Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
PURE DEVOTION CONQUERS
PURE DEVOTION CONQUERS
With Baba's guidance, Nana developed so much of reverence for the female form that even when alone in a sequestered chamber, within closed doors with a young, beautiful person, he still would retainreverence for the lady and not have thoughts of sex. This was demonstrated in the case of Bannu Mayi.
Bannu Mayi (a young Muslim girl of 20) lived in a village, Bodegaom, 50 miles away from Ahmednagar, and she had the local reputation of being a mad girl. She was possessed of great beauty. She behaved most erratically and wandered anywhere and everywhere without dress amidst bushed and thorns and did not show the least sign of observing the rules of propriety demanded of women. Her mother thought she was hopelessly mad. So also thought most of the villagers.
But a few had noted that her conduct showed that she was highly inspired and that she was a saint. Nana wanted to take darsan of her and asked Baba for permission. Baba, though he first objected, finally granted the permission saying, ''Go, you will have darsan." That darsan was no easy joke. Nana went with plenty of preparations, taking a tent, bathing materials, ornaments, food, Sari (dress) etc., and setting these up, was waiting for her. He could not find out where she was, and nobody could tell him anything about her. Some people even got angry at Nana, a young officer questioning about whereabouts of a lady who mostly went naked. Then finally, worried in his mind, Nana thought of Baba and prayed to him. When he opened his eyes, Bannu Mayi was right in front of him on the road. He made his prostration (namaskar) with a feeling of reverence and without the least touch of the sexual urge. He began to take out the thorns that were found on her feet, but in a second, the saint, who did not care for such good offices, got up and went away.
Again Nana was in great difficulties. He wanted that she should come, have a bath, wear the cloth and the ornaments he had brought for her, and should taste the naivedya which he had placed inside the tent. He waited and waited and at last prayed to Baba. Suddenly Bannu Mayi appeared, entered the tent, had her bath, put new cloths, the ornaments and the tali or token of Saumangalya (as Goddess Parvati must wear a tali) specially prepared for her, and ate some of the naivedya. Nana fell at her feet, treating her as Mother Goddess, and at once she disappeared.
Nana spent the night in a temple within closed doors, and early morning, before starting to go away, he just thought that it would be a special blessing if Bannu Mayi should give him one more darsan before he departed. In a second, Bannu Mayi was somehow there within closed doors right in front of him. Nana fell at her feet.
Obviously Bannu Mayi was a highly advanced Siddha and perfectly pure, and Nana with perfect purity, through only of falling at her feet, and had not the least touch of sex urge at the presence of young andbeautiful lady in solitude within closed doors. This, Bannu Mayi's case is a fairly good proof that Nana had conquered his sex urge at least to the extreme possible.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
With Baba's guidance, Nana developed so much of reverence for the female form that even when alone in a sequestered chamber, within closed doors with a young, beautiful person, he still would retainreverence for the lady and not have thoughts of sex. This was demonstrated in the case of Bannu Mayi.
Bannu Mayi (a young Muslim girl of 20) lived in a village, Bodegaom, 50 miles away from Ahmednagar, and she had the local reputation of being a mad girl. She was possessed of great beauty. She behaved most erratically and wandered anywhere and everywhere without dress amidst bushed and thorns and did not show the least sign of observing the rules of propriety demanded of women. Her mother thought she was hopelessly mad. So also thought most of the villagers.
But a few had noted that her conduct showed that she was highly inspired and that she was a saint. Nana wanted to take darsan of her and asked Baba for permission. Baba, though he first objected, finally granted the permission saying, ''Go, you will have darsan." That darsan was no easy joke. Nana went with plenty of preparations, taking a tent, bathing materials, ornaments, food, Sari (dress) etc., and setting these up, was waiting for her. He could not find out where she was, and nobody could tell him anything about her. Some people even got angry at Nana, a young officer questioning about whereabouts of a lady who mostly went naked. Then finally, worried in his mind, Nana thought of Baba and prayed to him. When he opened his eyes, Bannu Mayi was right in front of him on the road. He made his prostration (namaskar) with a feeling of reverence and without the least touch of the sexual urge. He began to take out the thorns that were found on her feet, but in a second, the saint, who did not care for such good offices, got up and went away.
Again Nana was in great difficulties. He wanted that she should come, have a bath, wear the cloth and the ornaments he had brought for her, and should taste the naivedya which he had placed inside the tent. He waited and waited and at last prayed to Baba. Suddenly Bannu Mayi appeared, entered the tent, had her bath, put new cloths, the ornaments and the tali or token of Saumangalya (as Goddess Parvati must wear a tali) specially prepared for her, and ate some of the naivedya. Nana fell at her feet, treating her as Mother Goddess, and at once she disappeared.
Nana spent the night in a temple within closed doors, and early morning, before starting to go away, he just thought that it would be a special blessing if Bannu Mayi should give him one more darsan before he departed. In a second, Bannu Mayi was somehow there within closed doors right in front of him. Nana fell at her feet.
Obviously Bannu Mayi was a highly advanced Siddha and perfectly pure, and Nana with perfect purity, through only of falling at her feet, and had not the least touch of sex urge at the presence of young andbeautiful lady in solitude within closed doors. This, Bannu Mayi's case is a fairly good proof that Nana had conquered his sex urge at least to the extreme possible.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Love is not a thing measured by a thermometer or by the quantity of good or sacrifices rendered; though all these do count. We may roughly begin a statement of how love works and then deal with Purandhare's case. When two persons are greatly attached to each other we find that no other expression would describe the situation than love. Friendship, admiration, gratitude, loyalty, faithfulness, regard, worship, all these blend together in many a case, as it did in Purandhare's case also. So, let us begin an account of how Purandhare's love began.
In the case of most people approaching Baba within the last decade of his life, they were impelled to go to Baba by hearing accounts of Baba. Das Ganu was mostly the source of this inspiration. Das Gnu, though himself not pre-eminent in his love for Baba, had the wonderful charm of eloquence and some amount of real bhakti. He was an expert in the Kirtankars' line, that is, in telling harikathas about saints and holy persons. He generally began with an account of the day's topic, say, Tukaram or Namdev, but he always kept Sai Baba's picture close to him and never failed to refer to Sri Sai Baba as the present day illustration of greatness of the bhakti of the ancient or mediaeval saints.
He would say, `Here is Tukaram's great love and greatness in surrendering to God and getting the most marvellous benefits. If you wish to know if there is any such person now in the flesh who can give you the same benefit, then I will tell you `Here is this Sai Baba. He is present day representative of mediaval saintship. What Ramdas was to Sivaji, that Sai Baba is to innumerable people who approach him in the proper spirit'. Then he would give an account of some of the marvellous lilas and dealings of Baba with his devotees. Thus, besides the fact that thousands attended his kirtan, his account and inspiration would pass on from one to another, and after his kirtan people, having learnt of Sai Baba, would rush to see him. It is rarely that one gets a chance to meet a Tukaram in the flesh, a Namdev in the flesh, and if one gets a chance, surely one does not wish to lose it. so, having heard of Sai Baba from Das Ganu andothers.
Purandhare's nature was fired with the ambition of contacting Sai Baba. Purandhare's own nature was very simple and highly emotional. He was a plain man and did not care to twist and turn phrases indescribing things. When he found that Sai Baba was a powerful saint living in the flesh and was showering benefits like Ramdas. Akkalkote Maharaj and other Samarthas, he naturally wanted to take the earliest opportunity to got to Shirdi and that he did. In his case, going to Shirdi was not an easy matter. He was only a petty clerk on Rs. 35 per month. he had to support a family of four or five including hismother, his wife, his brother and a child. Yet, the spark of enthusiasm in his heart did not find these to be difficulties.
Love is not a thing measured by a thermometer or by the quantity of good or sacrifices rendered; though all these do count. We may roughly begin a statement of how love works and then deal with Purandhare's case. When two persons are greatly attached to each other we find that no other expression would describe the situation than love. Friendship, admiration, gratitude, loyalty, faithfulness, regard, worship, all these blend together in many a case, as it did in Purandhare's case also. So, let us begin an account of how Purandhare's love began.
In the case of most people approaching Baba within the last decade of his life, they were impelled to go to Baba by hearing accounts of Baba. Das Ganu was mostly the source of this inspiration. Das Gnu, though himself not pre-eminent in his love for Baba, had the wonderful charm of eloquence and some amount of real bhakti. He was an expert in the Kirtankars' line, that is, in telling harikathas about saints and holy persons. He generally began with an account of the day's topic, say, Tukaram or Namdev, but he always kept Sai Baba's picture close to him and never failed to refer to Sri Sai Baba as the present day illustration of greatness of the bhakti of the ancient or mediaeval saints.
He would say, `Here is Tukaram's great love and greatness in surrendering to God and getting the most marvellous benefits. If you wish to know if there is any such person now in the flesh who can give you the same benefit, then I will tell you `Here is this Sai Baba. He is present day representative of mediaval saintship. What Ramdas was to Sivaji, that Sai Baba is to innumerable people who approach him in the proper spirit'. Then he would give an account of some of the marvellous lilas and dealings of Baba with his devotees. Thus, besides the fact that thousands attended his kirtan, his account and inspiration would pass on from one to another, and after his kirtan people, having learnt of Sai Baba, would rush to see him. It is rarely that one gets a chance to meet a Tukaram in the flesh, a Namdev in the flesh, and if one gets a chance, surely one does not wish to lose it. so, having heard of Sai Baba from Das Ganu andothers.
Purandhare's nature was fired with the ambition of contacting Sai Baba. Purandhare's own nature was very simple and highly emotional. He was a plain man and did not care to twist and turn phrases indescribing things. When he found that Sai Baba was a powerful saint living in the flesh and was showering benefits like Ramdas. Akkalkote Maharaj and other Samarthas, he naturally wanted to take the earliest opportunity to got to Shirdi and that he did. In his case, going to Shirdi was not an easy matter. He was only a petty clerk on Rs. 35 per month. he had to support a family of four or five including hismother, his wife, his brother and a child. Yet, the spark of enthusiasm in his heart did not find these to be difficulties.
