Merton: Singing Psalms

Merton: Singing Psalms

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.” Psalm 139: 1-2. NRSV

 Thomas Merton shares specific suggestions of how to meditate, especially using the Psalms, in his very short book, Spiritual Direction and Meditation (1960). 

Merton encourages singing the psalms and using them as a meditative tool in contemplative prayer, being awakened as we re-live the experiences of the psalmist and are touched by the finger of God.

Merton reminds us that intellectual brilliance is not required for meditation and in fact that a good meditation may be dry, cold, and dark. St. John of the Cross tells us that “the best fruit grows in land that is cold and dry.”

A good meditation does not necessarily give us an absolutely clear perception of a spiritual truth we are seeking, for our minds are in the presence of mysteries too vast for our comprehension.

 The power of meditation is not generated by reason, but by faith.

Joanna  joannseibert.com

Charleston, Merton:Spiritual Direction

Charleston, Merton: Spiritual direction

“One of the funny things about men that women often comment on is that men do not like to stop and ask for directions. When we feel lost in our lives, unsure of what to do, ask for directions: pray. It may not be the first option, but trust me, God will always help you find your way.” Bishop Charleston, daily Facebook messages

 Thomas Merton also writes about spiritual direction and meditation and makes specific suggestions of how to meditate in his very short book, Spiritual Direction and Meditation (1960).  Merton begins by giving an interesting history of how spiritual direction started when the “desert fathers” went out to find God.  They needed a charismatic figure to help mentor them to replace the bishops and presbyters who had become Christ’s representatives. 

Merton describes spiritual direction as a continuous process of formation and guidance where a Christian is led and encouraged in his special vocation so that through the Holy Spirit he may attain union with God in all parts of his life.

The ministry of the spiritual director is to verify and encourage what is truly spiritual in the soul.

The director is not to teach his own way but is called to direct souls like an “usher,” leading souls in God’s way, not his own. The directee is asked to share what he or she thinks, really feels, desire, even when these things are not honorable, to reach the core of his being, to find the Holy Spirit deep in himself, to find the freedom to help God create God’s likeness in his own image, and become fully human.

A good director has respect for the mystery of the personality together with common sense, the gift of prayer, patience, experience, and sympathy.

Joanna  joannseibert.com

Buechner: Writing and Prayer

Buchner: Writing and Prayer

“Because the word that God speaks to us is always an incarnate word—a word spelled out to us not alphabetically, in syllables, but enigmatically, in events, the chances are we will never get it just right. In that sense autobiography becomes a way of praying, and a book like this, if it matters at all, matters mostly as a call to prayer.”  Frederick Buechner, www.frederickbuechner.com/quote-of-the-day/2017/2/15/call-to-prayer, -Originally published in Now and Then.

Reading Buechner is like putting on a new pair of glasses. I see God, the world, my work, relationships in a new light through Buechner’s eyes and words. I also have no doubt that if I have any knowledge of prayer, it is in the act of writing that I become the closest I ever come to praying. As my fingers touch the keyboard, thoughts I never knew existed enter the page and I am amazed by an almost constant flow of “aha” moments.

Macrina Wiederkehr writes in A Tree Full of Angels, Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary that it is the “spaces” between our words that give sense to all writing.  It is my hope and prayer that as we connect to each other in this electronic age that it is the Spirit that fills in the blanks between our words with “sighs too deep for words.”

 I hear a word, a phrase in conversation over lunch. As I try to stay in relationship, I experience joy or sadness at an event of the day. Later when I open my computer, images come out of that word or experience.

God’s language is difficult for us to understand because we are only partially divine and mostly human. This is sometimes a hard concept and may explain why we think we cannot hear or see God since God speaks a different language. For Christians, Jesus is God’s gift of language to us, and Jesus is constantly telling us to try to learn God’s language, a different language than what we hear in the world. “You have heard it said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5: 43-44)

We spend a lifetime trying to learn how to pronounce the words in God’s language. The phonetics are different. The sound is in the waves of the ocean. There may not be an alphabet.

Joanna  joannaseibert.com