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.
Showing posts with label Contemplative Prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Contemplative Prayer. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Monday, 18 January 2010
Desert of the Heart
Wherever you look - the sand and sky
The sea is out of sight weaving its old message
(Circa 1974 - 1980)
Leslie Giddens
The theme of the desert experience appears frequently within the scriptures, and also in the writings of Christians throughout the Centuries. In point of fact, the desert experience is necessary for all Christians as part of their spiritual growth; without it our spirituality can remain immature and unauthentic.
The sea is out of sight weaving its old message
(Circa 1974 - 1980)
Leslie Giddens
The theme of the desert experience appears frequently within the scriptures, and also in the writings of Christians throughout the Centuries. In point of fact, the desert experience is necessary for all Christians as part of their spiritual growth; without it our spirituality can remain immature and unauthentic.
The desert, in the literal sense, is an extreme environment of heat, dryness and emptiness, where the odds for the survival of life are stacked against it. The other desert is an inner place - the desert of the heart - where, too, we have to face emptiness and dryness before any spiritual progress can be made.
The exterior desert symbolically reflects its deeper spiritual counterpart. We can find many of these experiences within scripture. The major story within the Old Testament most easily recallable is that of Moses leading the Israelites into the wilderness, where they remained for forty years, being tested, before any possibility of reaching the promised land.
In the New Testament, too, we see Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert following his baptism. Christ remained there for forty days and forty nights, fasting, and being tempted by Satan. If the Son of God was to be led into this wilderness, then we should not be surprised about our necessity to enter it too.
St Paul, that great man of spiritual depth, informs us that following his conversion, from persecutor to witness, he went into the desert:
"…I was in no hurry to confer with any human being, or to go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me. Instead, I went off to Arabia, and later I came back to Damascus. Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem…" (Galatians 1:16-18)
What does Arabia mean to us if not the desert?
We cannot contemplate truly what happened to St Paul in his years spent in this wilderness, but from the evidence of his following ministry we can see that he had grown spiritually.
From early Centuries we are also given testimonies of the Desert Fathers and Mothers who inhabited the desert lands of the Middle East from the end of the second century AD onwards, living hermitic lives in pursuit of God. Their outer journey to the sands reflected their inner journey to the spirit. Their legacy - writings, which contain profound spiritual truths written with simple brevity.
Today, too, we have witnesses from those who lead monastic lives, whether they be Trappist Monks, Carthusians, Benedictines, Carmelites, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, or even monks from other religions - that the desert experience is a prerequisite to spiritual growth.
However, it is not to the desert of sun, sky and sands all us as Christians are to journey, but to the interior destination of silence, stillness and solitude. It is in this latter desert where we will be tried, tested and tempted - as were the Israelites, Christ, St Paul, the Desert Fathers, and any Christian living within a religious community.
Two questions arise about this desert experience: Why do we have to go there? And what is our means for journeying there?
We have to enter it to be transformed; to become Christ-like, so that we may fulfill our God-given vocations, whatever they may be, with sincere authenticity. We may believe that we are already fulfilling this, but the deeper self-knowledge one experiences in this interior desert will quite clearly show that our motivations are not quite as we think. Because of our subtle techniques for control, manipulation and people pleasing, we realise that many "good works" we have formerly performed have been serving man - not God. Evidence of this can be seen plainly within our Churches; what we term "good works" may, in fact, be busy activities disguised under the name of evangelism. I can state this through my own experience. Three times, in three different churches, I have been manipulated into "serving in the name of Christ" when this quite categorically wasn't the case. Although at the time I felt it was against my inner truth, I went along with the tasks assigned me. In retrospect, I find the prospect of this happening to others quite frightening. It does not lead to the spiritual growth of a person. In fact, it has the opposite effect, keeping us distracted, and so keeping us on a superficial level of Christianity.
St Paul speaks to the Churches about this:
"And so, brothers, I was not able to talk to you as spiritual people; I had to talk to you as people still living by your natural inclinations, still infants in Christ; I fed you with milk and not solid food, for you were not able to take it - and even now you are still not able to, for you are still living by your natural inclinations…" (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
Again, St Paul repeats his convictions a little later on:
"Indeed, when you should by this time have become masters, you need someone to teach you all over again the elements of the principles of God's sayings; you have gone back to needing milk and not solid food. Truly, no one who is still living on milk can digest the doctrine of saving justice, being still a baby. Solid food is for adults with minds trained by practice to distinguish between good and bad.