He fixed upon a certain day to leave for Shirdi, and if we see what he did, we will see exactly what love does. He was naturally to go with his wife and mother. But his young child was unwell and the mother thought that it was foolish to risk taking a little child with fever for such a great distance. Bombay to Shirdi. Yet, Purandhare would not brook a denial of his wishes. He must go and he would leave and take the child with him inspite of his mother's protest.
Look at this! He is taking risks with his only child's health. And what for? To meet the great Sai. The burning enthusiasm of his love for Baba bore down all considerations of ordinary precautions or medial advice and they did go. His love was accompanied by intense faith. So, Baba justified his faith and his love in what followed. When the child was taken with an illness to Shirdi, it quickly regained health instead of suffering. This is a chamatkar of Baba and it is these chamatkars which first tell upon an emotional mind. Upasani Baba says,
Aneka Ascruta Atarkysya Lila Vilasam
Samavishkrita Isana Bhasvat Prabhavam
in his Sai Mahima stotra, composed in 1912. That is Sai Baba's divine or superhuman character was evidenced by innumerable and unheard of miraculous achievements and chamatkars. Yet he was
Ahambhavahinam Prasannatmabhavanam
Namami Iswaram sadgurum sainatham.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
DAS GANU MAHARAJ COMING UNDER BABA'S FOLD
DAS GANU MAHARAJ COMING UNDER BABA'S FOLD
After Nana Chandorkar, the logical, chronological and the appropriate name to deal with is that of Ganpat Rao Dattatreya Sahasrabuddhe, popularly known as Das Ganu Maharaj. His importance for the SaiMovement consists in the fact the rapid spread of Baba's name in Maharastra was due very largely to his efforts, Baba fully well foresaw or ordained it. In 1890 Das Ganu was a constable and play actor of village plays of an obscene character.
Baba drew him to himself for the double purpose of improving his (Ganu's) own spiritual condition and thereafter rendering signal service to the public for the spread of Sai faith. When first he came to Shirdi, he came as the `orderly' of (i.e., constable attending on) Nana Saheb Chandorkar, and whenever Chandorkar visited Shirdi, Ganpat Rao followed him as his Constable, not at all out of faith in, or love for, Sai, but because the master compelled him to.
For a very long time, Das Ganu could not appreciate Baba. Up to the end, he could not realize Baba as really Deva i.e., God or as his Guru Deva, though he had high regard for him and his powers and wroteor sang of him with poetic skill describing Baba as Ramavara i.e., God, doing lip service. That was why he went to one Islampurkar, a Brahmin Guru, to get his initiation long after he met and dealt with Baba (a step which Baba naturally did not object to when Das Ganu reported the fact to Baba). Anyhow Baba made a remarkable change in the personality of Das Ganu, and as Ganu also realised how powerfulBaba's influence on him was. It has been mostly an unwilling submission on the part of Das Ganu to Sai Baba's yoke.
At his earliest advent to Shirdi, Baba noted the nature of Ganpat Rao, and determined that his nature, calling and work should all be totally changed. His nature then was just that of Police Constablewho had hardly any education, but who was very clever in composing Lavani metre songs in Mahratti impromptu and in taking a female's part in lewd village dramas. He would put up on female dress anddance about in the village and take great pleasure in that achievement. His great ambition was to rise in his profession. The Police Department by itself was not a particularly moral department, and for one who was ambitious to rise in it, one's regard for truth, righteousness, fair dealing, etc., would practically nil, andscruples, conscience, and character were unwanted hindrances to efficiency. Knowing all these dangers and the real dormant capacity of a man, Baba, from the very beginning told Das Ganu to give up bothhis attachments, namely, (1) attachment to the village dance and drama and (2) attachment to the police profession.
Chandorkar also pressed this upon Ganpat Rao. With great difficulty Ganpat Rao was weaned away from drama. But as for the profession, he would not give it up. The charm of holding the position of Sub-Inspector (Fouzdar) and lording it over people was too powerful for him to resist. When Baba said, `Ganu, you had better give up your police service,' Das Ganu replied, `Baba, let me become a Sub Inspector (for which position I have passed the departmental examination) and hold the appointment for only one year, and thereafter, I will give it up'. Baba replied that he was not going to get the Sub Inspectorship, and He would see to it that he did not get it. So, Baba's work was to bring in difficulty after difficulty, pressure after pressure to bear upon Ganpat Rao; and Ganpat Rao had innumerable difficulties even without Baba adding to them.
For instance, he was fond of touring to distance places of pilgrimage outside his official limits, and he would go without taking the permission of his superiors, which would not be easily granted. On one such occasion, he had gone to a shrine in the `Nizam's State' and was returning. His fellow constables were highly envious of him, and they wanted to pluck the feathers. So, when he was returning to his place, and when he was still on the Nizam's side of the river Godavari, the envious constables were on the other side watching to catch him. He noted this fact and felt that he would surely be dismissed. So, he took up Godavari water in both his palms and swore by that "Ganga" water, (as it is called) `Baba let me escape this time. I shall certainly give up my police service'.
Then he went back into the Nizam's State just a short distance, when lo! and behold, there was proof of Baba's Grace! A village Munsif came to him and told him that certain dacoits were dividing their booty secretly and all that the Village Munsif wanted was a police gentleman with authority to arrest them. So Ganpat Rao went, seized the dacoits and the booty, and proudly returned to his own station on the other side of the Godavari. When questioned how he went out without permission, his reply was that he had gone there for the seizure of dacoits and property – no doubt a false-hood. Thus he not only escaped punishment, but he thought he had a very good chance of rising in his profession.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
After Nana Chandorkar, the logical, chronological and the appropriate name to deal with is that of Ganpat Rao Dattatreya Sahasrabuddhe, popularly known as Das Ganu Maharaj. His importance for the SaiMovement consists in the fact the rapid spread of Baba's name in Maharastra was due very largely to his efforts, Baba fully well foresaw or ordained it. In 1890 Das Ganu was a constable and play actor of village plays of an obscene character.
Baba drew him to himself for the double purpose of improving his (Ganu's) own spiritual condition and thereafter rendering signal service to the public for the spread of Sai faith. When first he came to Shirdi, he came as the `orderly' of (i.e., constable attending on) Nana Saheb Chandorkar, and whenever Chandorkar visited Shirdi, Ganpat Rao followed him as his Constable, not at all out of faith in, or love for, Sai, but because the master compelled him to.
For a very long time, Das Ganu could not appreciate Baba. Up to the end, he could not realize Baba as really Deva i.e., God or as his Guru Deva, though he had high regard for him and his powers and wroteor sang of him with poetic skill describing Baba as Ramavara i.e., God, doing lip service. That was why he went to one Islampurkar, a Brahmin Guru, to get his initiation long after he met and dealt with Baba (a step which Baba naturally did not object to when Das Ganu reported the fact to Baba). Anyhow Baba made a remarkable change in the personality of Das Ganu, and as Ganu also realised how powerfulBaba's influence on him was. It has been mostly an unwilling submission on the part of Das Ganu to Sai Baba's yoke.
At his earliest advent to Shirdi, Baba noted the nature of Ganpat Rao, and determined that his nature, calling and work should all be totally changed. His nature then was just that of Police Constablewho had hardly any education, but who was very clever in composing Lavani metre songs in Mahratti impromptu and in taking a female's part in lewd village dramas. He would put up on female dress anddance about in the village and take great pleasure in that achievement. His great ambition was to rise in his profession. The Police Department by itself was not a particularly moral department, and for one who was ambitious to rise in it, one's regard for truth, righteousness, fair dealing, etc., would practically nil, andscruples, conscience, and character were unwanted hindrances to efficiency. Knowing all these dangers and the real dormant capacity of a man, Baba, from the very beginning told Das Ganu to give up bothhis attachments, namely, (1) attachment to the village dance and drama and (2) attachment to the police profession.
Chandorkar also pressed this upon Ganpat Rao. With great difficulty Ganpat Rao was weaned away from drama. But as for the profession, he would not give it up. The charm of holding the position of Sub-Inspector (Fouzdar) and lording it over people was too powerful for him to resist. When Baba said, `Ganu, you had better give up your police service,' Das Ganu replied, `Baba, let me become a Sub Inspector (for which position I have passed the departmental examination) and hold the appointment for only one year, and thereafter, I will give it up'. Baba replied that he was not going to get the Sub Inspectorship, and He would see to it that he did not get it. So, Baba's work was to bring in difficulty after difficulty, pressure after pressure to bear upon Ganpat Rao; and Ganpat Rao had innumerable difficulties even without Baba adding to them.
For instance, he was fond of touring to distance places of pilgrimage outside his official limits, and he would go without taking the permission of his superiors, which would not be easily granted. On one such occasion, he had gone to a shrine in the `Nizam's State' and was returning. His fellow constables were highly envious of him, and they wanted to pluck the feathers. So, when he was returning to his place, and when he was still on the Nizam's side of the river Godavari, the envious constables were on the other side watching to catch him. He noted this fact and felt that he would surely be dismissed. So, he took up Godavari water in both his palms and swore by that "Ganga" water, (as it is called) `Baba let me escape this time. I shall certainly give up my police service'.
Then he went back into the Nizam's State just a short distance, when lo! and behold, there was proof of Baba's Grace! A village Munsif came to him and told him that certain dacoits were dividing their booty secretly and all that the Village Munsif wanted was a police gentleman with authority to arrest them. So Ganpat Rao went, seized the dacoits and the booty, and proudly returned to his own station on the other side of the Godavari. When questioned how he went out without permission, his reply was that he had gone there for the seizure of dacoits and property – no doubt a false-hood. Thus he not only escaped punishment, but he thought he had a very good chance of rising in his profession.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
Monday, December 15, 2008
DIVINE GRACE TO RAO SAHIB YESHWANT JANARDHAN GALWANKAR
DIVINE GRACE TO RAO SAHIB YESHWANT JANARDHAN GALWANKAR
Sri Rao Sahib Yeshwant Janardhan Galwankar was one of the prominent members of the Sai Baba Sansthan Committee and Editor of the Sai Lila Masik for some years. Y. J. Galwankar was the son-in-law of Anna Saheb Dabolkar or Hemand Pant (author of Sri Sai Satcharitra). He was working as a Superintendent in the Home department of the Bombay Secretariat. Anna Saheb Dabolkar's contact with Sai Baba naturally drew Galwankar to Sai Baba. He was taken by his father-in-law four or five times to Sai Baba, and at the first visit did not derive any strong impressions. But gradually his interest in Baba increased. Baba himself appeared in his dream and asked for Rs. 2 dakshina. Later he woke up and wished to send Rs. 2 by money order to Shirdi. Baba in the dream gave him two directions, the first, namely Nekene Vagave, that is, behave with probity and integrity, (the advice given evidently referred to his official position) and secondly to be chaste and sexually pure. Galwankar says that he has followed those directions with great care and zeal.
