Brief Thoughts On Prayer: Levels of Mental-Spiritual Development

This weekend at our four Masses I delivered a homily on prayer, responding to the first reading from Genesis and to the passage from St. Luke’s Gospel on prayer. I did not attempt to interpret either Abraham’s wrestling with God or a collection of sayings from Jesus on prayer. Rather, I briefly addressed these questions: What is prayer? What are the main types of prayer? And how can types of prayer be arranged on a scale of mental-spiritual development? My concern, alluded to in the homily, is that many Christians learn to “pray” as a child, and often do not make much advancement beyond a child’s or even childish prayer. However fitting in a child, for an adult to remain fixed at an early stage of prayer in general displays the underlying spiritual problem of entrapment in oneself, in one’s own ego. In order to be an exercise in self-transcendence into divine presence, one must learn different modes of prayer. Either one grows in ways of prayer, or one stagnates mentally and spiritually.

To classify kinds of prayer, and to allow me to make general points on the nature ofprayer, I sketched out a typology of seven stages of prayer, using the image of stages of education. The three most elementary types of prayer are a kind of K-12 education. Then there are three forms of prayer which could be likened to being in spiritual college.  The seventh type of prayer I likened to “graduate school.”  Finally, I mentioned in a sentence the perfection of prayer beyond death. 

    A. Public school of prayer (3 distinct levels). The first level of prayer, most elementary, is rooted in the literal meaning of “pray” as “ask.”  One asks “God” for something, or for some benefit for oneself or for someone else.  This form of prayer is a an expression of the self’s desires, and to a degree, remains self-centered. 

The second level of prayer, rising a little higher, is not asking God for things or benefits, but thanking God for blessings received, either for oneself, or for others. A thankful heart is gradually transcending the confines of the contracted self, the primary spiritual problem of our age. One could take as a model some of the Psalms of thanksgiving:  “I thank you, God, with all my heart. You have heard the words of my mouth.”  

The third level of prayer is, in effect, spiritual-mental high school:  Without thinking about oneself, one praises and worships God for Who He Is, or for what God has done in creating us and saving us. The prayer of praise is a salutary form of self-transcendence, and makes one more like God in simple goodness. Opening words of St. Augustine’s Confessions come readily to mind—and he borrows from the Psalms:  “You are great, O LORD, and highly to be praised….” 

    B. The next three types of prayer I would not arrange on a ladder of ascent, because they not only interact, but one can advance towards union with God through any of these three types of prayer. All are beneficial, and represent genuine self-transcendence.  This is “college level praying,” so to speak, because mindfulness of self is being left behind.  Loving union is growing.

One of these types of prayer is simple, ongoing awareness of the presence of God.When one is engaged in his or her daily activities, one may be ever aware of being in God, and working with God in one’s tasks at hand. Whether or not one pauses explicitly to offer prayers in words to God (asking, thanking, praising), one is aware of the One here and now. Last week we considered the story of Martha and Mary. Had Martha been content to prepare a meal and serve it, happy and at peace to be in the presence of the LORD, she would have been engaged in this kind of prayer. Instead, she was on level one, telling God what to do for her: “Lord, tell my sister to help me serve.” Martha was self-absorbed; Mary’s attention was lovingly absorbed in Christ’s presence.  And of this Mary, sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to his Word, Jesus said, “Mary has chosen the better portion, and it will not be taken from her.” 

In a second type of “college level prayer,” one actively seeks God, responding to the Lord’s command, “Seek, and you will find.” One questions God, as Abraham did in the reading from Genesis: “Lord, should not the God of all the world act with justice?” The biblical tradition may raise a question, but does not actively pursue it, until Jewish-Christian spiritual experience merges with Greek philosophy, the life of the mind. The Church has produced a number of men and women through the centuries who devoted much study and effort to seeking God with questioning consciousness. And these questioners drew directly or indirectly on the well-spring of philosophy, on Plato and Aristotle. A favorite example of mine of a mind seeking God is the great St. Anselm (c 1050):  “Lord, if you are here, why do I not see you?  If you are absent, how can I seek you? Surely you `dwell in inapproachable light.’ Who will lead me into this light?… I do not understand in order to believe, but I believe in order to understand (credo ut intelligam). His habit of questioning God, of actively seeking God in prayer makes St. Anselm a great model of genuine prayer. I highly recommend to those interested the Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm, and especially his masterful Proslogion. 

