Prayer is some of the most important work we do. So is breathing. Breathing helps keep our physical bodies alive. Prayer helps keep our spiritual souls alive. Both types of breathing involve a rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. If you're reading this I assume you are actively engaged in physical breathing and are somewhat familiar with it, so I'd like to focus on the idea of inhaling and exhaling in a spiritual sense through prayer.
When you look at our structured prayer time, such as the Daily Office, you'll see how part of it is inhalation, and part of it is exhalation. Inhalation, of course, comes first. We have to have something in our lungs before we can breathe it out. Physical inhalation takes in air - spiritual inhalation takes in the Presence of God.
The first half of our prayer time is receiving God's Presence through the Psalms, Lessons, Hymns, Canticles and Homily. It can also be done by experiencing the Presence of God in nature - taking a walk, rowing a boat, flying a kite, playing a game with a child. The inhalation of God's love and compassion is practiced in prayer, but can be experienced throughout the day. Inhalation is the contemplative side of our spiritual breathing. When we inhale, we take in the love and compassion of God for His creation. It is the stuff of which we are all made.
Our souls are fueled by this spiritual air, and once our lungs are filled with it, we must exhale. We were not meant to keep the air in our lungs; we were meant to circulate it. So, what is spiritual "exhalation"? We find this in the second half of the Daily Office under the title of 'The Prayers'. The cornerstone is the Lord's Prayer, recognizing our unity with God in purpose and essence. We also find daily Collects, prayers of Thanksgiving, and our intercessions and petitions for others.
Spiritual exhalation becomes the active side of our spiritual breathing. Being transformed by the fresh air taken in, we now put it to use. We have been given the power to change some things through prayer, so we need to use this opportunity through our intercessions and petitions. Of course, we are changed personally by prayer as well, and this prepares us better to respond during the course of the day to people and situations we encounter. We learn to use present moment resources to respond to present moment situations, and we do so keeping in mind the love and compassion taught to us by Christ and reinforced constantly by the Holy Spirit.
Breathe in - breathe out. This is our prayer life. This is why we pray. This rhythm of nature is a pattern of wisdom in both physical and spiritual realms. Make sure that both are a part of your life.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
"What is it that you seek?"
This question, asked by Jesus of two of John the Baptist's disciples (John 1:38), was meant to be a question that found its way into the heart. Although the two disciples did not answer the question directly, they expressed their yearning by referring to Christ as "Teacher," and asked where he was staying.
Within each person God placed a yearning to be reunited with Him. This comes with the soul that He breathed into each one of us as we were being knitted together in our mother's womb. St. Augustine mentioned this 1,600 years ago when he wrote, God has made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him." Even St. Gregory of Nazianzen wrote, "In my earthly nature I am attached to life here below, while I also have in me a portion of the godhead; therefore my heart is tormented by the desire for the world to come."
Some people do not recognize what this yearning is, or how to respond to it. Without proper guidance they become distracted by the things of this world and attempt to fill this void with material acquisitions, addictions, false power, or other illusions. This is the broad road that leads to nowhere.
Other people recognize the yearning for what it is; the call of God's love, compassion and companionship. They seek to respond to this call of love in a spiritually-based way instead of one based on man's ways. As God says to us in Isaiah 55, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways."
So, we seek to shape our life around what we believe will bring us closer to God and be pleasing to Him. We turn to the time-honored traditions of our monastic brothers and sisters, and build a life based on His love.
We come to know that living these monastic principles gradually dissolves the false self that encapsulates our soul. The further we go, and the more we travel, the more we empty ourselves out so that we can let God work His will through us. This is the model that Saint Paul described in Philippians when he said, "Let the same mind be in you that was Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. But he emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being born in human likeness, and he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross." (Phili. 2:5-8)
At some point in our journey we begin to see Christ in others, we begin to appreciate nature as being sacred, we begin to see things we use every day as gifts from God, and we begin to understand that our actions are sacraments of God's steadfast love in the world. We truly become the hands, feet, eyes and lips of God - but most importantly we become His heart.
When we pass from this life to the next, we continue to carry with us our love and compassion that Jesus taught us and the Holy Spirit sustains within us. We gain a new and greater intimacy with Our Father, and join the eternal feast with His other servants, continuing to grow in His love and service.
To help guide us there, we can occasionally take some contemplative time and ask ourselves, "What is it that I seek?" This makes for an excellent reflective question and meditative exercise. Take some time with it and write down your response in your journal. Perhaps do it once a month to make sure that your spiritual compass continues to point toward His heart.
May God be with you on your journey!
Within each person God placed a yearning to be reunited with Him. This comes with the soul that He breathed into each one of us as we were being knitted together in our mother's womb. St. Augustine mentioned this 1,600 years ago when he wrote, God has made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him." Even St. Gregory of Nazianzen wrote, "In my earthly nature I am attached to life here below, while I also have in me a portion of the godhead; therefore my heart is tormented by the desire for the world to come."
Some people do not recognize what this yearning is, or how to respond to it. Without proper guidance they become distracted by the things of this world and attempt to fill this void with material acquisitions, addictions, false power, or other illusions. This is the broad road that leads to nowhere.
Other people recognize the yearning for what it is; the call of God's love, compassion and companionship. They seek to respond to this call of love in a spiritually-based way instead of one based on man's ways. As God says to us in Isaiah 55, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways."
So, we seek to shape our life around what we believe will bring us closer to God and be pleasing to Him. We turn to the time-honored traditions of our monastic brothers and sisters, and build a life based on His love.
