Have you read any of the online prayers proposed to assist us in our varying degrees of self and community isolation? Most of the ones I have read are quite beautiful and very traditional (from a Christian belief perspective). They tend to appeal to a Heavenly Father and to the Wonder-Grace of the Magic Man: Jesus, the Poet of Nazareth... I suppose that this is all well enough, if not actually "good"...
Still, I can't help myself. I see few things through eyes which can be considered "normal". For example, I write poetry. For thirty years I worked in a Soup Kitchen. I believe in an Abiding Love-Spirit (which does not have the slightest interest in coercing a "right belief" from us: only that we increasingly desire and seek surrender)... From this perspective, it is our longing which matters. It is the passion which we summon from within our daily lives that matters... so, prayer is, first and foremost, a turning of our minds towards unknowing and emptiness: this turn into a contemplative powerlessness is the mystic model of prayer, pandemic motivated or otherwise...
We begin with an in-our-face-awareness that to live is to suffer. There is only so much time... there are only so many things that can be done to preserve and protect our lives: everything beyond that is a crap-shoot, isn't it? Sooner or later... for each one of us. Is there a path tending towards a cessation of suffering? Likely as not, any practice that eventually compels a movement towards a surrender into adoration and a surrender into loving, is a blessing: it could be Christian, as it could also (and equally) be Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, of a Goddess-orientation, or even Pagan... The point is simply that we are all called to become contemplatives. And contemplative prayer is of an entirely different order than that of "petition" to a "God Up and Out There"...
Contemplative prayer is the prayer of don't know... While theological treatises abound on every possible angle on prayer, "correct" mind, and a plethora of "do's and don'ts", one must actually dig a bit in order to find genuine nuggets and wisdom born of a rugged practice. Any proposal that comes from a book (or a blog, even this one) should be suspect! However, every crisis brings with it an opportunity for directing attention to those things that really matter...
What matters? There are simple, yet perfect, contemplative prayers and practices that are suitable for every occasion. Here are a few: 1) Wish yourself well! Repeat after me: Be well my Darling! This prayer covers a lot of ground... 2) Accept (if not realize) that there are no others -- not even one! Repeat after me: May you be well! May you be happy! May you be loved! This prayer has the power to unleash your heart-mind: let it go! 3) Hunker down into the root of the root of the root: a Loving-Spirit Is! Repeat after me: I love You! I thank you! 4) These three foundational steps create the possibility within you of Step 4: Rest in the gentle knowing of the Hug of the Lord of Love, hugging you from the inside out: this embrace, as taught by Saints such as Hildegard, Francis, and Rumi, is a shift into the still-waters of adoration... And, 5) Begin to align yourself with the Always Holy Present: your life stretches out before you with teeny-tiny moments of now: if you only have one more now, say thank you... if you have, so far as you can see, quite a few yet in front of you, still say thank you...
Contemplative Pandemic Prayer is an everyday prayer for everyone: what a wonder it is to breathe! To love! To serve! To build justice! To show mercy! It is right here, in these very precious attitudes, intentions, and actions, that we truly become human beings -- which is the very precise holiness that we have been designed for...
Still, I can't help myself. I see few things through eyes which can be considered "normal". For example, I write poetry. For thirty years I worked in a Soup Kitchen. I believe in an Abiding Love-Spirit (which does not have the slightest interest in coercing a "right belief" from us: only that we increasingly desire and seek surrender)... From this perspective, it is our longing which matters. It is the passion which we summon from within our daily lives that matters... so, prayer is, first and foremost, a turning of our minds towards unknowing and emptiness: this turn into a contemplative powerlessness is the mystic model of prayer, pandemic motivated or otherwise...
We begin with an in-our-face-awareness that to live is to suffer. There is only so much time... there are only so many things that can be done to preserve and protect our lives: everything beyond that is a crap-shoot, isn't it? Sooner or later... for each one of us. Is there a path tending towards a cessation of suffering? Likely as not, any practice that eventually compels a movement towards a surrender into adoration and a surrender into loving, is a blessing: it could be Christian, as it could also (and equally) be Taoism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, of a Goddess-orientation, or even Pagan... The point is simply that we are all called to become contemplatives. And contemplative prayer is of an entirely different order than that of "petition" to a "God Up and Out There"...
Contemplative prayer is the prayer of don't know... While theological treatises abound on every possible angle on prayer, "correct" mind, and a plethora of "do's and don'ts", one must actually dig a bit in order to find genuine nuggets and wisdom born of a rugged practice. Any proposal that comes from a book (or a blog, even this one) should be suspect! However, every crisis brings with it an opportunity for directing attention to those things that really matter...
What matters? There are simple, yet perfect, contemplative prayers and practices that are suitable for every occasion. Here are a few: 1) Wish yourself well! Repeat after me: Be well my Darling! This prayer covers a lot of ground... 2) Accept (if not realize) that there are no others -- not even one! Repeat after me: May you be well! May you be happy! May you be loved! This prayer has the power to unleash your heart-mind: let it go! 3) Hunker down into the root of the root of the root: a Loving-Spirit Is! Repeat after me: I love You! I thank you! 4) These three foundational steps create the possibility within you of Step 4: Rest in the gentle knowing of the Hug of the Lord of Love, hugging you from the inside out: this embrace, as taught by Saints such as Hildegard, Francis, and Rumi, is a shift into the still-waters of adoration... And, 5) Begin to align yourself with the Always Holy Present: your life stretches out before you with teeny-tiny moments of now: if you only have one more now, say thank you... if you have, so far as you can see, quite a few yet in front of you, still say thank you...
Contemplative Pandemic Prayer is an everyday prayer for everyone: what a wonder it is to breathe! To love! To serve! To build justice! To show mercy! It is right here, in these very precious attitudes, intentions, and actions, that we truly become human beings -- which is the very precise holiness that we have been designed for...
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