Inner Journey Blog

Contemplation Defined

From Thomas Dubay's Fire Within:

"Christic contemplation is nothing less than a deep love communion with the triune God.  By depth here we mean a knowing loving that we cannot produce but only receive.  It is not merely a mentally expressed "I love you".  It is a wordless awareness and love that we of ourselves cannot initiate or prolong…

"God is love, and the person who loves abides in god, and God abides in him.  For Teresa this indwelling presence is the focal point of prayer: wherever God is, there is heaven, a fullness of glory.  We are to find Him deep within ourselves, just as Augustine did.  We need no wings, only a place of silence where we can be alone and center our gaze on the Guests within.  We should note that this type of entering within is just the opposite of introspection, for we are turning away from an egocentrism and turning toward the supreme Other...

"The greatest of all the commandments is before all else a prayer commandment.  To have one's whole heart, soul and mind filled to overflowing with the love of God is to be filled with the highest prayer.  The core and essence of the transforming union are nothing other than a complete identification with God in love.  When one walks lovesick for God, as St John of the Cross puts it, he is at the heights of prayer life, and he is fulfilling the greatest commandment to perfection…  This love, says St. Paul, is poured into our hearts by the Holy spirit Who is given to us.  Love poured out is, of course, infused love--the two words mean the same thing.  The psalmist who declares that he delights in nothing else on earth but his Lord further proclaims that his flesh and his heart are pining with love, that his joy is to be near God.  So advanced a love could not be anything but the burning infusions of which Teresa and John speak."  Dubay p. 57, 58, 67

Prayer Is Natural

In the midst of the morning I had the thought that it's "time" to pray.  Interesting how sometimes pryaer can start to feel mechanical.

But then I turned to that "Sacred Space" site and here is what it says:

Rain waters the earth, making it bring forth and sprout…. The whole creation is groaning in travail… A sower went out to sow. We are reminded that prayer is not a lifestyle option, or a mechanical technique, but something natural to all creatures, like breathing out and breathing in, like metabolising our food, like the process of growth which we achieve without knowing how we do it.

Prayer is natural... like breathing.  That's exactly what I needed to hear today.  I don't want something mechanical or forced.  I just want to breathe God in... and live my life with him.

Prayer is natural... I realize that this can be an excuse to subtly turn my heart toward other things, this morning, and just get busy with the day.  I don't want to do that either.  So, I wait...

Prayer is natural... I remind myself that real prayer is not something I do.  I still usually think of prayer that way.  It's me doing it.  It's an activity that I engage in.  The reality is that real prayer-- real breathing God's life in and communing with Him is NOT something I can just do.  At most, I can create space in my life for it.  It's a divine activity that He sparks.  I don't do it, I receive the grace of communion with God-Creator-Life-Spirit-Crucified One.  At best I can open myself.  The flood of life and communion that follows (if I have indeed opened myself to HIm) is in me by His graciousness, power, and desire for me.

Prayer is natural... "I remind myself that there are things God has to teach me yet, and ask for the grace to hear them and let them change me (another quote from Sacred Space)."  Being open to God also involves being open to how He wants to change and lead me...  This willingness causes me to work in harmony with His "natural" power that is working and flowing in me.

Prayer is natural... and it's Person to person... no longer mechanical this morning.  It's simple, powerful communing with the real Person of Jesus.  At least, I've made the transition for the moment.

Solitude Provides A Place For Healing

Children hurt and they cry. They feel the pain and let it out.

I don't do that. When I hurt I cover the pain with a hardness. I pick up anger to protect myself. I find ways to distract myself from the hurt. I do many things that keep me from vulnerably feeling what hurts inside.

It takes me a process to become a child, to soften my heart, connect with my Father's heart, and let the hurt out.

Sometimes I have to walk in my anger until I'm ready to let it go. I may have to consciously forgive others or myself before I'm ready to do this.

Sometimes I lose myself in work or activity and I have to be willing to let go of this external coping before I can deal with the hurt.

Solitude beckons me back into honesty with myself and vulnerable relationship with God where the real work of surrender, heart-softening, and hurt-healing can take place. Solitude is where I can begin to feel safe enough to again let my heart become like a child's heart, let go of my defenses, and know that God's embrace for me is real. Only in that place of solitude can I find the courage to let the healing begin.

Intimacy With God

From Thomas Keating:

The great gift which Christ won through his sacrificial death is intimacy and oneness with the Father. On the day of his resurrection he said triumphantly to Mary Magdalene, "Go to my brethren and say to them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father" (John 20:17). That is the great good news! The experience of intimacy with God, symbolized in Genesis by God's daily walk with Adam and Eve in the evening air (Gen. 3:8), is now available once again to the whole human family.

This is the great good news! Though I end up chasing many things, the only this that is truly beneficial and fully satisfying at a depth like nothing else is the experience of that intimacy with Him.

One thing necessary...

Abide in me...

One with me as the Father and I are one...

The Bride of Christ...

Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth...

For your love is sweeter than wine...

Christ in me...

Draw near to me...