Prayer and contemplation of God are fundamental to the Catholic faith in our times. We pray at church. We pray for others. We ask God for what we need. We bless our food when we eat and if we are smart we pray as families, couples and community together.
In my sessions with couples preparing for marriage or working through marital issues, prayer is one of the most important assignments I give them for homework…to pray every day. Prayer or communicating with God and bringing God into a relationship is one of the most powerful and enriching things a couple can do as they start a relationship with each other as man and woman. It is an old saying but it survives the passage of time because it is true, that a couple who prays together, stays together. Same goes with a family. Holy families are families who ensure God is a part of their life together and not just in times of formal prayer but as they all go about their day.
St Paul tells us to pray without ceasing and some try and do just that by saying prayers at breaks throughout the day or saying the Jesus Prayer as they are engaged with other things. But we are called to more than this. We need to bring God into our world so that he is sitting beside us at our desk at work, he is our copilot as we drive to shop or visit others. And it isn’t hard to do this but it does take a conscious effort on our part.
The fact is God is always with us and always listening. But we often find we are too focused on work or hobbies or even doing good works like taking care of others to really sit down and spend quality time with God. I think this is because we have a mistaken view as to what prayer and even contemplative prayer is. Contemplation means to give something your attention, to focus, to let someone or thing to capture our undivided attention. It is no wonder most of us see contemplative prayer as something we may not have time for in our busy lives.
But I want to suggest another view. Rather than the brooding, deep breathing, exercise where we hide ourselves away and struggle to push out other distracting thoughts, what if we instead rethink contemplation for daily life.
When a mother is looking down into the crib of her newborn baby, she is in a contemplative moment. She may have other thoughts and things to think about but the moment of grace and focus is undoubtedly on the child. When we are engaged in conversation with our wife or husband on matters of the heart, we are contemplating them. We are not shut out from the world but they are our attention. Contemplation need not be a heavy, still moment of sensory deprivation.
In fact sitting in a garden or a park watching the birds or children play can be a very contemplative moment where we become very aware of God, his blessings and as we watch can be a moment we find God talking to us about issues or questions we might have. The point being, prayer and developing a closer relationship with God, being more open to the Word and bringing him into our live more deeply does require us to let go and listen. This may very well be in a quiet room but it might also be among nature.
After all, man has been talking to God within the environment of nature a lot longer than he has had stone churches.
We all know the wonderful experience of sitting in Eucharistic Adoration. Being in the presence of the Eucharist is a very wonderful way to contemplate and be with Christ. It helps us connect and grow our faith but I want to make sure that as we all seek ways to grow spiritually we recognize the opportunity to connect with God every day no matter where we are or what we do. All of us make progress in our spiritual journey by our experience of God. So experiencing God should be simple and easy for us. After all He is listening. We just need to push aside things and focus on God and listen with an open heart.
Deacon Tony Pynes 