; it all depends on me.
We can become better people and make others well.
Never giving up and being always positive.
Then we will begin to live in a new world.
END
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Sunday Morning Conference
Life is a process of self-integration:
Outer circle: eyes, ears, nose, touch (hands), mouth
Center Circle: God is at the center of our life.
In our community experience we need to come back to ourselves to have good relationships around us. In other words, we need to get to know ourselves first, so as to relate to others in positive human relationships.
Each person looks at something in a different way, because it goes back to past experiences with that particular object (or person(s)).
Eyes:
You can see my eyes, but you do not know what I’m seeing.
You have a nose, but you do not know what I’m smelling (incense, candles, and flowers can bring you to the Divine).
Genuflect in front of the Divinity… you genuflect because you show respect to the Divinity by becoming a half person.
All animals are mostly horizontal, but we need more oxygen for our upright bodies.
The more oxygen that is being pumped to our brain, the more healthy we are.
The tongue is most important for us because we use it to taste.
Which one of us likes to taste something quite different.
In order to sharpen this sense, we need to eat gratefully.
With our tongue we can establish a relationship with God, but you can also create problems by talking unkindly about others.
Hearing:
You can see my ears, but you do not know what I’m hearing.
Empathetic listening:
Let them talk about their problem, but do not give them a solution,
let them figure out the problem themselves.
You can ask, “What can you do to solve the problem?”
The person needs to find the solution – at their own speed.
A human being is a multilayered person, layer after layer.
Touch/hand:
Each finger tip has 5,000 receptors.
That is why touch is healing and Jesus touched others.
Message as medicine was discovered 2,000 years before Jesus.
Examples of touching, laying on of hands, massage, blessing a child, holding a baby in your hand.
All of our experiences go inwards, here we have 2 spiritual faculties:
imagination and fantasy.
Imagination:
This means image in action.
Look at a picture or something, and then close your eyes, and see it again.
We take our experiences of imagination – and meditate on it.
Fantasy:
You have seen gold and you have seen a mountain.
Can you then produce a new image – of a golden mountain?
Most of the time our prayer life is in the area of imagination and fantasy.
Sometimes an active imagination wants to destroy a particular person or persons. There is also a positive imagination.
Two thirds of our planet is water and 1/3 is land.
In comparison with all the things on this planet I am a speck of dust, I’m nothing.
in comparison to the rest of the galaxy, our sun nothing but a speck of dust.
(This was the first line in his talk…move it to the top)
From imagination it (the experience) flows into memory.
There is short and long term memory.
All things settle and remain in our long term memory.
Memory is purified by hope.
Hope is that we keep on awaiting for that something which comes in the future.
We are on a journey hoping for heaven.
One of the ways in which you can purify your memory is in hope.
(forget bad past memories… anger is worse than cancer, anger slowly kills us)
Intellect:
We are intelligent people, we are rational animals.
The difference between animals and people is that they have always built their nests in the same way. Humans change things over time (buildings, modes of travel, housing).
When we have faith we need to trust in God
We need to put faith in the other person.
We need to have faith and trust in the other person.
Will:
where there is a will there is a way.
Forgiving others is done by our will power.
Love is strong.
We can reach God through love.
God is the center of our heart.
All these experiences from our childhood have come to rest in our soul
and these are the seeds which produce shoots, and then roots.
In order to sin, we must will it first.
We cannot hope to purify ourselves, God has to purify us
(He operates on us so to speak).
If we have faith and surrender, things will be better.
God has to give us the grace to function, and God has to do the work.
But we have to trust.
Forget the past, live in the present, and you will be happier.
God Bless You!
-Fr. Rudy, OCD
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A Survey of Prayer - in 12 Parts
Prayer -- Part 1
1. Christian Prayer
There are a number of people in the Church today, praying and expecting ‘something’ to happen to them. I would like to clarify our understanding of Christian prayer.
The goal of every prayer is Union with God through Love.
We know that every genuine prayer should lead us to contemplative experience of God. Mystics and Saints often define Prayer – as “Dialogue with God”, “Speaking to God”, but Contemplation – as “just being there,” “gazing at God,” or “being present to God.”
In Catechism class we learned that God is everywhere and he is present in every bit of Creation, in every cell and atom. We are present to Him who is always present everywhere and at every moment.
In reality, rarely are we present to God in a concrete way because we are busy with our own daily affairs. This is what happens in our search for God. Often when we approach God in prayer we search for our own comfort and satisfaction. Wrong!
Genuine prayer is being fully involved with God always and everywhere, nothing less than maximizing God’s Presence in our day-to-day activity. In prayer we try to magnify God to such an extent that we do not live; rather ‘God lives in us’.
We let God live in us and He becomes the hub of our entire life. Genuine prayer always develops and matures our relationship with God, changes our attitude in life and never looks for personal enjoyment or satisfaction.
Authentic prayer should be – totally loving God and not trying to “get something” from God.
If we truly seek friendship with God we should never expect a thing from God; it should be our total self-giving and surrender to the Other, because God already knows what we need.
The late Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic letter Fides et Ratio writes, “Human beings are astonished to discover themselves as part of the world, in a relationship with others like them, all sharing a common destiny. Without wonder, men and women would lapse into deadening routine, and little by little would become incapable of real life which is a genuinely personal encounter [with God].”
This attempt by human beings is a desire to deepen the Purpose of our Existence through Prayer and God Experience.
Therefore, prayer should not be just an isolated activity in our daily life, but it ought to be integrative, continuous and contemplative.
Prayer becomes integrative when the effects of prayer are lived.
It becomes contemplative when it is unceasing.
Prayer is unceasing when its influence permeates the whole of our life.
But such continuity cannot really occur unless prayer permeates the whole personality, reaching to the spiritual depths and remaining there as a permanent attitude of the Spirit.
If we could spiritually go down into the depths of our own being, we would come upon the Eternal Mystery of God. Beyond ALL living cells with their genes and chromosomes, beyond the molecules and atoms there is a tremendous energy, a force of life.
Through prayer we begin to discover the Power of God in every bit of Creation. This energy or force is continually welling up from the Abyss of Being in the Father, [going out] continually flowing back to its Source in the Bliss of Love.
If we could be free from personal desires in prayer, we would see the majesty of the Creator in us through His Grace. This mystery is hidden in the heart of every one of us, but we fail to see it: “the Kingdom of God is within you” says St. Luke. But sadly we are often selfishly turned in on ourselves and consequently are not touched by the Grace of the Creator.
God Experience is entering into this continuous flow of love – in every bit of Creation and within ourselves – until we have a unifying experience of finding God everywhere. Such experience becomes more prominent at prayer. When outside of Formal Prayer (recitation of the Rosary, Angelus, Litanies and other devotional prayers), we cherish this energizing experience and this leads us to discover the Author of these manifestations, seen, heard and sensed everywhere; and then we remain attuned to the Divine Source of energy that makes us all instruments of God’s love on this earth.
Many people today have a keen desire to learn how to experience deeper and authentic prayer despite various and considerable difficulties offered by modern culture.
