Experiences of Prayer

Today we concluded the third in a series of lessons meant to introduce the postulant to types and methods of prayer.

Over the last two weeks, our Capuchin friar guided us through several prayer experiences, according to the following schema, which I found to be a useful one.

We began with vocal prayer, being prayer that relies on the spoken word. An example of this is the litany, in which a person addresses God, Jesus Christ (or an aspect of Jesus' divinity), or one of the saints, responding repetitively (e.g., "have mercy on us," "pray for us") to a long series of holy names, praises, and petitions. Another example is the Liturgy of the Hours, the "divine office" of recited and sung prayer of psalms, hymns, canticles, and readings from Scripture, at appointed times during the day. Other examples include traditional forms of prayer like the rosary and the Stations of the Cross. As we prayed these and other vocal prayers, we were encouraged to pay attention to our sense of the various prayers and what effects they produced on our being and particularly on our awareness of the presence of God.

From vocal prayer we moved into methods of mental prayer. Such prayer does not rely on set prayer, traditional forms, or the liturgical setting. Rather, the person at prayer seeks to connect with God through the imagination, working from within or by one's senses. Using the former, interior, method, perfected by St. Teresa of Avila, a 16th-century Carmelite mystic, the one who seeks God finds a place to be alone in order to gaze upon the divine presence that dwells within the soul. Fixing the eyes of the soul on the very of image of God, conversation with God becomes possible. Using the latter, exterior, method, perfected by St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, one meditates on God by interacting with a story from Scripture, experiencing the living Word of God through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Fixing the senses of the body on the world in which Jesus lived, we can enter into dialogue with him.

A step further along from mental prayer to contemplative prayer is lectio divina, a meditation on a verse or short passage of Scripture. The practice comes from the monastic tradition and follows four movements. The first is an inspired reading of the Bible in search of a word, phrase, or line that captures the person's attention. When the reader lights upon an inspiring verse, she stops and focuses on it, reading it over several times prayerfully. As the word, phrase, or verse settles on her lips, she begins to meditate on it, ruminating over its meaning, digesting it slowly. Meditation gives birth to grateful prayer, as the word now enters into the bloodstream of the body and nourishes the heart. Infused with light and love, the soul finally moves toward contemplation of the God who has created and sustained her. This method of prayer is one of the most familiar and fulfilling practices I follow.

Lectio divina is a bridge between meditation and contemplation. A purer form of contemplative prayer is centering prayer, by which, says our friar, we "consent to God's presence and action within." Adopting a sacred word to symbolize our desire to apprehend and obey God's presence within us, we still ourselves through our breathing and posture. Using the sacred word to dam the ceaseless flow of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that carry us away from God and our true selves, we stay grounded. As we enter into great silence, we let go of the world around us and remain fully present to the God within. Eventually, we leave this grace-full moment, doing so slowly, gently, and silently.

Each of the postulants experienced these forms of prayer differently, with varying degrees of delight or disappointment. We feel encouraged enough to pursue a more perfect practice of all of them. We will keep in mind our brother friar's advice for those times when prayer does not lead to the spiritual progress we dreamed of, or when the will of God appears to defy all our hopes: "When God doesn't answer, it could be because he wants you to be who you really are."

Keep us, O Lord, from our witless prayers, which if granted would only cause us harm or deafen us to your calling.

Remove from our way, O Lord, the blocks that prevent us from praying rightly for ourselves and for others.

Give us the might, God of unsurpassed power, to roll away the stones that entomb our intentions.

Direct our prayers, Holy One, toward the basic goodness of all being, that we may not be captivated by the reflected glory of things. May our prayers for the world be not of the world.

Free us from our sin, good and gracious God, so that we may love, praise, and glorify you with a clean heart.

In all our prayer, take us, Divine Master, to yourself, where we truly and finally come to rest.