The third “college level” type of prayer is most simple and direct. Rather than being active and also mindful of God, and rather than using discursive reasoning in the search for God, one sits still in the presence of the One who is present. Without words, images, thoughts, the one praying simply and lovingly attends to the present of the Lover-Beloved, the God beyond all words and images.This kind of prayer uses the highest faculty of the human soul, the divine-human intellect, which works by simply gazing. The classic text of this kind of prayer is the masterful Cloud of Unknowing. This kind of prayer deserve to be called “contemplative prayer.” The one who is doing the work is not the self, but the divine Spirit—the divine partner in the human-divine process we call “the soul.” Indeed, in all genuine prayer, to be true and salutary, it is the Spirit who gives life, who works; and the human partner lovingly cooperates.  

    C. Graduate school of prayer: mystical union with God. A number of Christian mystics have left accounts of their experiences of being taken up into divine union. Outside of the New Testament and early Church fathers (such as Origen and Clement of Alexandria), nearly all of the mystical traditions in Christianity have drawn from the works of the Egyptian-Roman philosopher, Plotinus (d. 270 AD). I referred to Plotinus in the homily, for he elaborated astoundingly beautiful experiences of mystical union with the One in his voluminous writings. Plotinus writes about the experience of ekstasis, of being lifted out of himself and absorbed in awareness of divine presence. In one such visionary state, he wrote of seeing the All present in each, and each creatures in All. They were not dissolved, but fully penetrated by the One who is “all in all.” Written of a present experience, it is the most moving description of what Christians call “heaven”I have ever found. Mystical union is not someone’s fancy or imagination, or a human achievement, or a futuristic dream, but the fruit of years of cooperation with the Good, or with that which Christians usually call “God.” 

Two summary points:  First, we heard in the Gospel today Whom to ask to “teach us to pray.”  It is the LORD, Christ, who is the divine Master and Teacher, first and foremost. Secondly, Jesus tells us what to ask for, and what to receive:  not this or that, but “the Holy Spirit who will be given to you.” All genuine prayer is the work and fruit of the Holy Spirit, the divine presence at work in the hearts of the faithful.  It is the Spirit alone who opens up the self into the realm of God. 

On Reading

Friends

Of all the many good gifts my parents gave me, and for which I am truly thankful, I often recall with sweet sorrow (as the days are past) when my mother would read to me. I was young then, and very impressionable. My mother would let me curl up in her lap or by her side with a book, and she read to me. She read to me about the little engine that could, about a wolf dressed up as grandma, about Daniel in the lion’s den, about David and Goliath. Her reading to me was an act of unearned, utterly delightful maternal love. And her reading took me into a world I had not known before. Blessed me her memory. 

Read to your little ones, to the elderly, and to those who are sick.  Read what is good, inspiring, ennobling. Read to one of our seniors, who may be seriously ill, from Scripture, or from a holy book, or prayers. And this I ask of you, and beg you to remember: If I am sick in bed, or in a coma, or perhaps dying, please read to me. (And by all means, no TV or pop music; Mozart and Bach are always welcomed.) Do not read junk to me, please, but the best. Read the Gospel of John to me, or some of the Psalms, or the Gospel of Luke. Read to me the Prayers and Meditations of St. Anselm. Read to me Plato’s Apology, or the Republic. Don’t bother me, please, with gossip or news, when I lay upon my death bed, but read from books that help to row the boat of my soul across the stream of the underworld. No rock, no rap, no crap, but words from faith to faith, from the heart of God into my heart. Then you will truly be loving me into the LORD. Please remember, dear souls.  