However, the great impression that Galwankar got was in 1917, when he went to Shirdi and Baba placed his palm over his head. That had a strong effect on him. He completely forgot himself and all surroundings and was in an ecstatic trance. He learnt later that Baba then spoke and told the people present that Galwankar had integrity and purity already in previous janmas. Baba added that he placedGalwankar in his present mother's womb, and the integrity and purity were still retained by him. During Christmas and other vacations, Galwankar went to Baba with full faith. Baba, however, did not givehim self-realisation on advaidic lines nor any teaching on ethical or religious matters except what is stated above. He heard Baba saying that he was not the 3 ½ cubits height of body, but he was everywhere and that the devotees should see him in every place. Galwankar believes that his studies of the Gita, the Bhagavata and Eknath were all directed by Baba, though Baba did not tell him to study these just as he told to Jog, Kaka Dixit, and others.
Being deeply interested and concerned with his office work and other affairs, Galwankar did not try to get into closer contact with Baba before 1918. He was also comparatively young at the time and did not view matters of life very seriously. After Baba's Mahasamadhi, Galwankar became more serious. In 1921, he set off on a pilgrimage with his family to Prayag and Kasi. At Baradwajasram in Prayag, he prayed to Sai Baba that he might get sight of some saint. Within a few minutes after he left Baradwajasram, there was a venerable saint on the roadside and the guide showed him the saint saying that rarely once in seven years or so, that saint would visit Prayag and that he would not allow people to approach him nor would be accept money. But, being emboldened by Sai's grace, Galwankar approached the saint, and instead of his getting angry, the saint welcomed him with raised arms saying, "Come child". His wife, mother and other ladies also paid their respects to the saint. They were all blessed by the saint and having only annas in his pocket, Galwankar gave that to the saint who received it. Thus Sai Baba answered his prayer effectively in 1921. Having become ecstatic by Baba's blessing and teaching, he gradually paid more and more attention to Adhyatma to the spiritual side of existence. That was in 1932. Then he had a dream. Baba came to him in the dream and asked him, "What do you want?" His reply was, "I want prem and only prem" – that is, love. Baba blessed him saying, "You will have prem", and disappeared. Even afterwards Galwankar had spells of prem gushing through him, sometimes while meditating, sometime while reading, and even at other times. Thus his slight touch with Baba before Mahasamadhi ripened into full fruition after Mahasamadhi and his life became nobler and higher.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
Sri Rao Sahib Yeshwant Janardhan Galwankar was one of the prominent members of the Sai Baba Sansthan Committee and Editor of the Sai Lila Masik for some years. Y. J. Galwankar was the son-in-law of Anna Saheb Dabolkar or Hemand Pant (author of Sri Sai Satcharitra). He was working as a Superintendent in the Home department of the Bombay Secretariat. Anna Saheb Dabolkar's contact with Sai Baba naturally drew Galwankar to Sai Baba. He was taken by his father-in-law four or five times to Sai Baba, and at the first visit did not derive any strong impressions. But gradually his interest in Baba increased. Baba himself appeared in his dream and asked for Rs. 2 dakshina. Later he woke up and wished to send Rs. 2 by money order to Shirdi. Baba in the dream gave him two directions, the first, namely Nekene Vagave, that is, behave with probity and integrity, (the advice given evidently referred to his official position) and secondly to be chaste and sexually pure. Galwankar says that he has followed those directions with great care and zeal.
However, the great impression that Galwankar got was in 1917, when he went to Shirdi and Baba placed his palm over his head. That had a strong effect on him. He completely forgot himself and all surroundings and was in an ecstatic trance. He learnt later that Baba then spoke and told the people present that Galwankar had integrity and purity already in previous janmas. Baba added that he placedGalwankar in his present mother's womb, and the integrity and purity were still retained by him. During Christmas and other vacations, Galwankar went to Baba with full faith. Baba, however, did not givehim self-realisation on advaidic lines nor any teaching on ethical or religious matters except what is stated above. He heard Baba saying that he was not the 3 ½ cubits height of body, but he was everywhere and that the devotees should see him in every place. Galwankar believes that his studies of the Gita, the Bhagavata and Eknath were all directed by Baba, though Baba did not tell him to study these just as he told to Jog, Kaka Dixit, and others.
Being deeply interested and concerned with his office work and other affairs, Galwankar did not try to get into closer contact with Baba before 1918. He was also comparatively young at the time and did not view matters of life very seriously. After Baba's Mahasamadhi, Galwankar became more serious. In 1921, he set off on a pilgrimage with his family to Prayag and Kasi. At Baradwajasram in Prayag, he prayed to Sai Baba that he might get sight of some saint. Within a few minutes after he left Baradwajasram, there was a venerable saint on the roadside and the guide showed him the saint saying that rarely once in seven years or so, that saint would visit Prayag and that he would not allow people to approach him nor would be accept money. But, being emboldened by Sai's grace, Galwankar approached the saint, and instead of his getting angry, the saint welcomed him with raised arms saying, "Come child". His wife, mother and other ladies also paid their respects to the saint. They were all blessed by the saint and having only annas in his pocket, Galwankar gave that to the saint who received it. Thus Sai Baba answered his prayer effectively in 1921. Having become ecstatic by Baba's blessing and teaching, he gradually paid more and more attention to Adhyatma to the spiritual side of existence. That was in 1932. Then he had a dream. Baba came to him in the dream and asked him, "What do you want?" His reply was, "I want prem and only prem" – that is, love. Baba blessed him saying, "You will have prem", and disappeared. Even afterwards Galwankar had spells of prem gushing through him, sometimes while meditating, sometime while reading, and even at other times. Thus his slight touch with Baba before Mahasamadhi ripened into full fruition after Mahasamadhi and his life became nobler and higher.
Courtesy: HH Pujyasri B. V. Narasimha Swamiji
Sunday, December 14, 2008
AN UNCOMMON PRAYER BOOK
An Uncommon Prayer Book
The works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and The Book of Common Prayer were all written within decades of one another (in the late 1500s and early 1600s), and each was destined to become a classic of the English language.
Most people know the lasting influence of Shakespeare and the King James Bible, but not as many know that The Book of Common Prayer, the official prayer book of Anglican and Episcopal churches, continues to be used by millions of people to guide their individual and corporate prayer.
Even non-Anglicans have found it a treasure I certainly have.
Prayer for the Ages
I first began using The Book of Common Prayer (BCP, from now on) when I was a Presbyterian. In that tradition, which was strongly colored by my early experiences in the evangelical community, prayer is the spontaneous expression of one's thoughts to God. I discovered, though, that after years of daily praying, my spontaneous expressions were trite, boring, and predictable. I was ready to give up prayer when I discovered the BCP.
It's not that I gave up spontaneous prayer which to me still must be the staple of one's prayer life but the BCP did help me move out of my boredom and triteness and taught me to pray better.
Long History
The first full edition of the BCP was composed by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1552 for use in the new Church of England. The English church had just broken away from Roman Catholicism, and the English wanted to worship in, well, English, not Latin. Cranmer condensed five huge Latin volumes that guided Roman Catholic worship into one. The BCP has been revised in minor ways a couple of times since.
In 1979, the Episcopal Church in the United States updated the Elizabethan English (though still keeping an Elizabethan version of some prayers and services, which are usually referred to as "rite I" ). In large measure, the BCP we use today is the BCP of Cranmer's day. For the rest of this chapter, it is this American version to which I am referring.
Because the BCP is the official prayer book of the Episcopal Church, it includes the order for all sorts of services not only Sunday morning worship, but also baptisms, weddings, funerals, ordinations, and so on. For the individual prayer, it's not those sections that are most helpful, but the services called Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline.
As its name suggests, Morning Prayer is to be said in the morning and can be used for Sunday worship. Evening Prayer is designed for early evening, and Compline is ideal for the very end of the day. I'll let you explore Evening Prayer and Compline on your own. For this chapter, let me take you through Morning Prayer (specifically, Morning Prayer II, which is the rite that uses contemporary English).
Though Morning Prayer is designed for group worship, many people use it to guide their personal morning prayer. Some change every "we" and "us" to "I" and "me,'' but I prefer to keep the first-person plurals to remind me that others worldwide are using this to guide their prayers. This helps me experience in some small way my essential connection with these prayers.
This more formal approach to daily prayer may not be for you, or not for you at this time in your prayer life. If so, just skip the rest of this chapter and move on to the next section of the book.
If you're sticking with me, you'll be reading many quotes from Morning Prayer because you can't really get a feel for it otherwise.
To Begin
Morning Prayer begins with an opening sentence, a number of which are printed at the beginning under the headings of church seasons (see Chapter 33, "Prayer in the Liturgical Tradition," for more on church seasons) or "At any time." These are brief affirmations from scripture that set the tone for worship, such as these:
I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1).
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight,O Lord, my strength and my redeemer"(Psalm 19:14).
Then follows a confession of sin, which is a fuller way to prepare oneself:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. . . .
I'll stop here because I've quoted this prayer in full already. As I said earlier, I try to pause after each phrase, however briefly, to allow my mind to let one specific sin come to mine. Then follows the pardon:
Almighty God, have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins, through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.
Psalm Prep
Next comes the morning Psalm, which is introduced with these lines:
Lord, open our lips.And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.
This frame follows:
Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Next comes another short theme sentence called an "antiphon," followed by a special psalm called "Venite" or another called "Jubilate." Don't let the Latin terms intimidate you; they are merely the first words of each Psalm in Latin. You can read either Psalm, but I like Venite best. The first stanza goes like this:
Come let us sing to the Lord,let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvationLet us come before his presence with thanksgivingand raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
Again, all this is designed to shape one's heart and mind to prepare for the hearing of Scripture, which is the heart of this service.