There is a felt need for silence, recollection and meditation. These values can give us orientation and true security. Ultimately, in all these deeper aspirations, what we basically crave for is God-Experience.
It is not so much the activity of prayer that attracts us, but God, Who can be contacted in prayer as St. Augustine cried, “Our hearts are restless O, Lord, until they rest in Thee!” It is a known fact that nothing can quench our heart outside of God. To whatever we cling to, material or spiritual, it is ultimately an inclination and constant desire to cling to God. God alone can satisfy our hearts. All other things, and beings, available for satisfaction, company and pleasure, are merely crumbs that fall from the Divine Table.
Considering the use of methods in prayer, can we pray well, so that our life becomes really worth living? We need to ponder on these queries seriously. —Fr. Rudolf V. D’Souza, OCD
PART 2-METHODS OF PRAYER follows in the next issue.
Prayer - Part 2
2. Methods of Prayer
First of all, method for the sake of beginning prayer is necessary.
The traditional method of prayer has 3 parts/stages: Preparation, Recollection and Meditation.
Preparation – consists of remote preparation like: practicing the presence of God, nurturing Christian Virtues throughout the day, trying to Be Serviceable and Loving. The immediate preparation consists of reading a biblical text preparing our minds and hearts for prayer.
Recollection – consists of recalling to our mind again during prayer what has been read and trying to find [a] source of prayer in that text.
Meditation – finally, consists in the very act of prayer, where we Adore and Praise God, present our Requests and Give Thanks to Him. These are the integral parts of the traditional method of prayer.
There are other methods — like silencing the mind, using our imagination, visualizing a particular Episode of the Gospels, becoming aware of our body, concentrating on a holy image, etc.
These are good – as far as they can take us closer to the Essential and the Source – God.
They are dangerous when over-emphasized, because we may forget the source completely and we may become obsessed with techniques. In prayer we can make use of techniques and methods, but we need to be alert as to when the technique should be dropped to allow the Spirit to take over.
Our life of prayer, in one way or the other, was initiated with little techniques of memorizing or vocalizing.
We do not deny that vocal prayer recited with devotion is prayer.
Through one method we are accustomed to recite the Pater, or Breviary, slowly, pausing on each word or verse. We need to remind ourselves that technique can kill the spirit of prayer.
We are unique and we use our personal method spontaneously. Why do we need methods to speak to God who knows us better than we know ourselves? What we basically need is to look for authenticity and not the multiplication of words and methods because God will not talk to us as our companions and friends do. He has quite a different method of communication.
He speaks to us in silence without words and gestures.
Moreover, God-Experience is a moment of God’s mysterious encounter that is understood in absolute faith and hope. It is an openness to accept whatever happens during prayer and a challenge to understand what cannot be understood, and it is a journey in the direction we know not.
Therefore, we must not concern ourselves with methods, and preoccupy ourselves with what we do, or with what is happening during prayer. We must turn our attention simply to God Himself and each time we are drawn to anything else, we must return simply, gently, to the Lord.
The fruits of prayer are to be perceived and experienced – outside the time of prayer – and are perhaps the surest signs of the presence and continuing work of the Spirit of God in our prayer. In real prayer we do not seek ourselves, or seek anything for ourselves.
We seek the living God.
In experiencing Him we experience all things – and will posses all things. Learning to pray – is learning to live and move – with God.
In prayer we seek to enter into the “now”; we live as fully as possible with Him who says “I AM who I AM” and “I will be with you always.”
Since prayer alone can lead us to that ‘living water’, it is attractive.
More often than not, we divide our life into 2 watertight compartments:
one inside the Church where we pray — and the other outside of it — where we are involved in our daily activities. Thus, quite often, our prayer life contradicts our active life. There is no satisfactory blend between prayer and action.
We need to ask ourselves what actual change has this prayer brought in our life?
Our life and prayer should not become two distinct spheres – having no concrete point of contact. We are all endowed with different capacity to spend time in prayer. But we also need to know what is true prayer.
Authentic prayer is basically a prolonged, friendly Awareness of the Divine Presence in the depths of our heart.
This awareness is extended, enriched and strengthened each time we encounter God in prayer. We need to deepen the experience of God in our lives through awareness.
God is Creatively Present in everyone at every moment – whether we are aware of Him or not. But when we are in a state of silent gratefulness, we are aware of His presence – either in a mysterious way, or in a clear way – through the grace provided.
In this awareness of the divine, we experience – an Elevation of Life – which we cannot attain by profuse words of thanks or praise; it can happen to us if we are gratefully open to it.
In general, awareness in prayer is nothing but knowing, loving, and looking at God who loves us and ‘looks’ at us secretly in the depths of our heart.
The word ‘look’ should not be confused with the ordinary sense of the word, because God cannot be seen with the naked eyes; “no man can see Him and live.”
For all those who ‘look’ with the eyes of faith, God is made visible in the very teaching and person of Jesus. “This is Eternal Life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent”
[Our eternity — is loving Our Creator].
Experiencing God through awareness – is authentic prayer.
All are called to this awareness. However, this awareness of God is not exhaustive and it cannot be.
Such awareness requires a purified mind and heart.
For Teresa of Avila, prayer was living in eternity – while living on earth. Therefore she advises her sisters:
“I am not asking you now – that you ‘think’ about him – or that you draw out a lot of ‘concepts’ or make long and subtle ‘reflections’ with your intellect. I am not asking you to do anything more than look at Him.
In the measure you DESIRE Him, you will find Him.”
This signifies an – added effort at awareness, tuning in to the Divine – when engaged in various activities in the material world. The author of the Acts writes: “in him we have our being and live and move.” We cannot become aware of God if we do not direct our actions and thoughts towards Him.
Awareness of God becomes a REALITY – when we begin to find God in all things of life – with added interest in Him. Spiritual wakefulness demands only the habitual awareness of Him that surrounds all our actions in a spiritual atmosphere.
Awareness is becoming conscious of God in our daily life – through the activity of our exterior and interior senses. Awareness is nothing else but allowing our consciousness to find God’s Kingdom at every moment, in events and circumstances, even in our difficulties, sufferings, defeats and sickness.
It is a search for God everywhere with the maximum consciousness with all its reasoning and reflection.
This allows us to be sincere and truthful to all the spheres of life – where we are Destined to Make Decisions. Through this awareness, we will never drift away from God; rather we become His friends, like Patriarch Job in the Old Testament.
Awareness – allows us to decide – as God Himself would decide – in a particular given situation.
Prayer - Part 3
3. Methods of Prayer
The first step in prayer is always taken through the use of words.
When we speak of praying, we do not always speak of the same thing. Anything from requests made to God to messages received from God come under the topic ‘prayer.’ In the Christian tradition words like prayer, meditation, contemplation and mysticism are sometimes used interchangeably and at other times they denote carefully nuanced distinctions.
Prayers are said at times without even understanding the meaning of the words uttered.
Then we switch on to pious images, gazing at them and even forming in our imagination the replica of that image.
