Spiritual Practice: The Contemplative Way
Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. Luke 6: 12
Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “
Who do the crowds say that I am?” Luke 9:18
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. Matthew 14:23
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” Matthew 26:36
We are told repeatedly in the Gospels that Jesus went off to pray, went off to be with God, just the two of them. Sometimes it was before a major decision as when he was choosing his disciples, at other times it was just to pray as was his custom.
The Desert Fathers, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and many other influential Christian thinkers, writers, and activists were contemplatives. Jesus has been called a contemplative in action. These are all people who prioritized the spiritual pathway of quiet, extend times alone with God to be with him, contemplate, meditate and pray.
Of all the spiritual formation practices I think this one can be the most intimidating for people. We think that meditation and contemplation is just for the spiritual elite (I mean just look at the list above), or that it is just a bit too mystical, or “Eastern”, too foreign, maybe not even entirely Christian a practice.
To the first point I would say that anyone who can spend one on one time with another person, just listening or not saying anything, just being with the other, can do this practice. And perhaps it is not that these folks could be contemplatives because they were “super spiritual”. Maybe they were “super spiritual” because they practiced contemplation.
As to the second point, yes, quiet contemplation and silent listening is a bit foreign to our Western way of being and interacting. But just because it is foreign does not make it wrong. If that were so no Westerner would eat raw fish and think it delicious. Besides, much of what we think as normal in the church is a bit strange or foreign to others: praying to someone you cannot see, singing songs in a large group, the eucharist, reading a really old book over and over again.
If you are already “wired” this way and already practice contemplation, silent prayer, and meditation, well this Covid thing certainly has not hindered your practice (except if you have children about you might need to have changed time or location). For those of you who do not regularly practice formation this way I invite you to give it a try. Being in forced isolation you are part way there already.
There are many different ways to practice this type of formation and I don’t have time to go into great detail on any of them, but you can certainly look them up on line or reach out to me.
Contemplation: Prayer as being. Quiet, silence in the presence of God, filling yourself with him (5 minutes is a good way to start and slowly build to 20). If you get distracted in your mind with what you are going to make for dinner, no problem, acknowledge the thought and get back to Jesus. Some people refer to this as silent or centering prayer.
Meditation: Prayer as pondering. At its root this is really thinking deeply about God. Some people use icons, candles, images, the cross, a single bible passage as the way in pondering or deeply thinking about God.
Lectio Divina: Divine or Spiritual reading of Scripture. This is reading a short verse of story over several times, first time to hear it. Second time to be attentive, what word, picture or phrase catches your attention. Third time to ask God why are you drawing this to my attention, what are you inviting me to, how are you trying to disrupt me with this word? And a fourth time as a way of offering the passage and its word back to God.
There are many other ways to practice contemplative spiritual formation: walking alone listening, the Welcoming Prayer, and imaginative prayer are a few other examples. At the heart of it spiritual formation through contemplation is about getting closer to God by spending long periods of time with the Trinity with no other agenda than just to be with the one who is with you, to love the one who loved you first.