|
29"The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30He must increase, but I must decrease."
31He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. (St. John 3, ESV)
St. Teresa of Avila, in her autobiographical Life of the Mother Teresa of Avila, compares the stages of mystical prayer to four ways in which a garden can be watered. This image of watering the garden was, also, employed by St. Augustine, among other Christian thinkers.
St. Teresa’s four stages entail a shift in personal effort in prayer. This decrease of personal involvement is paralleled by increase in Divine involvement. Therefore, in this prayer is entailed the deep meaning of John the Baptist’s statement of personal decrease and Divine increase:
1. Watering a garden by well water drawn by hand.
Here,the one praying struggles against distractions, trying to recollect the senses from perceptions. The soul can get discouraged and give up on mystical prayer.
2. Watering a garden by well water drawn with the help of a waterwheel and windlass.
Here there is a greater abundance of water, and with less effort. In prayer, likewise, there is more Divine inspiration and less human effort. There are some mystical experiences. The soul loses its hunger for worldly things and enjoys a sense of contentment and peace.
3. Watering a garden by a stream or spring.
The only effort needed in this watering method is to channel the water to the right place. In prayer the soul, with faculties at rest, enjoys much more sweetness and delight than previously. The soul is immersed in contemplation, but it can, also, participate in the active life of service and daily duties.
4. The garden is watered by downpours of heavy rain.
Here, the soul feels only effortless delight in prayer. The delight has no object: God has ceased to be an object, and the soul enjoys union with the Divine. No longer can one differentiate among “mind,” “soul,” and “spirit.”
In St. Teresa’s explication of the growth in contemplative, or mystical, prayer, we see the progression of movement from self-reliance to divine-initiative. Therefore, contemplative prayer is a natural path of prayer for every Christian, and it balances more active forms of prayer. If you, then, wish to embody John the Baptist’s principle of decreasing so that Christ will increase, and the one from “heaven” gains priority over the one from “earth,” engage in the worthy path of contemplative, or mystical, prayer. What better place to practice the principle than in prayer, the central act of the devotional life?
Have you had experiences of prayer that fit any or all of the above ways of “watering the garden”? Explain.
OneLife Ministries is a pastoral outreach and nurture ministry of the First United Methodist Church, Fort Meade, FL. For Spiritual Direction, Pastoral Counseling, spiritual formation workshops, Christian meditation retreats, or more information about OneLife, write Rev. Dr. Brian K. Wilcox at briankwilcox@comcast.net.
|
