How Do You Pray? (Friday Five on Monday)

Jan shared the following Friday Five last week.  I didn't have the time then even to think about it, but the questions address one of my favorite topics, so I thought I'd work through them this morning:

Jan says, "At the beginning of this past week, I attended a conference on contemplative prayer entitled "Turning to the Mystics" at the 2013 Summer Institute at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX. The speakers were James Finley, author and former novice of Thomas Merton; Mirabai Starr, author, translator, and speaker; and Father Ronald Rolheiser, author and president of OST. We were encouraged to regularly sit in quiet to come to realize our union with the Divine, who continually loves us into being."

So for this Friday Five, let us share about our prayer practices, whether silent or not:

 

1. How do you pray?

Most often I use the website Pray As You Go, which provides a daily 12-15 minutes of music, scripture, and questions to ponder.  Some days I sit with a journal and spend an hour on it, some days I listen as I get dressed, some days I listen as I walk. 

 

Other than that I tend to vary what I do.  Some days the Daily Office readings at this site, some days the lectionary or other Scripture passages, some days some sort of devotional book, my favorite being Celtic Benediction.  Some days silence for long periods of time. I tend to use my walks for intercessory prayer. 

 

Sometimes my prayer is all about journaling; sometimes, coloring; sometimes, photography; sometimes, listening to music. 

 

I try to pray the daily examen, which I have been moving to mornings, since I tend to fall asleep in the middle if I leave it till nighttime!

2. How has your idea of prayer changed over time? 

I was introduced to imaginative prayer, to repetitive reflection, to prayer as listening, and to "everything as prayer" when I made the Spiritual Exercises.  I suppose that I had been praying reflectively, mulling things over in the context of scripture, music, and sermons, for a long time before I stumbled upon the Exercises, but without any sort of framework. 

 

The biggest change over the past decade is that prayer is now a constant for me.  Something that at one time I struggled to incorporate into my life in some form or other, even for just a few minutes, now pervades my days. 

3. Do you ever sit in silent prayer? How does it go?

Often, and it varies. I am challenged by distractions the same as everyone else is. 

4. Do you have any difficulties and/or pleasures in prayer?

I have difficulties, but these days most of them have to do with exercising forbearance in the face of the language others often use to pray.  Pleasures these days have mostly to do with listening to others describe their own lives of prayer. So often one would never guess at the profound interior lives of and spirit-led transformations occurring in people who look just like the rest of us, ordinary people going about ordinary lives of family, friends, and work. And so often they exert far more impact on me and my own journey with God than I could ever expect to foster in them.

 

5. What is the best advice that helped you with prayer?

 

I have been graced with extraordinary teachers in the life of prayer; it would be impossible to and ferret out one strand of best advice.   I suppose that there are probably two succinct phrases that I try to remember: "We are all always beginners" and "Listen."

 

Bonus: Share something about prayer or an example of a prayer you like.

 

These days I am listening to two sets of CDs in the car that each, in its own way, is affecting my life of prayer.  One is a new series on the daily examen, the practice reviewing your day in the light of your movements toward and away from God.   I've read lots of material on the examen (reading is always so much easier than practicing!), but this particular series by Howard Gray, S.J., my spiritual director through the Exercises, is filled with riches in insight and eloquence. 

 

The other is Barbara Brown Taylor's sermon series on water, preached at Chautauqua last summer.  Each summer week of the Chautauqua season is devoted to a theme around which morning lectures, daily worship, afternoon speakers, and other special programming spins. BBT did a magnificent job last year of drawing drink from, as she says, "the big book of creation and the little book of scripture."


 

Ignatian Prayer Adventure - Reflection 3

Back to the examen!

It's been examen week over at the Ignatian Prayer Adventure (see sidebar).  Loads of reflections and articles have been posted; even the most reluctant pray-er should be able to find something of use.

Yesterday I ventured out to a presentation on the examen by one of the Jesuits from the Campus Ministry at John Carroll University.  (No, I couldn't drive one day post-surgery, but I felt pretty good.  I actually feel more discomfort today, probably because I have abandoned the narcotics.)

