Contemplative Profiles: Teresa of Avila

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Teresa of Avila (1515 to 1582) is remembered as a practical mystic whose combination of contemplation and service make her a particularly friendly guide for Protestants seeking an introduction to contemplative practices. Her writings on spirituality, the soul, and spiritual direction are viewed as classics, and she used her considerable leadership abilities to found 14 Carmelite convents–a point that made her less than popular among the defensive men leading the church throughout Spain during her lifetime.

While we would do well to remember the writings of Teresa, another aspect of her legacy may provide particular encouragement. Her first 20 years in a convent were largely unproductive as she wavered with her commitment and struggled with sin. It took a dramatic spiritual encounter with Christ to finally propel her into deeper spiritual practices.

How many of us have worried about missing opportunities to draw near to God or struggling with sins for years? Teresa reminds us that there is always hope.

The Interior Castle is one of her best-known books on prayer, but this brief profile in Christian History offers a helpful introduction:

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“Whoever has not begun the practice of prayer, I beg for the love of the Lord not to go without so great a good. There is nothing here to fear but only something to desire.”

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The Interior Castle describes the soul as a “castle made entirely of diamond or of a very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms.” Some are above, some below, some to the sides, “and in the very center and middle is the main dwelling place where the very secret exchanges between God and the soul take place.” Teresa wanted to teach her readers how to enter this castle, that is, how to pray, so that they might commune more intimately with God.

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For Teresa true suffering comes from being in the world and serving others. Spiritual progress is measured neither by self-imposed penance nor by the sweetest pleasures of mystical experiences but by growth in constant love for others and an increasing desire within for the will of God.

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Read more…

 

For Reflection

How have your attempts at prayer been stifled by fear?

 

Contemplative Profiles: The Cloud of Unknowing

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

One of the most influential books on contemplative prayer was penned anonymously in Middle English in Midland England during the latter half of the 14th century. The monk, presumed to be a Carthusian dedicated to constant silence and contemplation, shared a series of instructions presumably with a student.

A series of 17 manuscripts preserved the book, and a handful of scholars and contemplatives studied it over the years. However, it finally took on a wider notice in the 1900’s as the contemplative prayer movement sought to make the prayer practices of the historic church accessible for all. While contemplative prayer was quite common among all Christians until the 1600’s, it has enjoyed a revival thanks to the faithful work of this solitary monk and those who have continued to practice the loving search for God.

 

We read the following about this anonymous monk in Christian History:

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“His intentional anonymity illustrates his main message: Christ must become more visible as his followers grow kinder and humbler. Anonymous wants readers “sincere in their intentions to follow Christ” in love. A series of letters written by this master teacher to his student, the Cloud represents the ancient tradition of Christian contemplative wisdom.”

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We can’t think our way to God. That’s why I’m willing to abandon everything I know, to love the one thing I cannot think. He can be loved, but not thought. By love, God can be embraced and held, but not by thinking.

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You only need a naked intent for God. When you long for him, that’s enough. If you want to gather this focus into one word, making it easier to grasp, select a little word of one syllable, not two. The shorter the word, the more it helps the work of the spirit. God or love works well. Fasten it to your heart. Fix your mind on it permanently, so nothing can dislodge it.

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Read more about the Cloud of Unknowing in the updated work by William Meninger, The Loving Search for God: Contemplative Prayer and the Cloud of Unknowing.

 

Reflection

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you a word or phrase you can focus on for five minutes today.

 

Contemplative Profiles: St. Benedict

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Benedict of Nursia is best known as the founder of the Benedictine order of monks and the author of the Rule of Benedict. The succinct, accessible rule is deeply rooted in scripture and based on his extensive pastoral experience as an abbot.

While Benedict was born to wealth and privilege, he ventured into the wilderness to pray alone in a cave. However, a series of miracles and visitors seeking his wisdom spread his fame. He soon founded monasteries throughout Italy in order to train those who sought to learn from his contemplative lifestyle that balanced work, prayer, and study.

Benedict has had a profound influence on the monastic history of Christianity, opting to create a space for prayer and community when his world was filled with violence, disparity, and uncertainty. His teachings and story remain timeless, as this article from Christian History shows:

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“Wave after wave of pagans invaded while the Roman Empire collapsed. Benedict responded to the anarchy of his time by founding monastic communities built on the ideal of cultivating a family spirit among the monks, on disciplined daily worship, on a balanced and non-competitive approach towards fasting and other ascetic practices, and on the dignity of manual work for rich and poor alike.”

