Contemplative Prayer

For many Christians, contemplative prayer appears to be something of a mystery, if not exclusive and elusive. It is seen to be more reserved for those who live in specific contemplative religious communities (whatever denomination or religion), rather than for those living in the world. While there is no doubt that the latter stages of this prayer are deeply mystical, it is neither exclusive nor elusive. Likewise, it is not something reserved for the religious. In fact, if we allowed it to penetrate our prayer life, we would discover its immeasurable benefits - in more ways than we could ever conceive...

Contemplative Prayer is just another stage of prayer, albeit deeper, for all prayer is basically communication with God; whether it be vocal or the heights of mystical experience in deep wells of silence.

Through each stage of prayer we are building our relationship with God. In an analogous way, just as two lovers in a relationship become more intimate with each other, we do likewise in prayer with God. The ultimate intimacy that can be achieved is final consummation. Contemplative prayer leads us to that union with God. In short, contemplation is nothing but a deep prayerful state infused by the love of the Holy Trinity for the salvation of our souls as well as for the whole world.

Once we have spent time in the practise of vocal prayer, which can be years, we may be drawn to a way of meditation. I am not speaking here about some of the familiar meditative practises of the East. The meditation I speak of neither has anything to do with altered states of consciousness, or feeding our souls with ever deepening levels of relaxation. I refer to that practise which is about giving ourselves to God; letting go, surrendering. Our beginning may be termed discursive meditation; among such practise is taking a section from the Gospels and hold it before us in reflective thought. This leads to a deeper insight into the word of God. Other methods of discursive meditation may include the use of icons, the rosary or the mere flickering of a candle flame.
We may continue this type of meditation, along with vocal prayer, for a period of time, but eventually we will be called to a much deeper meditation - that of contemplation. This calling may come in the form of complete boredom with our previous practice, or the feeling of just wanting to sit quietly in the presence. This is a time to put aside our icons, rosaries and other items of concentration, and just remain seated. We are now entering the initial stages of contemplation.

For this new found stillness there is no technique, although to help, for some it may be advisable to hold a word before us. The word, or mantra, should be short, and held without any concentration. For the Christian the word should be Gospel based - taking something as simple as the word Jesus. This word is to still our minds from the thoughts inclined to pass through it. I say pass, because that is what we allow these thoughts to do. If we find ourselves following these thoughts, they take us from our meditation, so we gently bring our minds back to the mantra again.

For the greater part, our time in this silent prayer, will be that of returning our thoughts to the word. At times we will be restless and completely bored. Occasionally, we may experience times of deep restfulness, but this will not be the rule. It is through the experience of boredom and agitation that some drop the habit, thinking they are not benefiting in any way by the practise. Allowing these feelings to end our devotion is unwise.
I know personally of a man who felt like this after practising this form of prayer for about six years. Throughout that time he had remained faithful to sitting quietly at two set periods each day, for about twenty minutes each time. One day, while on retreat, he was thinking about the futility of this, doubting whether to continue with this quiet prayer. Mystically, above his head, he saw a cloud opening, and it was revealed to him the benefit of his contemplation. With this revelation his former doubts vanished. The cloud closed, veiling the intensity of this vision, but it imprinted in him a conviction to continue this use of this prayer, even though at times he still finds it difficult.

A contemplative friar also told me of a similar story. A priest visited a convent of enclosed contemplative nuns. Before being received by the Mother Superior, he was escorted to a small room. One of the walls had a grill built in from which could be viewed the chapel. He looked through the grill, noticing a solitary nun, kneeling at the altar. He thought to himself what a waste of life it was for the young woman; she should be in the world enjoying the pleasures it has to offer rather than being enclosed. As he was thinking this he saw a vision which he could only described as pulsating energy between the girl's heart and the altar. He didn't know whether it was the energy radiating from the altar feeding the girl's heart, or the energy from the girl's heart radiating towards the altar; they were indistinguishable - they were one. Amid this he could also see powerful rays of love flowing out as intercessory prayer to those in need. This experience convinced him, like that of my friend, the benefit of contemplative prayer.

