“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
Beginnings and Endings. It is your ending and my ending that mark the beginning of this new season and that we remember on Ash Wednesday.
The reality of our ending is always before us. This past January I turned 70, a milestone moment of my journey of life. I am seeking many more. Yet, I am much closer to my ending than I am my beginning. Everyone of us, if life is kind, reaches this awareness sooner or later.
That this life does not last forever does not diminish life’s value, it gives it value. The temporality of life means that this one moment, this now, is priceless. There will never be another moment like this one.
“These days are golden, they must not slip away.” - Dougie MacLean
The question that this day is asking, is about your life before death. What do you want to do with your life? How do you want to live? Do you have life before death? How is it with your soul?
At the heart of the Ash Wednesday Liturgy, I find the way to continued grace and engagement with the gifts of life through these words from the Gospel reading, words of transforming wisdom from Jesus. These are words of Jesus’ vision of fully human life, from the Sermon on the Mount. Scholars have pointed to this passage over the centuries as Jesus’ primary directive to his followers to pray contemplatively, beyond words or thoughts or feelings, as the way to connect with, attune to, and be transformed by Divine Presence:
“But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Matthew 6:5-6
Prayer. We are always beginners. Prayer is simply the medium through which we communicate and commune with God. The practice of prayer is learning to set aside dedicated time to intentionally be with God, in order to become like him and partner with God in the world.
I like the way Jesuit Mark Thibodeaux describes four ways of prayer in his book Armchair Mystic. He describes these types of prayer using prepositions:
Talking at God
Speaking to God
Listening for God
Being with God
We need them all. Jesus revealed them all. We need all the streams of Christian spiritual life for a deepening friendship with God.
I have found that it is the last way, Being With God, that often is neglected. However, the fruit of this kind of prayer is transforming. It was a distinct practice of Jesus to be with the one called “Abba Father” in silence and solitude. Only then did he move into compassionate engagement with others.
Silence draws us into the reality that God is. Is near us, is for us, is with us. Is.
Here is a brief contemporary guide to the practice of wordless contemplative prayer from the work of John Mark Comer’s Practicing The Way:
Contemplative prayer is difficult because our mind is so distraction-prone, but the basic steps are simple.
• Find a quiet, distraction-free place to pray.
• Get seated comfortably, but where you can breathe properly and not slouch. A good chair or a prayer bench works well.
• Breathe slowly (five seconds on the inhale, then five on the exhale) from your belly. Relax. Become present to your body. And to the moment. Then, open your mind to God.
• You may just want to remain here, in loving attention to the Trinity. Remember: You’re not trying to pray words here. It’s your heart to God’s heart; this prayer is will to will, love to love.
• Or you may want to combine a prayer word to your breath. A prayer word is simply a word or phrase that you use to keep your attention fixed on God. Many use “Father” or “Abba” or “Jesus.”
Others use a phrase from Scripture like “The Lord is my shepherd” (on the inhale), “I lack nothing” (on the exhale).
The Eastern church uses the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ” (on the inhale), “have mercy on me” (on the exhale). You can also use your own phrase, like, “In you I live” (on the inhale), and “In you I delight” (on the exhale). There’s no “right” prayer word. It’s just a tool to keep your wandering mind focused on God’s presence within you.
• When distractions come, just gently set them aside the moment you realize your mind has wandered and come back to your breathing and prayer word. And they will come, way more than you think or want! That’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’re bad at contemplative prayer; it means you’re human.
Lent invites us to practice living from a Contemplative Center. Life is like a breath. We must be able to live in an easy rhythm between give and take. If we cannot learn to live and breathe in this rhythm, we will place ourselves in grave danger. —David Steindl-Rast,
The ultimate aim is not to “pray more” or “pray better.” It’s what ancient Christians called union with God. As Julian of Norwich said long ago, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.” It’s to live each day more and more aware of and deeply connected to our Father; to be transformed into the likeness of his Son, Jesus; and to be filled with the fullness of his Spirit, to do what he made you to do in the world.
May I invite you to consider the words of Jesus that call us not only to speaking prayer, but wordless prayer?
For me, Wordless Prayer, Centering Prayer, has been a very treasured friend in practicing my engagement with God. Start slowly. Five minutes daily. Then increase to ten minutes daily. From there you will find your sweet spot, maybe twenty minutes once or twice a day.
Find silence. Be still. De-noise. Deepen your awareness in daily life. Resist reacting from a defensive, over-attached, or fear-driven fight/flight posture. If we want to change at a fundamental level, if we want to rid ourselves of the unconscious psychological baggage that often triggers us and gets in our way of living, we have to actually engage in a practice of being in silence and solitude with God.
Practice contemplative prayer this Lent!
Come, Holy Spirit, And show us our Father, Our life source, Our longing, Our home.
With you on The Journey and The Way,
Rob+
When, I entered my first Lent, as an applicant to Catholicism, I realized that as we enter this period, one not only gives up, but can take up, a heart more subtle. More able to feel the need of others. To become more like a simple Rabboni!