The peace of God which passes all understanding
17 July 1999 07:32
Derek Stone offers the following, the fruit, as he explains, of MENTAL meditation, not of contemplation with the heart.
I invite others to share their insights into the Prayer of the Heart.
We are part of one of the many Holiness Movements in the history of the Church which should always have been one vast holiness movement.
This involves taking seriously Our Lord’s reiteration of His Old Testament’s first command, that we should “Love the Lord your God with all your Heart …”
This Prayer of the Heart is urged by Vassula.
It was also demanded of my wife and I during a fasting retreat led by Fr Slavko, the Franciscan priest, who pastors Medjugorje and listens there to Our Lady’s messages.
I remember vividly how Fr Slavko rebuked us for wanting to pray one of the popular scripture rosaries. He bluntly pointed out that the Rosary (the conventional one authorised by the Council of Trent) was but a means to the end of achieving Prayer of the Heart and hence should not be made more mentally complicated. This was not to say that there isn’t some other place where the Scripture Rosary should be used.
However for those of us who have never advanced beyond mental or DISCURSIVE prayer, that is, using written prayers, extempore prayer, or prayer in a ‘tongue’ given by the Holy Spirit—the longest journey in the world seems to be that from our heads to our hearts.
INFUSED contemplative prayer, or Prayer of the Heart, is not something achievable by sitting in a lotus position and using a system of breathing as experimented with by those with alternative life-styles. It is a gift of God.
When you make a cup of tea by infusion, it is necessary to place the tea bag into a container then wait for the boiling water to be applied.
Teresa of Avila lived in the days before tea bags. So she wrote about preparing the sealing wax for a document before an external Person heated it and applied His signet ring.
There are ways to prepare for the infusion.
Thomas Dubay, a Marist priest, in his book “Fire Within” (Ignatius Press) San Francisco 1989, gives some of these in his description of the total agreement about Prayer of the Heart which he finds in Holy Scripture, the writings of both Teresa of Avila and those of John of the Cross.
Orthodox equivalents who describe the same mystical union of persons, are:
- A Monk of the Eastern Church, “The Prayer of Jesus”, New York 1967
- Translations of Symeon the New Theologian (994-1022): “The Discourses”, trans. C. J. deCatanzaro with introduction by George A. Maloney (Paulist) New York 1980 Another translation by Paul McGuckin CP (Cistercian Publications) Kalamazoo 1982 George A. Maloney SJ, “Hymns of Divine Love” (Dimension) New Jersey
- For a more recent well-known Orthodox practitioner of Prayer of the Heart, read Archimandrite Sophrony “We shall see Him as He is” (Monastery of St John the Baptist) Maldon, England 1988. Copies are obtainable from the monastery: Tolleshunt Knights, Maldon, Essex CM9 8EZ.
A shorter paperback version by the same author, is “Wisdom from Mount Athos”, the writings of Staretz Silouan 1866-1938 (St Vladimirs) New York 1975
Why infused contemplation is not practised more outside the monasteries and hermitages of the Eastern Church, I do not know. Maybe some form of clericalism or a general luke-warmness has stifled it.
Thomas Dubay suggests that in the West the super-Augustinian heresy of Jansenism, which broke out in France shortly after Teresa of Avila’s attempt to return her Christian world back to “its first love”, was responsible for erroneously convincing most of the Roman Catholics of today that this is a gift for only a select few.
The Bible, Teresa of Avila, and Symeon the New Theologian, all claim that this highest form of prayer is as freely available to married men and women earning their living in the world, as it is to celibates in enclosed community.
Symeon was no Orthodox monk, but a steward in the household of a noble family in worldly Constantinople, when he was thus first enraptured.
In case those not blessed, are tempted to feel rejected or inferior, Thomas Dubay, quotes Teresa as suggesting that the reward for those of us not yet gifted with that sweet communion experienced by Vassula and others, may be ultimately a greater one. Her reasoning was that because our appetite for loving God has not been whetted by that glorious experience, our struggle may be the more commendable.
This however does not preclude us from holding ourselves open to it by living the full Gospel and spending time in silence.
On the other hand, those who do pray from the heart, must continue to join us in the sacraments and our discursive prayer and meditation.
Apparently they are foolish if they avoid having a spiritual director to help them grow in holiness, guard against deception, and learn from the experience of others like those quoted above.
May we all cherish the communion of saints with our Saviour.
Derek Stone, Hobart, Tasmania
