I have a couple of books to recommend. One I will talk about in this posting and the other in the next. The first is on prayer, and the second, on making a sanctuary for oneself in the midst of life, is by a British Benedictine abbot and has similar resonances to the first.
Donald Spoto's book, "In Silence - Why We Pray" has been my Lenten reading and so many weeks after Lent I'm still working through it, a little at a time. It's a library book, so I've had to renew it 2 or 3 times. I have, over Lent and Easter, been trying to kick-start my almost non-existent prayer life, and thought it would be good to reappraise my understandings of prayer. It is very quotable (both Mr Spoto and the folks he quotes are so quotable) and the most thought-provoking and encouraging book on the subject I have read. I must confess that I have not read too many books on prayer. Those I have have been a quite EPC (evangelical/pentecostal/charismatic). This book has some poetry to it, some sense of the utter mystery of God and of sacrament and metaphor which the EPC books don't.
let me quote:
"Prayer and love are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone" Thomas Merton
"In abandoning myself to God- in giving myself up completely to the dark mystery of his presence - I can enter into a new, open and freer territory than I have ever known. Thus liberated from the delusion of existential self reliance and the concomitant fear of annihilation, I can, with the psalmist, cast all my care on the Lord" Donald Spoto
"The divine compassion is not a matter of celestial paternalism - it is a matter of a profound affiliation between God and us. And that relationship is at the heart of prayer" Donald Spoto
"Into your hands I commend my spirit" Jesus ( no I'm not being cute - this is Richard speaking - its just that these last 3 quotes and the next few are from the chapter I'm currently in entitled 'Prayer as Abandonment')
"I abandoned and forgot myself. All things ceased. I went out of myself, leaving my cares. On the road to union with God, this night of faith guides me." John of the Cross
"We are often bored with the small happenings around us, yet it is these trivialities that would do marvels for us if only we did not despise them, for God speaks to every individual through what happens moment by moment. The events of each moment are stamped with the will of God. If we have abandoned ourselves to Him, there is really only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment." Jean-Pierre de Caussade.
"Why should I have any anxiety? It is not my business to think about myself. My business is to think about God. It is for God to think about me." Simone Weil
Finally from Donald Spoto the author of "In Silence - Why We Pray" again:
http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Why-We-Pray/dp/0670033472
"Life with God, which is just another way of describing the life of prayer, is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be experienced. By "mystery" we do not mean something esoteric and incomprehensible, but rather the depth of all reality. "Mysteries are not truths that lie beyond us" as the philosopher Gabriel Marcel memorably wrote. "Mysteries are truths that comprehend us." Through the habit of abandonment, that mystery and truth embrace us in the unimaginable but ineluctable reality of the divine compassion."
the book is published by Viking Compass who are part of the Penguin Group. ISBN 0-670-03347-2. Find it, buy it, you won't be disappointed!
And don't think for a moment I now live on some spiritual mountain-top, head in the cloud of unknowing, abandoned to God, my past life of science fiction, sex, chocolate and guitar picking a distant memory. Not so! Just another sinner like you looking for love and grace, beauty and meaning, believing the best chance of any of these things is as a disciple and companion of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified and risen Messiah and Lord.
Any crumbs you would like to share with this hungry soul, please, do share. You can do that here. At the bottom of each 'posting' where it says '0 comments' (it may say '2 comments' if 2 brave souls have already made comments) click to open up a page where comments can be left regarding the blurb in question. Don't be shy. It would mean so much to me.
Richard
p.s. Tune this way later for my thoughts on and quotes from Abbot Christopher Jamison's "Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life".
Donald Spoto's book, "In Silence - Why We Pray" has been my Lenten reading and so many weeks after Lent I'm still working through it, a little at a time. It's a library book, so I've had to renew it 2 or 3 times. I have, over Lent and Easter, been trying to kick-start my almost non-existent prayer life, and thought it would be good to reappraise my understandings of prayer. It is very quotable (both Mr Spoto and the folks he quotes are so quotable) and the most thought-provoking and encouraging book on the subject I have read. I must confess that I have not read too many books on prayer. Those I have have been a quite EPC (evangelical/pentecostal/charismatic). This book has some poetry to it, some sense of the utter mystery of God and of sacrament and metaphor which the EPC books don't.
