The Obscured Mystery of God's Presence.

 Just plain meditating, to me, is a bore.  I consider myself lucky, if I fall asleep.  Otherwise, it's a waste of time.  However, The Cloud of Unknowing, insists that I don't give up.  Easier said than done.  

Persevere until you feel joy.

Oh!  I get it.  That's the "cloud".  My mind is cloudy, even a dark cloud.  I'm going to try until this cloud between me and God is comfortable.  I hope to be at home in it.  I'll keep striving to feel love.  Will it be mine?  or His?  According to The Cloud of Unknowing, God will bring me into a deep experience of Himself.

I'll keep you updated.

Tripping = Meditating

 When people in prison have a lot of time being alone, they often go tripping.  Inmates do interact with others, but if you are in the SHU or the "hole," you are alone.  SHU is Special Housing Unit.  

The inmates there have a developed a coping mechanism called "tripping."  This is an adjustment coping mechanism.  The person actively imagines trips outside of the prison.  Perhaps it is something from their past, or something they would love to do when or if, they ever get out.

This takes practice, perhaps years.  It starts with pacing, back and forth, because if you are sitting and still, too many distractions will interfere with your trip.

I do this too, in my meditative walks.   Only, I don't have to imagine things and places I'd like to go, because I can.  That's called planning.  Like my "cloistered brothers and sisters," however, I can "trip" by imagining putting myself in Christ's life.  

I've been on the trip the Holy Family went when they fled into Egypt.  Matt 2: 13-15  Who hasn't walked the Via Delarosa?  

This isn't anything new.  Ludolph of Saxony in his commentaries of the Life of Jesus talks of doing this.  Ignatian Contemplation is also, the same.

If I Were...

 Meditating on Jesus carrying the cross, I can feel different emotions.  If I were with His Mother, Mary, I would just keep my arm around her to pull her close to me.  I would not be able to find any words to say to her, just hug her close.

If I were alone, depending upon the crowd surrounding me I might react differently.  Alone, I would be beside myself with compassion.  I'd be a mess.  My heart would be broken open.

If I were with fellow followers, we would all be weeping together. Our prayers would be audible.

If I were in with a crowd of "haters".  I would just be silent and dying inside, so incredibly sad.  Would I be ashamed because my hero was demoted to this horrendous spectacle?  I don't think so.  I believe He is Who He says He is.  I might be confused, but my tremendous sorrow would be so overwhelming that I'd be traumatized into debilitating shock.

His Yoke is Easy

 

  This is John T. Faris.  He lived 1871-1949.  He was a writer, a Presbyterian minister, and a magazine publisher.  This is a good meditation he wrote.

A man was carrying a heavy basket.  His son asked to help him.  The father cut a stick and placed it through the handle of the basket so that the end toward himself was very short, while the end toward the boy was three or four times as long.  Each took hold of his end of the stick, and the basket was lifted and easily carried.  The son was bearing the burden with the father, but he found the work easy and light because his father assumed the heavy end of the stick.  Just so it is when we bear the yoke with Christ; He sees to it that the burden laid on us is light; He carried the heavy end.

Example Meditation

May 01 2020

Friday of the Third Week of Easter  John 6: 52-59

This is a hard teaching.  Even many Catholics don’t believe in the True Presence of the Eucharist. If God can become man in a woman’s womb, why couldn’t God become flesh in bread?  God’s ways are mysterious.  I sometimes wonder why some church going Catholics do not believe in the True Presence. Why are they in church, then?

Could they hope to believe, one day? I don’t think they are just being stubborn and refuse to believe. They are trying to be good Catholics. Maybe they believe what Jesus says, “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” but intellectually they just can’t accept Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood…  Is it like your mother telling you not to touch the hot stove, and you believe her without actual experience?

I think the answer is divine grace.  Divine grace is divine influence to help us understand.  This is what many don’t seem to have.  They need to pray for it.  They need to be open and humble and ask for the grace of wisdom and understanding that the Eucharist is truly the Flesh and Blood of Jesus.

