Nouwen, Lawrence: Unceasing Praying

From Unceasing Thinking to Unceasing Praying

"Our minds are always active…Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thoughts? No, we can convert our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer by making our inner monologue into a continuing dialogue with our God, who is the source of all love.” Henri Nouwen, Henri Nouwen Society, Daily Meditations

Of course, the book we first often study about unceasing prayer is in reading Practicing the Presence of God, the very small collection of teachings and experiences of Brother Lawrence, a 17th century French Carmelite monk who was the cook for his community in Paris.  The book is compiled by Father Joseph Beaufort from letters and four conversations with Brother Lawrence as he described his walk with God not from the head but through his heart. He saw God in every aspect, in every second of his life as he washed pots and pans, purchased wine, cooked the meals, continually conversing with God, not being weary of doing small things for the love of God, believing that times of prayer should not be different from other times, seeing God as a friend he would not want to leave alone, feeling God’s presence more in sickness than in good health. 

My favorite more recent mentor for continually being in conversation with God is Tevye in the 1971 American dramatic musical, Fiddler on the Roof.  

Joanna  joannaseibert.com  

Visio Divina

Visio Divina

“The experience of praying with icons and other images is quite different than praying with words.” Christine Valters Painter, Illuminating Mystery, Creativity as a Spiritual Practice, Reflections in Word and Image.

Rembrandt, Return of the Prodigal Son St. Petersburg  State Hermitage Museum

God speaks to us in many ways–through relationships, our experiences, sacred texts such as the Bible and many more. Visio divina, Latin for divine seeing, is praying with images to listen to God’s words. Like lectio divina, Latin for divine reading,  These are  four steps used to practice Visio divina:

1.Sit quietly, close your eyes and be aware of  your breathing. Practice a body scan. Open your eyes and look at  the image of art slowly, seeing  colors, people, places and things. Stay with the image for one to two minutes. You may want to jot down a few words about the image.

2. Close your eyes and breath. Open your eyes. Take another, deeper, look. Is there movement? Are there relationships? Use your imagination. What is the story? Can you place yourself in the story and in the image?  Do you see deeper meanings that what is on the surface?

3.  Respond to the image with prayer. Does the image take  you to an experience,  or remind you of a person or issue  for which you want  to offer thanksgiving or intercession? Offer that prayer to God.

4. Find your quiet heart center. Stay connected to your body. Breathe deeply. Relax your shoulders, arms and legs. Rest in this quiet. Imagine God praying in you. God prays beyond words.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com

Mary Dwyer: Forgiveness

 Mary Dwyer: Forgiveness

“Forgiveness is not forgetting, not condoning not a form of absolution, not a pretense, not a once and for all decision, and not a sign of weakness but of strength.” Mary Dwyer, One Day Retreat of Contemplative Outreach, Learning  to Forgive, February 10, 2018, St. Mark’s.

Last weekend at a Forgiveness Workshop with Mary Dwyer from Contemplative Outreach, Ltd.,  at St. Mark’s we learn some basics to start the journey of forgiveness. She reminds us that forgiveness is the only conditional part of the Lord’s Prayer, “ forgive our sins, as we forgive others.”

Reconciliation involves both parties. Forgiveness involves only one party.

 Mary cautioned us about forgiving too soon.

She used the process from Fr. William  A. Meninger’s book, The Process of Forgiveness. The first stage of beginning to forgive involves claiming the hurt, often by writing  about it.  Telling our story also is a big part in  Bishop Tutu’s book, The Book of Forgiving. In the second stage toward healing we feel guilt that maybe we did something wrong for this to happen. Here we are healed by comforting our inner child. In the third stage we see ourselves as the victim. Mary gave examples of how so many people get stuck in this stage. Their whole life is centered around some hurt many years ago. Support groups help in this stage as we see we are not the only ones who have been harmed.  In the fourth stage we become very anger about the hurt.  Anger brings with it a huge amount of energy and clarity. If we can transform  that energy, we  can then start healing as we release this energy and become whole again. What helps me the most is the knowledge that the person who has harmed me is still hurting me as long I cannot forgive them. 

Mary then described a process of active imagination with God and the person who has harmed us called the Forgiveness Prayer. After a period of Centering Prayer, we imagine our own sacred space with  God very close to us. She imagines she is sitting in God’s lap.  My sacred space would be sitting on the  white sandy beach by the ocean watching the waves come gently in as the sea gulls fly in and out at the water’s edge. We then invite someone who has harmed us to come into our space. We tell them all that they have done to harm us. Then we ask them if we have harmed them and then ask them for forgiveness. Sometimes having a picture of the person may be helpful as we speak to him or her. This is not a one time event but may require many encounters. For me, the Forgiveness Prayer is so helpful when the person who harmed me refuses to talk about it. The Prayer allows us to talk to that person in a safe place where we cannot be harmed again, but also to acknowledge mistakes we made as well.

Mary also recommends praying daily for the person who has harmed us until we are ready to forgive.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com