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“Benedict’s entire life was a series of risings in the dark. He was up before 2 A.M. singing the divine office—the daily chanting of the Psalms in Latin. This music is still the heart of Benedictine life. Many times in the profound quiet after midnight, while most peasants, politicians, children, fishermen, high-born ladies, servants, teachers, and bakers were sound asleep, lights fired up in Benedict’s monasteries, and the man in a simple tunic began his day with a Psalm: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.”

Benedict knew that praising God is the best medicine for a flawed, poverty-stricken world. It requires rejecting arrogance, nurturing community, and understanding that even the oldest seeker of God is always a beginner. The epilogue of his Rule reminds us of this truth: “Whoever you may be rushing to your heavenly home, follow—with Christ’s help—this little rule we’ve written for beginners. Only then, as God watches over you, will you ultimately reach the soaring heights of doctrine and integrity.”

Gregory would have seen this as the best lesson taught by Benedict’s life: There is always more to learn. We are all always beginners. Kindness is never complete.”

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Read more here.

For Reflection

Consider how you are a beginner today.

Contemplative Profiles: Margery of Kempe

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Some of the most important reforms (or attempts at reforms!) in the history of the church came from women who not only held themselves to far more rigorous standards than men but who were rarely trusted. In fact, many female contemplatives were threatened with death, exile, or imprisonment.

Margery Kempe was one of the spiritual leaders of the Medieval Church who predated many of the critiques leveled by the Reformation, calling Christians to love and devotion to Christ rather than relying on external practices.

Today’s contemplative profile of Margery Kempe comes from a list of Women in the Medieval Church featured in Christianity Today: 

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“Accused by her contemporaries of fraud or heresy, and often ridiculed by later scholars as hysterical or even crazy, Margery Kempe was born in Lyon, England, c. 1373, and died after 1438. She was an illiterate laywoman turned religious enthusiast who dictated her spiritual autobiography, The Book of Margery Kempe. It is the earliest known autobiography in English…”

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“Margery’s message is the exhortation to a simple, direct relationship with Christ based on unconditional faith and fervent love. She repeatedly downplays the importance of externals (such as fasting and the wearing of hair shirts), which, as Christ teaches her, are nothing compared to fervent love and devotion.”

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Reflection

In what ways can external practices become a substitute for devotion to Christ today?

Take 5 minutes to receive the love of Christ for you without precondition or limits.

Contemplative Profiles: The Female Mystics of the Middle Ages

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

In the past I have made the mistake of ignoring the spiritual teachings of the Middle Ages, missing out on the rich contemplative practices that were documented at great personal cost. Dr. Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff notes in an article in Christianity Today that women were often denied educations in the Middle Ages, so their religious communities took on a more contemplative, creative, and spiritual shape, while many religious men leaned toward theological reflection.

This resulted in a unique spirituality from women who experienced the love of God in rich and vibrant encounters. Perhaps the simplicity of their spirituality became their greatest strength. While some female mystics from this time were supported by the church hierarchy, many wrote down their accounts and visions despite heated opposition, risking persecution and even death at the hands of controlling church leaders.

Dr. Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff writes about female mystics for Christianity Today:

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We think of the Middle Ages as the age of faith, and so it was, but it was also an age of crisis. In such a context, mysticism was not a retreat from the negative aspects of reality, but a creative marshaling of energy in order to transform reality and one’s perception of it.

Mystics were the teachers of the age, inspired leaders who synthesized Christian tradition and proposed new models for the Christian community. We know some of the men—Bernard of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas—but we are not as familiar with the women, although they were actually more numerous. Hildegard of Bingen, Clare of Assisi, Beatrijs of Nazareth, Angela of Foligno, Julian of Norwich, and other women mystics drew on their experience of the divine to provide spiritual guidance for others. Such women became highly respected leaders of the faithful. Their role as prophets and healers was the one exception to women’s presumed inferiority in medieval society.

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She goes on to write:

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Dame Julian of Norwich said in her Showings: “ … God forbid that you should say or assume that I am a teacher … for I am a woman, ignorant, weak and frail. But I know very well that what I am saying I have received by the revelation of him who is the sovereign teacher … because I am a woman, ought I therefore to believe that I should not tell you of the goodness of God, when I saw at that same time that it is his will that it be known?”