In the back of the BCP, you'll find suggested Scripture readings for each day, including a suggested Psalm, which is to be read next. After the Psalm is read, the "frame" is completed, as above, with: "Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen."
Prayer Central
The next part, called "The Lessons," is comprised of three readings, one each from the Old Testament, New Testament epistles, and the Gospels. Here is the climax of Morning Prayer. The idea is that through Scripture God speaks to us, thus completing the dialogue of prayer. This is why the service spends a great deal of time preparing for this part: We want to be mentally and spiritually alert when God speaks.
Again, the specific readings for the day are found at the back of the BCP. Daily readings are divided into two years, so if you were to follow this guide, you would read nearly the entire Bible in two years.
After each reading, it is appropriate to say, "The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God," and then wait in silence, for sometimes in the silence of meditation, a feeling or a thought comes that makes the passage just read speak to your personal situation this is indeed a word from the Lord that is to be listened to closely. But even when no specific word comes as such, the simple act of meditating on Scripture reveals general truths that can enrich us.
After each reading and meditation, (or for me, after all three readings), a "Canticle" is said. A canticle is merely a passage of the Bible that is song-like (in fact, when Morning Prayer is said in church, these canticles are often sung). One of my favorites is Canticle 15, "The Song of Mary," also called the Magnificat, which was the prayer of Mary after hearing the news that she was pregnant with Jesus. Yet her words transcend that setting. The first lines go like this:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed,
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
There are 21 canticles to choose from, so it is easy to say one after each reading and not become repetitive.
This section ends with a reciting of the Apostles' Creed, which is one of the oldest summaries of Christian teaching. This is a concise and poetic way to rehearse the main story line of the entire Bible, from creation to ultimate redemption:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
There is a certain amount of jargon here, and not every part is equally comprehended, even by the best of theological minds. It is not critical that you understand everything, but as you say it, you affirm that this, in fact, is the teaching of scripture and that in saying it, you desire to "grow into" the creed over time.
The Prayers
"The Prayers" is the prosaic title of the last part of Morning Prayer, which opens with the Lord's Prayer followed by one of two "suffrages" or petitionary prayers set in responsive form. One person or group says the first line up to the semi-colon, another person or group responds to the end of the sentence. For private prayer, though, Suffrage A would be said simply, like this:
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.
As you can see, this prayer includes petitions for the church (both ministers and people), for the nation, for the world, for the poor, and for hope. I find this an elegant way to pray for these larger issues.
This is followed by the daily "collect," a prayer that sums up a theme for the day. Some of these are listed by the day of the week and others by theme. One of my favorites is the Collect for Guidance:
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ, our lord. Amen.
Grand Finale
Near the end of Morning Prayer comes one of the finest prayers in the entire BCP, "The General Thanksgiving":
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we, your unworthy servants, give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving kindness
to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for your creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace and the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
This is packed; each phrase has a wealth of meaning that can take a lifetime to uncover. You may want to commit this to memory. I've found no better full and yet concise expression of my thankfulness to God.
The service then concludes with one of three final sentences of Scripture, like this one: "May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen" (Romans 15:13).
In case you're wondering: Morning prayer takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, or longer, to pray, depending on how much meditation you do after each Scripture reading and how many canticles and the like you include.
Rich Resource
The BCP has more prayer resources still. In addition to Evening Prayer and Compline (which are not as full as Morning Prayer), there is a section of "Prayers and Thanksgivings" useful for all sorts of occasions. There are collects for each week of the year, and then some. All 150 Psalms, in a very readable translation, are included. And, as I mentioned, there are guides to Scripture reading, both daily and weekly, that will get you through the Bible in an orderly way.
Perhaps you can see why the BCP is not merely the official prayer book of Episcopalians but is also a resource for anyone interested in deepening his prayer life. Most major bookstores carry a copy in their "Religion" or "Spirituality" or "Prayer" sections, or you can order it through Amazon.com or some other online book dealer. (It is published by Oxford University Press, and its full title is The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church but I've never heard anyone call it that!) Also, your local Episcopal church may have copies it might be willing to give or sell you.
The works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and The Book of Common Prayer were all written within decades of one another (in the late 1500s and early 1600s), and each was destined to become a classic of the English language.
Most people know the lasting influence of Shakespeare and the King James Bible, but not as many know that The Book of Common Prayer, the official prayer book of Anglican and Episcopal churches, continues to be used by millions of people to guide their individual and corporate prayer.
Even non-Anglicans have found it a treasure I certainly have.
Prayer for the Ages
I first began using The Book of Common Prayer (BCP, from now on) when I was a Presbyterian. In that tradition, which was strongly colored by my early experiences in the evangelical community, prayer is the spontaneous expression of one's thoughts to God. I discovered, though, that after years of daily praying, my spontaneous expressions were trite, boring, and predictable. I was ready to give up prayer when I discovered the BCP.
It's not that I gave up spontaneous prayer which to me still must be the staple of one's prayer life but the BCP did help me move out of my boredom and triteness and taught me to pray better.
Long History
The first full edition of the BCP was composed by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1552 for use in the new Church of England. The English church had just broken away from Roman Catholicism, and the English wanted to worship in, well, English, not Latin. Cranmer condensed five huge Latin volumes that guided Roman Catholic worship into one. The BCP has been revised in minor ways a couple of times since.
In 1979, the Episcopal Church in the United States updated the Elizabethan English (though still keeping an Elizabethan version of some prayers and services, which are usually referred to as "rite I" ). In large measure, the BCP we use today is the BCP of Cranmer's day. For the rest of this chapter, it is this American version to which I am referring.
Because the BCP is the official prayer book of the Episcopal Church, it includes the order for all sorts of services not only Sunday morning worship, but also baptisms, weddings, funerals, ordinations, and so on. For the individual prayer, it's not those sections that are most helpful, but the services called Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Compline.
As its name suggests, Morning Prayer is to be said in the morning and can be used for Sunday worship. Evening Prayer is designed for early evening, and Compline is ideal for the very end of the day. I'll let you explore Evening Prayer and Compline on your own. For this chapter, let me take you through Morning Prayer (specifically, Morning Prayer II, which is the rite that uses contemporary English).
Though Morning Prayer is designed for group worship, many people use it to guide their personal morning prayer. Some change every "we" and "us" to "I" and "me,'' but I prefer to keep the first-person plurals to remind me that others worldwide are using this to guide their prayers. This helps me experience in some small way my essential connection with these prayers.
This more formal approach to daily prayer may not be for you, or not for you at this time in your prayer life. If so, just skip the rest of this chapter and move on to the next section of the book.
If you're sticking with me, you'll be reading many quotes from Morning Prayer because you can't really get a feel for it otherwise.
To Begin
Morning Prayer begins with an opening sentence, a number of which are printed at the beginning under the headings of church seasons (see Chapter 33, "Prayer in the Liturgical Tradition," for more on church seasons) or "At any time." These are brief affirmations from scripture that set the tone for worship, such as these:
I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1).
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight,O Lord, my strength and my redeemer"(Psalm 19:14).
Then follows a confession of sin, which is a fuller way to prepare oneself:
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. . . .
I'll stop here because I've quoted this prayer in full already. As I said earlier, I try to pause after each phrase, however briefly, to allow my mind to let one specific sin come to mine. Then follows the pardon:
Almighty God, have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins, through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.
Psalm Prep
Next comes the morning Psalm, which is introduced with these lines:
Lord, open our lips.And our mouths shall proclaim your praise.
This frame follows:
Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Next comes another short theme sentence called an "antiphon," followed by a special psalm called "Venite" or another called "Jubilate." Don't let the Latin terms intimidate you; they are merely the first words of each Psalm in Latin. You can read either Psalm, but I like Venite best. The first stanza goes like this:
Come let us sing to the Lord,let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvationLet us come before his presence with thanksgivingand raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
Again, all this is designed to shape one's heart and mind to prepare for the hearing of Scripture, which is the heart of this service.
In the back of the BCP, you'll find suggested Scripture readings for each day, including a suggested Psalm, which is to be read next. After the Psalm is read, the "frame" is completed, as above, with: "Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen."
Prayer Central
The next part, called "The Lessons," is comprised of three readings, one each from the Old Testament, New Testament epistles, and the Gospels. Here is the climax of Morning Prayer. The idea is that through Scripture God speaks to us, thus completing the dialogue of prayer. This is why the service spends a great deal of time preparing for this part: We want to be mentally and spiritually alert when God speaks.
Again, the specific readings for the day are found at the back of the BCP. Daily readings are divided into two years, so if you were to follow this guide, you would read nearly the entire Bible in two years.
After each reading, it is appropriate to say, "The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God," and then wait in silence, for sometimes in the silence of meditation, a feeling or a thought comes that makes the passage just read speak to your personal situation this is indeed a word from the Lord that is to be listened to closely. But even when no specific word comes as such, the simple act of meditating on Scripture reveals general truths that can enrich us.
After each reading and meditation, (or for me, after all three readings), a "Canticle" is said. A canticle is merely a passage of the Bible that is song-like (in fact, when Morning Prayer is said in church, these canticles are often sung). One of my favorites is Canticle 15, "The Song of Mary," also called the Magnificat, which was the prayer of Mary after hearing the news that she was pregnant with Jesus. Yet her words transcend that setting. The first lines go like this:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my savior;
for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed,
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
There are 21 canticles to choose from, so it is easy to say one after each reading and not become repetitive.
This section ends with a reciting of the Apostles' Creed, which is one of the oldest summaries of Christian teaching. This is a concise and poetic way to rehearse the main story line of the entire Bible, from creation to ultimate redemption:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
There is a certain amount of jargon here, and not every part is equally comprehended, even by the best of theological minds. It is not critical that you understand everything, but as you say it, you affirm that this, in fact, is the teaching of scripture and that in saying it, you desire to "grow into" the creed over time.
The Prayers
"The Prayers" is the prosaic title of the last part of Morning Prayer, which opens with the Lord's Prayer followed by one of two "suffrages" or petitionary prayers set in responsive form. One person or group says the first line up to the semi-colon, another person or group responds to the end of the sentence. For private prayer, though, Suffrage A would be said simply, like this:
Show us your mercy, O Lord;
And grant us your salvation.