Anyway.  A fairly large group of us ate lunch and talked at our tables.  We were supposed to be discussing ways in which we might use the tools of the examen with students, and in particular with students who are making major life decisions.  An excellent topic.  But most of the people at my table are administrators who have little contact with students, and so we talked about our own prayer lives.  

Several people in  my group shared their frustration at being unable to maintain regular prayer schedules, or fears that they are "doing it wrong."  So here's what I shared:

I sleep restlessly.  I could probably count on the fingers of one hand the nights I have slept straight through since September 2008.  None at all for the past six months.  And yet, when I pray the examen at night, I tend to doze off.

It finally occurred to me, as part of my renewed examen practice, that when I wake up in the night, I can just pick up where I left off.    So my examen practice goes something like this:

Around midnight: Pray for a recognition of God's presence and light, and pray with gratitude for what there's been in my day that seems to warrant my gratefulness.  Fall asleep.

Around 2:00: Pray through my day,  looking at those places and times in which I have felt drawn toward God, and those in which I have not.  Fall back to sleep.

Around 4:00: Pray for healing where regrets are concerned.  Back to sleep again.

Around 7:00:  Look at that!  It's time to pray for help with the next day and it's time to get up.   What perfect synchronicity!

Now I am sure that many people would like to tell me that I need to get my act together and stay awake and focus for fifteen minutes.  

But one of Ignatius's favorite words was "accommodation."  For a spiritual director, that means to meet people where they are, rather than insisting that they move to where you are.

For myself, it means accommodating my prayer to the realities of my life.  

The results so far are quite wonderful.  When I awaken in the early hours of the morning, I don't have to dial up the anxiety meter and stare at the ceiling for hours on end,  worrying about all the things I have to worry about.  Instead, I pick up the pieces of my prayer and continue to quilt them together.

And would you take a look at what popped up in my reader tonight?

"For anyone else awake in these pre-dawn hours, these words from a seventeenth century Anglican vicar:

 

'Now is the soul nimbler, subtler, quicker, fitter to behold things sublime and great…. Midnight prayers strangely incline God’s favour.' - Anthony Horneck (1641-97)

[Quoted in Evening's Empire: A History of the Night in Early Modern Europe, by Craig Koslofsky; Cambridge University Press, 2011.]"

(HT to Jon M. Sweeney)

The Daily Examen (Book Reviews)

Since the Ignatian Prayer Adventure for Lent (see previous post) begins tomorrow, this is an appropriate time to mention a couple of books that do a wonderful job of presenting a crucial spiritual practice that many people refer to, as the first title indicates, as life-changing: the examination of consciousness.  

I have to admit to being lax and erratic in this prayer practice myself, which is why I was grateful when my friend Wayne brought the Jim Manney book back to my attention a few weeks ago.  It's on my Kindle, I'd already read it . . . but for some reason the timing for renewal was just right.  And now Law and Gospel has returned from retreat with a review of the second book.  So, OK: you have my attention.

Most often referred to in the past as the examen of conscience, implying that at its heart is a look at matters of conscience, i.e., sin,  the examen has been re-thought and re-imagined in the past several years as the examen of consciousness, meaning:  It's a way by which we become conscious of how God has been present in our days, of when and where we have been close to God, been moving toward God, been aware of God, and when and where not.  In Ignatian terms, it's a way of becoming aware of God in all things.

The practice itself is simple, although different folks tend to emphasize different aspects.  Essentially, it incorporates a prayer to move into God's light, an expression of gratitude, a look at the events of the day, and a plea for help with what's coming tomorrow.  There is good reason to do it at the end of the day, but any time that works will do.  And while the formal examen itself might take no more than ten minutes, a daily practice is likely to result in a growth in examen-type awareness throughout the day.

Jim Manney's book has more of an instructional bent; the Linn book is more experiential and anecdotal.  They compliment one another well, and both are short, meaning that they are quick reads and easy to refer back to.

The Linns point out that "the criteria for hearing the voice of God, as Ignatius did, is not holiness, but rather the willingness to become aware."  If you've wondered about a more contemplative approach to prayer, about how to pray in a way that involves more in the way of looking and listening than speaking and imploring, the examen is a good place to start.

(And if you'd prefer an article over a book as a starting point, "Rummaging Backward Through Your Day" is another excellent introduction to this little but powerful practice.)