In these times…The Primary Presence

Both our Charism/Mission Statement and our new Focus Statement call for a type of “presence.” There are quality ways of “being present.” But there is a type of presence that grounds them all for the Dominican worded-woman or man. It’s the challenge of a contemplative presence.

If we are honest, many of us have to admit that we really haven’t received much training in contemplative prayer. We say, “Well, I go to chapel or sit down in my room, and then I fidget. I really don’t know what to do next.”* First, we need to become clear about what we can do, and what we can’t do.  Acquired contemplation is what we can do. Infused contemplation is what God does.

This kind of presence can be uncomfortable at first, and that’s why many of us avoid it. We feel so useless, so helpless, and so we pick up our book or our rosary, and that’s how we spend the time of prayer. Contemplative presence is coming before the gaze of love and “sitting in the Son” just as one would do outdoors getting a tan. It is showing up, being “present,” and letting God look love into us for about 60 seconds, doing nothing but squirming. We know how it feels to sense someone is “looking at us.” This look of love and acceptance is very intimate, and it “undoes” us. It gently begins to cleanse our ego, and we do nothing but “let it be done.”

 We begin the time of personal prayer with this kind of presence. When we complete it we may go on to our scripture or rosary. As we begin, our attention will start to wander, so we enter the discipline of taking it by the hand and teaching it a little “diddy” to keep it occupied. This is called a mantra. The shorter the better, with a bit of rhythm. “Je-sus, Je-sus” or “mer-cy, mer-cy.” We repeat it to keep our focus on those loving eyes looking at us. We even say it out loud, or mumble it. This simple two-syllable mantra in the East grew into the full Jesus prayer, getting quite long, but I suggest beginning with a shorter form in tune with your heart beat or breathing. We give ourselves a time limit…first five, then ten minutes. Then we start the discipline of doing it daily, and it is not negotiable. This is our part, and there is very little in it for us, except the satisfaction that we are doing it daily. In the meantime God is honoring our decision by doing God’s part. Our consciousness needs to be trained, cleansed, and filled with the peace won for us as our Easter gift. God is very busy. We just show up and do our little thing. Faithfully.

Now and then, once the consciousness is trained to focus and receive, God will come by and sweep us off our feet. This is infused contemplation, and we do not cause it, or stop it. It is God’s doing. Often it will be a brief moment while we are folding laundry, or brushing out teeth. God decides.

This practice of the “loving look” bears fruit. It cleanses our consciousness to look at the news, at people, with a clarity that grows deeper with the practice. We begin to bring this kind of  presence to meetings, to phone conversations. It is like fragrance in a room. It is “marinating’ the consciousness, soaking the soul. We become fruitful. This is our primary presence.

*If you haven’t read “The Cloud of Unknowing” I urge you to take a look at it. It is a classic, and will introduce you to this kind of prayer. Don’t give up when you start to read it…stay with it.