Dear friends in Christ:  Read! As a teacher told me when I was a boy, perhaps ten or twelve: “Read the best books, and always read above yourself.” How else does one stretch one’s mind, and if possible, stretch out towards the unseen depths of divinity? And she reminded me that it is terrible “to waste one’s mind.” And a teacher told me as I left the 7th grade for the summer:  “Read books now, because you will not have as much time later.” She recommended Mutiny on the Bounty, which I have yet to read! But I listened to these good teachers, and have been reading above my mind every since. 

When I speak with one of our children, I often ask, “Are you reading?” Quite a few look down, and  shuffle their feet, anxious to escape my question. A few tell me that they read. And I ask, “What are you reading?” and they tell me. To begin with, in early years, parents should encourage children to read according to their natural talents and interests: on mechanics, horses, ranching, flying; stories about children growing up on the Prairie, or in mountains, or with a tree outside their apartment in Brooklyn. The point is:  Read! Discover the joy of learning. I found many hours reading maps as a small boy. 

I do not recommend one book for all, but I welcome folks to ask me for ideas about what to read. Surely a readable translation of the Bible should always be close at hand, and often opened, and read slowly. There are kinds of literature for all tastes within the library called the Bible.  As a boy, I loved the historical books, and tales of heroes, such as Daniel and David. As a student in school, I loved Shakespeare above all, and the Greek tragedies. As a young man, I devoured the Gospels, taking the words to heart, and using them to guide my life choices and actions. In college I discovered, by divine Providence, the joy of philosophy, and especially of Plato. I read what challenges me to question, to think, to examine myself before God, to love in truth.

  
I will never seek to insult anyone who finds pleasure reading ranching journals, or magazines about motorcycles, or stories ancient or new. Read! And try to give some time to stretching your mind by reading noble stories, or good poetry, or history, science, philosophy, various holy scriptures. Man cannot live by pop culture and entertainment alone. These things malnourish. Although there are some very good movies available, in general, there is no substitute for slow, thoughtful, mindful reading.

“LORD, I am not trying to make my way to your height, for my understanding is in no way equal to that, but I do desire to understand a little of your truth, which my heart already believes and loves. I do not seek to understand so that I may believe, but I believe so that I may understand; and what is more, I believe that unless I do believe, I shall not understand.” From the Proslogion of St. Anselm, c. 1070. [Note:  the so-called “Dark Ages” were in some decisive ways much lighter than our dark age.]
 

“Now it is time to go, I to die, and you to live; whoever of us has the better lot is unknown to anyone, except to God.” Apology of Socrates (put to death by Athens in 399 B.C.).

"Mary Had To Become Martha..."

The story of Jesus sitting in the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10), although brief, speaks to the attentive soul some words worth hearing, pondering, and putting into practice. Indeed, the main point of the story is being attentive to Christ, God’s Word speaking to you—not out of the past, but here and now, in the depths of your soul. Be attentive, listen, rather than “be anxious and busy about many things.” That is the main point of the story. 

As with any passage in Scripture read at Mass, or read in the quiet of your home, there are multiple ways to read and to understand. First, one needs to ask and wonder, “What did the author (here, St. Luke) intend to communicate in this passage of his Gospel?” To answer this, one must read attentively, and perhaps with some good scriptural aids, and at least for scholars and clergy, reading the text in the original Greek. Second, one should have some idea of how this story has been interpreted and applied over the centuries. Third, one should consider some of the interpretations presently being offered. Because most of our people lack the time, background, or perhaps interest to read a text in these ways, it is the duty of your pastor to do so. Why? What is the goal? What matters is not scriptural study for its own sake, but finding in the passages read at Mass sufficient food with which to strengthen and encourage your spiritual life—that is, your love life with Christ, your journey into the heart of God. I offer here a few remarks, to be developed in the homilies on the week-end of July 16-17. 

