Missionary Spirituality 4
A Contemplative Outlook
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We are called to live a lifestyle of ongoing
conversion. This implies an openness to the Spirit of Jesus. It also
requires that we live with our eyes open, aware of what is happening
within ourselves and around us in the world in which we live. It is
a call to learn to see our fundamental relationships (with
ourselves, with others, with God, with the world) as God sees them.
In other words, we need to find ways that help us develop and
nourish a contemplative outlook on life.
Sometime between 1745 and 1750, St. Alphonsus
wrote a schema for a retreat to be preached to young ordinandi.
In it he stresses that the active life needs to be
contemplative. In the Redemptorist lifestyle, Mission and
contemplation are necessarily intertwined. It comes down to this: if
we want to get to know and experience God’s love and wish to
proclaim that love to all, we simply cannot do it without this
contemplative outlook.
An ancient approach, present in the Church since
its origins, can be helpful here: it has been called the Lectio
Divina. It isn’t simply one among many methods of prayer. It is
more of an approach to life. It seeks to release a process that
helps develop a deeper Christian response to God’s active presence
in history. As such, one finds elements of it in the New Testament
itself. It has been used quite flexibly throughout history. The
Lectio lies historically behind the method of mental prayer that
Alphonsus promoted.
However, I would like to focus on basic elements
behind the Lectio as a way to help us grow in our spiritual
life. Instead on focusing on the Lectio as a method, I
propose here to consider the basic attitudes that are contained in
it. The goal is to help develop a lifestyle of constant prayer and
ongoing conversion in Mission.
Reading: Attitude of listening with
respect
The first book that God wrote was the book of
Life. As we walk through life we learn how to understand [read]
life, find its meaning and discover our role as human beings in a
specific moment of history. This takes up a lot more effort than one
initially imagines. Among the first tasks one faces is that of
learning how to read. I use read here in the broad sense of
learning how to read the book of life.
In learning to read correctly, it is necessary to
make sure that one reads what is written, without changing the words
or inserting (consciously or unconsciously) words that are not
present in the original. In other words, it’s a matter of
understanding the text, listening to what it says, before one goes
on to interpret what one thinks the text says.
Often the text is complex and requires study in
order to understand what it is saying. There might be words present
that are not understood. Or perhaps there are turns of phrase that
seem obscure. Maybe the text comes from another culture or
historical context and requires background study, closer listening
to what it really says. One must be attentive to literary genres and
modes of expression that lead us to consider textual and literary
analysis.
Analogously the same applies when one relates to
people, events, situations. The effort and the techniques may be
different but the task is fundamentally the same.
Thus the basic attitude one must acquire in
reading the book of life is that of listening attentively. It is
exercised as we study texts, in courses we attend, in our
relationship with God and with others, in community life and social
commitment, as we walk down the street or sit in a park. One listens
to get to know the other. How else does one get to love
another? It does not suffice to be a superficial listener.
With this listening attitude we approach the
Bible, a Redemptorist text, another person, the poor, etc. One comes
to them the way one visits a friend: with a maximum of attention,
respect, silence, sharing friendship. As with a friend, these
relationships do not depend on what one feels or wants at the
moment. This attitude demands a constant and continuous
determination to keep the relationship vital and meaningful.
This listening is not an end in itself. It
prepares us for the next attitude, dialogue. It helps guarantee that
the dialogue of meditation doesn’t turn into an unreal fantasy. It
guards us against manipulating that other, whether it be a text or
person, reducing it to the level of our own ideas. It also helps us
develop a critical attitude which is at the same time respectful and
discerning. Through listening we learn to put things in their
context.
Meditation: Attitude of reflection
The attitude of listening focused on what
is being said, seen, read or studied. This second attitude, that of
reflection, arises spontaneously from listening. It will lead us to
ask a different question: what is this person, text, event saying
to me, to us? It refers to the effort to find the relevancy of a
given experience. As part of a life of prayer, meditation occupies a
central position. As an attitude or part of a life process, it opens
up the possibilities of dialogue and union.
Mind and reason are put at the service of our
relationships. This attitude of reflection, based on listening,
leads us to ask questions, to seek the sense and meaning in
what is happening, being said or read.