Clothe your ministers with righteousness;
Let your people sing with joy.
Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.
Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.
Let your way be known upon earth;
Your saving health among all nations.
Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;
Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Create in us clean hearts, O God;
And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.
As you can see, this prayer includes petitions for the church (both ministers and people), for the nation, for the world, for the poor, and for hope. I find this an elegant way to pray for these larger issues.
This is followed by the daily "collect," a prayer that sums up a theme for the day. Some of these are listed by the day of the week and others by theme. One of my favorites is the Collect for Guidance:
Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ, our lord. Amen.
Grand Finale
Near the end of Morning Prayer comes one of the finest prayers in the entire BCP, "The General Thanksgiving":
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we, your unworthy servants, give you humble thanks
for all your goodness and loving kindness
to us and to all whom you have made.
We bless you for your creation, preservation,
and all the blessings of this life;
but above all for your immeasurable love
in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;
for the means of grace and the hope of glory.
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,
not only with our lips, but in our lives,
by giving up our selves to your service,
and by walking before you
in holiness and righteousness all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,
be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
This is packed; each phrase has a wealth of meaning that can take a lifetime to uncover. You may want to commit this to memory. I've found no better full and yet concise expression of my thankfulness to God.
The service then concludes with one of three final sentences of Scripture, like this one: "May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen" (Romans 15:13).
In case you're wondering: Morning prayer takes anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, or longer, to pray, depending on how much meditation you do after each Scripture reading and how many canticles and the like you include.
Rich Resource
The BCP has more prayer resources still. In addition to Evening Prayer and Compline (which are not as full as Morning Prayer), there is a section of "Prayers and Thanksgivings" useful for all sorts of occasions. There are collects for each week of the year, and then some. All 150 Psalms, in a very readable translation, are included. And, as I mentioned, there are guides to Scripture reading, both daily and weekly, that will get you through the Bible in an orderly way.
Perhaps you can see why the BCP is not merely the official prayer book of Episcopalians but is also a resource for anyone interested in deepening his prayer life. Most major bookstores carry a copy in their "Religion" or "Spirituality" or "Prayer" sections, or you can order it through Amazon.com or some other online book dealer. (It is published by Oxford University Press, and its full title is The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church but I've never heard anyone call it that!) Also, your local Episcopal church may have copies it might be willing to give or sell you.
THE JESUS PRAYER
The Jesus Prayer
The Power of a Name
It seemed like the most unimaginable idea for a national commemoration: a rectangular granite block with a bunch of names chiseled into it. But it has turned out to be our nation's most moving monument. I'm referring, of course, to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
If you've been there, you know what I mean. It's a typical experience: Someone walks along the wall searching. He stops, runs his finger over the letters of a name, and begins to weep. Such is the power of a name.
We tend to think of names as mere labels. We call the skinny thing we use to write "pen"; we call the thing we sit in "chair"; and we call our newborn "Luke." But it's not quite the same because as ''Luke" grows and interacts with us and others, he creates relationships and memories. It doesn't take long before "Luke" is a history of relationships and memories, and when we say "Luke," something happens inside us, however subtle, so that all this comes back to us, mostly unconsciously.
This is especially true when a certain young woman meets Luke and creates her own history with him. She begins to find herself thinking of Luke often. And there comes a time that whenever "Luke" is mentioned, she is very conscious of what is happening: She is stabbed with that most delirious of feelings that we call being in love.
Names are not labels, at least not with people we know and love. And the mere mention of a loved one's name is enough to remember our love and even to make it grow deeper.
This is the idea behind one of the most venerable prayer practices in the Christian tradition, called the Jesus prayer.
The Way of a Pilgrim
As told in the Russian spiritual classic The Way of the Pilgrim, the story goes that a poor, lame Russian peasant was traveling all over Russia and Siberia, with a knapsack that contained only dried bread, a Bible, and a heart that yearned to discover what the apostle Paul meant when he advised, "Pray without ceasing."
One day this pilgrim met a starets, a spiritual father, who taught him the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." The spiritual father told him to pray it 3,000 times a day. After the pilgrim obliged, the spiritual father told him to do it 6,000 times a day then 12,000.
What happened eventually was this: The pilgrim stopped counting because the prayer had become a part of him, and he prayed it with every breath. Finally, he spoke no words; as he put it, "The lips stopped moving, and the only thing left to do was to listen to the heart speak."
The pilgrim continued on his way, and he met many others peasants, civil servants, landowners who shared his desire for a life of ceaseless prayer. On his journeys, he often faced hunger, thirst, cold, and hostile people. At such times, he said, the prayer saved him:
"When the bitter cold cuts through me, I repeat my prayer with even more fervor, and I feel warmed up. When hunger begins to torture me, I invoke the name of Jesus Christ more often, and I forget that I want to eat. . . . If someone hurts me, I just think, 'How sweet is the Jesus prayer,' and the offense and the resentment fly away and are forgotten."
He then summed up his experience with the Jesus prayer:
"I have nearly lost all feeling; I have no cares; I have no desires; nothing attracts me. The only thing that I desire is to pray, pray without ceasing, and when I pray, I am filled with joy."
It is debated whether this story is fiction or fact, but in either case, it was written to inspire others to learn to pray without ceasing and to introduce them to the centuries-old practice, especially in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, of invoking the name of Jesus in prayer.
The History of Jesus' Name
The idea of praying in or with Jesus' name goes back to Jesus himself, who told his disciples, "You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:13). Early Christians would often chant, "Kyrie eleison," which means "Lord, have mercy.'' Over the centuries this developed into the practice of what are called "ejaculatory prayers," short prayers said many times during the day, and finally into a prayer we know as the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me."
The prayer has always been flexible. Some, like the Russian pilgrim, make it more confessional, adding "a sinner" at the end. Some make it more communal, praying, "have mercy on us." But the basic idea is the same: a repeated invocation of the name of Jesus.
Exploring the Prayer
This prayer is not a magical formula, as if the more times you say it, the more holy you become. But it is like the Lord's Prayer, a prayer that sums up so much of what we long to say. It is also a prayer that, because it invokes the name of Jesus, begins to do something to us without our being aware of it.
The idea here is similar to invoking the name of a loved one now dead. To invoke the name "Ruby" at a Galli family gathering is to invoke memories of my motherland smiles and laughter as we remember her passion, her flair, her dramatics, her energy.
To invoke the name of Jesus is to invoke the memory of the God-man who walked among us, whose story we recall in the Gospels, stories of compassion, wisdom, authority, mercy, and love. But there's one big difference: Jesus is not dead. So to invoke the name of Jesus is also to make us aware of his ongoing presence in our lives. To make the Jesus prayer an integral part of our day is to make the living reality of Jesus an integral part of our day.
This prayer covers a lot of ground.
· Adoration. To begin, we praise Jesus for being "Lord," the one in control of history, who is driving all the apparent chaos of life to a glorious end. In calling him the "Son of God," we imply a prayer to the Father, and thus, to the Holy Spirit, and inadvertently we recognize the mystery of the Trinity. In seeking his mercy, we imply that he is merciful.
· Confession. To seek mercy and especially if we add at the end, " . . .a sinner “is to go before Christ penitent, weak, helpless, in need of his healing touch.
· Thanksgiving. To pray this prayer is to acknowledge that not only can Jesus heal our hearts but that he will do so. As such, this is a prayer of thanksgiving for all the healing he has accomplished in our lives and all the healing he will bring to us in the future.
· Intercession. Some people try to pray the Jesus prayer silently whenever they meet another during the day, some changing it to " . . .have mercy on us." In this way, it becomes a prayer that reaches out to others and pulls us closer to others.
Doing It
There are two principle ways of using this prayer: prayer of the heart and prayer of daily life.
Prayer of the heart has been emphasized by those of the "hesychast" tradition, the mystical tradition within the Eastern Orthodox Church. In this method, the person sits alone, with head bowed and mind focused on the stomach or chest (that is, the "center" of one's being). He empties his mind of all rational thoughts and eliminates every picture or image. Then "without thought of imagination,'' but with concentration, he repeats the Jesus prayer silently. (The Greek hesychia means "silence.")
This method, if practiced faithfully and in the context of participation in the larger life of the church, is said to unite the prayer with God so that she experiences the "uncreated divine Light" and "unspeakable joy of the soul."
Everything I've read on the Jesus prayer firmly states that this practice should never be undertaken without a spiritual director. As Father Thomas Hopko, a leading Orthodox theologian, put it, "To use this method without guidance or humble wisdom is to court spiritual disaster." (For that matter, anyone whose prayer life transports them into more mystical dimensions should seek out a spiritual director. The spiritual is a powerful dimension and can become destructive if not guided by someone with experience and wisdom.)
In the prayer of daily life, the Jesus prayer is said in the normal course of one's prayer and life. You might pray it verbally or silently for a few minutes at the beginning and/or the end of your daily prayer. You might repeat it a few times at lunch or before you retire for the night (saying the Jesus prayer instead of counting sheep!). You can say it silently whenever you meet someone during the day or as you pick up the phone as a way of praying for the person you are about to speak with.
The key in this method, as with any prayer repeated over and over, is to avoid what Jesus himself called "vain repetitions." To pray it unthinkingly, as if it were a good luck charm, is to misuse the prayer. But you can repeat it, over and over, rolling it around in your mind, savoring every part of it, concentrating on one word and then another “enjoying" it as one would a glass of fine wine. That's not "vain repetition," but meaningful immersion in the prayer.
Getting the Most Out of It
One more thing that has already been mentioned but is worth highlighting: This prayer is not the property of the individual. It belongs to the entire church. It arose out of the church's history and will become most meaningful if prayed in the context of the church. That means participating in the worship and life of a local congregation, with people who regularly worship the "Lord Jesus Christ" as the "Son of God," and who together experience his "mercy."
Of course you can pray it by yourself. There's no law against it. But the experience of those who have been most transformed by this prayer suggests that it needs to be balanced with corporate prayer. More of this will be discussed in "Praying with Others."