We come to know that living these monastic principles gradually dissolves the false self that encapsulates our soul. The further we go, and the more we travel, the more we empty ourselves out so that we can let God work His will through us. This is the model that Saint Paul described in Philippians when he said, "Let the same mind be in you that was Christ Jesus, Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. But he emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant, being born in human likeness, and he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross." (Phili. 2:5-8)
At some point in our journey we begin to see Christ in others, we begin to appreciate nature as being sacred, we begin to see things we use every day as gifts from God, and we begin to understand that our actions are sacraments of God's steadfast love in the world. We truly become the hands, feet, eyes and lips of God - but most importantly we become His heart.
When we pass from this life to the next, we continue to carry with us our love and compassion that Jesus taught us and the Holy Spirit sustains within us. We gain a new and greater intimacy with Our Father, and join the eternal feast with His other servants, continuing to grow in His love and service.
To help guide us there, we can occasionally take some contemplative time and ask ourselves, "What is it that I seek?" This makes for an excellent reflective question and meditative exercise. Take some time with it and write down your response in your journal. Perhaps do it once a month to make sure that your spiritual compass continues to point toward His heart.
May God be with you on your journey!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thoughts on the Transfiguration
The Transfiguration story is one of my favorite. It was nearing the end of Jesus' ministry, when he took three of his disciples, Peter, John and James, up to the mountain to pray. His journey up the mountain and the prayers he said remind us that there is a physical, concrete part of ministry. But his transfiguration may have been designed to remind us with great emphasis that there is also a powerful spiritual force at work as well.
These are two aspects of the Church (the physical and the spiritual) work together, each one contributing to the final goal of bringing every person back into a relationship with Our Father. There is the earthly part, the institution of the Church brought to us by Christ and embodied in him, that gradually developed into the beautiful and mystical rites, celebrations, canons, trappings and ornaments that guide us in worship and praise. This part, while greatly filled with the energy and Spirit of God, is more physical and concrete to us initially. We often see these things before we understand them. It is more of an outside-in type movement. Sometimes we never understand that these things are supposed to work closely with the other part, or we lose sight of this fact along the way.
The other part is sometimes referred to as the pneumanistic part, or the part that is driven by the Holy Spirit, the Breath, as she extends inspiration, hope and yearnings of the heart that gradually move people to Christ. This part usually happens from the inside out -- we often feel it long before we see its results as changed behavior or an outward act of service.
The two parts start from different places, but both head in the same direction, and are greatly intertwined. Together these two parts are supposed to work as a team, totally integrated with each other and quite inseparable.
The physical part of the church, the Rites, vestments, canons, hierarchy and constitutions, sometimes tend to be more attractive because we more easily identify with them since we also have a physical nature as they do. We sometimes lose ourselves in this physical nature which seeks identity in the physical world. Sometimes this gets strong enough that we use the physical aspects to protect what we think is the Church. What Christ designed to be inclusive, we begin to set boundaries that gradually build the walls of an exclusive club. We may insist that someone must be a member of the club before he or she can become a member. We forget that Christ came to serve the unchurched through the grace of the Holy Spirit, and didn't only come to serve the 'Righteous.' We refuse to use the tools we have to go into the streets to find and help the broken because that might be conforming to the world's standards. God forbid!
When Peter experienced the Transfiguration, he wanted to build three altars (physical aspects of the Church). Instead, Jesus took them down from the mountain and back into the crowds below to teach and heal (spiritual).
The transfiguration is a reminder for me to seek that powerful balance between the physical and the spiritual arms of the Church. These two were designed to work together to build the Church he meant to build -- a family that included every one of his children.
These are two aspects of the Church (the physical and the spiritual) work together, each one contributing to the final goal of bringing every person back into a relationship with Our Father. There is the earthly part, the institution of the Church brought to us by Christ and embodied in him, that gradually developed into the beautiful and mystical rites, celebrations, canons, trappings and ornaments that guide us in worship and praise. This part, while greatly filled with the energy and Spirit of God, is more physical and concrete to us initially. We often see these things before we understand them. It is more of an outside-in type movement. Sometimes we never understand that these things are supposed to work closely with the other part, or we lose sight of this fact along the way.
The other part is sometimes referred to as the pneumanistic part, or the part that is driven by the Holy Spirit, the Breath, as she extends inspiration, hope and yearnings of the heart that gradually move people to Christ. This part usually happens from the inside out -- we often feel it long before we see its results as changed behavior or an outward act of service.
The two parts start from different places, but both head in the same direction, and are greatly intertwined. Together these two parts are supposed to work as a team, totally integrated with each other and quite inseparable.
The physical part of the church, the Rites, vestments, canons, hierarchy and constitutions, sometimes tend to be more attractive because we more easily identify with them since we also have a physical nature as they do. We sometimes lose ourselves in this physical nature which seeks identity in the physical world. Sometimes this gets strong enough that we use the physical aspects to protect what we think is the Church. What Christ designed to be inclusive, we begin to set boundaries that gradually build the walls of an exclusive club. We may insist that someone must be a member of the club before he or she can become a member. We forget that Christ came to serve the unchurched through the grace of the Holy Spirit, and didn't only come to serve the 'Righteous.' We refuse to use the tools we have to go into the streets to find and help the broken because that might be conforming to the world's standards. God forbid!
When Peter experienced the Transfiguration, he wanted to build three altars (physical aspects of the Church). Instead, Jesus took them down from the mountain and back into the crowds below to teach and heal (spiritual).
The transfiguration is a reminder for me to seek that powerful balance between the physical and the spiritual arms of the Church. These two were designed to work together to build the Church he meant to build -- a family that included every one of his children.
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