let me quote:
"Prayer and love are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone" Thomas Merton
"In abandoning myself to God- in giving myself up completely to the dark mystery of his presence - I can enter into a new, open and freer territory than I have ever known. Thus liberated from the delusion of existential self reliance and the concomitant fear of annihilation, I can, with the psalmist, cast all my care on the Lord" Donald Spoto
"The divine compassion is not a matter of celestial paternalism - it is a matter of a profound affiliation between God and us. And that relationship is at the heart of prayer" Donald Spoto
"Into your hands I commend my spirit" Jesus ( no I'm not being cute - this is Richard speaking - its just that these last 3 quotes and the next few are from the chapter I'm currently in entitled 'Prayer as Abandonment')
"I abandoned and forgot myself. All things ceased. I went out of myself, leaving my cares. On the road to union with God, this night of faith guides me." John of the Cross
"We are often bored with the small happenings around us, yet it is these trivialities that would do marvels for us if only we did not despise them, for God speaks to every individual through what happens moment by moment. The events of each moment are stamped with the will of God. If we have abandoned ourselves to Him, there is really only one rule for us: the duty of the present moment." Jean-Pierre de Caussade.
"Why should I have any anxiety? It is not my business to think about myself. My business is to think about God. It is for God to think about me." Simone Weil
Finally from Donald Spoto the author of "In Silence - Why We Pray" again:
http://www.amazon.com/Silence-Why-We-Pray/dp/0670033472
"Life with God, which is just another way of describing the life of prayer, is not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be experienced. By "mystery" we do not mean something esoteric and incomprehensible, but rather the depth of all reality. "Mysteries are not truths that lie beyond us" as the philosopher Gabriel Marcel memorably wrote. "Mysteries are truths that comprehend us." Through the habit of abandonment, that mystery and truth embrace us in the unimaginable but ineluctable reality of the divine compassion."
the book is published by Viking Compass who are part of the Penguin Group. ISBN 0-670-03347-2. Find it, buy it, you won't be disappointed!
And don't think for a moment I now live on some spiritual mountain-top, head in the cloud of unknowing, abandoned to God, my past life of science fiction, sex, chocolate and guitar picking a distant memory. Not so! Just another sinner like you looking for love and grace, beauty and meaning, believing the best chance of any of these things is as a disciple and companion of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified and risen Messiah and Lord.
Any crumbs you would like to share with this hungry soul, please, do share. You can do that here. At the bottom of each 'posting' where it says '0 comments' (it may say '2 comments' if 2 brave souls have already made comments) click to open up a page where comments can be left regarding the blurb in question. Don't be shy. It would mean so much to me.
Richard
p.s. Tune this way later for my thoughts on and quotes from Abbot Christopher Jamison's "Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life".
2 comments:
Hello Richard
Your post is so apposite. I have been conscious lately of the need to spend more - not just time ... Concentration - on prayer. (As well as this my dear vicar has challenged me to spend more time on Bible study. I know the two are in tandem, but as a knowledge-seeker I find it easy to get caught up in the chase of Bible study without spending enough energy on the application.) I think for me, prayer is initially a renewal of the sense of the awesomeness of God, and so your second quote about abandonment is very real to me. I'll look out for the book, and look forward to your next posts. Bless you, Elizabeth.
Dear Richard,
What your are sharing really resonates with me. I have been down this path for some years.
I am still a Charismatic, though many charismatics would not accept that I am. I still believe in miracles, pray in tongues, and pray for healing. At the moment Lo and I are in "liminal state", we wait to see where we are meant to move to having just told the person here we are leaving. The kind of faith that we talked, prayed and shared about when I was still considered to be a card carrying charismatic.
Having said all that I found myself being drawn more and more to silence and contemplation. I guess it started at St. Paul's when I went on those eight day retreats.
Let me encourage you to keep exploring.
Thomas Merton has had a big impact on both of us as has Thomas Keating.
I believe that our Charismatic experience was an edge that would eventually lead to the prayer of silence, if we were open to it. The thing that I think I got wrong with the former was that I didn't enter into the Mystery. It was all so much that God was very close and we could enter the holy space so easily. It was at the time a wonderful gift, and at times I yearn for it again. But God, as I understand now, expects me to go deeper and into a different space. Not abandoning and rejecting that past but taking it with me into this new place.
Well there are some thoughts, hope they encourage you.
Peace and blessings
David
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