This has led many to understand prayer as nothing but trying to imagine the holy and pious images. In my conversations, participating in retreats and seminars on prayer, I have discovered that prayer has been understood as imagining an episode from the Gospels.
This has led many to come to a stagnant stage – where they felt absolutely helpless in producing these pious images in their mind and consequently leading to a sad conclusion, as ‘not making progress in prayer.’ Such people know fully that prayer is nothing but “friendly dialogue with God” but they continue to be — static in their imagination — instead of dialoguing in a friendly way.
Imagining is a monologue – and cannot be a dialogue.
When the use of imagination is not possible we make reflections and considerations during prayer. If one hour is available for prayer, the first step towards recollection is made by reading a Gospel passage, then this act is followed by reflections (if not imaginations) and finally it is concluded with certain resolutions. This has been the practice of many people for long years. Consequently prayer largely has been understood as an intellectual exercise – or an exercise of the imagination.
The usual problem we face in prayer is that – we are not able to continue our prayer experience for a long period of time. This is because quite often we are more worried about what we must do in prayer – and are not actually interested – in what God does for us.
This is an attachment to our own conclusions about prayer. This worry has led many to regard prayer as “tedious job.” Often we are ignorant of the divine pedagogy in prayer.
We never think of allowing God to shape our being — rather we want to shape ourselves according to our understanding of prayer.
It is very true that many people are gifted with wonderful capacity for prayer – but this has not been discerned well, due to lack of well-trained spiritual directors – or a lack of interest shown in spiritual direction.
People often consider that praying means ‘feeling good’, ‘satisfied’, ‘having no distractions’, and ‘enjoying plenty of spiritual entertainment’, ‘having good imaginations’, ‘fantasies on heaven, angels, saints’ etc.
This is truly NOT prayer.
This is what I call attachment and an attachment to experiences. Maybe these experiences can be regarded as just a preparation for prayer.
In this connection, St. John of the Cross warns such people saying:
“They would be very foolish – who would think that God is failing them – because of their lack of spiritual sweetness and delight – or would rejoice, thinking They Possess God – because of the presence of this sweetness. And they would be even more foolish — if they were to go in search of this sweetness in God and rejoice and be detained in it”
Our prayer should be an experience of inner silence and solitude. It is being fully present to the Lord.
God speaks to us in the night, or in silence, as he spoke to the prophet Elijah on Mt. Horeb. Therefore, the education, control or training of senses – and imagination/fantasy is an absolute need for ongoing Genuine Prayer.
“Control” does not mean rejection, but becoming Aware of the Senses + Imagination and educating them, channeling their energy towards the Lord.
To pray, we need the Spirit of Detachment.
Detachment is a big factor in prayer nurturing a sense of inner peace.
Having things in life is wonderful, but depending on them is attachment.
Having loving people in life is phenomenal, and it is important to value and celebrate them everyday, but owning or controlling them is attachment.
If we are suffering in life it is certain that this suffering is tied up with some kind of attachment to how things should be going.
An attachment is a state of clinging – that comes from the false belief that something or someone is necessary for your happiness.
Prayer requires stillness – and this stillness can come when we are full. The ocean is always still – with the exception of a small amount of surface vibration, because it is full. We cannot be continually open to new growth and remain still, if we choose to be disturbed by all of the things that are perpetually entering our consciousness.
The disturbances are caused by our attachment to an idea that somehow things should be different from what they are.
All human relationships and even God relationship can be happier – from a position of detachment.
We are attached – when we attempt to determine for others what their spiritual choices should be, based on what we were taught to believe. We are attached – when we determine for others what vocation they should choose, who their friends should be, how they should live, what they should wear, how they should speak, and even how the others should choose to think. These are often determined by attachments to certain traditions we have nurtured.
All these elements constantly disturb our prayer daily.
St. John of the Cross says – “a person attached to creatures/traditions is nothing in the sight of God, and even less than nothing, because love causes equality and likeness and even brings the lover lower than the object of his love. In no way, then – is such a person capable of union – with the infinite being of God.” (Ascent of Mount Carmel[1] I,4,iv).
Purity of heart – is a condition for prayer; we cannot be intimate with God so long as we cling to unlawful attachments. The needed purity for prayer must be fourfold.
First, purity of Conscience – so that we will never offend God;
then purity of Heart, so that we keep all our affections for God;
then comes purity of Mind so that we preserve a continual consciousness of God.
Finally, the purity of Action, that will lead to do the will of God always.
There is a moment in every good prayer when God-Life — enters our life,
and our life – enters God-Life – in total purity.
Prayer, Place and Time
St. John of the Cross recommends that our prayer in no way should be restricted to one place or to certain time or to certain ceremonies; rather, a regular practice of prayer – is a ‘must’ to initiate us into authentic prayer life.
But later this regular and external practice should not be taken as a guarantee for faithfulness in prayer. He writes: “Our prayer should be made either in the concealment of our secret chamber (where without noise and without telling anyone, we can pray with a more perfect and pure heart), as Jesus said: ‘when you pray: enter into your secret chamber, and having closed the door, pray’ [Mt. 6.6); or if not in one’s chamber, in the solitary wilderness, and at the best and most quiet time of night, as He did [Lk 6.12].
No reason exists, therefore, for designating fixed times or set days or for choosing some days more than others for our devotions; neither is there reason for using other kinds of prayer, or phrases having a play on words, but only those prayers that the Church uses, and as she uses them, for all are reducible to the Pater Noster.” (Ascent III,44,iv).
The best and very effective method – would be to resort to “praying everywhere” (Ascent III,41,i) without fixing any limits.
This is what the modern spiritual theology recommends saying “finding God in everything or finding God in all things.” Thus we never lose sight of God who cannot be absent from our lives.
The real problem with our prayer is that – we are normally absent to God – outside of formal prayer.
Training ourselves to be – Always IN the Presence of God – can lead us to quietude and the enjoyment of peace everyday and everywhere. It can take place in the garden, kitchen, classroom, office, at the bus stand, and railway station, anywhere and at any time.
Prayer is a Need
Prayer is not to be taken in the narrow, restricted sense of formal prayer, but in the sense of intimacy and union with God – through love – that leads us to be His friends.
When we do not have friends, we feel the pinch of such an experience.
God is always there + does not need any introduction.
The moment we express our desire, His Presence is felt. He is the unfailing friend. We need friendship with God. In fact, NO Need can be so acute – as the need for God in our life.
Union with God, obviously, is not restricted to formal prayer; it can also exist in activity.
Prayer is fixing our inward gaze on God – who cares for and loves us.
In our relationship with God beyond all doing, talking and thinking, there need to be times when we are simply present to Him in the fullness of our being, experiencing the immediacy of his loving and life-giving Presence to us.
If the meaning of our life, of our whole existence, is to love and to develop a friendly relationship with God, then we need prayer – more than we need food – or sleep – or anything else.
It is essential if we are going to function in a reasonable way as humans in society. We need prayer in our daily life to improve the quality of our lives. It is a demand of our very nature, of our very being; it is something that has to be there. We can skip a meal more easily than we can skip prayer.
