Contemplative Prayer

Contemplative Prayer and Relationship with God

I suggest that we do not realize how much of our lives we live on the surface. We may not realize how often we are balancing several different streams of thought at once. We may not realize the amount of noise there is in this busy, chaotic world.

Perhaps you are struggling for an interior life within a culture that seems to conspire against depth and serenity.

Perhaps you are struggling to live with some consciousness, some awareness of God's presence in this busy, noisy world that we live in.

Today, I would like to speak about prayer as a restorative and a vehicle to help you along your journey to a relationship with God.

There's a story of a woman at a dinner party sitting next to a man who couldn't or wouldn't stop talking. (The gender is not significant here. We have all been in this situation). Each time the woman tried to say something she could manage only a slight sound before the man broke in and continued with his one-sided conversation.  Finally the woman's husband, seated across the table, leaned over and said to her: "What is that strange little sound you've been making?" She replied: "It is a word trying to get in edgewise."

For many of us, prayer is a one-sided conversation in which we do all the talking; thereby preventing God from getting a word in edgewise.

When we pray we need to stop and listen sometimes -- for the voice of God. It may come as a strange sound at first. But if you are able to engage in silent prayer, in time, you will hear something or become aware of something that lets you know you are in touch with the Sacred.

Jesus calls us to be people of prayer; prayer that begins and ends with realizing how blessed we are and how grateful we are for the many blessings we receive every day of our lives. I believe that this is the attitude necessary for authentic prayer.

Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote in his book, The Lord is My Shepherd: "Gratitude, the sense that life is a gift, the awareness that life has given you a wonderful bounty is where religion begins in the heart."

Through our prayers we seek out and gratefully celebrate God's presence in all things.

Kathleen Norris wrote in her book Amazing Grace : "Prayer is not doing, but being. It is not words but the beyond-words experience of coming into the presence of something much greater than one-self."

Prayer at its root is really a willingness to let God be God. God longs for us far more than we long for God. God is always trying to draw us into a relationship that will make us more like the human beings we are created to be.

I pray because I believe in God and I would like to feel close to God, even though I'm also afraid of closeness with God. Perhaps you feel this way, too.

In our relationship with God, fears and insecurities can get in the way. We may feel that we are not worthy of God's attention and love, but God loves us anyway. God loves and accepts us as we are with all our limitations.

Contemplative prayer, Christian meditation, centering prayer are essentially the same. They are a form of prayer; a different kind of prayer; the prayer of silence.

When we pray in this way, we are not asking for anything. We are not thinking about God or trying to analyze God. We are not measuring our progress. It is simply time we give to God. We quiet our minds. We sit still and we become attentive in the silence. We wait upon God.

A humble attitude of listening is a sign of love for God, and a real prayer from the heart.

Just like taking the time to listen, to give your full attention to

your spouse, your friend, your child -- is also an act of love.

In his book about centering prayer entitled Finding Grace at the Center, Thomas Keating wrote:

"This tradition was summed up by Gregory the Great at the end of the sixth century. He described contemplation as a knowledge of God based on the intimate and loving experience of God’s presence."

You don't need to look any further than the deepest level of your spirit, the very center of your soul, if you will. That is the level at which God's Spirit makes direct contact with you.

Contemplative prayer at its root involves listening - listening for the voice of God, deep, deep down in the depths of your soul. At this root level we come to learn that the Spirit of God dwells in our hearts and can be found in silence.

And when God breaks the silence, often in unexpected ways, we respond faithfully and lovingly.

It is important to remember that we are not seeking a mental experience but we are leaving ourselves open to a silent presence, which has the power to transform us.

A contemplative prayer practice helps to make you more susceptible to experience the sacred in everyday moments.

God is always present. If that is not in keeping with your experience, perhaps it is because you are not present.

Meister Eckhart wrote: "Man's best chance of finding God is where he left him."

Carl Jung, the eminent psychologist had the following carved, in Latin, over the front door of his house in Zurich. The words in English are: "Bidden or not bidden, God is Present".

It is possible to encounter God in our ordinary experiences.  How do we do this? Pay attention to what you encounter in your day-to-day living. Try to become more aware of what is going on within you. Try to discover in the stories of one another the loving presence of God in our midst.

Experiences that make you feel more alive, more caring, more loving are probably from God; those that make you more self-centered, more worried, more anxious are probably not.

This is from Sister Joan Chittister OSB:

How do you know when you have finally achieved a sense of the presence of God?

1) You cease to live for what you don't already have.

2) You cease to be afraid of what you cannot control in life.

3) You cease to feel guilty for being yourself.

Take time to listen and you will hear God's communication of life deep down in the depths of your soul.

Think about it if you will and thank you for listening.