"Let us leave behind us then all the elementary teaching about Christ and go to its completion, without going over the fundamental doctrines again: the turning away from dead actions, faith in God, the teaching about baptism and the laying-on of hands, about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement. This, God willing, is what we propose to do." (Hebrews 5:12--6:1-3)
These pieces of scripture have something very noteworthy to show all members of the Church - that there is a desperate need for our growth in spiritual maturity. We can resist it, carrying on as normal, or we can participate by entering the desert of the heart. It is only if we allow this to happen, then the "good works" that we do, even if it's the practicing of spiritual gifts, will prove fruitful, in keeping with the fruitfulness of Christ.
The desert of the heart is the place we journey to to meet God. It is in this meeting, with our eyes fixed on His perfect divinity, that we begin to know our own selves. In doing so, we are convicted of our own sinfulness, and called to deeper repentance. It's the place Christ calls us to be alone with Him. It is where we hear him say, "You cannot follow me unless you leave mother, father, brother" (Matthew 9:29) If we refuse to deceive ourselves, and follow his voice, then we begin to experience the cross of death and resurrection on a daily basis, entering the deeper mysteries of God, living freer and more peaceful lives with the love which infuses us.
Some Christians deceive themselves by thinking they enter this desert, but they have usually entered a world of fantasy, seeking rather to find the nearest oasis where they can settle smugly among their illusions, without journeying further into the center of the desert where they would be purged by the heat of the sun. Many tactics of evasion can be deployed, which act like parasols sheltering us from these purifying rays. Others, as the old saying goes, place their heads in the sand, not wanting to know about the journey. For these people have found their reward - self-satisfaction at a level of spirituality they are "comfortable" with, as was the case of the Pharisee who made lengthy prayers. If only they were to raise their heads from the sand, put down their shields, and have the courage to walk away from the shallow waters of their oasis, once their purging has made headway, they would find the true and living waters of Christ, the waters, which at Jacob's Well, Jesus promised the Samaritan woman. (John 4:14)
For most of us, we are unable to travel geographically to the wilderness of deserts, and we may not be particularly called to enter a religious community, but each one of us is called to enter the desert of the heart, the place where the "old man" is shed to become clothed with the "new man." It is through this experience of transformation that we emerge, made humble, wise and discerning vessels of love.
The fruits of the desert experience are beautiful. Our works from henceforth are blessed by God, as they are done in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can see this plainly by Christ's emergence from the desert:
Jesus, with the power of the spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord."
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, "This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening."
(Luke 4:14-21)
These were the words Jesus uttered at the beginning of his ministry; on his return from the desert. The Son of God, full of the Holy Spirit, and in perfect communion with his Father, beginning his ministry in the thirtieth year of his life on earth. This should teach us something.
Our journey to the desert consists mainly of waiting in the stillness and silence, placing ourselves before God, through the practice of contemplative prayer. This prayer, if practiced faithfully, makes us receptive to the things of God; and following our call to deeper repentance, slowly but surely we become instructed and illumined to our real vocations; that of beneficial intercessors for the whole world by our good works.
Contemplative prayer is not considered seriously enough within the Church. Frequently I have heard members speak about the matter, and through ignorance, classify ministries under two separate headings: Active or Contemplative. There is such an unnecessary division here, but there shouldn't be. It is also the active who is the one inclined to divide the two, and keep these barriers erected; the contemplative, the one who works towards the annihilation of this boundary. The reason for this is because the contemplative has made that journey to the inner desert, and has been awakened to the truth - that good works do indeed stem from the silence. And when these good works are performed, they are fruitful, because they are done in accordance with God's will. Therefore, from the viewpoint of this journey to the desert, the contemplative has managed to integrate both active and contemplative, becoming the perfect balanced combination between Martha and Mary.
Contemplative prayer, which also has the titles of Silent Prayer, Prayer of the Heart, and many other names, will never be very popular. For one, our minds, which have not yet become Christ-like, refuse to believe that we can ever achieve anything in this stillness and silence, and so remain unwilling to face our inner restlessness and emptiness. Paradoxically, if these inner states are faced by the active, and worked through, they will become the nucleus for a life of continual death and rebirth within us, taking us deeper into the divinity of the Holy Trinity, and being able to bring a little something of the Holy Trinity into the world.