If we are really in touch with ourselves, we will realize it is not only something we need – it is something we want. It fulfils our deepest longing and desire.
Prayer - Part 4
4. PRAYER – DIALOGUE, FRIENDSHIP, FIDELITY
I always cherish speaking to people.
Well, it’s a fact that there are a few people far friendlier than others. The intensity of talking to such people is quite different from talking to others. With some people I feel comfortable to joke, speak and be at ease. This cannot happen with all kinds of people.
The more intense is my Love, the better is my relationship.
Another fact that I noted is, when there is genuine love, I simply like to listen to them – rather than speaking to them. This experience could be applied to the experience of prayer too.
Prayer is Dialogue
Prayer is a spiritual activity – intensely involving both God and the human person – in an intimate dialogue. To speak about prayer is to become aware of God to the fullest extent in a dialogue with Him.
He is present perennially in our life.
We can know nothing about Him — except that He is kind enough to reveal Himself to us in various ways – and in tiny little things in life.
“These are the very things that God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit reaches the depths of everything, even the depths of God” (I Cor 2:10). This Spirit responds to us in – and through – prayer.
The Vatican II Council affirms, “The dignity of man – rests, above all, on the fact that he is called to Communion with God. The invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being.” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, No. 119)
We can commune with God in prayer. We call prayer, that speech to God, which in spite of all else, ultimately asks for the Manifestation of the Divine Presence, for this presence to become dialogically perceivable.
Prayer is a process – by which we come to know God – and ourselves – through a personal relationship established through dialogue.
Without God-knowledge and Self-knowledge – we cannot pray in an effective manner.
Moreover, there is a definite correlation between knowing God and knowing ourselves. God cannot be known unless we know ourselves as we really are. The less we know ourselves the weaker will be our relationship with God.
The less we think of ourselves – the greater will be our Trust in Him.
When we make ourselves ‘gods’ – we perceive God less and less. This is precisely what we call ‘Journey to God’ – a journey that leads us to become smaller + God to become ‘bigger’ in us. The friendly dialogue in prayer bridges gaps between God and us.
Prayer and Progress
Prayer is an inward journey.
A journey from exterior to interior – from body to spirit – from vice to virtue – from world to God.
It is NOT a journey that takes place in space and time — but it is an inward journey that leads us to the centre of our being — which is beyond space and time.
If accepted through faith, that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit – we have no other way – than to journey in faith to the depth of our being — in order to encounter our God who is secretly dwelling there.
Dag Hammarskjold (a former secretary to the U.N.) says, “the longest journey is journey inwards” and a religious leader David O. McKay says “The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul.”
That is why Jesus told his disciples “when you pray go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who sees you in secret” (Mt 6.6). Progress in prayer – cannot be measured through the hours, days, months and years we have spent praying. It depends on how far we have been able to penetrate our spirit – to discover God’s dwelling within us + to cope with our daily battles.
Prayer is Communication
It would be fair to say that prayer concerns communication with God, and this should be the starting point for any teaching about prayer.
In speaking of human communication, some skills can be taught but essentially the experience is far larger than the skills learnt and used. Should communication with God be any different?
Just as it would be wrong to say that nothing about prayer could be taught, so it would be equally wrong to say that everything about prayer can be taught. Those who want to learn to pray, in fact desire to know about the ways to communicate with the Divine.
When we speak of communication, it concerns first of all with ourselves. We speak about ourselves and about our ideas. This is done through words, actions, thoughts, and subconscious activity such as dreams. All of these are various aspects of ourselves. When we speak, we focus our attention on ourselves.
Hence, to pray is to focus our attention on God – because these voices make us listen to God. There are many models for explaining communication. In choosing one that expresses the kind of communication that goes on in prayer – it is important to remember – that the concerns about prayer are expressed in experiential rather than academic terms and therefore the basic model should reflect a common human experience. The ‘experience of friendship’ and the ‘communication dynamic’ involved in it seem to offer a lot for understanding prayer.
Prayer is Friendship
Speaking of friendship, there is a basic principle that holds good for a lasting relationship.
This requirement is ‘presence’ which is more important than watching, talking and listening. It is a need that strengthens friendship. If we were to single out the most intimate and touching part of a relationship, it would be the precious moments of passive silence that really matter.
When the friendship is shallow in the midst of a conversation, silent moments could be really uncomfortable and degenerating.
For intimate friends, the moments of passive silence are the most precious ones because it is through these moments of silence that a deeper relationship takes place without any words and gestures.
In the midst of talking, listening and spending time together, each person tends in those precious moments to become more authentically in touch with what they really are.
In the process of communicating with each other, there results a communication with oneself. The same is true of prayer.
Understood in this manner, prayer is both interpersonal and intra-personal; the praying and the individuating process are concurrent realities.
People have many conscious reasons for praying – but if praying is to be understood as concurrent with the individuating process – then it would have to be said that the motive for praying is more than the conscious reason; it is rooted in the unconscious.
From the point of depth psychology, we know that this attempt to communicate and become authentically oneself is a gradual process of moving beyond conscious limits and becoming more and more vulnerable.
Ultimately, then, to pray is to acknowledge limits and though this acknowledgement is at first implicit, it eventually becomes explicit through moments of deep silence.
To teach a person to pray is to facilitate a person’s desire to become conscious of limits and comfortable with vulnerability. Whatever the method chosen, it must respond to this desire in order to be effective.
Growth in friendship – is growth in knowledge + acceptance of our own limitations.
Prayer, a Habitual Attitude
All prayer is inspired in the depth of our own nothingness. It is the movement of trust, of gratitude, of adoration, or of sorrow that places us before God, seeing both Him and ourselves in the light of His infinite truth, and moves us to ask Him for the mercy, the spiritual strength, the material help that we all need. All true prayer somehow confesses our absolute dependence on God.
Here are a series of expressions by known theologians regarding prayer. They cannot be considered definitions because a true and exhaustive definition of prayer cannot be given. These expressions will help us clarify many wrong notions of prayer. Prayer is “an existence which is directed towards God, it is the contemplative approach, a general attitude of reverence which permeates the day’s activity” (Guardini, The Attitude of Prayerfulness, New York 1998, pp. 123-124). “Prayer is simply an inward grace of knowledge and love turned towards God… It is possible to remain in this attitude of loving attention to God even in the midst of the most absorbing occupations… Application to the task is perfectly compatible with a permanent inward attitude of love for the beloved” (Dujat, J., Prayer, Hawthorn Books, New York, 1964, pp.116-117). “Times of prayer set up a frame of mind which remains through all our activities, so that, all our work and play is coloured by a prayer-like attitude” (Macquarrie, J., Paths of Spirituality, Harper and Row, New York-London, 1972, p. 38). “The presence of God simply describes the principle of the praying attitude, the inner attitude of the praying person” (Bernard C.A. Spiritual Theology, Gregorian University, 1992, p. 362). “Prayer without ceasing, as a continuous state of soul, is primarily an attitude of the heart and will… Love without ceasing is not a series of acts, but a continuous attitude and state… Prayer without ceasing is first of all an attitude of the will” (Wright S., Theology of Prayer, New York, 1994, pp. 167).
