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- The Path of Centering Prayer and Welcoming Prayer
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A combination Visio/Lectio a blend of image and words of Myra Scopel, took me to my childhood, where prairie willows on the edge of a slough and prairie poplars were the only trees dotting our prairie landscape. A prairie breeze among the poplars was a special experience. There would be a slight wave of the leaf, a greeting or a good bye gesture, when the wind was gentle; a stronger breeze the twigs and the leaves danced in unison. This produced a chatter among the poplars, they were talking to each other. I am recalling how I stood in silence wrapped up in the chatter my spirit joining in whispers. And so I began my Visio/Lectio. We didn’t rake leaves in my childhood. Nature took care of them. We could see them bunched up here and there where eventually each gave up its life eventually blending into the landscape. Following centering prayer I am left in the arms of the Holy Spirit brushing away layers of my ego debris, my cheeks full of air releasing; profound sigh, a period to my experience. A lingering recall follows, as I bow in gratitude.
Thank you, Pam and team for introducing the clip from Carolyn Myss at this timed in WoW. Carolyn is the amazing woman that compliments/unfolds an understanding of one’s personal experience of the human condition. Currently I am part of a situation where understanding this Archetype is a helpful key to crossing a threshold none of us chose but through which we can grow into embracing a new path through empowering….oneself, those with whom I walk.
Through much Welcoming Prayer-ing , body consenting and correctly naming my anger I am moving beyond the experience of being held captive i.e. stunned, to accepting the path through Lamentations 3:21-26 as this “inside/outside” kind of person that I am, accept my place as part of a multitude in mourning.
From the abyss of stunned, the only consolation is in these words from Romans 13:18: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one anther. Consolation yes, but also a consenting recommitment. And so, I begin/end my sits with these consenting gestures : I await, I allow, I accept, I attend in humble humility, stunned..
Thank you, Linda and Thomas for your sharing just as the reflection for the week are unfolding, as I embark upon a most difficult situation the likes of which I/we had never envisioned. The meat of this week’s reflection are so appropriate as I with many others sit stunned! I needed to hear your reflection. Multiple thanks! God does provide in mysterious ways, though I know noting of the providing at this time. The stunned me/us sit in stuntedness!
Initially avoiding the image: Ecstasy of the lilies, yet drawn to it. Lillies are one of the triggers for a major migraine, and yet there was a serenity, the vast blue- then a revelatory connection, the title: New Self Blooming and Franciscan “ego poverty”. It is only in embracing my ego poverty that the “me” that is the Image of God, blossoms, totally the work of the Indwelling Spirit. It is this Indwelling Spirit in charge of my “New Self Blooming”. I fall into a deep sigh….
Following a leisurely first acquaintance of this week’s WoW this phrase “In contemplation we meet our shared poverty and vulnerability in the one heart of God in center to center oneness”, caught my attention, almost anticipatory attention: shared poverty and vulnerability. My egoic self longs for, needs to embrace this shared dimension, center to center in the heart of God. Great joy rises from deep, deep within as , now, is it erasing my poor me egoic self or is it liberating my egoic self? And so, I consent as part of a consenting cohort to the presence and action of the Indwelling Spirit as I begin this week.
My attention to periphery seekers has been that of a holy fool. In the past I followed the invitation to move on “so to speak”. At each move there were kindred spirits. Now living this reality is more solitary. The beckoning wisdom is to embrace the vulnerability of emptying, one breathe at a time, a deeper level of willingness. Besides the Welcome Prayer, the body gestures of consenting, namely, await, allow, accept, attend, are my companions this week and for some time now. Interestingly the figures in the image are headless. For me “abyss living” holds the key of holy fool emptying the head cannot grasp.
The sharings here in writing and those of the Wednesday group are also my valued companions in my daily life.
Lectio Divina this week, what some consider as Jesus’ response being rather abrasive, is a source of deep grace for me. Sometimes Jesus has to do that for people like me, whose egoic tap root is quite deep, more deeper than I could ever imagine. My unconscious hurting of others behavior needed to be further exposed. The Welcome prayer, now a daily companion, is a great gift from the Indwelling Spirit, the poking at the scabs of selfishness, indifference, too-me centered. Some times my cry for courage to accept with humility my self-centered attitude and behavior resulting in wounding others, comes from a depth I had sealed off.