For us, the journey to the desert of the heart will continue to remain perplexing unless it is experienced by participation. It is the duty of every single Christian to become a true disciple of Christ, and so there is a necessity to make that journey for the sake of His coming Kingdom.
"If you love truth, become a lover of silence."
In the New Testament, too, we see Jesus being led by the Spirit into the desert following his baptism. Christ remained there for forty days and forty nights, fasting, and being tempted by Satan. If the Son of God was to be led into this wilderness, then we should not be surprised about our necessity to enter it too.
St Paul, that great man of spiritual depth, informs us that following his conversion, from persecutor to witness, he went into the desert:
"…I was in no hurry to confer with any human being, or to go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me. Instead, I went off to Arabia, and later I came back to Damascus. Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem…" (Galatians 1:16-18)
What does Arabia mean to us if not the desert?
We cannot contemplate truly what happened to St Paul in his years spent in this wilderness, but from the evidence of his following ministry we can see that he had grown spiritually.
From early Centuries we are also given testimonies of the Desert Fathers and Mothers who inhabited the desert lands of the Middle East from the end of the second century AD onwards, living hermitic lives in pursuit of God. Their outer journey to the sands reflected their inner journey to the spirit. Their legacy - writings, which contain profound spiritual truths written with simple brevity.
Today, too, we have witnesses from those who lead monastic lives, whether they be Trappist Monks, Carthusians, Benedictines, Carmelites, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, or even monks from other religions - that the desert experience is a prerequisite to spiritual growth.
However, it is not to the desert of sun, sky and sands all us as Christians are to journey, but to the interior destination of silence, stillness and solitude. It is in this latter desert where we will be tried, tested and tempted - as were the Israelites, Christ, St Paul, the Desert Fathers, and any Christian living within a religious community.
Two questions arise about this desert experience: Why do we have to go there? And what is our means for journeying there?
We have to enter it to be transformed; to become Christ-like, so that we may fulfill our God-given vocations, whatever they may be, with sincere authenticity. We may believe that we are already fulfilling this, but the deeper self-knowledge one experiences in this interior desert will quite clearly show that our motivations are not quite as we think. Because of our subtle techniques for control, manipulation and people pleasing, we realise that many "good works" we have formerly performed have been serving man - not God. Evidence of this can be seen plainly within our Churches; what we term "good works" may, in fact, be busy activities disguised under the name of evangelism. I can state this through my own experience. Three times, in three different churches, I have been manipulated into "serving in the name of Christ" when this quite categorically wasn't the case. Although at the time I felt it was against my inner truth, I went along with the tasks assigned me. In retrospect, I find the prospect of this happening to others quite frightening. It does not lead to the spiritual growth of a person. In fact, it has the opposite effect, keeping us distracted, and so keeping us on a superficial level of Christianity.
St Paul speaks to the Churches about this:
"And so, brothers, I was not able to talk to you as spiritual people; I had to talk to you as people still living by your natural inclinations, still infants in Christ; I fed you with milk and not solid food, for you were not able to take it - and even now you are still not able to, for you are still living by your natural inclinations…" (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)
Again, St Paul repeats his convictions a little later on:
"Indeed, when you should by this time have become masters, you need someone to teach you all over again the elements of the principles of God's sayings; you have gone back to needing milk and not solid food. Truly, no one who is still living on milk can digest the doctrine of saving justice, being still a baby. Solid food is for adults with minds trained by practice to distinguish between good and bad.
"Let us leave behind us then all the elementary teaching about Christ and go to its completion, without going over the fundamental doctrines again: the turning away from dead actions, faith in God, the teaching about baptism and the laying-on of hands, about the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement. This, God willing, is what we propose to do." (Hebrews 5:12--6:1-3)
These pieces of scripture have something very noteworthy to show all members of the Church - that there is a desperate need for our growth in spiritual maturity. We can resist it, carrying on as normal, or we can participate by entering the desert of the heart. It is only if we allow this to happen, then the "good works" that we do, even if it's the practicing of spiritual gifts, will prove fruitful, in keeping with the fruitfulness of Christ.