We, ourselvles, also need to pray, Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief. 

A Heartbreaking Meditation

My "cloistered brothers" and I were in a meditation group, today.  The scene was set.

You're on the beach alone.  The weather is warm with a cooling breeze.  No one is in the water and no one is on the beach.  You take a deep breath of refreshing salty air.  You can feel the salty breeze and a little ocean spray, once in a while.  You take another breath of fresh air and open your eyes and look around.
     Off in the far distance, you see a black dot.  You think it's moving.  Yes, it is moving closer and getting bigger.  You calmly watch the black dot walk into being a person.  The person becomes an adult male.  Gradually you can distinguish hair and clothes.
     You somehow just know that it is Jesus Christ.
     You wait for Him to reach you.  His eyes are sparkling and He is wearing a smile.
      He speaks.  What does He say to you?
       ???????????????????????????????????????????????
       What do you say?
       Then Jesus nods in understanding, turns around, and slowly walks back to where He came from.

I loved this meditation!  I pictured the dot walking to me and the minute I recognized Who it was I ran to Him ... and jumped His bones!  He said, "Good job."  I said, "I did my best."  Then when He turned around, I followed Him.  I was right behind Him.  He wasn't getting away from me.

But...

One of my "cloistered brother's" meditation saddened me.  He said, Jesus never came close to Him.  He never reached him.  Jesus walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and ...

By the Highway

What worked then, doesn't work now.  No. That's not right.  My tastes have changed. I've matured.

Whatever.

I use to meditate by using my hands and saying the mantra: "All is passing.  God alone abiding.".  I'd sweep my right arm out--"All is passing."  Then I'd take my hand on my outstretched arm and bring it to over my heart and say--"God alone abiding."

But a revert to Catholicism via Buddhism taught me his technique.  He envisions that he's sitting next to a highway watching the cars zoom past:  zoom, zoom, swish, swish...   Once he's calmed, he looks down the highway to a car on the horizon and watches it come closer, closer, closer and closer until it reaches him.  He keeps his eye on it as it is in front of him.  He sees who's in the car.  He's there, too.  He watches it pass him.  He watches it go on, and on, and on, until it's just a dot on that horizon. He's gone off too.

Perfect.  All is passing.  I watch the cars.  Just like my friend. All is passing, passing, passing...all is passing and passing...

That's it.

Then I'm finished, I end with God alone abiding.  Amen.

Meditation

This is Christian meditation.  I think most people think of Buddhist meditation when one speaks of
"meditation," but that's not my personal experience.  I've found Christian meditation beneficial chiefly because I'm confident I'm aligning myself to God's will, in addition to the physical and mental benefits of meditation.

It consists of at least two daily periods of meditation, while also reciting a prayer word.  My prayer word is Jesus.  The meditation leads me to want to do other types of prayer, i.e., rosary, Lectio Divina, novenas, extemporaneous prayer ejaculations, pious reading, etc.

Think of a bicycle wheel.  The two periods of meditation are the hub and the tire rim.  All the spokes are all the other types of prayers your wheel may spin to bring you into the realities of your life.

The meditation is silent.  Difficult? At first it is, but give yourself a couple of months of 10 to 15 minutes of quiet and soon you will look forward to it.  It settles me in the morning.  It's like that last nursing of the baby before sleep.  Ah-h-h, peace.

Internally, I continue to pray my prayer word, Jesus, all day.  The prayer word begins my silent times.  Sometimes I imagine internally saying that one prayer word my entire quiet time.  Don't judge the meditation by what happens during the meditation, rather judge the meditation by what gradually begins to happen in your life.  I bet you'll find yourself calmer and just more prepared to handle craziness.

All it takes is commitment.  The benefits are palpable.  Can you do it?