The Power of a Name
It seemed like the most unimaginable idea for a national commemoration: a rectangular granite block with a bunch of names chiseled into it. But it has turned out to be our nation's most moving monument. I'm referring, of course, to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
If you've been there, you know what I mean. It's a typical experience: Someone walks along the wall searching. He stops, runs his finger over the letters of a name, and begins to weep. Such is the power of a name.
We tend to think of names as mere labels. We call the skinny thing we use to write "pen"; we call the thing we sit in "chair"; and we call our newborn "Luke." But it's not quite the same because as ''Luke" grows and interacts with us and others, he creates relationships and memories. It doesn't take long before "Luke" is a history of relationships and memories, and when we say "Luke," something happens inside us, however subtle, so that all this comes back to us, mostly unconsciously.
This is especially true when a certain young woman meets Luke and creates her own history with him. She begins to find herself thinking of Luke often. And there comes a time that whenever "Luke" is mentioned, she is very conscious of what is happening: She is stabbed with that most delirious of feelings that we call being in love.
Names are not labels, at least not with people we know and love. And the mere mention of a loved one's name is enough to remember our love and even to make it grow deeper.
This is the idea behind one of the most venerable prayer practices in the Christian tradition, called the Jesus prayer.
The Way of a Pilgrim
As told in the Russian spiritual classic The Way of the Pilgrim, the story goes that a poor, lame Russian peasant was traveling all over Russia and Siberia, with a knapsack that contained only dried bread, a Bible, and a heart that yearned to discover what the apostle Paul meant when he advised, "Pray without ceasing."
One day this pilgrim met a starets, a spiritual father, who taught him the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner." The spiritual father told him to pray it 3,000 times a day. After the pilgrim obliged, the spiritual father told him to do it 6,000 times a day then 12,000.
What happened eventually was this: The pilgrim stopped counting because the prayer had become a part of him, and he prayed it with every breath. Finally, he spoke no words; as he put it, "The lips stopped moving, and the only thing left to do was to listen to the heart speak."
The pilgrim continued on his way, and he met many others peasants, civil servants, landowners who shared his desire for a life of ceaseless prayer. On his journeys, he often faced hunger, thirst, cold, and hostile people. At such times, he said, the prayer saved him:
"When the bitter cold cuts through me, I repeat my prayer with even more fervor, and I feel warmed up. When hunger begins to torture me, I invoke the name of Jesus Christ more often, and I forget that I want to eat. . . . If someone hurts me, I just think, 'How sweet is the Jesus prayer,' and the offense and the resentment fly away and are forgotten."
He then summed up his experience with the Jesus prayer:
"I have nearly lost all feeling; I have no cares; I have no desires; nothing attracts me. The only thing that I desire is to pray, pray without ceasing, and when I pray, I am filled with joy."
It is debated whether this story is fiction or fact, but in either case, it was written to inspire others to learn to pray without ceasing and to introduce them to the centuries-old practice, especially in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, of invoking the name of Jesus in prayer.
The History of Jesus' Name
The idea of praying in or with Jesus' name goes back to Jesus himself, who told his disciples, "You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it" (John 14:13). Early Christians would often chant, "Kyrie eleison," which means "Lord, have mercy.'' Over the centuries this developed into the practice of what are called "ejaculatory prayers," short prayers said many times during the day, and finally into a prayer we know as the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me."
The prayer has always been flexible. Some, like the Russian pilgrim, make it more confessional, adding "a sinner" at the end. Some make it more communal, praying, "have mercy on us." But the basic idea is the same: a repeated invocation of the name of Jesus.
Exploring the Prayer
This prayer is not a magical formula, as if the more times you say it, the more holy you become. But it is like the Lord's Prayer, a prayer that sums up so much of what we long to say. It is also a prayer that, because it invokes the name of Jesus, begins to do something to us without our being aware of it.
The idea here is similar to invoking the name of a loved one now dead. To invoke the name "Ruby" at a Galli family gathering is to invoke memories of my motherland smiles and laughter as we remember her passion, her flair, her dramatics, her energy.
To invoke the name of Jesus is to invoke the memory of the God-man who walked among us, whose story we recall in the Gospels, stories of compassion, wisdom, authority, mercy, and love. But there's one big difference: Jesus is not dead. So to invoke the name of Jesus is also to make us aware of his ongoing presence in our lives. To make the Jesus prayer an integral part of our day is to make the living reality of Jesus an integral part of our day.
This prayer covers a lot of ground.
· Adoration. To begin, we praise Jesus for being "Lord," the one in control of history, who is driving all the apparent chaos of life to a glorious end. In calling him the "Son of God," we imply a prayer to the Father, and thus, to the Holy Spirit, and inadvertently we recognize the mystery of the Trinity. In seeking his mercy, we imply that he is merciful.
· Confession. To seek mercy and especially if we add at the end, " . . .a sinner “is to go before Christ penitent, weak, helpless, in need of his healing touch.
· Thanksgiving. To pray this prayer is to acknowledge that not only can Jesus heal our hearts but that he will do so. As such, this is a prayer of thanksgiving for all the healing he has accomplished in our lives and all the healing he will bring to us in the future.
· Intercession. Some people try to pray the Jesus prayer silently whenever they meet another during the day, some changing it to " . . .have mercy on us." In this way, it becomes a prayer that reaches out to others and pulls us closer to others.
Doing It
There are two principle ways of using this prayer: prayer of the heart and prayer of daily life.
Prayer of the heart has been emphasized by those of the "hesychast" tradition, the mystical tradition within the Eastern Orthodox Church. In this method, the person sits alone, with head bowed and mind focused on the stomach or chest (that is, the "center" of one's being). He empties his mind of all rational thoughts and eliminates every picture or image. Then "without thought of imagination,'' but with concentration, he repeats the Jesus prayer silently. (The Greek hesychia means "silence.")
This method, if practiced faithfully and in the context of participation in the larger life of the church, is said to unite the prayer with God so that she experiences the "uncreated divine Light" and "unspeakable joy of the soul."
Everything I've read on the Jesus prayer firmly states that this practice should never be undertaken without a spiritual director. As Father Thomas Hopko, a leading Orthodox theologian, put it, "To use this method without guidance or humble wisdom is to court spiritual disaster." (For that matter, anyone whose prayer life transports them into more mystical dimensions should seek out a spiritual director. The spiritual is a powerful dimension and can become destructive if not guided by someone with experience and wisdom.)
In the prayer of daily life, the Jesus prayer is said in the normal course of one's prayer and life. You might pray it verbally or silently for a few minutes at the beginning and/or the end of your daily prayer. You might repeat it a few times at lunch or before you retire for the night (saying the Jesus prayer instead of counting sheep!). You can say it silently whenever you meet someone during the day or as you pick up the phone as a way of praying for the person you are about to speak with.
The key in this method, as with any prayer repeated over and over, is to avoid what Jesus himself called "vain repetitions." To pray it unthinkingly, as if it were a good luck charm, is to misuse the prayer. But you can repeat it, over and over, rolling it around in your mind, savoring every part of it, concentrating on one word and then another “enjoying" it as one would a glass of fine wine. That's not "vain repetition," but meaningful immersion in the prayer.
Getting the Most Out of It
One more thing that has already been mentioned but is worth highlighting: This prayer is not the property of the individual. It belongs to the entire church. It arose out of the church's history and will become most meaningful if prayed in the context of the church. That means participating in the worship and life of a local congregation, with people who regularly worship the "Lord Jesus Christ" as the "Son of God," and who together experience his "mercy."
Of course you can pray it by yourself. There's no law against it. But the experience of those who have been most transformed by this prayer suggests that it needs to be balanced with corporate prayer. More of this will be discussed in "Praying with Others."
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
The Imitation of Christ
Sir Thomas More, England's famous Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII (and the subject of the film A Man for All Seasons) said it was one of the three books that everybody ought to own. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, read a chapter a day from it and regularly gave it as a gift. Methodist founder John Wesley said it was the best summary of the Christian life he had ever read, and he translated it for his followers. Thomas Merton, America's best-known writer on the spiritual life, said it was one of the first works to begin his conversion.
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, has been translated into more than 50 languages, in editions too numerous for scholars to keep track of. (By 1779, there were already 1,800 editions.) Not counting the Bible, it has been the most popular of Christian classics.
If you're going to get serious about prayer, this is one book you'll want to become familiar with.
A Book for Spiritual Novices
''When you read the opening lines of The Imitation of Christ, a clear voice reaches you with a promise that is as compelling today as it was in the fifteenth century." So writes Sally Cunneon in her preface to a recent edition of The Imitation of Christ.
That voice has been heard clearly by people of all stations and callings of life, but it was originally written for a select audience: men who desired to become monks. It was written as a guide to help them mature spiritually. But it wasn't long after its author's death that a larger audience was invited to consider its contents, for it quickly became apparent that the book made a whole lot of sense to anyone seeking to grow spiritually.
The book was written by Thomas à Kempis (13791471), a German monk who spent most of his life in a Dutch monastery with a group called The Brethren of the Common Life. When he became the prior's assistant, à Kempis was charged with instructing novices in the spiritual life. In that capacity, he wrote four booklets that were later collected and named after the title of the first booklet.
À Kempis wanted to help his readers become more like Christ that is, more virtuous, with a fuller interior life and with a closer relationship with God. He does not teach by way of reason (though what he says makes a lot of sense); instead, he attempts to speak to our hearts and our yearning to be like Christ. It's not intellectual insight but spiritual strength and encouragement that he tries to impart.
The power of The Imitation of Christ comes from at least three sources. First, it is an encyclopedia of spiritual wisdom of the ages. It is the fruit of à Kempis' lifelong pursuit of spiritual perfection and his deep reading of the Bible, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, and other great spiritual writers. The book is littered with quotes and paraphrases from rich spiritual resources.
Second, à Kempis expresses his thoughts in language that is unusually simple and to the point. Many writers easily fall into vague language and abstract terminology if they attempt to capture the essence of the spiritual life. Not this one. À Kempis speaks in a language that is accessible to a novice and yet that contains wisdom that the most spiritually advanced can learn from.
Third, à Kempis has a profound understanding of human nature. Some are surprised that one who spent his whole life confined to a monastery could understand the dynamics of human behavior so well. But we forget that monks live in an intense form of human community with all its joys, sorrows, sins, virtues, daily irritations, and profound wonder. And à Kempis happened to have been better than most at expressing the complexities of the human heart.