We should not expect such visions if we become doubtful, as contemplative prayer is essentially a prayer of faith. There may be times during our contemplation when mystical experiences do happen, but we should not pay particular attention to them. These should be treated in the same way as our thoughts - let them go. That way makes for greater progress.

You may ask yourself why you should bother with this prayer when you will have to go through boredom and restlessness for most of the time. This question is only raised because we are blind to the subtle inner workings of the Holy Spirit. Our stillness and silence is our surrender to God. In this surrender, we place ourselves at the disposal of God, allowing the Trinitarian Love to infuse us. This infusion of love is not something romantic or fancy, sweet and nice. God is Love. He Loves us, and by that Love he wishes us to participate in Loving as He Loves. The only way this can be achieved is to be transformed by Love - the Fire of Love, which as the transformational process takes place, we experience from time to time as deep wells of silence.

This purification is what St John of the Cross terms the Dark Night, because the purification taking place in contemplation, to us, appears dark at times. It is during these stages we are learning true self-knowledge; recognising our sins, our hurts, and any neurosis from which we may suffer. It appears dark because God is now shining within us so brightly, that against His Beatific, Uncreated Light of Love, all things which are not of God appear dark. God wishes our spiritual freedom. He wishes us to share His properties, and so it is necessary that this darkness is experienced before we can radiate that transforming Love into the world, as Christ does.
A contemporary figure, the monk Thomas Keating, terms this purification in a psychological way - unloading the subconscious. Whatever name we care to term it, the work being done is the same, we have entered Divine Therapy.

Contemplative prayer should not be seen as ethereal experience, as the contemplative attitude pervades our day in concrete experiences with the people we meet and the work that we do. Contemplation initiates the ability to name those particular things about us which blocks the Love waiting so patiently to fill us. Our naming may be in the form of facing and dealing with our fears, obsessions, anger and prejudices. Any addiction we have, however subtle, will have to be confronted, prompting some us to seek recovery through 12 Step programmes, or therapy. Childhood issues that have remained buried will surface. Everything that is wounded about us will have to be exposed to this light to be dealt with and healed.
It is only through experiencing contemplation that we come to realise this quiet prayer is not the sweet prayer we thought it to be. It can be a painful journey. But God, in his faithfulness, does not reveal all our darker qualities all in one go; he waits until we are strong enough to face each issue. The results far outweigh any suffering we may have endured - we will experience profound healing and spiritual liberation.

There are basically two reasons why contemplative prayer is not practised. The first, because we think we are not getting anywhere in the silence. We are doers, not sitters. It is against our so-called logic. In our technological world of instant communications, fast foods and self-gratification, unless we are bombarding our senses with stimulation, we don't want to know - thank you very much. How wrong we are!
The second reason, and this is to be found within the Church itself - the word contemplative does not seem to apply to us; we have families, jobs, and enjoy leisurely activities; we already do good works for the Church - contemplation can't be for us; we are busy doing our good works! These are feeble, immature excuses. Behind all these excuses fear lurks. We want the healing but we don't want the purging which precedes it. What we are truly saying is: We want the resurrected life but not the cross leading to death.
In this respect, if Christian, we should each ask ourselves if we are authentic disciples of Christ. We only have the option of two answers. If no is to be our reply, then we should consider the consequences... However, if we have the courage to answer yes, then we should seriously consider following Him by way of contemplative prayer.

Contemplative Prayer should be woven into our lives at every opportunity. We should practise it alone, but also in our Churches. We have Bible Study groups, Prayer groups, Alpha groups, and many forms of worship. Little is spoken of Contemplative groups. If we can but make a doorway for it, introducing it into our established groups, as well as holding purely Contemplative groups, the fruit that will be produced would not only lead to our own profound spiritual healing, but radiate out to our families, friends, work colleagues, local community and the world at large. This is achieved by allowing God to change us in contemplative prayer. He gradually brings us into union with Him. When we are united with Him our prayer becomes one with His, and so Contemplative Prayer reveals to us its true essence; that of being a prayer of co-redemption with our Saviour, the Cosmic Christ.