Panel Discussion on Prayer

Last night my "cloistered brothers" and I held a panel discussion on prayer.  There were three men on the panel.  Russ spoke about meditation.  He is a revert from Buddhism (born Catholic, went to Buddhism and then back to Catholicism).  Gerry talked about the rosary.  He was a nominal Catholic.  He said that he attended Our Lady of Assumption Church and didn't know what Assumption meant.  He also said he was there when the Mass changed from Latin to English and he didn't notice the difference (shows how much he was paying attention). Then he went to Medjugorje and it was like a Saul to Paul experience. Lastly, there was Peter.  Pete is a Lay Dominican who practices Lectio Divina, every day.  Lection Divina consists of taking an excerpt from a reading (Lectio) and reading and meditating upon it (Meditatio).  Then this meditation will move you to pray to God (Oratio).  Finally, you want this experience to be with you throughout the day, so you pick out something short to bring the experience to mind (Contemplatio).  Since Pete is a Lay Dominican, he follows their way of Lectio Divina, which means they add one more step--Studium.  The Studium is reading the Lectio with a commentary to help you understand the reading more fully.  Pete does: Lectio, Studium, Meditatio, Oratio, Contemplatio.

There was suppose to be one more panel member.  He was supposed to talk about music; he was sick and unable to participate.

Each man spoke a few minutes about why this type of prayer was their favorite.  Then I asked for questions from the audience.  Since I expected no response, until the congregation warmed up, I had planted a few questions to be asked.  It worked.  Some of the questions:

• Are distractions a problem?
• How did you get interested in this type of prayer?
• What do you pray after receiving the Eucharist?
• What moves you to pray?
• Do you experience God?

Answering the questions carried the session.  I wasn't sure how the whole discussion went over.  It seems to have been a hit.  Afterwards, people came up to me and asked advice on how to pray.  Me?  I felt like such a hypocrite telling people how to pray better because I probably am the worst at praying.  Prayer often is a session of distraction.  My monkey brain won't focus.

What gave me encouragement, however, was the timing.  It was so coincidental that the readings and homily tied so conveniently into our panel discussion, that it had to be Godincidental.  The first reading was about persistent in our prayers.  Genesis 18: 20-32--Abraham asks God to not destroy Sodom if there are ten good people there.  The Gospel was Luke 11: 1-13 where Jesus teaches his disciples the Our Father. Plus, Father Chris talked about prayer in his homily.  

So, the Holy Spirit had my back.  

Meditation

One of my "cloistered brothers" taught me a method of meditation that really works--for me, anyway. Oddly, this is the same "cloistered brother" who showed me how to do SUDOKU.  He has the knack to reach me.

What I used to do, that never worked, was try to rid myself of distractions.  My meditation time was spent at war, fighting off distractions, or using distractions in inventive situations.  Now, I'm trying to place myself in the most distracting place I can think of.  The noise will be background noise or white noise.  It's just there.

The most distracting place I can think of is the city.  So I'm in Boston.  I need to sit, so I sit on a bench.  There're benches in the Common, but that's not THE most distracting.  There's the Garden, but that's not distracting.  There's Washington Street, Commonwealth Ave. and Beacon Street, where's there are benches along the Fens, but the traffic is too slow.  I'm picking Storrow Drive.  I sit on a bench looking at the traffic go by, not the Charles River.

Swish, sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish, sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish.  All the horns and noise are in the background.  People walking pets, runners, nannies with carriages, etc. are in my periphery.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish. I think I'll look at the people inside the cars:  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish. I try to count them but can't.  They're too fast and too many.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish.  I'm counting just red cars.  Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish, etc.  I pick out one approaching red car and focus on that one car, only.  I follow it approach, come closer, pass me, and travel on, and on, and on, and...until it's out of my sight.  I do it again.  And again.

My focus pulls me with the red car towards God.  All the other cars pass us.  Everything is white noise.  All the cars and everything pass by.

All is passing.  God alone abiding.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish,   sw-sw-sw-ish.  All is passing.  All.  God alone abiding.  All is passing.   Sw-sw-sw-ish,  sw-sw-sw-ish.  Passing--all--all is passing.  God alone abiding....