Prayer therefore is an inward, inner, general, essential, radical, permanent, constant, continuous, habitual and prolonged attitude. Thus, prayer eventually becomes identical with the essential attitude of our being in front of God and neighbour, a habitual attitude of reverent worship of the divine truth, a continuous state of being, a constant attitude by which we walk with God and live in Him and with others.
Very often in prayer, we are distracted by our practical difficulties, such as the problems of our state of life, the duties we have to face etc. It is not possible to avoid such distractions all the time, but if we know what prayer means, and know Who God is, we will be able to turn these very thoughts into motives for prayer. It is good to turn distractions into material for petition, so that we are not drawn away from God by our distractions.
Summing up all that we have said above about prayer, we must admit that we cannot offer an exhaustive definition to prayer. Each one of us has a personalized definition of ones own prayer through our intimate contact with the Lord. Giving a definition in academic terms is not our concern here. When prayer becomes life – and the life we live expresses our prayer – we can hope to say that we are ‘praying.’
That, in fact, IS Prayer
Prayer - Part 5
- ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN PRAYER
Jesus warned his disciples through a parable to put their spiritual foundation on rock and not on sand. The house built on rock can resist any storm and flood. Referring to prayer Jesus says: “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord’ and yet don’t do what I tell you? Any one who comes to me and listens to my words and obeys them – I will show you what he is like. He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river overflowed and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But anyone who hears my words and does not obey them is like a man who built his house without laying a foundation; when the flood hit that house it fell at once – and what a terrible crash that was!” (Lk 6.46-49).
A healthy tree requires deep roots. If not it will uproot itself even while bearing large quantities of fruit. Jesus says: “ I am the vine and you are the branches,. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me” (Jn 15.5). We can apply this comparison to the way we pray. When we speak of Christian prayer, we cannot but pinpoint its fundamental roots in the life and teaching of Christ our Saviour, on which it stands. Christian prayer ought to be Trinitarian, Christological, Ecclesial and Soteriological in nature. Any other form of prayer, i.e., Hindu or Buddhist, cannot be identified with Christian prayer because of the lack of these four most important ingredients. Christian prayer is rooted in the life and teaching of Christ, who revealed to us the Trinitarian dimension of God and through his own life and example and taught us how to pray; and redeemed us through his passion, death and resurrection (the Paschal Mysteries) to make us one body – the Church (Ecclesial) and through it to preach the kingdom to other nations (Soteriological). That is why St. Paul says “For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express” (Rom 8.26).
Trinitarian Dimension
This dimension is fundamental to Christian prayer, as it spells out the most important ingredient of prayer. After His resurrection, He revealed the doctrine in explicit terms, bidding his disciples to “go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Mat. 28:18).
St. John in his Gospel establishes the Divinity of Jesus Christ (John 20:31). In the prologue he identifies Him with the Word, the only begotten of the Father, Who from all eternity exists with God, Who is God (John 1:1-18). The immanence of the Son in the Father and of the Father in the Son is declared in Christ’s words to St. Philip: “Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (14:10), and in other passages he makes it explicit saying “All that my Father has is mine; that is why I said that the Spirit will take what I give him and tell it to you” (Jn 16.15); “I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you” (Jn 17.21). The oneness of their power and their action is affirmed: “Whatever he [the Father] does, the Son also does in like manner” (5:19, cf. 10:38); and to the Son no less than to the Father belongs the Divine attribute of conferring life on whom He will (5:21). “If you love me keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit who reveals the truth about God” (John 14.15-16). In John 10:29 we are privileged to call God our Father. No other religion has this privilege. This is the uniqueness of Christian prayer. Various texts of the Gospels also will certify this dimension.
Christological Dimension
Prayer unites us to the Spirit of Christ in our attempts at communication with God. This is mainly because Jesus has taught us the right method of prayer. When you pray, pray as follows: “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” (Lk 11.2ff). The Our Father is not only a prayer, but a way of life indicative of Jesus’ life. He continues, “when you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that God will hear them because of their prayers are long… do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him” (Mt 6.7-8). He emphasises the importance of having faith in our prayers, and he says, “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will fine and knock and the door will be opened to you…” (Lk 11.9ff).
He Prayed Regularly
He prayed in the evening after the multiplication of bread (Mk 14.23). He prayed in the morning at a lonely place (Mt. 1:35). He prayed at night before choosing the disciples (Lk 6.12). He prayed in lonely places without ceasing (Lk 5.16).
He Prayed to the Father
When the disciples asked Jesus “Lord teach us to pray”, he was at prayer (Lk 11.1). He prayed at his baptism (Lk 3.21); he prayed before his transfiguration (Lk 9.28). He prayed for Peter’s faith (Lk 22.31-32); He prayed for the Holy Spirit (Jn 14.15-17); He prayed before raising Lazarus (Jn 11.41); He prayed at the triumphant entry to Jerusalem (Jn 12.27); He prayed at the last supper (Jn 17.1-7); He prayed for his disciples (Jn 17.6-19); He prayed for all believers (Jn 17.20-21); He prayed before his passion (Lk 22.39); He prayed for his executioners (Lk 23.34); He prayed when he died on the cross (Lk 23.46). In all these circumstances Jesus was in constant contact with the Father. The fullest and most important characteristic of the prayer of Jesus is contained in Mt 6.5-16: “When you pray” says Jesus “do not be like hypocrites”; “do not use a lot of meaningless words”…“go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen, because your Father already knows what you need”.
He Prayed with People
The life of Jesus was for others. He lived and moved with people. Perhaps, but for prayer Jesus could not think of a life without people. His contact with children, disciples, women, poor, lame, blind, deaf, lepers, Samaritans, Jews, scribes, Pharisees, young, old, Centurion, tax collectors, sick, Greeks, tradesmen made his prayer more efficacious and effective. Jesus wanted to establish a kingdom of universal brotherhood. In view of this, he ignored all restrictions. He went to meet sinners and the downtrodden; he looked for the very least and the abandoned; he let himself be monopolized by the sick and by the afflicted; he accepted pagans in his company. Acceptance, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness were habitual attitudes of Jesus toward that throng of needy people who approached him every day: publicans, sinners, prostitutes, criminals, foreigners, lepers, widows, children, the sick, the suffering, the possessed, renegades, enemies, the poor, and even those who crucified him later. Jesus had a particular regard for the poor and the despised (Mt 5.3). Even in relation to the rich, Jesus adopts an understanding attitude (cf. Mt 10.21). He puts forward poverty of spirit as the ideal of the true Christian: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me” (Mt 19.21).
He walked among the outcasts and marginalized people and accepted doubtful characters in his company. He stated that the last will be first, the humble shall be masters (cf. Mk 10.31; Mt 5.5) and the tax collectors and prostitutes will find it easier to enter the kingdom of God than the Pharisees (cf. Mt 21.23). He did not discriminate against anyone: he went to everyone, rich and poor, Jew and Samaritan, pious and sinner, etc. He is the master and teacher who knows how to act and in what circumstances to act. All of this was stemming out of his contact with the Father through his daily prayer.
