Posted on by Kurt Bodling

maturing from chatty to silent

"The beginner’s dryness in prayer is actually God’s grace and invitation to simpler prayer. John of the Cross offers some signs that the beginner is called to a simpler form of prayer: discursive meditation becomes hard and wearisome; our interior and exterior images of God no longer inspire devotion; we find pleasure in being alone and feel the attraction to wait with ‘loving awareness of God,’ without any particular meditation and inner peace, rest and quietness.

"In light of John of the Cross’s signs, we must never become a slave to any prayer technique and allow it to get in the way of our relationship with God. …

“As in any other relationship, as we grow and become more and more comfortable with God, we become more and more comfortable with silence. The silence is not empty or dead in any way whatsoever; it is a silence pregnant with a loving history between lover and beloved. And so we should always follow the silence whenever God’s grace offers the invitation.”

Haase, Albert. Coming Home to Your True Self: Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions. Foreword by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2008, pp. 158-159.

Comment: to quote another theologian, “this is most certainly true.”

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

chatty beginners

"The prayer of the beginner is often chatty, filled with intellectual words and images. We night have long monologues with God. We might ‘chew’ on a Scripture passage, mining its depths and challenges. We might have a long list of petitions for which we pray. We might think over the past twenty-four hours and see how God sent grace and angels into our lives. These kinds of prayer, in which we do all the work, are traditionally known as discursive meditation.

"Teresa of Avila makes clear that if we commit to such prayer on a daily basis, within three months, we will find it hard to maintain. Indeed, it will become more and more dissatisfying. We will experience boredom and dryness. …

"Our continual response to any form of dryness, aridity or boredom in prayer is fidelity, fidelity, fidelity. We are challenged to stay faithful to the daily practice. …

“The beginner’s dryness in prayer is actually God’s grace and invitation to simpler prayer.”

Haase, Albert. Coming Home to Your True Self: Leaving the Emptiness of False Attractions. Foreword by M. Robert Mulholland, Jr. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2008, p. 158.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

centering prayer origins

“The monks who developed Centering Prayer … note that this is not ultimately a technique of contemplative prayer, but rather a way of praying that helps to prepare us for the grace of contemplation, which is always a gift from God. This is a subtle but meaningful distinction.”

McColman, Carl. The New Big Book of Christian Mysticism : an Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality. Minneapolis : Broadleaf Books, 2023, p. 293.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the contemplative life

“Contemplative life, a life characterized by solitude and prayer, which dispose one toward contemplation. Ancient and especially medieval monasticism perceived its way of life as contemplative; nuns and monks were called contemplatives. Medieval interest in the mystical life perceived the contemplative life as mystical in orientation. For some men and usually women the enclosure was seen as a necessary safeguard of the contemplative life. Post-Vatican II developments have shown an interest in a broader conception of the contemplative life for laity and religious yet one that retains the solitude necessary for living in the presence of God.”

McBrien, Richard P., ed. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995, page 364.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

middle way for prayer

“To sum up, in prayer there is the danger of falling into one of two opposite extremes. The first is ‘mythologizing’ (or making into an idol) the external forms, when prayer is reduced to the mechanical following of a rule or a method of praying. The second is the rejection of and allergic reaction toward all forms of prayer and asceticism. Those fall into this sad situation who do not know how to combine the external forms with sincerity of heart.”

Okumura, Augustine Ichiro. Awakening to Prayer. Translated by Theresa Kazue Hiraki and Albert Masaru Yamato. Washington, DC: ICS Publications, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1994, p. 52.

Comment: As in so very much, the middle way is the way of wisdom. In prayer it is best neither to reject formalized liturgical prayer, nor to avoid all extemporaneous and personalized prayer. Those are the head and heart respectively of prayer life. The golden mean brings together the tried and true traditional forms of prayer with the simple and sincere sighs of the heart. (Okay, so maybe not at the same moment. And the balance that works for you may well not work for others, but you’ll figure that out.)

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

individual vocations and paths

“Why are people so intent on refusing others the right to see a special value in a life apart from the world, a life dedicated to God in prayer ‘on the mountain alone’ when the New Testament itself repeatedly shows Christ retiring to solitary prayer which he himself loved? Certainly one can find God ‘in the world’ and in an active life but this is not the only way, any more than the monastic life is the only way. There are varieties of graces and vocations in the Church and these varieties must always be respected.”

Merton, Thomas. “The Monastic Renewal: Problems and Prospects.” (1966) in Selected Essays. Edited with an introduction by Patrick F. O’Connell. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2013, pages 397-398.

Comment: in this new year, may you know freedom to walk the path you’ve been called to travel

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

at the close of the year

"If devout and thankful souls rejoice when God has permitted them to pass a week in safety, why should they not much more rejoice when under God’s protection they have lived through a whole year? How much suffering may come to us in a single day! how much more in a whole year! Consequently, when a devout Christian beholds the end of the year, he lifts his hands and heart and voice to heaven, and closes the year with praise, thanksgiving, and prayer. …

"Thy goodness and faithfulness have been with me from the beginning to the end of the year. Thy wisdom has led me; Thy love has guarded me; Thy help has gladdened me; thy grace has preserved me; Thy omnipotence has ever upheld me; Thy tender Father-hand has given me all things that I needed; Thine all-seeing eye has kept watch over me, guarded my going out and my coming in, and warded off all harm. …

"If at times Thou didst permit me to experience great distress, Thou didst deliver me again. …

“O Lord God, I now close the old year with thanksgiving and praise and prayer. Remain, I humbly beseech Thee, my Shield and gracious God in the new year also. Keep Thy guarding hand over me. Yea, let me be entrusted to Thy care and love and grace in all time to come. Amen.”

John Frederick Starck. Daily Hand-book in Good and Evil Days, containing all the meditations and prayers of the complete German original edition, together with an appropriate selection of standard English hymns for general use, for the afflicted, the sick, and the dying. Translated by Joseph Stump. Burlington, Iowa: German Literary Board, 1904, pp. 121, 124-125.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

the mind’s place in prayer

“As I have said before, I do not want anyone to feel bound by my words or thoughts. I only want to offer an example for those who may wish to follow it; let anyone improve it who is able to do so and let him meditate either upon all commandments at one time or on as many as he may desire. For the mind, once it is seriously occupied with a matter, be it good or evil, can ponder more in one moment than the tongue can recite in ten hours or the pen write in ten days. There is something quick, subtle, and mighty about the mind and soul.”

Luther, Martin. “A Simple Way to Pray” (1535) Luther’s Works Vol. 43. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, page 207.

comment: Luther on meditation, strongly advocating it, clearly declaring its benefits. And NOT wanting people to feel bound by his words, he basically says ‘this is the way I pray, but you should pray however works for you.’ I find his words here refreshing.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

what is the contemplative life?

Here’s one more-or-less traditional view: "“Contemplative life, a life characterized by solitude and prayer, which dispose one toward contemplation. Ancient and especially medieval monasticism perceived its way of life as contemplative; nuns and monks were called contemplatives. Medieval interest in the mystical life perceived the contemplative life as mystical in orientation. For some men and usually women the enclosure was seen as a necessary safeguard of the contemplative life. Post-Vatican II developments have shown an interest in a broader conception of the contemplative life for laity and religious yet one that retains the solitude necessary for living in the presence of God.”

McBrien, Richard P., ed. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995, page 364.

Posted on by Kurt Bodling

misunderstandings

“It is not surprising that those who are not Catholic often have a completely wrong conception of Catholic devotion to the Mother of God.”

Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation. Introduction by Sue Monk Kidd. New York: New Directions Books, 2007, ©1961, p. 170.