St. Dominic's Yoga

My Lay Dominican Chapter is gearing up for St. Dominic's Feast Day.  Today we watched a real live demonstration of St. Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer.  Afterwards, one of my "cloistered brothers" quipped, "It looks like Yoga!"

We all laughed and from now on St. Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer will be known as Dominican Yoga.  This led to a discussion of different ways of prayer.  Brother James added an interesting concept that I never thought of before.  Brother James remembered that at one time we had a volunteer that used to come to Mass with us.  Afterwards, she lead us in some yoga exercises.  This volunteered said that yoga was spiritual to her because she considered yoga led her to prayer.  We didn't know what to think of that, but to be polite, we joined her.  After all she volunteered to teach us yoga.  She wasn't being paid.

So after Mass, Mary Jane led us in some yoga.  We all laughed, especially at each other.  But we were laughing together, helping each other, and sharing the experience.  Brother James said that he tried doing yoga back in his cell, but it wasn't the same.  In fact, he considered it a failure.

What was missing when Brother James was alone was the community.  Also the timing.  When we did the yoga after Mass, it did feel spiritual--like continuing our prayers after Mass.  We were with our confreres and sharing the experience.

That's two of the four pillars of Dominican spirituality: prayer and community.  We decided to baptize yoga and make it Christian.  From now on our yoga will be known as Dominican Yoga, and St. Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer are in it.

Praying Like Saint Dominic

I turned the page in my prayer book this morning, and came upon a little slip of paper I had torn out of a magazine.  It was titled "Meditation of the Day/How to Think as God Does."  The little meditation was about Saint Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer, written by Pope Benedict XVI.

Obviously, I tore this meditation out because I'm a Lay Dominican, and I put it between the pages dedicated to the Feast of Saint Dominic, August 8.  All Dominicans know the nine ways of prayer.  There's showing reverence by bowing, prostrating, genuflecting, kneeling, doing penance, adoration, standing in orans position and alleluia position, walking while praying, and lectio divina.

B XVI, however, points out that all Dominic's ways of prayer point to Jesus.  Naturally!  But also, all these physical movements lead into one kind of prayer.  That kind of prayer being deep contemplation.

So very true.  My prayer eventually leads to quiet meditation.  I talk to God and He talks to me.  Prayer concludes with my listening.

Happy Feast of Saint Dominic.  May all your prayers bring you closer to Jesus.

Dominic's New Ways of Prayer

Everyone in the Dominican family learns of Dominic's Nine Ways of Prayer: bowing, prostration, self-discipline, genuflecting, oremus position, arms out like a cross, arms straight out, lectio divina, and walking in meditation.  Some of these, like the discipline are out dated.  You would be considered a fanatical sadist if you whipped yourself.  But there are other ways to discipline yourself, through fasting for example.

At Mass this morning I picked out a few ways of praying.  People blessing themselves.  You will see people bless themselves going by a church.  This is to reverence the living Eucharist in the Tabernacle.  People bless themselves before swimming, or going up to bat.  They may be sending up a prayer for protection, a blessing, or thanksgiving.

People still genuflect like Dominic.  We also kneel.  But there are some people who are elderly, too big, or just cannot kneel for a long time, and they rest back on the seat.  It's not quite kneeling; it's not quite sitting.  I'll call it support kneeling.

During the Our Father some people extend their hands to pray the Our Father, reminiscent of the priest's oremus.  Some still hold hands to pray the Our Father.  This also reminds me of people placing their hands on someone in need of prayer and praying for that person.

I also consider the Kiss of Peace prayer.  Kissing is how Christians greet each other.  This is how people know we are Christians.  Early Christians were martyred for this poignant gesture.  Definitely, the Kiss of Peace is prayer.

During Mass we also stand and pray.  We sit to meditate.  We sing, and according to St. Augustine that's praying twice!

We put money in the collection; that's giving alms.

Praying the Rosary is prayer.  There's Lectio Divina, meditation and contemplation.

Come to think of it.  There's something for everybody!  St. Dominic, today, would be amazed.

Always Praying

Fr. Kevin before Mass said that the first sentence in today's Gospel told us how Jesus wants us to pray. This is Luke 18: 1-8. Jesus told his disciples a prarable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. Of course, Fr. Kevin is a contempletive monk, so he has the opportunity to pray. But how do we Lay People pray all the time?

There's the famous Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,have mercy on me, a sinner."

There's prayer ejaculations: short prayers.

There's Mass, Rosary, Lectio Divina, Liturgical Dance,fasting, and probably more that I can think of. In fact St. Dominic had nine ways of prayer. Like all Catholics, he knelt, bowed, genuflected, sat, stood--Catholic aerobics.

The first way is bowing. Gentlemen bow to ladies as a sign of respect. Catholics bow to the

altar to reverence it.

The second way is prostrations. This is laying flat out on the ground to make yourself as low

as possible before your God. You'll see priest do this at their ordinations. It really isn't very practical for all the laity to do this in church--how. You could do it at home, if this type of prayer appeals to you.

The third way is penance. This picture is of a friar hitting himself. It's called taking the discipline. I'm not called to do this, and I don't know anyone nowadays who is, but in medieval

times, it was practiced. I would do penance in place of the discipline.

The fourth way is kneeling. This is the common prayer stance.

This is St. Dominic kneeling in Adoration of the Crucifixion.

The fifth way of prayer is supplication.

I picture this as talking to God using hand gestures. Since I'm such a drama queen, I could easily implore, shake my fist, beg, etc..

St. Dominic's sixth way of prayer is the Orans position. This is the position people use to

invite people to pray. The priest will use it and say, "Let us pray." The people use it at Mass to pray the Lord's Prayer.

The seventh way of prayer is stretching up your arms as high as you can. St. Dominic use to

look like an arrow. How's that for shooting your prayers up to heaven?

The eighth way of St. Dominic's prayer is Reading. This is reading and contemplating what you

have read. This may turn into Lectio Divina. There is no prescribed method for this type of reading except to pray beforehand and afterwards talk to God about it.

St. Dominic's last method of praying was probably the one he used most often. This is walking. Since he walked everywhere, he prayed as he walked. I pray when traveling. I may use my iPod,

but Dominic prayed and sang as he journeyed along. What better way to pass the time?