He Prayed With Nature
Jesus always withdrew to deserted places to pray (Lk 5.16); “rising very early before dawn, left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed” (Mk 1.35). Jesus was in constant contact with nature. The richness of all his parables show that he knew the secrets of nature through his own personal contact. He freely used the objects in nature and taught his disciples with vivid comparisons. That is why his teaching was effective and impressive. In his simple and down-to-earth teaching we find the use of salt and light (Mt 5.13-16); wild flowers (Mt 6.28); wild grass (Mt 6.30); door (Mt 7.7); grapes and briars (Mt 7.16); coat and cloth (Mt 9.16); sand (Mt 7.26); moth and rust (Mt 6.19); fish and snake (Mt 7.10); dove and snake (Mt 10.16); swine (Lk 15.16); wine and wineskins (Mt 9.17); tree and fruits (Mt 12.33); sowing, field, seed, birds, rocky ground, soil, thorn bushes (Mt 13.1-7); mustard seed (Mt 13.31); yeast (Mt 13.33); pearl (Mt 13.45); wind, rock, rain, river, flood (Mt 7.25); foxes and nest (Mt 8.20); drink of cold water (Mt 10.42); fire (Mt 7.19); house building (Mt 7.24); road (Mt 7.13); eyes and lamp (Mt 6.22); robbers (Mt 6.20); heaven, God’s throne, earth (Mt 5.33ff); boats and sea storm (Mt 8.23-24); sons, daughters, mother-in-law, son-in-law (Mt 10.34-35); fishermen, net, fish (Mt 13.47); weeds (Mt 13.36); dogs (Mt 15.26); mountain (Mt 17.1); millstone (Mt 18.6); sheep (Mt 18.12); vineyard (Mt 20.1-7); coin, salary, fig tree (Mt 21.19); wedding (Mt 22.1ff); egg and scorpion (Lk 11.12); yeast (Lk 13.21); king, war (Lk 14.31-32); ring (Lk 15.22) white washed tombs, bones, decaying corpses (Mt 23.27ff); tides on the sea, earth quakes, strange objects from the sky, sun, moon, stars. (Luke 21.7-38). Jesus’ prayer was a constant contact with nature as the O.T people prayed, “all you works of the Lord, bless the Lord; sun and moon, stars of heaven bless the Lord” (Dn 3.57-88). Contact with nature helped him to come in contact with reality and find therein traces of the glory of God.
Ecclesial Dimension
The Trinitarian dimension of God boldly supports the communitarian nature of our life. God is not alone; rather, he is a community of three persons. The Ecclesial dimension springs from the Trinitarian Dimension because of its communitarian spirit and communion among the three persons of the Trinity. This dimension underlines the importance of our prayer in the Church, for the Church and through the Church. It was at prayer in the upper room that the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles (Acts 2.1-4). These disciples then went far and wide to proclaim God’s kingdom. Christian prayer cannot be individualistic, it should be ecclesial and communitarian; even though we pray individually, it is always in the Church, through the church and for the Church, the body of Christ. Jesus established the Church and we are all members. St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians summarizes the ecclesial spirit as follows: “Christ is like a single body, which has many parts; it is still one body, even though it is made up of different parts. In the same way, all of us, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether slaves or free, have been baptized into the one body by the same Spirit, and we have all been given the one Spirit to drink” (I Cor 12.12-13). He further urges Ephesians “Do all this in prayer, asking for God’s help. Pray on every occasion, as the Spirit leads. For this reason keep alert and never give up; pray always for all God’s people” (Eph 6.18). The ecclesial spirit of prayer is also strongly present in one of the texts of St. Paul to Colossians “Teach and instruct each other with all wisdom. Sing psalms, hymns, and sacred songs; sing to God with thanksgiving in your heart. Everything you do or say, then, should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father” (Col 3.16-17).
Hence, the prayer life of the Church should be Trinitarian and Ecclesial in nature. The Ecclesial dimension of prayer must exist in each parish community and spread its fragrance everywhere in the society. At the end of the day all the members must feel united in the bond of the Trinity. Whenever we begin a day with “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” there is a desire or there should be a desire to begin the day with the spirit of unity and end the day with the same prayer, means that we let ourselves enter into the unity of the Trinity so that our life is always united with God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Soteriological Dimension
The prayer, which originates in the mystery of the redemptive incarnation, is the prayer of sharing in God’s very life. St. Paul speaks of this in the passage: “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!”‘ (Gal 4:6). Man cries out like Christ himself, who turned to God “with loud cries and tears” (Heb. 5:7), especially in Gethsemane and on the cross: Man cries out to God just as Christ cried out to him, and thus he bears witness that he shares in Christ’s Sonship through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, whom the Father has sent in the name of the Son, enables man to share in the inmost life of God. He also enables man to be a son, in the likeness of Christ, and an heir of all that belongs to the Son (cf. Gal. 4:7). In this consists the prayer of “dwelling in the inmost life of God,” which begins with the incarnation of the Son of God. The Holy Spirit, who searches the depths of God (cf. 1 Cor. 2:10), leads us, all mankind, into these depths by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ. The soteriological dimension of prayer consists in making the redemptive fruits of Christ available to others with our union with Christ. As Christ shared his life with the Father and with people around him, so a Christian is called to live in union with the Father and Christ in prayer; and through the Spirit share that life with others who are ignorant of Christ’s redemptive mission. It can be done only through communion with God in the Church, through the Church and for the Church.
When we speak of prayer in other religions, we need to take whatever is helpful, without diluting the uniqueness of Christian prayer, which is very specifically clear in the above dimensions. Methods are good, but they are not foolproof. They help us relax, regain health, peace, but if they do not contribute to these four dimensions, they cannot be called Christian. We need to by all means incorporate in our attempts at contemplation these Christian dimensions to make prayer complete in the Christian sense. Otherwise it will be syncretism in our approach to prayer.
Hence, in conclusion we can boldly say that Christian Prayer is and should be Trinitarian, Christological, Ecclesial and Soteriological in nature.
Prayer - Part 6
- LEVELS OF PRAYER
The word ‘prayer’ in Christian tradition virtually signifies a ‘petition’ or ‘request’ addressed to God and saints. The word ‘prayer’ is a derivative from the Latin precari, which signifies to beg, ask or implore. The Greek word for prayer is euchomai. It is more commonly used with a prefix, proseuchomai, i.e., a forceful vow or wish, or a vow toward someone higher, a wish toward the one that has authority, power etc.
We can classify various types and stages of prayer in Christian tradition. There are innumerable ways by which we can approach Divinity; but we must be convinced that every way must lead us to strengthen our bond with the Lord and with our neighbour.
Any prayer aimed at only obtaining satisfaction and contentment cannot be called authentic prayer.
