Word
Gems
What is a
man but the sum of his thoughts?
Prayer:
- Transforming Power
- Fr. Henri J.M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: "How
should one pray? ... There is no need at all to make long discourses; it is enough to
stretch out one's hand and say, Lord, as you will, and as you know, have mercy.
And if the conflict grows fiercer say: Lord, help. He knows very well what we
need and he shows us his mercy... do not try to express yourself in fancy words... Do
not strive for verbosity lest your mind be distracted from devotion by a search
for words. One phrase on the lips of the tax collector was enough to win God's mercy; one
humble request made with faith was enough to save the good thief... single words of their
very nature tend to concentrate the mind. When you find satisfaction or compunction in a
certain word of your prayer, stop at that point... The quiet repetition of a
single word can help us to descend with the mind into the heart... repeated
frequently [it] can help us to concentrate, to move to the center, to create an inner
stillness and thus listen to the voice of God... when we use a ... word such as Lord
or Jesus, it is easier to let the many distractions pass by without being misled
by them. Such a simple, easily repeated prayer can slowly empty out our crowded
interior life and create the quiet space where we can dwell with God... Our
choice of words depends on our needs and the circumstances of the moment, but it
is best to use words from Scripture... When we have spent twenty minutes in the
early morning sitting in the presence of God with the words, The Lord is my Shepherd, they may slowly
build a little nest for themselves in our heart and stay there for
the rest of our busy day...
-
"Solitude is the furnace of transformation... [it is not] a private
therapeutic place. Rather, it is the place of conversion, the place where
the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man
and the new woman occurs... In solitude I get rid of my scaffolding: no friends to talk
with, no telephone calls to make, no meetings to attend, no music to entertain, no books
to distract, just me -- naked, vulnerable, weak, sinful, deprived, broken -- nothing.
It is this nothingness that I face in solitude, a nothingness so dreadful that everything
in me wants to run to my friends, my work, and my distractions so that I can
forget my nothingness and make myself believe that I am worth something... As soon as I
decide to stay in my solitude, confusing ideas, disturbing images, wild fantasies, and
weird associations jump about in my mind... Anger and greed begin to show their ugly
faces. I give long hostile speeches to my enemies and dream lustful dreams in which I am
wealthy, influential, and very attractive -- or poor, ugly, and in need of immediate
consolation. Thus I try again to run from the dark abyss of my nothingness and restore my
false self in all its vulgarity... The task is to persevere in my solitude
... until all my seductive visitors get tired of pounding on my door and leave me alone...
The struggle is real because the danger is real. It is the danger of living the whole of
our life as one long defense against the reality of our condition, one restless effort to
convince ourselves of our virtuousness... It is the struggle to die to the false
self... [We must come to the point where] our own frightening nothingness forces
us to surrender ourselves totally and unconditionally to the Lord Jesus Christ... Only
with Christ can we overcome the powers of evil...
"We enter into solitude first of all to meet our Lord and to be with him and
him alone. Our primary task in solitude, therefore, is not to pay undue attention
to the many faces which assail us, but to keep the eyes of our mind and heart on him who
is our divine savior. Only in the context of grace can we face our sin;
only in the place of healing do we dare to show our wounds; only with a single-minded
attention to Christ can we give up our clinging fears and face our own true nature. As we
come to realize that it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us, that he is our
true self, we can slowly let our compulsions melt away and begin to experience the freedom
of children of God... set apart a time and place to be with God and him alone... [Solitude]
is the place where Christ remodels us in his own image and frees us from the compulsions
of the world...
-
- "Three Fathers used to go and visit blessed Anthony [who had spent much time with
the Lord] every year and two of them used to discuss their thoughts ... but the third
always remained silent and did not ask him anything. After a long time, Abba Anthony said
to him: 'You often come here to see me, but you never ask me anything,' and the other
replied, 'It is enough to see you, Father.'
"This story is a fit ending to this book. By the time people feel that just
seeing us is ministry, words such as these will no longer be necessary."
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