The Essence of Imitation
A quick overview of the contents may help you decide where you want to dip in first. The Imitation of Christ should not be read like a novel, in which you race through many chapters at a sitting. Instead, it should be read as we read the Bible devotionally, one chapter at a time at most. After that you'll want to meditate patiently on what you've read until the words enlarge you in some way.
Book One is entitled "Helpful Counsels for the Spiritual Life." À Kempis advises us to renounce superficial pursuits and pleasures and to give ourselves to humility as we pursue the interior life.
"If you knew the entire Bible inside and out and all the maxims of the philosophers," he writes, "what good would it do you if you were, at the same time, without God's love and grace? . . . This is the highest wisdom: To despise the world and seek the kingdom of God." (More on this business of "despising" the world in a bit.)
In Book Two, entitled "Directives for the Interior Life," Ã Kempis develops the themes introduced in Book One. Because the kingdom of God is within, he argues, it cannot be perceived with the senses:
Why look about you? This place is not the place of your rest. Your dwelling place is to be in heaven, and you should view all earthly things as passing shadows. Everything is transitory and so are you. So do not cling to ephemeral things, otherwise you will get caught in their webs and perish.
Or, more positively:
He who sees all things as they really are, and not as they are said to be or thought to be, is truly wise, for God is his teacher and not man. He who knows how to walk with the light from within and makes little of outward things needs no special place nor definite time to perform religious exercises.
Throughout the book, we are told to listen attentively to God's call, and that to do so we need humility, inner peace, pure intentions, a good conscience, and constant attentiveness. À Kempis also spends much ink on what it means to be a friend of Jesus: "Love Jesus and keep him as your friend. When all others forsake you, he will not leave you nor will he allow you to perish on the last day."
Book Three, the longest of the four books, is entitled "On Interior Consolation" and treats the book's themes afresh, just as a composer does with the themes of his symphony. This book is cast in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and the disciple, and it concentrates on the disciple's desire to reach new spiritual heights.
Jesus: My son, you must give all for all and keep nothing back for yourself. Realize that there is nothing more harmful to you in this world than self-love. . . .
If your love be pure, simple, and properly ordered, then nothing can ever hold you captive. Neither desire what you should not have, nor possess anything that could hinder you or rob you of your interior freedom. . . .
Disciple: Uphold me, Lord, with the grace of your Holy Spirit. Give strength to my inner self and empty my heart of all useless cares and concerns.
Finally, Book Four is a guide to preparing for and taking holy communion, and it emphasizes the healing powers of the sacrament.
On Not Despising Thomas
Before we consider a sample chapter, I should address a couple of matters that will probably concern modern readers. Some, for example, may find à Kempis' exclusive use of male pronouns a problem. Then again, à Kempis meant them literally: He was writing to monks. Besides, plenty of female saints, including Theresa of Lisieux, have been able to translate the material so that it has become meaningful for them.
Then there is à Kempis' stark dualism between this world and the kingdom of God, with the repeated instruction to "despise" the world or one's self, to forsake human friendship, and so on. Before we reject such extreme counsel too quickly, we might first consider Thomas's reason for speaking so forcefully and look for the grain of truth. It may be that à Kempis has taken things a bit far after all, we are commanded in the Bible to love ourselves, to thank God for his creation, and to seek the solace of friends. Then again, we may be clinging to creation so tightly that we may be unable to experience the creator.
Finally, there is à Kempis' economy of expression. He often says things that demand elaboration and then he doesn't bother to elaborate. He acts as if we know exactly what he was talking about.
For example, in Chapter 13, "How to Resist Temptation," he says, "Many attempt to flee temptation, but they only sink more deeply into them. Conflicts are not won by running away; rather it is by humbly and patiently standing up to them that we gain strength against all our enemies."
This is a profound thought, but it leaves a number of questions unanswered: What exactly does it mean to "flee" temptation? How is "standing up" to it different? How can we "gain strength" from standing up to temptation if we don't feel we have the strength to stand up to it in the first place? And so on.
Thomas speaks so tersely and leaves so many questions unanswered that we will be tempted to toss the book aside as the idealistic ramblings of a medieval mystic.
But we mustn't read à Kempis, or any deep writer, as we would a modern how-to book (like this one!). How-to books are intended to explain. Books of spiritual devotion are intended to prod, probe, and force us to pray more deeply. The best ones will sometimes leave us wondering, pondering, and even a little irritated that we can't quite get a handle on things. That tension is precisely the thing that makes us want to give up or that allows us to go deeper than we could have imagined.
Love of the Alone
To give you a flavor of The Imitation of Christ, let's look more closely at one of the chapters, "The Love of Silence and Solitude" (Chapter 20, in Book One). This chapter directly concerns the theme of this book, and I'd like to work through it as I would a prayer journal. This will give you one example of how to use The Imitation of Christ in your prayer life. Thomas's words (the really good stuff) are indented; my reflections are in italic.
Set aside an opportune time for deep personal reflection and think often about God's many benefits to you. Give up all light and frivolous matters, and read what inspires you to repentance of soul and not what just entertains the mind.
Lord, on the one hand, I'm not very good at thinking about the "many benefits" you bestow on me. On the other hand, I'm pretty good at reading what inspires "repentance." But I'm tired of doing things that way. It's so self-punishing. I'm not doubting that there's a lot to repent of, and to repent of time and again (greed, lust, sloth, selfishness, and so on). It's just that it's a vicious cycle. Perhaps if I focused more on the many blessings you grant me, I'd be more joyful and have more energy to deal with repentance issues.
If you abstain from unnecessary conversation and useless visiting, as well as from listening to idle news and gossip, you will find sufficient and suitable times for your meditations. The great saints avoided the company of men as much as they could, because they wanted to live for God in silence.
Lord, there is wisdom here, but I'm confused how to put it into practice. I am indeed weary of "useless visiting" and "listening to idle news and gossip," but it does seem to be what many people want to talk about. If I refuse to participate in such conversations, I'll seem aloof, won't I? People won't think I really want to talk with them because I think they are superficial. But isn't one of the gifts of life to enjoy "useless" conversation with friends? Does everything I do and say have to be "useful''?
Then again, there is enough truth here to move forward. I admit to spending too much time in useless and unnecessary activities, and they do take time away from you. Help me to be better disciplined with my time.
If you aim at a fervent spiritual life, then you too must turn your back on the crowds as Jesus did. The only man who can safely appear in public is the one who wishes he were at home. He alone can safely speak who prefers to be silent. Only he can safely govern who prefers to live in submission, and only he can safely command who prefers to obey.
Lord, at first I balked at the sentence about Jesus. For it seemed to me that this turning his back on the crowds is precisely what Jesus did not do. And then I remembered that there were definite moments when he got off by himself, away from the crowds and even away from the disciples. And then he just prayed all through the night, no less.
I tend to think of Jesus as a man of the people and a man of action. But I forget that he was a man of prayer first. I keep seeing the world in dichotomies that don't exist as if one could not be a person of prayer and a person of action. It's not either/or, but both/and.
I go through periods where I yearn to be one or the other. Sometimes I want to become a monk and pray the rest of my life. Other times, prayer seems like such a waste of time compared to writing or building a bookcase. Maybe if I could get some balance in my life with an ongoing and steady diet of both prayer and action I wouldn't swing back and forth as I do.
Recommended Editions
You get the idea: À Kempis' The Imitation of Christ is a wise book that can provoke you into deeper thought and prayer.
As I mentioned, there are many editions and many translations of The Imitation of Christ. You'll probably find more than one edition at your local library alone, not to mention your local bookstore.
Read through a chapter or two before you choose an edition. Read also the introductory material, and notice the type of footnotes or end notes the edition has. Make sure they are at the level (some are more scholarly, some more devotional, some are nonexistent!) that you desire.
There is no one right edition, of course, but I've enjoyed (and used in preparing this chapter) the one published by Vintage, in the Vintage Spiritual Classic series. This Imitation was edited and translated by Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J., and includes a splendid preface by Sally Cunneen; it was most recently published in 1998.
Sir Thomas More, England's famous Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII (and the subject of the film A Man for All Seasons) said it was one of the three books that everybody ought to own. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, read a chapter a day from it and regularly gave it as a gift. Methodist founder John Wesley said it was the best summary of the Christian life he had ever read, and he translated it for his followers. Thomas Merton, America's best-known writer on the spiritual life, said it was one of the first works to begin his conversion.
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, has been translated into more than 50 languages, in editions too numerous for scholars to keep track of. (By 1779, there were already 1,800 editions.) Not counting the Bible, it has been the most popular of Christian classics.
If you're going to get serious about prayer, this is one book you'll want to become familiar with.
A Book for Spiritual Novices
''When you read the opening lines of The Imitation of Christ, a clear voice reaches you with a promise that is as compelling today as it was in the fifteenth century." So writes Sally Cunneon in her preface to a recent edition of The Imitation of Christ.
That voice has been heard clearly by people of all stations and callings of life, but it was originally written for a select audience: men who desired to become monks. It was written as a guide to help them mature spiritually. But it wasn't long after its author's death that a larger audience was invited to consider its contents, for it quickly became apparent that the book made a whole lot of sense to anyone seeking to grow spiritually.
The book was written by Thomas à Kempis (13791471), a German monk who spent most of his life in a Dutch monastery with a group called The Brethren of the Common Life. When he became the prior's assistant, à Kempis was charged with instructing novices in the spiritual life. In that capacity, he wrote four booklets that were later collected and named after the title of the first booklet.
À Kempis wanted to help his readers become more like Christ that is, more virtuous, with a fuller interior life and with a closer relationship with God. He does not teach by way of reason (though what he says makes a lot of sense); instead, he attempts to speak to our hearts and our yearning to be like Christ. It's not intellectual insight but spiritual strength and encouragement that he tries to impart.
The power of The Imitation of Christ comes from at least three sources. First, it is an encyclopedia of spiritual wisdom of the ages. It is the fruit of à Kempis' lifelong pursuit of spiritual perfection and his deep reading of the Bible, Augustine, Bernard of Clairvaux, and other great spiritual writers. The book is littered with quotes and paraphrases from rich spiritual resources.