The new Catechism of the Church systematically enumerates the various types of prayers we can address to God in faith (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 2558-2751). However varied may be the way we express our feelings, emotions and needs to God, we need, first of all, Faith in God and basically this Faith should provoke love.
The various types and stages of prayer indicate that we are all different. Some of us need many things from God – and others need to just thank Him. Many want to Adore God and others just need to remain in silence before Him.
Vocal Prayer
Reciting prayers vocally we began praying to the Lord. Our parents, brothers and sisters helped us recite and memorize prayers such as Hail Mary, Our Father, the Rosary, Litany, Angelus, etc. These prayers became part of our life as we grew up. We might have been very faithful in reciting these prayers, but often without fully understanding what we were reciting.
Later, vocal prayers extended with our intentions, petitions, becoming spontaneous prayers of thanksgiving, praise, petition, adoration, etc.
For an ordinary person, vocal prayer is prayer, without which he/she will not even begin the day or any work. According to saints who have written a lot about prayer, vocal prayer is the beginning of a relationship with God. Hence, such prayers should be recited with due attention and concentration. Prayers recited or pronounced without concentration or conviction and faith – are like saying Lord, Lord, but keeping our hearts far away from him (cf. Mt 7.21).
For Teresa of Avila, there is basically no difference between vocal and mental prayer, provided the basic concept of prayer is understood as ‘loving’ God.
Vocal prayer done with attention and concentration – is nothing but Meditation.
Vocal prayer done with deeper love and devotion becomes Mental Prayer.
In vocal prayer – we have to mean what we say; in mental prayer we say what we mean. When we say what we mean to a friend, it is always accompanied with love. Hence, any prayer recited or sung with love becomes mental prayer. Therefore, the saint affirms, prayer is not “thinking much, but loving much.” (Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle IV,1,7).
However, in the initial stages she says that “it is a great help to take a good book written in the vernacular – in order to recollect ones thoughts – and pray well vocally – and little by little – in order not to grow discouraged (Teresa of Avila The Way of Perfection 26,x).
We actually cannot make a distinction between mental prayer and vocal prayer if the vocal prayer is recited well with an understanding of whom we are speaking to. It is even an obligation that we strive to pray with attention and awareness.
We need to disagree with the conventional attitude towards vocal prayer. In vocal prayer we have to apply the mind. If not, vocal prayer cannot be called ‘prayer.’
Any recitation to be ‘prayer’ needs the grasp of what we recite.
The serious danger – in the recitation of vocal prayer – is when we recite it by heart. Often the words are pronounced through force of habit, so the prayer remains a mere Recitation (cf. Mt 7.21). Even vocal prayer, recited integrally, can lead us to God – equally as does contemplative prayer. There are many persons who while praying vocally are raised by God to sublime contemplation. It is because of this that we need to give much attention to reciting vocal prayers well.
Meditation
‘Meditation’ is initiation into interior prayer. The practice of meditation has been in vogue since ancient times in a variety of contexts. It may serve purely quietist aims, as in the case of certain reclusive mystics. It may be viewed as spiritually or physically restorative, and enriching, to daily life, as in the case of numerous religious orders and the majority of secular practitioners. P
erhaps it may even serve as special, potent preparation for a particular, usually physical or otherwise strenuous activity, as in the case of the warrior before battle, or the musician before performance.
In recent medical and psychological studies, meditation techniques and a trust in the Divine in prayer have proved effective to skilled medical practitioners in controlling pulse and respiratory rates and effective to varying degrees in the symptomatic control of migraine headache, hypertension, and hemophilia, among other conditions.
In Christian tradition Meditation has a very special place. We often speak of meditation on the life and teaching of Christ. Mystics and saints found great consolation, strength and hope in meditating on the life of Christ. Meditation helps one to deepen the revealed mysteries and personalize them in life.
Mental Prayer
The word ‘mind’ has its etymological base in the expression “to think.” Its broader meanings are ‘interiority’, ‘consciousness’. The word ‘mind’ denotes also consciousness and partly specifies the ability to reason and reflect.
The expression ‘mental prayer’ is often used interchangeably with meditation and contemplation. The terms ‘meditation’ and ‘contemplation’ are also at times used interchangeably. In reality, both these terms denote two different levels of prayer.
If there is an extended pondering – of God’s presence and activity – it is Meditation.
When there is a total gazing with love and attention on God, it is Contemplation. Some saints in their writings call such an activity “inflow of God into the soul.”
In normal definitions of meditation – there is the domination of Reasoning;
whereas in contemplation ‘Love’ predominates.
Mental prayer entails a lot of risk – because most of the time we spend with God might seem useless – without much success in obtaining feelings and sentimental fulfilment. The particular feature of ‘mental prayer’ is that it has no specific or fixed formulas.
It is a spontaneous elevation of the heart and mind to God through love.
Prayer - Part 7
VII. CONTEMPLATION
Affective Prayer
I met a young woman, by name Shanti, who talked such a lot about her husband working abroad. I could make out that she was missing her husband a lot. She told me that often she would send him SMS through mobile phone. I asked her how many times a day? She told me that at times she would send more than 10 messages. This is the fact with people who deeply love each other. There is a spontaneous and deep longing to speak and to be in touch.
Affective prayer is a stage in prayer when we are passionately in love with the Lord. We would willingly spend time in company with our Lord, no matter at what cost.
The insistence in this type of prayer is affection at heart level. In any relationship if the heart is not involved, such a relationship becomes shallow and not durable. We need gut level relationship for its continuation. Affective prayer elevates us to God who is our Father.
This type of prayer expresses affections like: “O God, you are my God, it is you I seek; for you my body longs and my soul thirsts. When I remember you on my bed I think of you all through the night, for you have been my help; I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you…” (Ps 63.2-7).
Contemplation
The word ‘contemplation’ etymologically is derived from the Latin templum, a derivative of tempus, generally translated as “time”. Tempus literally signifies “a division, or slice of time.” In the Roman tradition templum was assigned to a particular space in the sky or on the earth to read the omens and dreams. Thus, the development of this term finally ended up in a coined word “temple” signifying a sacred place where mysterious rituals were held to discover the divine meaning and purpose. Hence, the word “con – templum” actually signified not so much referring to a place or space, but to the actual “looking” at the inside of reality to grasp its real meaning. The “looking at the inside of reality” is nothing else than penetrating the very essence by grasping the whole instead of the parts.
The Greek word for this “grasping of the whole” is theoria, approximates the Latin contemplatio. The word theoria is derived from theorin, signifying “look at something intently and with a purpose”. Some Greek fathers held that the word theoria signified “natural contemplation” which is ‘intently finding the traces of God in created things’.
They would rather use another word “theologia” for the highest form of contemplation, which is ‘immediate, direct and total awareness of God’ that leads one to oneness with Him.
In the Christian tradition the word ‘contemplation’ is used for non-discursive mental prayer, as distinguished from reflective meditation. In so far as this stage of prayer is to be reached through the normal development of the natural faculties, it is termed ‘acquired contemplation’. When considered as the fruit of supernatural grace, directly acting on the soul, it is known as ‘infused contemplation’.
