Listening for God

Contemplative prayer focuses on being receptive to the divine

The Arkansas House of Prayer in Little Rock is an interfaith setting for silent prayer.
The Arkansas House of Prayer in Little Rock is an interfaith setting for silent prayer.

For Jerome Kodell, the practice of silent prayer has enriched his life. Some call it contemplative prayer -- a way of seeking a deeper relationship with God through stillness and silence.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette praying illustration.

As abbot of Subiaco Abbey in Logan County, Kodell's days are filled with prayer, as are the days of his fellow Benedictine monks.

"Prayer is a very important part of the lives of the monks of Subiaco, and many spend serious time every day in silent prayer in their rooms or choir places or before the Blessed Sacrament," Kodell said. "They would probably feel presumptuous to describe it as contemplative prayer, which sounds too fancy, but that is what it is."

Contemplative prayer differs from spoken prayers, such as those giving thanks or asking for forgiveness. It's also different from corporate prayer spoken aloud in a church setting as a congregation.

The Rev. Susan Sims Smith, an Episcopal priest in Little Rock, said both types of prayer are important, ancient ways of communing with God.

"Both of these traditions would have been a part of the monastic tradition," she said. "Both have never died out in Christianity."

Contemplative prayer, she said, is not focused on words, but on resting in the presence of God. The goal is to be receptive, to listen and to be in the presence of the divine.

"It's a quiet, more meditative prayer practice, which is not focused on words but is focused on receiving God and being near God and resting in God and being blessed by God in silence," she said.

Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk, is largely credited with making contemplative prayer more accessible to those outside a monastic setting by teaching and writing about it. Keating and his fellow monks also introduced centering prayer, a form of contemplative prayer.

Not all Christians embrace contemplative prayer. In fact, some critics say it's not a biblical form of prayer. But Sims Smith said the practice dates to the early years of Christianity.

"I think that many Christians are not familiar with monasticism and the hermits and monks that went off into the desert for many years looking for silence as part of their practice," she said.

The goal in contemplative prayer is to quiet the chattering mind.

"Usually to be able to do that, the practitioner learns that when the mind chatters and makes comments and gets distracted, one of the ways they can calm their mind is to have a focal point," Sims Smith said.

That might be staring at a cross, touching the beads of a rosary or repeating a simple phrase in the mind.

Sims Smith said she often uses the phrase "be still and know" from Psalm 46: "Be still and know that I am God." When her mind wanders, she returns to that phrase to still her thoughts. And thoughts will wander, she said, noting that she has been meditating and practicing contemplative prayer since the late 1970s and still has to refocus during her silent prayers.

"I've been meditating since 1979 and it happened to me this morning," she said. "It's something you accept as part of your daily contemplative prayer practice that the wandering mind is part of it and you learn a process where that becomes less of a distraction."

The focal point is used to get past the part of the brain that says to pay attention to the dog barking, the phone ringing or the sounds of a leaf blower outside.

"The focal point allows the mind to calm down," Sims Smith said. "It's an active process that produces deep calm and deep peace but you are working at not letting every single thing interrupt the quiet. It gets easier and easier and gentler as you develop a contemplative prayer practice."

Eventually, after weeks, months or years of practice, the mind gets quieter, she said.

"As the mind gets quieter, there are places in the prayer time where you are not using the words or the focal point, where you are just sitting in the presence of the divine in stillness," Sims Smith said. "It positions you to receive God's spirit, which doesn't mean you don't still make a lot of mistakes and skin your knees spiritually. But it's for normal struggling humans not just for the saints."

She said the practice is the central piece of her relationship with God, but it didn't start that way. Learning to be in the silence took years.

"Contemplative prayer did not come easily to me in the beginning," she said. "But now it's my central connection to the divine. It's where I listen for guidance. It often comes in contemplative prayer where I feel God's love coming around the corner and a surprising wave of love and grace comes."

For those interested in learning more about contemplative prayer, Sims Smith will lead a workshop this spring at the Arkansas House of Prayer, which is an interfaith house of prayer in Little Rock. It's also a place of silence, so it's an ideal location to try out contemplative prayer and members of various faiths utilize the prayer space to meditate, pray silently or simply reflect in the quiet.

Rabbi Barry Block of Congregation B'nai Israel in Little Rock took a group from the synagogue to the Arkansas House of Prayer during the fall to experience the silence. The trip was done in preparation for the Jewish High Holy Days.

"During the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we contemplate our actions over the last year, identify where we have gone wrong, and resolve to do better in the year ahead," Block said.

In Judaism, there's a tradition of Mussar or spiritual correction that Block said invites individuals to investigate their souls. One way of doing that is through silent contemplation, similar to contemplative prayer, although not known as such in Judaism.

"In our loud, busy world, we need to cultivate the soul-trait of silence in order to become the better people we can each aspire to be," Block said.

Kodell also prefers to use the term "silent prayer" or "silence in the presence of God" rather than contemplative prayer.

"This is the best way to deepen our prayer lives and our relationship with God," he said. "It takes all the emphasis off ourselves and puts it all on God, without demands or expectations. By being before God in silence, we are expressing our desire for union with God and our availability for whatever God wants of us."

Kodell said he has been practicing this form of silent prayer for years and can't imagine his life without it.

"It is very simple," he said. "As with the relationship with any friend, it asks only for uncomplicated presence. Because of this prayer, over the years my trust in God had deepened and with that a sense of deep peace, and I have learned to expect God to guide me without my knowing how it happens."

More information on the Arkansas House of Prayer is available online at arkansashouseofprayer.org.

Religion on 01/03/2015

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