Taking these three approaches to the text in reverse order: I have heard some fanciful and unimpressive interpretations of this passage from various clergy in my life. The most foolish ones today try to elevate Martha as the more noble soul, because she is cooking and serving food, whereas Mary is just sitting on her tail. This interpretation arises from one of the dominant diseases of modernity: activism or busybody-ness without attending to God. Note that in the story, neither the evangelist nor Jesus praises Martha, yet some of our clergy do. Why? Because they may be like her: “busy and anxious about many things.” To such do-gooders with all of their programs and plans, Jesus says, “One thing is needful,” and that one thing is placing oneself under Christ and listening to him speak. However, let’s consider: 

The story of Mary and Martha took on a life of its own in the Middle Ages—partly fanciful, perhaps, but suggestive and enriching, at least for the many thousands of religious and clergy in the Church during those centuries. Martha became a symbol for the active life, for being engaged in the everyday world, such as having a family and providing a livelihood for the family, and taking care of them. Mary became a symbol of contemplative life, of renouncing wealth and family to enter cloisters, where one could seek God in study and prayer. There is some truth here, but neither St. Luke nor Jesus sought to discredit those who live by looking after their needs and that of their families. We know that all of the Apostles were themselves married, with the exception of Paul. As presented by Luke, the problem with Martha was twofold: she was anxious and troubled; and unlike her sister, she was not sitting at the feet of Christ and LISTENING to his WORD. Martha needed to become more like Mary. On the other hand, the brilliant medieval mystic, Meister Eckhart, drew a profound lesson from this story, one which has spoken to me over the years: “Mary had to become Martha, before she could be be Mary.” You may be puzzled by this mystic’s meaning, and I will share a few words about it. Suffice it to note: contemplation without charity is empty, misleading, and dangerous. 

Finally, St. Luke’s intention in the story: You and I, as disciples of Christ, must place first things first, and sit at the LORD’s feet and listen to him. In other words, you must ATTEND to the presence of the living God in your soul. So many Christians, yet so few who listen to Christ.

A Brief Meditation For The 4th Of July

Many of us will be celebrating July 4th with family gatherings, barbecues, fireworks, beer or other beverage, perhaps a parade. What are we celebrating? The 4th of July? No, that is the date. What is being recalled? “Independence Day,” July 4th, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence of the 13 united States of America” was promulgated to the ringing of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, PA, intended to “proclaim liberty throughout the land.” This July 4th I urge all of our people to read again the Declaration of Independence, largely the work of Thomas Jefferson. Here is the concluding passage, formally declaring independence from Great Britain: ​

 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. 

 

We Americans declared our independence, and then had to fight to earn it. The British Army put up a good fight, but they had to take and hold leading cities and towns along the Atlantic seaboard from Savannah, Georgia, all the way north to Boston, Massachusetts. With the help of the French Army and Navy, Washington’s Continental Army forced a British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, ending hostilities. The Treaty of Paris was signed 2 years later. 

 

Political freedom is precious, and must be fought for and maintained again and again. As our Founding Fathers knew well, a free people require good governance by human beings under the rule of law, and ultimately under reason and God. In the amassing of political power, there is ever the danger of tyranny—an over-concentration of power in the hand of rulers, whether inherited, or elected.The government must be circumscribed and constrained in its powers. Failure to stay within reasonable bounds is a main reason we just witnessed the British people voting to break from the heavily bureaucratized European Union. The longing for freedom is inherent in human being. The challenge is to be free and just. Real freedom must come from within. If citizens are unruly and governed by unchecked passions, their freedom is meaningless. 

 

Real freedom is not to be dominated by greed, by pleasure, by the lust for power, by hatred of anyone, by ethnic prejudice, by dishonesty or deceit. Real freedom is costly: one must obey the rule of God within through reason and the Spirit of self-giving love, in order truly to be free. As we heard last week in our worship service, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” The worst slavery is to be enslaved to one’s worst impulses;the best freedom is found truly loving the Source of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”