The desert of the heart is the place we journey to to meet God. It is in this meeting, with our eyes fixed on His perfect divinity, that we begin to know our own selves. In doing so, we are convicted of our own sinfulness, and called to deeper repentance. It's the place Christ calls us to be alone with Him. It is where we hear him say, "You cannot follow me unless you leave mother, father, brother" (Matthew 9:29) If we refuse to deceive ourselves, and follow his voice, then we begin to experience the cross of death and resurrection on a daily basis, entering the deeper mysteries of God, living freer and more peaceful lives with the love which infuses us.
Some Christians deceive themselves by thinking they enter this desert, but they have usually entered a world of fantasy, seeking rather to find the nearest oasis where they can settle smugly among their illusions, without journeying further into the center of the desert where they would be purged by the heat of the sun. Many tactics of evasion can be deployed, which act like parasols sheltering us from these purifying rays. Others, as the old saying goes, place their heads in the sand, not wanting to know about the journey. For these people have found their reward - self-satisfaction at a level of spirituality they are "comfortable" with, as was the case of the Pharisee who made lengthy prayers. If only they were to raise their heads from the sand, put down their shields, and have the courage to walk away from the shallow waters of their oasis, once their purging has made headway, they would find the true and living waters of Christ, the waters, which at Jacob's Well, Jesus promised the Samaritan woman. (John 4:14)
For most of us, we are unable to travel geographically to the wilderness of deserts, and we may not be particularly called to enter a religious community, but each one of us is called to enter the desert of the heart, the place where the "old man" is shed to become clothed with the "new man." It is through this experience of transformation that we emerge, made humble, wise and discerning vessels of love.
The fruits of the desert experience are beautiful. Our works from henceforth are blessed by God, as they are done in the power of the Holy Spirit. We can see this plainly by Christ's emergence from the desert:
Jesus, with the power of the spirit in him, returned to Galilee; and his reputation spread throughout the countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone glorified him.
He came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read, and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord."
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, "This text is being fulfilled today even while you are listening."
(Luke 4:14-21)
These were the words Jesus uttered at the beginning of his ministry; on his return from the desert. The Son of God, full of the Holy Spirit, and in perfect communion with his Father, beginning his ministry in the thirtieth year of his life on earth. This should teach us something.
Our journey to the desert consists mainly of waiting in the stillness and silence, placing ourselves before God, through the practice of contemplative prayer. This prayer, if practiced faithfully, makes us receptive to the things of God; and following our call to deeper repentance, slowly but surely we become instructed and illumined to our real vocations; that of beneficial intercessors for the whole world by our good works.
Contemplative prayer is not considered seriously enough within the Church. Frequently I have heard members speak about the matter, and through ignorance, classify ministries under two separate headings: Active or Contemplative. There is such an unnecessary division here, but there shouldn't be. It is also the active who is the one inclined to divide the two, and keep these barriers erected; the contemplative, the one who works towards the annihilation of this boundary. The reason for this is because the contemplative has made that journey to the inner desert, and has been awakened to the truth - that good works do indeed stem from the silence. And when these good works are performed, they are fruitful, because they are done in accordance with God's will. Therefore, from the viewpoint of this journey to the desert, the contemplative has managed to integrate both active and contemplative, becoming the perfect balanced combination between Martha and Mary.
Contemplative prayer, which also has the titles of Silent Prayer, Prayer of the Heart, and many other names, will never be very popular. For one, our minds, which have not yet become Christ-like, refuse to believe that we can ever achieve anything in this stillness and silence, and so remain unwilling to face our inner restlessness and emptiness. Paradoxically, if these inner states are faced by the active, and worked through, they will become the nucleus for a life of continual death and rebirth within us, taking us deeper into the divinity of the Holy Trinity, and being able to bring a little something of the Holy Trinity into the world.
For us, the journey to the desert of the heart will continue to remain perplexing unless it is experienced by participation. It is the duty of every single Christian to become a true disciple of Christ, and so there is a necessity to make that journey for the sake of His coming Kingdom.
"If you love truth, become a lover of silence."
St Issac of Syria
© Steven Winwright 2002
All Biblical quotes taken from the New Jerusalem Bible.
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