FROM PRAYING TO CONTEMPLATION

 FROM PRAYING TO CONTEMPLATION

True Lectio Divina

Lectio means learning to read in a new way and learning to listen as we have never really listened before. We are so bombarded with reading materials from all sides that we have had to acquire a habit of reading at a breathtaking pace. Every day there are the newspapers to be read, mountains of junk mail to sift through, memoranda to be absorbed and letters and bills to be dealt with. Our only concern is to glean the relevant facts as quickly as we can and to move on to something else. If we apply the same techniques to the way we read the Scriptures, they will not enable us to get to know Christ more deeply. They should be read as we would read good poetry, endlessly going over them to plunder their contents. This is the beginning of true Lectio Divina.

Having read and re-read the sacred texts it is time to reflect – Meditatio. Pore over them again and again, ruminate on them, as St. Augustine would say; allow the inner meaning of every word to seep deep down into the very marrow of your being so that their dynamic impact can register with effect. To facilitate the use of this profound meditation, some people find it helpful to recreate the scene in which the sacred words were first spoken in their imaginations. Let us suppose that you have chosen to meditate on those profound words of Jesus at the Last Supper. Begin by setting the scene in your imagination. Picture the Apostles preparing the tables, see Christ coming into the room, watch the way he moves, look into his face when he speaks, then mull over his every word and try to penetrate the inner meaning.

The same sort of scene-setting could be used to build up the atmosphere before meditating on other Gospel texts. The Passion of Christ, for instance, would lend itself to this method of praying. Do not just think of what Christ went through in your mind, but go back in your imagination and place yourself in the event. You are among the soldiers at the scourging, one of the crowd during the carrying of the cross, an onlooker at the actual Crucifixion. You see everything as it happens, you open your ears and hear what is said and then you open your mouth and begin to pray. The more we penetrate the inner meaning of the sacred text, the more we feel moved to react prayerfully with our hearts to what we have assimilated – Oratio. Real prayer begins now as we start to try to raise our hearts and minds to God, as we respond to the inspired words upon which we have been reflecting.

The State of Mental Paralysis

To start with, the truths of the faith are too big, too enormous, almost too incredible for us to take in effectively. When I first heard that the stars in the nearest galaxy Andromeda were two and a half million light-years away, I simply could not take it in. The distances were too enormous for my mind to cope with. It is exactly the same with the truths of our faith, at least to begin with. They are too much for us to cope with, too great for us to take in. It is as if our minds are paralyzed by their transcendent enormity. We simply cannot penetrate or comprehend their meaning. 

However, in time, this state of mental paralysis gradually begins to lift thanks to the Holy Spirit. The slow meditation on the sacred texts suddenly begins to bear fruit; the spiritual understanding begins to stir and the emotions are touched and begin to react. What began as rather dry academic knowledge about God changes and begins to strike with an ever-deepening impact. Knowledge begins to turn into love, as the love that God has for us begins to register with effect. Nobody can remain the same when they realize that another loves them. We respond automatically, the emotions are released and we begin to express our love and thanks in return. This is the beginning of real prayer that will grow with depth and intensity as the truth of God’s love is brought home time and time again in so many different ways through slowly poring over, digesting and assimilating the sacred texts. As the impact of the Gospel message begins to explode with maximum effect, the believer finds that even the most extravagant words do not sufficiently voice the depth of feeling they experience welling up from within. In the end, the words of thanks, praise, adoration, and love give way to silence that says far more than the most potent man-made means of expression. 

The Simple Loving Gaze Upon God – Contemplation. 

The slow meditative penetration of the texts now opens out and envelops the whole person as the believer is ever more deeply absorbed into a silent contemplative gaze upon God. The most powerful and poignant expressions of the new relationship with God seem to be emptied of their meaning in face of the reality. All one wants to do is to remain silent and still in the simple loving gaze upon God that has traditionally been called Contemplation. It is the fruit of this profound prayer that is, in the eyes of St Thomas Aquinas,  the perfect preparation for sharing the faith with others. He could have said that we should first meditate and then share the fruits of our meditation with others, or pray and share the fruits of prayer with others–but something even more profound is required. We must persevere for long enough in prayer to experience for ourselves something of the love that we are called to share with others in sublime mystical contemplation or we will have little to give.

In this contemplation in which the whole person, heart and mind, body and soul is more united than ever before, a subtle change begins to take place. Initially, it was through meditating on God’s love, as embodied in the human body of Jesus that led the believer to contemplation, but now a change gradually begins to take place. Meditating on God’s love as it was embodied in the historical Christ gives way to contemplating his love as it is now, pouring out of the risen Christ, whether the believer realizes this or not at the time. The first was generated with God’s grace and human endeavor, the second is a pure gift of God. However, before the gift of contemplation can lead to the full union for which the believer now craves, a purification begins to take place so that the selfish seeker can receive the Selfless Giver without any let or hindrance. This is the only way to the full union with God that is our deepest desire. The purification is the work of the Holy Spirit–all we have to do is to faithfully persevere in prayer.  He will do the rest.