For Those who have Ears to Hear
Centering prayer is the meadowlike gateway to the broad, wondrous valley of contemplative prayer. And these forms of prayer are for me the oyster in which the pearl of great price is found. The Church has had great outpourings of contemplative prayer through the ages, but the secular Age of Reason…all but extinguished the light of contemplation… We’ve learned much about ourselves, our planet and our universe since then. If we’re honest with ourselves, the more we learn, the less we know. And, the more we learn, the more the universe speaks to us of God and his infinite creativity, wisdom and love—for those who have ears to hear.
But we often can’t see it by just looking at creation. We must look to the Creator; we must spend time being still in his presence, like a child resting against its mother (Psalm 131). We must spend time in silence with him, allowing him to work inside us in ways that are far beyond our comprehension. We must learn to spend time loving him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength—by giving our heart, soul, mind and strength to him, by turning away from every thought but our Beloved.
I believe that just as the spiritual gifts spoken of in 1 Cor. 12-14 were restored to the Church in the twentieth century, God is restoring contemplative prayer to his people in the twenty-first century. (And, yes, the Bible does speak in many places of contemplation. Chapter 3 delves more deeply into what the Bible says, from a contemplative viewpoint.) I believe that in a hundred years, these practices will be as much a part of many churches as waiting on God for prophecy, wisdom or healing are today.
God is on the move! Don’t let him pass you by. Find a quiet place, as Jesus did, and spend some time in prayer and meditation on his Word. A good scripture to start with is John 12:24: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it falls and dies, it brings forth much fruit.” Then, when you’re finished, don’t just get up and leave. Remain silently with God for awhile. Like that grain of wheat, learn to die with Christ in stillness and silence, in the places deep within you where only God can see; then watch what God brings to the light as you spend time waiting on him in this way daily. As with the germination of a seed deep in the ground, the things we can’t see hold the greatest potential for transformation. “For the things we see are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (II Cor. 4:18). In that stillness and silence, you’ll be able to start receiving the hidden manna (Rev. 2:17) as you begin to discover the wondrous truth that only the crucified are truly alive.
Book excerpt from Contemplation: Only the Crucified are Truly Alive
Gary Michael Hassig
From the Introduction, pp. 25-26
