Sunday, June 27, 2010

A New Way to Pray (for me)

In the past several months, I have been hearing and reading a lot about the kind of prayer that involves *listening* to God.  I don't mean "hearing" him in the metaphorical sense, but actually stopping everything, to hear His voice in the silence of the heart.  This kind of prayer is mysterious and baffling to me. I didn't understand how it was done, but I know it is essential to my growth in my relationship with God. 

Frank, from Why I Am Catholic, mentioned a powerful book on prayer written by Sister Wendy in one of his blog posts. I wasn't planning on buying the book, but while I was buying some other books off Amazon, I stumbled across this one and decided to get it it. I am so glad I did.

I didn't know that this book was going to teach me everything I needed to know right now about contemplative prayer, but it is. I am learning a new way to pray that is above and beyond the lower level of prayer that I am at right now. It is very excited to me!  Sister Wendy says it hard at first and it takes time to develop, but I am willing to try.  I really want to know God as a close friend and this is the only way to deepen our relationship. 

This kind of prayer is the silent kind. No words, prayer books, no beads, not even any thoughts are needed to enter into a true meeting with God.  "You are just there to stand in His presence and let Him take possession of you" (Sister Wendy on Prayer, p. 44).  The key is to abandon myself.  I have to be able to let go of all that binds me to this earth and be an empty vessel to have God fill me. Of course, it may sound pretty easy to Sister Wendy to do since she is a hermit who spends 7 hours straight each day in contemplative prayer, but she says our circumstances in life do not matter when it comes to putting ourselves in the presence of God. We bring with us all our circumstances: motherhood, sickness, happiness, depression, sinfulness, etc. to prayer and lay it down.  We don't have to be a hermit or "feel holy" to pray.  "We retain possession of our self hood and offer it to God.  It is the offering that matters, the will, the choosing....You bring yourself in whatever state you are and offer that to God. There may be very little satisfaction in this.  All you may be conscious of are your own feelings, but God does not ask us to pass a test of how beautiful our feelings are.  He simply wants us to pray," (Sister Wendy p. 43).

I thought, if this is the case, I can handle it.  I just have to be prepared to not feel any huge ecstasies with God.  He comes to me on his own terms, Sister Wendy says. I tried this contemplative prayer this morning. It wasn't easy and I am terrible at it. My mind kept racing and I had to keep reminding myself to come back into God's presence and empty myself. However bad I am at this, I have faith that God will meet me where I am.  He chose to reveal this intimate type of prayer to me and it must mean that He wants more of me.  If this is the case, who am I to refuse?  I will keep on trying and wait to hear His voice.

6 comments:

prayer bedes said...

What a neat post! I actually use my rosary as a way to help me focus in contemplative prayer. It is also a way for me to draw myself into the silence. For me, contemplative prayer means spending some time in quiet with God without an agenda. Yes, my mind drifts and wanders, but my beads help draw me back. Basil Pennington has a wonderful little book about using the rosary to do this.

Thanks for the book recommendation. =)

Allison said...

Sounds good - I will have to check out that book :)

Julie Cragon said...

Thank you for the reminder. I had a young man stop me in the store one day and talk about this at length. I've been so busy with my own agendas lately that all I've done is yak with God. Maybe this will bring me back into listening for a change.

Karyn said...

awesome post and beautiful blog :) Thanks for the reminder.

Hugs
Karyn

Sarah Harkins said...

Christine, that sounds like something I'd like to learn about. I'll have to check it out!

Kathleen's Catholic said...

What a wonderful blog, and a terrific post. Contemplative prayer is so wonderful, especially when you are overwhelmed. Just take everything and put it down in front of God.

Thanks for the reminder. I'm going to look into this book. Right now, I'm reading The Authentic Catholic Woman, also at Amazon.

I'm going to link you to my blog.

Also going to look into your rosaries! :-) Glad to have found you, via Catholic Icing.

God bless.