An open forum led to an interesting chat about prayer, among other topics:
Sister: stillness- which is the way to the inner life:Hesychasm
Sep 30 2012, 7:40 PM
C: what is hesychasm?
Sister : It’s a form of silent prayer and inner stillness that the Orthodox Greeks, Russians talk about and practice esp their monks
R: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesychasm
C: is that the same as our contemplative prayer?
Sister : Somewhat but I think often it is connected to the Jesus prayer In solitude and retirement the Hesychast repeats the Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.
C: I heard somewhere that the centering prayer being taught these days is an offshoot/offspring of traditional Catholic mysticism. Is that true?
R: well..
C: Ooh, I use that prayer all the time!
Sister : I have heard different things about it
__R: all I know about it is that there is a group here in town that does it, and it makes me very uncomfortable
Sep 30 2012, 7:44 PM
Sister : The Eastern Church has a prayer rope for the Jesus prayer and persons often wear it on their wrists
C: is that like a rosary then?
Sister : Yes very similar
Sister : But the Jesus prayer is certainly from Scripture
Sep 30 2012, 7:47 PM
C: then I will stick with it-since it seems to have adopted me!
Sister : There are so many ways of praying.. each one of us in our own way. St Jane de Chantal said we were as Visitandines to have a simple gaze upon God, at least eventually
Sister : That we would be drawn that way. But we do start out with meditation, Scripture, etc
C: a gaze that requires neither thought nor speech
__R: I think that sometimes our prayer life changes too somewhat, meaning, I used to only do vocal prayer, but now I tend to use mental prayer more.. I think God leads us in different directions depending on where we are spiritually
Sister : That is very true and sometimes we experience our own prayer changing and don’t understand it or why it is happening
J: the father of the girl that entered the monastery from “The Nun” calls that gaze “Permanent Prayer”. He always is bringing God to his mind no matter what he is doing. For example even while talking to someone he does that thus bringing the Holy Spirit into every situation
J: doing two things simultaneously he calls it
Sister : I like that”Permanent Prayer”- praying always as Scripture says
__R: yea I like that too
C: that’s what we’re all called to do. It’s hard to divide yourself in two that way sometimes though
Sister : I imagine it all becomes unified within that gentleman so that it does not always seem like “2 things
J: yes exactly Sister…not describing it properly
Sister : Our spiritual directory helps us with that by reminding us to ask for grace before each action
J: here is what he said……You can learn to do things simultaneously. That is obvious. Id est, to sing and whistle two different songs simultaneously. I once heard a brain-learned professor do it. Or to play the piano with two hands, not just with one finger. This capability is ready to practice in prayer too
J: it seems very hard but that was his point that it can be done in “permanent prayer” also. PM
J: whistle one and sing other
J: Well first, my most beloved project since a couple of decades is the realistic aim towards the permanent prayer. As a form of conscious prayer, a practical prayer going on in real time. The eastern fathers had their own practice of it. My experience of it for some decades is that it WORKS! I mean a sort of continuous awareness or togetherness with Heaven, the personal and moving God emanating first in my deep inhabited island and then going over to every occasion present. You can learn to do things simul
2012, 8:00 PM
J: You can learn to do things simultaneously. That is obvious. Id est, to sing and whistle two different songs simultaneously. I once heard a brain-learned professor do it. Or to play the piano with two hands, not just with one finger. This capability is ready to practice in prayer too. Just another small virtue. Or training as the word originally refers to. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit works especially in conversations, when you remember this wonderful gift of praying and speaking simultaneously:01 PM
J: It never failed me. And it always astonishes me in the creative initiative He takes. Sometimes, and in fact a lot of times, you forget and don’t practice it. But on the other hand, every time you notice the absence of it, that thought is logically at the same time a remembrance of it, and in fact an act of return.