God is the Complete Treasure

     

When my three children were young, I would sometimes hear this refrain:

First is worst.

Second is best.

Third wins the treasure chest!

Needless to say, the first child did not compose this verse.  However, it brings to mind that human desire to be the first, to be the best, and/or win a treasure chest.  According to Thomas Aquinas, God created us this way, i.e., to always search for happiness.  We find satisfaction in our search, only in God.  God is the treasure chest.  Only in God is perfect happiness.  What happiness we have on earth is imperfect, compared to what God has to offer. 

It is impossible for any created good to constitute man’s happiness. For happiness is that perfect good which entirely satisfies one’s desire; otherwise it would not be the ultimate end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e., of man’s desire, is what is universally good; just as the object of the intellect is what is universally true. Hence it is evident that nothing can satisfy man’s will, except what is universally good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone, because every creature has only participated goodness. Therefore, God alone can satisfy the will of man, according to the words of the Psalms (102:5): “Who alone satisfies your desire with good things.” Therefore, God alone constitutes man’s happiness.” (Summa Theologica Part 2. Q.1. Article 8)

Don’t waste any time worrying that you don’t have the best of any material wealth or achievement.  “You can’t take it with you”, anyway.  Be satisfied that our good God provides you with what you need.  Trust the Father, as the apostles trusted Jesus.

Speak to Me

Today's meditation was on this drawing by my "cloistered brother," MEK.  What do you see in it?

I see God holding the world in His Hands.  In particular, God is Jesus.  See the wound in His hand?

What are the flames coming out of the globe?  Fire?  Prayers reaching up?  Perhaps both?  Because the world is at war, the people's prayers are lifted up?  What do you think?

What else do you see?  I see part of Saturn.  I see stars and the moon and other planets.  I see a cross in the stars.

God has everything under control.  This is my mantra:

                                               All is passing.
                                           God is everlasting.

The Holiday that Keeps Giving

When we brought my granddaughter to Jordan Furniture's Enchanted Village, she had a good time, just as we expected.  I thought of the Enchanted Village, the same as I thought of Disney World.  Things and places that are geared for children, are wasted on children.  Isn't school wasted on them?  The children just don't appreciate what goes into making an event, a place, etc..  They enjoy according to their own level of enjoyment.  Adults enjoy even more.  The adult level of understanding, frame of reference, etc., allow for more grateful appreciation.

Christmas is the exception.  There are so many levels to view Christmas, that there's something for everybody.  Today, even in my late age, the fact of the Incarnation inspires such a depth of awe, that I don't have the vocabulary, nor wherewithal to express what I feel.

When I saw my infant granddaughter's eyes round into circled amazement upon looking at her first Christmas experience, I felt her understanding confirm mine.  Should I say, my understanding confirms hers?

And Christmas isn't just one day.  Advent doesn't end.  Christmas is a journey itself.  Our level of reaching the Christ child takes a lifetime.  Ponder that thought.

Our Lady of the Rosary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Rhenish_Master

October 7 is the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  With this in mind, I meditated upon this famous picture known as Little Garden of Paradise, by an unknown artist, Rhenish Master, c. 1410.

Mary is seated in a garden.  Connect garden to Eden.  She is surrounded by flowers and a tall wall.
            Mary is wearing a crown.
            The baby is being tended to by young maidens.  Think Jesus being taught by angels. 
            St.  Michael (adorned in flowers and St. George in armor) sit talking.
            Flowers are everywhere, so are apples.  (Think Adam and Eve tasting the apple.)
            See the food on the table.  (altar)
Because of Mary, we can approach the Garden of Eden through her Son's sacrifice.  Do you see that little, tiny, man hiding in the dark shadows?. It's Satan.  See St. Michael's foot on him.
That's the tempter from the Garden of Eden

The first thing you see in this picture is the child, with light bouncing off Him.  Mary is the next focus your eyes will see.  But you have to really look to find that little insidious devil.