Natural Contemplation
This type of contemplation can be achieved through personal efforts. It is a process by which we become one with the object of observation. We can enter into contemplation within no time with a beautiful flower, tree, scenery, a bird etc. Even if you watch a flower you will die in the flower. You will forget yourself. You will experience a merging, a melting. Suddenly you will feel you are not, only the flower is. Jesus used to say to his disciples, not only once but many times “If you have eyes – look! If you have ears, hear me!” Those who were around Jesus had eyes just like ours and ears just like ours, but they failed to see and hear. What a truth! Nietzsche declared ‘God is dead’. In fact when we are dead, how can God be alive to us? When we see, we see God, when we hear, we hear Him. When we do not see, do not hear, do not touch and do not speak, we are dead to ourselves and equally dead to God. We can find God if we want. When I say ‘I do not see’, certainly that object does not exist for me. This is natural contemplation. We become one with creation and with the presence of God. We forget ourselves in becoming fully aware of the other. This can happen naturally to us through our own cooperation.
Supernatural Contemplation
Supernatural contemplation is a sheer gift from God. No one can force its experience in one’s life. God grants the gift of contemplation to whomsoever he thinks best to grant it. Because someone has prayed for several years with faithfulness, there is no guarantee that he/she should experience contemplation.
It is in supernatural contemplation that prayer reaches the experience of the all embracing and all encompassing mystery of God. The object of contemplation is the infinity of the divine life, the marvel of divine creativity, the inexhaustible meaning of the divine self-manifestation. Contemplation means participation in that which transcends the subject-object scheme and therefore we should not be marvelled at the ambiguity of contemplative language and it’s comprehensible character.
How to Discern Supernatural Contemplation?
Here are a few signs to discern if we are on the path to supernatural contemplation.
The first is the realisation that one cannot make discursive (reflective) meditation nor receive satisfaction from it – as before.
The second sign is a general awareness of a disinclination to fix the imagination or sense faculties upon particular objects (holy images, imaginations etc.) exterior or interior.
The third and surest sign is that a person likes to remain alone in loving awareness of God, without particular reflections, without forced imaginations, without considerations.
Such people remain in interior peace, quiet and repose, and without the acts and exercises (at least discursive, those in which one progresses from point to point) of the intellect, memory and will, and that he prefers to remain only in the general, loving awareness and knowledge we mentioned, without any particular knowledge or understanding (Ascent II,13,ii-iii-iv).
These are the classical signs that determine practically the precise moment when it is expedient for us to abandon discursive meditation in order to occupy ourselves completely in remaining intent upon God in loving and living faith.
They are the strong signals that the time has come for us to cease from our former ways, and to pass on to others. They are the indication given to us that we are passing from the inferior mode of communing with God, called meditation, to a higher and more perfect mode, called contemplation.
St. John of the Cross-affirms:
“The reason is that now in this state of contemplation, when the soul has left discursive meditation and entered the state of proficient, it is God who works in it. He therefore binds the interior faculties and leaves no support in the intellect, nor satisfaction in the will, nor remembrance in the memory.
At this time a person’s own efforts are of no avail, but an obstacle to the interior peace and work God is producing in the spirit through that dryness of sense. Since this peace is something spiritual and delicate, its fruit is quiet, delicate, solitary, satisfying, and peaceful, and far removed from all these other gratifications of beginners, which are very palpable and sensory” (St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night I,9,vii).
Perhaps some insist that they should proceed forward in contemplation through meditation or reflection. By doing so, they rely too much on their own strength, and this is a mistake since, during the contemplative experience, God leads the soul along a path that is completely different. The former is the way of reflection that resorts to the mind whereas the latter has nothing to do with meditation and reflection. Our heart must be maintained in total quiet at this state, even if we may be convinced that we are wasting our time. In those circumstances, the only thing we can do is to clear our spirit of perceptions and thoughts, meditations and considerations, and abandon ourselves exclusively to a peaceful and loving attention to God. Here John gives a short reflection that is contextual: “many individuals think that they are not praying, when indeed their prayer is intense. Others place high value on their prayer, while it is so little more than non-existent” (Ascent, prologue, vi).
According to St. John of the Cross – the discovery of God and the strengthening of our relationship with Him implies a process, and not fossilisation of our methods. John does not disapprove of our meditating on the Passion, Resurrection and the mysteries of our redemption. He wishes us to go further, however, telling us not to stop halfway, since even the most beautiful painting of God is not God but the reflection of our own idea of God. The praying person “should not interfere with forms of discursive meditation and imaginings. Otherwise his soul will be disquieted and drawn out of its peaceful contentment to distaste and repugnance. And if, as said, scruples about his inactivity arise, he should remember that pacification of soul (making it calm and peaceful, inactive and desire-less) is no small accomplishment” (Ascent II,15,v).
This brings us to understand that supernatural contemplation is attained only through God’s initiative and cannot be forced through personal efforts. This stage in its initial phase is regarded as the advent of a new crisis in spiritual life. It is painful and challenging. This experience of contemplation is given only in faith (cf. Ascent II,10,iv), and through this experience the actual process of union of the soul with God begins (cf. Ascent II,16,8).
When a person finds himself/herself in this stage, a series of struggles, sufferings and painful situations might come on the way, as a proof of one’s love for the Lord. Through this contemplative experience, God joins Himself to the soul in a high and divine degree. In a way, this dark, loving knowledge, which is faith, serves as a means for the divine union in this life as does the light of glory for the clear vision of God in the next (cf. Ascent II,24,iv)
Summarizing all that we have reflected on prayer, we come to know that our daily prayer is our daily bread, without which our life would find no meaning in whatever we do. Through our daily prayer we deepen the fundamental truth of our existence that Jesus is our “Way, Truth and Life” (Jn 14.6).
We should never abandon the set hours of prayer, neither should we confine prayer only to those fixed hours.
Everything we do should be prayer – or an outcome of prayer.
It ought to be a silent march towards the unfathomable mystery of God. This march is confirmed through the quality of our life. God is love (I Jn 4.16) and this love is discerned in and through prayer. Love of God is manifested and perfected in our love towards our neighbour (cf. I Jn 4.19-21) through concrete acts of charity.
That is why Jesus said to his disciples: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in His love… This, then, is what I command you: love one another” (Jn 15.10&17).
Prayer is not just saying something, or reflecting on some passage, or using a method or technique eastern or western or imagining things and persons.
When prayer becomes life and life prayer, we begin to understand prayer.
We can pray through our senses, through our body, through our spirit; we can pray through creation, through the various events of life, and through our very life. Prayer ought to be an integrative experience as it was in the life of Jesus.
For Jesus – everything that happened around Him was prayer.
Finally what we need to understand is that – the less we pray — the less are we likely to live the risky, demanding and challenging life that the Gospels urge us to — the less of a challenge there is in our life, the less are we likely to pray.
Foot Note :
[1] Hereafter we will shorten the title Ascent of Mount Carmel as Ascent.
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Prayer - Part 8
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