J: Of course nobody believes it coming from Him but from you. Sort of a secret it is in that way. They will not believe you if you say it did come from Him, but will often think the reference to God is a sort of false humility. I will stop here with this item this time, for speaking of it takes me into an awe, and we will come back to that again0
SR M: So, you were talking about multi-tasking?
Sister : In prayer sort of
Sep 30 2012, 8:07 PM
Sr M: Isn’t the contemplative life about just the opposite?
Sr M Single-tasking, single-focusing?
Sr M: Is that like bi-locating?
__R: like making everything a prayer.. doing ordinary stuff, while still praying, spiritually multitasking
SR M: OK. That’s still single-focusing – on God while working.
J: .bi-locating is probably another way of kind of explaining it…excellent..only in prayer and active life at same time
J: where contemplative and active life merge into one
J: as a permanent prayer
Sr M: I’m reading the Franciscan “Right to Be Merry,” where they’re founding a new community in NM (from IL), and as they look at each tree passing from the train window, they praise God for it
Sr M: So that a person is so absorbed in God that everything is done for Him (“without Me, you can do nothing”)
C: that sounds so cool! I’ve been known to do that
C: praise God for things out train windows, that is
J: i have kind of done it before…while talking to someone…I was consciously bringing God to my mind…so as I am speaking with the person I am also connected to God…it makes the whole experience so much better..the heavenly enters the conversation on my end and gives it a new dimension
Sr M: Praising Him for each person we meet (not standing still like the tree) is more of a challenge
__R: yes, it’s hard, especially if it’s someone hostile towards you
Sister: Always trying to see that person as God does, with infinite love
__R it’s easier to remember though that every person, no matter how they act is a creature created by God, for God and to love God.. it helps me to pray for even those that are not so nice
Sr M: It’s hard to stay lovingly focused on that hostile person, rather than turning your back and walking away.
J: yes .it doesn’t separate it..like when I am done talking to this person I will bring God to mind in prayer or gaze…He is always there with you thus the permanent prayer
Sr M: I remember being in a jostling crowd with a priest-friend who looked around and solemnly said, “Each of these persons is loved by God!”
__R: that is so cool to think about.. I’ve done that, like a crowded store___: it’s like each one of those people is so special to God even if they don’t know it.. yet
Sr M: That’s where Christian vulnerability comes in.
SR M: I’m fully open to each person and not only thinking about my own agenda.
Can’t get a whole lot done that way, but it’s what St. Francis de Sales did so well!
SFdS still wrote hundreds of long letters with his quill pen and two, long books, and still stayed open to each person he met in his travels or in his office.
Sr M: Oh, isn’t that Brother Lawrence’s “The Practice of the Presence of God?”
J: yes yes yes Sister…BL…that’s where he learnt it or first heard of it
Sr M: I wish we all had that continuous God-sense, like St. Francis of Assisi or Julian of Norwich1
Sister: That’s a book to read time to time and it is always like the first time always new
Sr M: It’s so hard to fight off the culture’s bombardment – the media’s bombardment1
That’s why Lectio Divina is so important, too – so that reading the Bible is meeting God therePM
C: yes, I’ve been learning lectio too
Sister : Yes and the message there is always new- living and alive to the moment
C: I’m not very good at it yet, but I have felt Him very close, if that makes sense
Sr M And important to cultivate friendships with God-focused people.
Sep 30 2012, 8:26 PM
J: Brother Lawrence was a carmelite
Sister: Have you ever done lectio in a group setting?
It’s how I first learned it- in a prayer group
C: no, I’ve only done it by myself
Sep 30 2012, 8:28 PM
Sister : At the time I did not know one could “pray” the Scriptures- I only had “read’ them
__R: yea, I’ve only done it by myself too
Sep 30 2012, 8:28 PM
Sr M: SFdS says: Our prayer must be simple, trustful, and natural, wanting to be near God, so as to love Him and unite ourselves to Him. Real love has no set method. (letter to one of his spiritual directees)