Contemplative Prayer: Anyone Can Do It. And in Any Denomination

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Deep inside every person is the presence of God. Sometimes that Presence is dimmed by the distractions an individual nurtures related to the false gods who take up residence in one’s heart and mind. These distractions might be other people, career, money, or prestige. Over time an impenetrable mask covers these distractions, and the person is consumed by the false gods. The individual might be a very good person but still the false gods prevail, and happiness sours and the once meaningful structures of family and relationships are wobbly at best. But the individual might slowly become aware that false gods are not the sources of happiness and peace. 

Often a person who is faithful to his or her religious practices does not find fulfillment in continuing to practice the faith. And so, even in the living of a good life and a meaningful faith, one can feel a dryness of spirituality that has been covered by false gods. One goes through the motions of a dry, diurnal existence day in and day out. One does not see the paradise one lives in, nor does he or she feel the thrill of the Presence of the Other: deep inside aching to be noticed. 

Until one day—as grace would have it—a voice within calls out: “Where are you?” And you are stopped short, a bit ‘shaky.’ Just as God had asked Adam, “Where are you?” God asks you the same. Like Adam in the story of Genesis, you have been taken with the false gods your ego has nurtured and God, the real, merciful, loving God within you, has been looking for you. “Where are you?”

Contemplative prayer starts with a longing one recognizes after the seizure of grace when one hears the question, “Where are you?” Even though you have prayed all your life, you think and feel there is more. And there is. Most of us have always been engaged in intentional prayer and worship, or liturgical prayer. But this is not enough to satisfy the holy longing within. This holy longing is recognized by most religions, both Christian and non-Christian, and nearly all religions have classic writings shared among each on the topic. Eastern religions have taught us the Loving Kindness Prayer as a meditation format for happier relationships. The Jewish faith celebrates the mysticism of the prophets and leaders of ancient Israel and exhorts, as Rabbi Abraham Heschel writes, “to pray for the ability to pray, to bewail our ignorance of living in his presence.” Heschel continues, “…prayer is to sense his presence. Prayer should be part of all our ways. It does not always have to be on our lips; it must always be on our minds, in our hearts.” (p. 375) 

Contemplative prayer is the dredging up of that holy longing from deep within, the longing that has been suffocated by the false gods one mistakenly took for the source of happiness. Contemplative prayer is personal—unlike liturgical worship. One needs a reserved place and time to engage in it. There is no need for words either. It is different from rumination in that while one is praying, one is not arguing or pleading with God or rethinking any experiences in life. This simple framework of contemplative prayer might help those unfamiliar with it.

1. The objective (if I can call it that), is to acknowledge the presence of God in my heart. I might tell God that I want a greater relationship with God, a relationship conscious of his love for me. In doing so, I am about the effort of restoring the relationship God desires with me.
2. I can include intentional prayer at some point. That is in contemplative prayer I can align myself with a particular need and thus I accompany the persons in need. In other words, I can unite myself with the suffering in Ukraine or any other place and connect myself to that need through thought and affection. 
3. Or I can make my prayer totally in depth by saying, “I am here God to hear you and to tell you I love you. Make all my faculties accept you and enlarge my heart to see you in all things and love you in all creation.” 
4. There is no time length for this prayer. Just sit still with open hands and let God get through. 

Reflection

All of us are called to contemplative prayer. In the Christian faith, Jesus gave an example of this type of prayer when he left his ministry and the disciples at various times to pray alone.  

Try to carve out some time to begin this practice in your daily life. You will be surprised how much more peaceful your life will become. Simply let God emerge from within. Remember the words from the psalmist “Be still and know that I am God.” 

I want to share a beautiful poem by St. John of the Cross, a Carmelite saint and mystic, who offered poetry and reflections on contemplative prayer.

IF YOU LOVE

You might quiet the whole world for a second

if you pray.

And if you love, if you

really love,

our guns will wilt.

God bless all of you, my dear readers and my Anonymous Angels.

Be well and love our God.

Quotes from Rabbi Heschel are taken from God in Search for Man.

Poem from John of the Cross taken from Love Poems From God translated by Daniel Ladinsky.