|
Wisdom Saying
Prayer is nothing else but a yearning of soul.
When practiced with the whole heart, it has great power.
*Mechtild of Magdeburg (d. c. 1282)
Comments
The Prayer of Silence, what we could call the Prayer of Intimacy or the Prayer of Inner Communion, is very simple. The simplicity of such Prayer is a turn-off to persons in our complicated cultures, even religious persons, persons who assign worth only to what is clear and hard work.
We want to do something difficult, something special, something that we attribute to our efficiency and personal worth. We want that something to be of a nature that we can say, “Look at what I did.” Or, at least, we want to support our need of affirmation by affirming ourselves, saying to ourselves, as though looking in a mirror and holding our good work before us, “Look at what I did.” And we might have this image of the paternal God or the all-powerful, all-demanding potentate, and we feel we must prove our worth to God; so, essentially, we attain clear and difficult works, saying, “Look, God. I am worthy, after all.”
Even much Christian religion does not encourage a form of devotion that does not lead to more clarity of insight ~ while, ironically, the insight arising from Spirit leads to a certainty of faith within, not from, ambiguity ~ and is a release of the socially neurotic human need to push toward goals to prove worth, while resisting the Mystery. Yes, of course we give mouth service to this Mystery, but that may be all. Most Christians will admit the transcendence, or mystery, of God, but their lives and churches are not shaped in a marked way by a felt-sense and awe of that mystery.
The Prayer of Silence is calm, responsive intimacy of spirit with and to Spirit and is often unclear. Of course, the calmness arises for most of us after some time of practicing Inner Solitude. And regarding clarity, this resting in deepening communion with the Divine Within is not a seeking of clarity ~ that is another work ~ we are seeking communion. Clarity arises from the communion. Rest arises, too, from the communion.
Our hearts hold a prayer. If we would settle enough, we would feel it. If we would cease our pressing commotion of life, our frothy noise and ceaseless chatter, we would hear the prayer. This prayer would be the prayer of longing. That longing is the Voice of the soul seeking God, however we understand God, seeking Home.
What is that Home? That Home is God. That Home is not a place. The Home is the Source of your individuated soul as an expression of Life. The Source is the source of life for God is Life.
When we enter the most inner depths of prayer, prayer changes from words and images, though these arise within the calm and ambiguity from a deeper Source than our thoughts and imagination, even our most pious ones. We are no longer seeking Home; rather, we have found God within and outside, everywhere, as the Single Point wherein we find rest.
We are able to rest in the ambiguity of what the soul might be saying through longing, for our minds no longer are in control. Our most inmost heart is communing with the Christ. This communing and its silent content, silent in being beyond the translation of the mind, but not silent in the domain of spirit, is heart prayer.
Suggested Reflection
Do you have moments in which you sense your soul longing for God, or Heaven? Can you let yourself rest silently with that as prayer, as communion with Christ, without trying to put it into words or images?
Brian is available to respond to requests pertaining to seeking a Spiritual Director, his speaking, doing classes, workshops, or retreats for churches or other spiritual groups.
Brian K. Wilcox offers "The Light Shines" daily devotionals as part of the outreach and nurture ministry of Christ Community United Methodist Church, Punta Gorda, Florida, where he serves as pastor. For inclusion on the mailing list, write to shalom77@embarqmail.com to join the daily devotional list.
For submission of replies, see below:
*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, and their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Clearwater and Punta Gorda, Florida. He is a United Methodist pastor and vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ through contemplative prayer and living.
|