Don't be fooled.  Satan hangs around.          

Inner Vision = Grace

Quissett

The Cape has been a second home to me for over forty years.  For almost forty years, I have been an admirer of the artist Karen Rinaldo.  Karen is known for her Cape Cod scenes, especially Falmouth.  This Friday, Falmouth's newspaper, The Enterprise, did a feature on Karen Rinaldo, which I read with great interest.  The writer, Theresa Pease did a good job in creating a picture (pun intended) of this local artist.  If you need to reference, it's The Enterprise, Friday, August 2014, Page One A and continued onto Page Three A.  The article ended with this paragraph,

"My mother was always deeply involved with what I was doing," the artist said, "and when she lost her sight I found that I could use only words to convey to her what I was working on.  But before she died she taught me about another whole vision that she called the inner vision.  She told me that when I had a problem, or wanted to recall or create something beautiful, I could shut my eyes and find a path to it.  Now, as an artist, I close my eyes and tap into that inner vision almost on a daily basis."

Ms. Rinaldo is talking about meditation. She is doing it without knowing the correct terminology.  Although inner vision is apt.  Whether one is talking about Buddhist or any Eastern meditation, or Christian contemplation, meditation, centering, lectio divina, etc., the result is a clear path to an answer.  Catholics call this grace.

It's the grace of God that leads us.  Anyone who spends time alone and centers himself, knows whereof I speak.  It's very beneficial and I don't know how people live without it.

I wish Karen Rinaldo would write a book of her meditations.  It would be great if she illustrated it, too.  She could even call it, Inner Visions.  I bet it would exemplify the grace of God.

The Best Contemplation

An interesting definition, if not description,  of contemplation, is found in The Secular Journal of Thomas Merton, Farrar, Straus, & Cudahy, New York, 1959.

Merton is looking at the picture above.  This is Fra Angelico's "Temptation of St. Anthony."  This subject, St. Anthony of the Desert's temptation is a common theme, among artists, probably because it's so open to each person's interpretation of "temptation."  In Fra Angelico's, it's the world.  That's a lump of gold, in the lower right side.  I tend to think the temptation was everything (like all of us). However, since he was a consecrated hermit, the temptation was probably theological doubt.

When Merton looks at St. Anthony he notes the background.  The saint is in the middle of dry gullies, yet in the background are trees.  He's in a desert, yet we see a city.  Are you getting the idea?  Anyway, St. Anthony is surprised, look at the way his cape is draped.  His arms are in the "infant startle position."

In the back is a church on a hill.  (Go Anthony, go!)

"Just as prayer leads to stillness, and timelessness in contemplation, so the action of this picture leads to contemplation on an esthetic level.  Therefore looking at a picture demands penetration, understanding, meditation.  If people looked at good pictures more, they would learn more about meditation, and if they meditated more they would learn more about looking at pictures."

Merton goes on about that startle movement of St. Anthony's.  "By realizing what constitutes the action in a good picture, we can get some sort of analogical grasp of what the joys of the blessed are in heaven."  That's because of the joy we receive by looking at good art, listening to good music, reading good books, enjoying the company of good friends, and contemplating the good God.

Crucifix

I have a really old crucifix that belonged to either my grandmother, or her sister, my great aunt. It's about a foot tall and black. The corpus is metal. The left hand if broken off its nail. I have to snap it back into place. Also, when you pick it up, you get stabbed. It looks like the nail fell out, and it was replaced with a nail that is too long, so it was bent down. That's it--a nail point that stabs you when you pick it up.

For some reason, I love this crucifix. The face on the cross is very tiny but full of expression. It's strange because the features are very crude: basically slits for eyes and there's a regular nose, but the mouth is "0" shaped. Put together, it's full of agony.

Somehow, I think it fitting that I have to put that hand back on its nail. I also think it very meaningful to get stabbed by one of Jesus' nails. This crucifix is a great aid for meditation.