Contemplative Haven

Just one more reason why everyone should read the lives of the saints. 

From the Arthur Young Series:

This is so beautiful. 

But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. (Mt 6:6)

“This is, therefore, the real meaning of every real penitential commitment:  to withdraw from the current of exterior things, to silence the advancing hubbub of so many human voices, in order to return into oneself, into one’s deepest inner life; because it is in the silence of conscience that God waits for us.

When, in fact, Jesus says:  Go into your room and shut the door, he does not call to an isolation that is an end in itself.  That shutting the door corresponds to the one decisive opening of the human heart:  the opening to God.”

[Pope John Paul II:  Excerpted from a talk in Rome to students and their teachers, February 28, 1979, as reprinted in the Madonna House Newsletter of February 2008.] 

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Direct to YouTube for this video is here.

[Excerpt from: Light and Images. Elements of Contemplation, pgs. 75-76. Adrienne von Speyr]

“This is the law of contemplation, not merely the contemplation of the Cross, but of all contemplation of the Lord:  that the one who prays become empty of himself in order to adapt himself to what the Lord is.  In order with him and in him to say what he says, to attune his voice so closely to the Lord’s that the Father can hear them as one voice…

To desire to exist, not in the I, but in the Thou; without restriction, without a measuring of distance, without a feeling of one’s own unworthiness, and thus in the faith of a child who has been called and, through the call, has been drawn forward.

It is no game; it is no make-believe; rather, it is an integration that God himself has demanded:  we have to contemplate the Lord with the Lord’s own eyes.  With the fullness of him who is the embodiment of the Gospel, we must contemplate every mystery of salvation history, surrender ourselves to it, recognize it as the highest reality, a reality that is so strong that this history has the power to bring all things under the influence of this newly dawning reality.  Whoever looks upon the world’s misery through the Cross, whoever draws closer to the suffering of the children of men through the Lord’s suffering, is ready to arrange his contemplation in the proper way to experience the power of prayer, to receive the mysteries of the Lord’s Incarnation and crucifixion; he is ready, moreover, to receive even the mysteries of the triune God as they have been revealed, and to be changed by them.”

I cannot formulate my own inability to formulate anything about God.  Today, before the seventh and eighth stations of the Cross, I was terribly conscious that I was only saying words.  The Lord permits our indifference before the Stations of the Cross so that we may realize that at best we are still indifferent to His sacrifice, and can’t be anything but indifferent.  We cannot suffer His pains, unless He lets us do so in a miracle – we can suffer our own indifference to His pains.  To realize that God is dying and that we are indifferent is to stand on the edge of an inconceivable agony.  But the agony is caused by our indifference in His Passion.  Therefore for us to cry out in agony because He permits us to be indifferent to His Passion is to want to learn what His cry meant:  “Eloi, Eloi, Lama sabachtani, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me!” 

[From:  Run to the Mountain.  The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume I, 1939-1941]. This passage is from February 19, 1941.

Hush, lay down your troubled mind
The day has vanished and left us behind
And the wind, whispering soft lullabies
Will soothe, so close your weary eyes

Let your arms enfold us
Through the dark of night
With your angels hold us
Till we see the light

Sleep, angels will watch over you
And soon beautiful dreams will come true
Can you feel spirits embracing your soul
So dream while secrets of darkness unfold

The following video is a discussion between Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., and Ken Wilbur, of Integral Institute, on aspects of contemplation and contemplative prayer, particularly in terms of the false self and spiritual stages.  Note, at approximately 6 minutes into the video, the little gasps and murmurs from the audience as they recognize the truth of what Father Keating has just said:  “And that’s why, to take a determination not to contribute to the messiness of the world by adding our own false-self projects to it, is one of the greatest gifts you could give to humanity.”

Father Keating also speaks of the Great Commandment, and on the subject of loving the Lord our God with our whole mind, heart, soul and with all of our strength, he says:  “…it is impossible to do without contemplative prayer and the insight that that brings.”

At approximately seven-and-a-half minutes into the video, Ken Wilbur describes the stages of growth and development that men and women tend to go through spiritually, and how these stages (of nearness to the Divine presence) can now be “measured” scientifically, at least “on the psychological side of the street”.  He is very sincere and excited about this, because, as he sees it, this scientific data can now be used in arguments about the effectiveness of contemplative prayer - the measurable results can counter non-believers’ statements that the whole thing is merely “wishful thinking”. 

Yet Father Keating brings the discussion back to the spiritual reality of the hardships and difficulties facing those who follow the contemplative path, and of the necessity of growth in humility.  Notice how he does this gently, with an exquisite sense of humour. 

And remember – if you are growing in your contemplative practice and in humility, and find your life unmanageable as you’re living it, take heart in one of Father Keating’s final remarks, that “this is a triumph, not a disaster.”

Direct to YouTube for this video is here.

To celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette, I would like to direct you to the official celebration website, where, among other things, you can watch a selection of lovely, short videos direct from Lourdes.  Just click on the link in the section marked “Multimedia Space”, and then go to the “Video Reports” button, and you will see a variety of videos listed in a menu on the left-hand side.

If you would like to read an excerpt from a speech given in Lourdes by Pope John XXIII (then Cardinal and Patriarch of Venice) in March 1958, please see my post today at Consecrated to Mary.

[Antiphon 1.  See Joel 2:13] “Come back to the Lord with all your heart; leave the past in ashes, and turn to God with tears and fasting, for he is slow to anger and ready to forgive.”

I found myself reading these words from the Missal over and over again earlier this evening at Ash Wednesday Mass.  They seemed to be calling to me, part invitation, part challenge.  Leave the past in ashes.  Leave the past in ashes.  Leave the past in ashes.

Is there something about being forgiven that I haven’t truly believed?  Or is there something from the past to which I am clinging, impeding me from moving forward?  Perhaps this will be a part of my Lenten journey this year.

May you all have a blessed Lent, as we travel together towards Easter, each of us with our unique invitation/challenge from the Lord.  

Cathy, of A Bit of the Blarney has been very gracious and passed along an “Excellent Blog” award to Contemplative Haven. Thank you, Cathy!

I’m supposed to award it to ten others, but for now, at least, I would just like to highlight two excellent resource bloggers/blogs:

• KyCatholic of Catholic iPod - and not just for iPods!  If you haven’t visited, go on over; you’ll find a treasure trove.  And for all of you Father Thomas Dubay followers, you’ll definitely want to see the three most recent posts. 
• Sonitus Sanctus, newly discovered and now in my sidebar.  You’ll have to see for yourself, and browse through the archives.  A veritable goldmine!

To all of my excellent blogger friends, thank you for your generosity and commitment.  You are talented, Spirit-filled and inspiring!