One way to enter into this attitude of reflection
is to try to summarize briefly what has been said, read or what has
happened, as part of an ongoing interchange. Through this attitude
of reflection we make an effort not to forget but to integrate into
our own lives what has been experienced. Through this attitude of
reflection we permit ourselves to be changed, transformed.
Meditation lets us penetrate beyond the surface or shell of life to
find the presence of the Spirit in life and history, a presence that
may not be easily discerned from its surface appearances. It is like
going beyond the skin to the meat of the fruit.
Prayer: Attitude of responding
The first attitude concerns itself with what
is being said or experienced. The second, with what it means
to me, to us. The third attitude completes the process of dialogue:
what do I say, how do I respond to what has been said, to
what has happened, to what God is saying to me, to us. At this point
we let the heart speak.
As part of a spiritual process, up to now we have
been listening to what God has to say. Now is the moment to give our
answer to what has been experienced, to express before God what is
happening within us. As an attitude, prayer is not a strict third
step or logical consequence. It happens at any moment, but always as
part of an ongoing process or as a response to an experience. It is
important to give ourselves time, a moment to let the heart respond
to what God has said to us and done for us. When prayer grows into a
constant attitude it becomes like Mary’s attitude when she said:
Let it be done unto me according to your word (Lk 1, 38).
The attitude of prayer is realistic, not naive or
escapist. It springs from everyday experience, from an attitude of
reading, listening critically to what is happening and from
meditating, reflecting on real life problems and situations.
As an attitude, prayer expresses itself as a
spontaneous response of the heart or through forms already in use.
Yet it never leads the person to close in on oneself or in empty
ritual.
The attitude of prayer leads the person, at one
time or another, to find in community the sanctuary in which to
express itself. Furthermore, it takes the person into a attitude of
emptying oneself to make room for God, for one’s brothers and
sisters, for the poor, for community.
So often this attitude of prayer is spontaneously
a cry for help, a petition for mercy and assistance. In meditation
we are confronted with our own insufficiency and sin, with our need
for forgiveness and redemption. Like the poor, we come to realize
that God is our rock and our strength.
Contemplation: Attitude of wonder,
discovery and commitment
The attitude of contemplation summarizes all the
previous ones. Through contemplation we come to see and evaluate
more clearly what has been experienced, what has happened.
In interior silence one asks oneself: what have
I/we seen, experienced? So often one experiences a sense of
wonder at recognizing what was there but did not see or understand
before. By developing this attitude one learns in fact to see
things, people, events as God sees them, particularly with the help
of the light of the Word of God.
Through this attitude we see all as a revelation
of God, a theophany. One learns to discover God’s active, creative
and redeeming, presence in life, in history.
But the attitude of contemplation leads us
further. In seeing, one’s life is touched and drawn to change. It
leads one to a deeper commitment. One’s life does not remain the
same. The seeing turns seamlessly to a new way of doing. It’s not a
question of some sort of magic. It is simply that the discovery,
particularly of the deep realities of forgiveness and love,
inevitably becomes a bridge to a new stage in life.
With this attitude one reaches what looks like
the end of a journey. But, like in so many processes, this becomes
the starting point for a new beginning. Thus by continually growing
in the attitudes of listening, reflection, responding in prayer and
contemplation we establish a ongoing process that is ever new. One
never reaches the point where everything is understood or of perfect
conversion. We always have before us the possibility of a deeper,
more penetrating understanding of life and of God’s actions in our
lives; the prospect of listening more closely, of reflecting more
deeply, of a prayer that is more profoundly committed to love, of a
more transparent contemplation.
Contemplation permits us to see more clearly, and
seeing we can commit ourselves to love and to change what is not
according to God’s will. St. Alphonsus says, quoting St. Bernard,
that mental prayer brings us before a mirror, where we can see
ourselves as we are and are then capable of changing what has to be
changed.
S. Bernard, with regard to this, says that prayer
is like a mirror – how I like this illustration! If someone has a
blemish on his face, he goes before a mirror, sees it and removes
it; otherwise, the blemish stays there and always remains because he
cannot see it and thus does not remove it. Something like this
happens in prayer. If one has a fault, if one is in a perilous
situation, one goes to prayer and there, suddenly, as before a
mirror, sees in one’s conscience that defect, that danger of loosing
God, sees it and takes it away.
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