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As we honor their legacy, learn from their wisdom, and embody their practices, may we have the courage to share with others the ways God has spoken to us.

 

Reflection

Take 5 minutes to ask God what you need to receive today.

Remain open to sharing that with someone else if appropriate.

 

 

Contemplative Profiles: Julian of Norwich

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

We best know Julian of Norwich for saying: “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.” 

Despite her optimism in this statement, Julian lived in the late 1300’s in England, facing plague and violent warfare, to say nothing of a church hierarchy that could turn on her in light of her visions of Christ.

At the age of 13 in May 1373, Julian suffered a severe illness and experienced a series of sixteen “showings” or visions of Christ. These visions revealed the love of God in ways seemed to run counter to the assumptions about God during her time, but she managed to both live a quiet life as a female hermit and to put her experiences down on paper. Julian was the first woman to publish a book in English: Revelations of Divine Love.

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She is remembered by biographer Amy Frykholm as a mystic who embraced suffering–almost to the point that one would raise an eyebrow. However, the depth of her compassion for others cannot be separated from her embracing of the sufferings of Christ and the suffering of others.

Reviewer Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove writes,

Julian’s compassion grows out of her passion—a suffering both in and of the church, but a suffering that nevertheless reveals the love at the heart of the church. Julian gets God’s love not because she retreated from the world and focused on spiritual things, but because “she chose Jesus over the bliss of heaven.”

Contemplating a crucifix that began to drip blood onto what she thought would be her deathbed, Julian saw and later wrote about a vision of God that was revolutionary to the church authorities of her day—indeed, to many church leaders in our own time.

May we have eyes to see the suffering of others around us.

May we remember that the cross wasn’t just the means of our salvation. It was the way of life that Jesus modeled and expected us to follow.

 

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death…

Philippians 3:10, NRSV

 

Reflection

Remain open to the ways you can share in the suffering of Christ today.

 

Contemplative Profiles: St. Ignatius of Loyola

Posted on by Ed Cyzewski

Ignatius of Loyola was a former soldier who was known for extraordinary bravery and discipline. After a serious injury left him alone for a long and painful time of recovery, Ignatius read about the life of Jesus and the stories of the saints. He found a new calling for his life and dedicated up to seven hours of his day to prayer.

While praying in solitude, he developed his Spiritual Exercises which formed the foundation of the Jesuits, a spiritual order he founded later in his life along with a group of friends.

The legacy of Ignatius is difficult to untangle. Was he a Catholic mystic on the brink of heresy? Was he a zealous counter-reformer who opposed the Reformation? Where does his legacy of spiritual direction and spiritual practices fit into how we remember him?

Even the Jesuits, whom Ignatius founded, remain divided over his legacy. However, as more Catholics and Protestants discover his work, there’s no doubt that many have benefitted from his emphasis on meditation and awareness throughout the day, such as his use of the Examen. One writer sums up his influence in this way:

“The Spiritual Exercises focus not only on our intellect, but also on our feelings and emotions. It is through all of our senses that we can come to know and experience God in our daily lives.”

Whatever Ignatius would have thought about a Protestant writer leaning so heavily on his spiritual practices today, Christians from every background and denomination can enter into prayer with greater awareness and freedom because of the practices he passed on to us.

Learn more about Ignatian spirituality here.

 

Paraphrase of the First Foundation of the Spiritual Exercises

The Goal of our life is to live with God forever.
God, who loves us, gave us life.
Our own response of love allows God’s life
to flow into us without limit.

All the things in this world are gifts from God,
Presented to us so that we can know God more easily
and make a return of love more readily.
As a result, we appreciate and use all these gifts of God
Insofar as they help us to develop as loving persons.
But if any of these gifts become the center of our lives,
They displace God
And so hinder our growth toward our goal.

In everyday life, then, we must hold ourselves in balance
Before all of these created gifts insofar as we have a choice
And are not bound by some obligation.
We should not fix our desires on health or sickness,
Wealth or poverty, success or failure, a long life or a short one.
For everything has the potential of calling forth in us
A deeper response to our life in God.

Our only desire and our one choice should be this:
I want and I choose what better leads
To God’s deepening his life in me.

Source: Ignatian Solidarity Network

 

Reflection

Ask God to deepen his life in you today.