I so appreciated sharings at the Wednesday afternoon group, yesterday was particularly poignant. Carolyn’s organization of the lectio gave me a most helpful focus. The line “liminal space that space between the boat and the reality of the storm” I am taking to a Visio Divina of the image. I see outstretched arms ( I think of Moses praying with outstretched arms during the battle <my tempest>), my body consenting with these gestures: I await, I allow, I accept, I await ( outstretched arms). I see this face ” paying attention to my inner experience in new ways”, this globe of light,( in the centre a quarter of the up in the image) is it this me made in the image and likeness of God or is it the light of the indwelling Spirit? Or is it a melding? Lately, my opening prayer to a ‘sit’ is “I don’t know how to ask, so I just sit here and allow you this Indwelling Spirit to pray in me for what you most want to bestow”
These past two weeks I have been aware of thin places, my being is propelled into joy and delight, right down into my unique place “you are created into my image and likeness”; moments of liberation that this is not all about me. This next chapter Adeline-unfolding, it’s okay that my final report will give no concrete actions, only words of launching, trusting that the Indwelling Spirit has the plan and can will orchestrate all those listening, as I am, to the Indwelling Spirit at work bearing the fruit of our collaborative consenting, this movement awaiting/allowing/accepting/attending. An examen of “noticing how I pay attention” is a further humble owning of multitasking and flights into fancy of this long taproot of my egoic happiness program. So grateful for the glue of these words from Psalm 18: ‘The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, source of me salvation, my stronghold.”
Just a thought from my many years of experience, mine and those I have accompanied. Were Augustine’s “fruitless years outside himself” actually fruitless? Another quote from Augustine’s writings would contradict this when he says: there are three kinds of present: the present of the present moment( my life as it is now), the present of the past( memory recall where healing and savoring are in the present of the present) and the present of the future ( my fears, my hope, my dreams, goals, not yet). Did not Augustine go from many words, to few words and from few words to one word and from one word into silence? Now in my own life, my dreaming time of my real life, the Indwelling Spirit is washing up on the shores of my awareness, the shadow lingering’s from the deep roots of my egoic happiness program begun now ever so long ago. Waking this morning as each element after another popped up (was revealed )from my dream time, I prayed the Welcome Prayer as I kept embracing this moment as it is. Now six hours into the awake time of my life, I feel freed. My mind is clear to welcome some difficult decisions that have to be made. I accept only what is my part in a corporate decision as I let go of the not yet.
Much of my kindness Awareness Examen this week was consoling with moments of joy, delight, connection, curiosity, affirmation, etc. Early in the week words like “clinging, futility, sadness, helplessness” flagged into my awareness. Then Paula D’Arcy’s contemplative observation on “clinging” in Richard Rohr’s mediation today cracked the walnut of my loving kindness’ experiences. Way back in my growing up years, being kind was expected. It was the way of the ethnic group I belong to survived. Be kind. Work hard. So what is being revealed this week is that my well established “clinging” of my happiness program prevents me from seeing reality as it is. My kindness program is being liberated propelling me into a joy in the deepest of my inner most being that is pure gift. Last weekend I order too much Chinese food. So I began knocking on doors in my apartment block. The first was a young Muslim family. So I paused for a chat about their food preparations, which meant they could not accept this food. The next was a middle-aged jolly kind of man who hesitated because he had nothing to give me in return. I kept stressing: “it is free, I just over ordered.” So- kindness is a free gift with a smile!
A Visio Divina this week spoke deeply into my being, a new depth to a Scripture passage that has been so meaningful to me over these past 50 + years. Today is the feast of Mary Magdalene, another of my faithful companions. Like in the image , Moses left hand , again, a new depth to ” My heart burns within me…”, two facial images appear, one the penetrating eyes of the Indwelling Spirit, another that of a wolf; I pause and allow it to speak into my soul. Moses right foot helps me realize, that inner program of happiness has deep roots, when I do brace myself, something equivalent to grinding my teeth. I continue to consent with the gestures of the body prayer of a few weeks back.
Hello N, McInnes, wonderful that the Welcome Prayer is a way for you to begin your day. Much of our unconscious “work” goes on during the night. I find praying the W.P. the last thing as my day closes is a further consenting to the Indwelling Spirit whose work is going on all the time even when I sleep. Blessings to you, dear WoW companion.
