Unceasing Prayer

 Unceasing Praying/ Unceasing Thoughts

“Our minds are always active. Do we have to become victims of our unceasing thought? 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 in Bread for the Journey (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997).

Tevye

The first book to understand unceasing prayer is Practicing the Presence of God. It is a small collection of the teachings and experiences of Brother Lawrence, a French Carmelite monk who was the cook for his community in Paris in the 17th century. Father Joseph Beaufort compiled the book from letters and four conversations with Brother Lawrence, as he described his walk with God—not from the head, but within his heart.

Brother Lawrence saw God in every aspect, every second of his life, as he washed pots and pans, purchased wine, or cooked meals—continually conversing with God. He never became weary of doing insignificant things for the love of God—believing that intervals of prayer should not differ from other times. Lawrence saw God as a friend he would not want to be estranged from, feeling God’s presence more acutely in sickness than in good health.

My favorite fictional role model for continually being in conversation with God is Tevye in the 1971 American dramatic musical Fiddler on the Roof.

I try to watch the movie several times a year and go to see the play whenever it comes close to Little Rock. It is long but worth journeying with Tevye in his ongoing conversations with God through a journey of love and many trials. 

Spiritual Compass

Spiritual Compass

“Within each one of us, there is a spiritual compass. It always points toward the good, toward what is holy. The compass is made of our values, what we believe and hold sacred. Over the years, our experience makes the compass within us even more accurate, refining our ability to seek the right direction in life, making us even more sensitive to the pull of compassion and common sense. Therefore, we do not have to be afraid that we will get lost, wandering the wilderness of this age. We only have to follow where our heart leads, and our reason points the way.”—Steven Charleston, Daily Facebook post.

Cynthia Bourgeault would agree with Steven Charleston about a spiritual compass. She calls it an inward GPS (Global Positioning System), similar to the one we use in our car to get us to the correct location. We need to know where we are—and then the address of where we want to go—and the GPS will get us there.

Sometimes, we are not confident about where we are, but we have a good idea of where we want to go. Our aim, above all, is to keep our connection to God. I love it when our ideal location is not yet on the map, and the GPS takes us as close as possible. This may also be true regarding our spiritual life.

Bourgeault calls our heart a “God Positioning System.” When it is attuned and turned on, it will allow us to achieve balance in a completely different way: perceiving by separating and differentiating things from each other, perceiving the whole, and discerning our place within the whole. For Bourgeault, becoming attuned to this spiritual GPS comes through the contemplative practice of Centering Prayer. My own GPS is writing. We are each called to find which spiritual practice best connects us to God. Also, do not be surprised that it may change from time to time.

Cynthia Bourgeault, The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity (CAC, 2004), disc 4.

 Cynthia Bourgeault, “How Change Happens” in Transgression (CAC, 2014), Vol. 2 No. 1, p. 86.

Joanna Seibert  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

Remembering September 11

Remembering September 11:

Father Mychal’s Prayer

“Lord, take me where you want me to go;

Let me meet who you want me to meet;

Tell me what you want me to say, and

Keep me out of your way. Amen.”

—Fr. Mychal Judge, O. F. M., Chaplain, New York Fire Department, World Trade Center Death Certificate Number 1.

This now-famous prayer of Father Mychal Judge, who died at the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001, was continually on my mind yesterday during our country’s moment of silence. We all paused respectfully as we heard the names read of the almost 3000 people who died that early autumn morning in four coordinated attacks on this country. Flags were at half-mast.

Mychal Judge, a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest serving as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department, was unafraid to become part of the messiness of life. After the first attack, he prayed over bodies in the streets and then went into the lobby of the North Tower, which became an emergency command post. He was killed by flying debris when the South Tower collapsed.

His biographers say his dying prayer was, “Jesus, please end this right now! God, please end this!” The iconic photograph of five men carrying his body out of the North Tower has been described as an American Pieta, comparing it to another Michael’s statue of Mary holding the dead body of Jesus in St. Peter’s, Rome, or to a lesser-known work of Michelangelo, Deposition with Joseph of Arimathea [with thanks to Barbara Crafton for making this connection].

Father Mychal was also appreciatively remembered as a staunch supporter of LGBT rights and as a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous for twenty-three years. Another 3000 people attended his funeral. Father Michael Duffy closed his homily at that service with, “We come to bury Myke Judge’s body, but not his spirit. We come to bury his hands, but not his good works. We come to bury his heart, but not his love. Never his love.”

Michael Daly, Daily News (New York), February 11, 2002.

Shannon Stapleton, September 11, 2001, Photojournalist.

Stephen Todd, Daily Ponderables, September 11, 2017.

“Slain Priest: ‘Bury His Heart, But Not His Love.’” September 8, 2011, NPR morning edition.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/