Second, à Kempis expresses his thoughts in language that is unusually simple and to the point. Many writers easily fall into vague language and abstract terminology if they attempt to capture the essence of the spiritual life. Not this one. À Kempis speaks in a language that is accessible to a novice and yet that contains wisdom that the most spiritually advanced can learn from.
Third, à Kempis has a profound understanding of human nature. Some are surprised that one who spent his whole life confined to a monastery could understand the dynamics of human behavior so well. But we forget that monks live in an intense form of human community with all its joys, sorrows, sins, virtues, daily irritations, and profound wonder. And à Kempis happened to have been better than most at expressing the complexities of the human heart.
The Essence of Imitation
A quick overview of the contents may help you decide where you want to dip in first. The Imitation of Christ should not be read like a novel, in which you race through many chapters at a sitting. Instead, it should be read as we read the Bible devotionally, one chapter at a time at most. After that you'll want to meditate patiently on what you've read until the words enlarge you in some way.
Book One is entitled "Helpful Counsels for the Spiritual Life." À Kempis advises us to renounce superficial pursuits and pleasures and to give ourselves to humility as we pursue the interior life.
"If you knew the entire Bible inside and out and all the maxims of the philosophers," he writes, "what good would it do you if you were, at the same time, without God's love and grace? . . . This is the highest wisdom: To despise the world and seek the kingdom of God." (More on this business of "despising" the world in a bit.)
In Book Two, entitled "Directives for the Interior Life," Ã Kempis develops the themes introduced in Book One. Because the kingdom of God is within, he argues, it cannot be perceived with the senses:
Why look about you? This place is not the place of your rest. Your dwelling place is to be in heaven, and you should view all earthly things as passing shadows. Everything is transitory and so are you. So do not cling to ephemeral things, otherwise you will get caught in their webs and perish.
Or, more positively:
He who sees all things as they really are, and not as they are said to be or thought to be, is truly wise, for God is his teacher and not man. He who knows how to walk with the light from within and makes little of outward things needs no special place nor definite time to perform religious exercises.
Throughout the book, we are told to listen attentively to God's call, and that to do so we need humility, inner peace, pure intentions, a good conscience, and constant attentiveness. À Kempis also spends much ink on what it means to be a friend of Jesus: "Love Jesus and keep him as your friend. When all others forsake you, he will not leave you nor will he allow you to perish on the last day."
Book Three, the longest of the four books, is entitled "On Interior Consolation" and treats the book's themes afresh, just as a composer does with the themes of his symphony. This book is cast in the form of a dialogue between Jesus and the disciple, and it concentrates on the disciple's desire to reach new spiritual heights.
Jesus: My son, you must give all for all and keep nothing back for yourself. Realize that there is nothing more harmful to you in this world than self-love. . . .
If your love be pure, simple, and properly ordered, then nothing can ever hold you captive. Neither desire what you should not have, nor possess anything that could hinder you or rob you of your interior freedom. . . .
Disciple: Uphold me, Lord, with the grace of your Holy Spirit. Give strength to my inner self and empty my heart of all useless cares and concerns.
Finally, Book Four is a guide to preparing for and taking holy communion, and it emphasizes the healing powers of the sacrament.
On Not Despising Thomas
Before we consider a sample chapter, I should address a couple of matters that will probably concern modern readers. Some, for example, may find à Kempis' exclusive use of male pronouns a problem. Then again, à Kempis meant them literally: He was writing to monks. Besides, plenty of female saints, including Theresa of Lisieux, have been able to translate the material so that it has become meaningful for them.
Then there is à Kempis' stark dualism between this world and the kingdom of God, with the repeated instruction to "despise" the world or one's self, to forsake human friendship, and so on. Before we reject such extreme counsel too quickly, we might first consider Thomas's reason for speaking so forcefully and look for the grain of truth. It may be that à Kempis has taken things a bit far after all, we are commanded in the Bible to love ourselves, to thank God for his creation, and to seek the solace of friends. Then again, we may be clinging to creation so tightly that we may be unable to experience the creator.
Finally, there is à Kempis' economy of expression. He often says things that demand elaboration and then he doesn't bother to elaborate. He acts as if we know exactly what he was talking about.
For example, in Chapter 13, "How to Resist Temptation," he says, "Many attempt to flee temptation, but they only sink more deeply into them. Conflicts are not won by running away; rather it is by humbly and patiently standing up to them that we gain strength against all our enemies."
This is a profound thought, but it leaves a number of questions unanswered: What exactly does it mean to "flee" temptation? How is "standing up" to it different? How can we "gain strength" from standing up to temptation if we don't feel we have the strength to stand up to it in the first place? And so on.
Thomas speaks so tersely and leaves so many questions unanswered that we will be tempted to toss the book aside as the idealistic ramblings of a medieval mystic.
But we mustn't read à Kempis, or any deep writer, as we would a modern how-to book (like this one!). How-to books are intended to explain. Books of spiritual devotion are intended to prod, probe, and force us to pray more deeply. The best ones will sometimes leave us wondering, pondering, and even a little irritated that we can't quite get a handle on things. That tension is precisely the thing that makes us want to give up or that allows us to go deeper than we could have imagined.
Love of the Alone
To give you a flavor of The Imitation of Christ, let's look more closely at one of the chapters, "The Love of Silence and Solitude" (Chapter 20, in Book One). This chapter directly concerns the theme of this book, and I'd like to work through it as I would a prayer journal. This will give you one example of how to use The Imitation of Christ in your prayer life. Thomas's words (the really good stuff) are indented; my reflections are in italic.
Set aside an opportune time for deep personal reflection and think often about God's many benefits to you. Give up all light and frivolous matters, and read what inspires you to repentance of soul and not what just entertains the mind.
Lord, on the one hand, I'm not very good at thinking about the "many benefits" you bestow on me. On the other hand, I'm pretty good at reading what inspires "repentance." But I'm tired of doing things that way. It's so self-punishing. I'm not doubting that there's a lot to repent of, and to repent of time and again (greed, lust, sloth, selfishness, and so on). It's just that it's a vicious cycle. Perhaps if I focused more on the many blessings you grant me, I'd be more joyful and have more energy to deal with repentance issues.
If you abstain from unnecessary conversation and useless visiting, as well as from listening to idle news and gossip, you will find sufficient and suitable times for your meditations. The great saints avoided the company of men as much as they could, because they wanted to live for God in silence.
Lord, there is wisdom here, but I'm confused how to put it into practice. I am indeed weary of "useless visiting" and "listening to idle news and gossip," but it does seem to be what many people want to talk about. If I refuse to participate in such conversations, I'll seem aloof, won't I? People won't think I really want to talk with them because I think they are superficial. But isn't one of the gifts of life to enjoy "useless" conversation with friends? Does everything I do and say have to be "useful''?
Then again, there is enough truth here to move forward. I admit to spending too much time in useless and unnecessary activities, and they do take time away from you. Help me to be better disciplined with my time.
If you aim at a fervent spiritual life, then you too must turn your back on the crowds as Jesus did. The only man who can safely appear in public is the one who wishes he were at home. He alone can safely speak who prefers to be silent. Only he can safely govern who prefers to live in submission, and only he can safely command who prefers to obey.
Lord, at first I balked at the sentence about Jesus. For it seemed to me that this turning his back on the crowds is precisely what Jesus did not do. And then I remembered that there were definite moments when he got off by himself, away from the crowds and even away from the disciples. And then he just prayed all through the night, no less.
I tend to think of Jesus as a man of the people and a man of action. But I forget that he was a man of prayer first. I keep seeing the world in dichotomies that don't exist as if one could not be a person of prayer and a person of action. It's not either/or, but both/and.
I go through periods where I yearn to be one or the other. Sometimes I want to become a monk and pray the rest of my life. Other times, prayer seems like such a waste of time compared to writing or building a bookcase. Maybe if I could get some balance in my life with an ongoing and steady diet of both prayer and action I wouldn't swing back and forth as I do.
Recommended Editions
You get the idea: À Kempis' The Imitation of Christ is a wise book that can provoke you into deeper thought and prayer.
As I mentioned, there are many editions and many translations of The Imitation of Christ. You'll probably find more than one edition at your local library alone, not to mention your local bookstore.
Read through a chapter or two before you choose an edition. Read also the introductory material, and notice the type of footnotes or end notes the edition has. Make sure they are at the level (some are more scholarly, some more devotional, some are nonexistent!) that you desire.
There is no one right edition, of course, but I've enjoyed (and used in preparing this chapter) the one published by Vintage, in the Vintage Spiritual Classic series. This Imitation was edited and translated by Joseph N. Tylenda, S.J., and includes a splendid preface by Sally Cunneen; it was most recently published in 1998.
LET'S GET MYSTICAL
Let's Get Mystical
Perhaps the most intriguing prayer tradition is that of mysticism. This is the aspect of much New Age spirituality that, I believe, makes it so attractive. Yet the mystical tradition is also one of the most misunderstood. At first glance, it seems like the Advanced School of Prayer, and in some ways it is. We are wise, though, to understand it as simply another way of prayer that has its own gifts to impart.
There's Mysticism and Then There's Mysticism
Mystical prayer is prayer in which the prayer seeks to experience God, or ultimate reality, in an immediate, direct, intuitive way that is, you experience God more immediately than the chair you're sitting in. This is a broad definition, so many people who do not consider themselves mystics have had mystical experiences. For such people, including myself, the occasional experience (once or twice in a lifetime) is enjoyed but not sought after, remembered but not dwelt upon.
For the person pursuing the mystical way, more such experiences are sought, with the ultimate goal of ongoing or complete union with God. No one has understood mysticism better than Evelyn Underhill, an early twentieth-century Anglican writer who said this about a true mystic: "The central fact, it seems to me, is an overwhelming consciousness of God and his own soul: A consciousness which absorbs and eclipses all other centers of interest."
As such, mysticism can be found in every religion: in the Hindu metaphysical system known as the Vedanta, and in the philosophy of Yoga, which offers a rigorous discipline to encourage mystical experiences. Taoism, especially as expounded by its traditional founder, the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, has a strong mystical emphasis. The Muslim Sufi sect also practices a form of mysticism that closely resembles that of the Vedanta.
Some forms of Christian mysticism sound very similar to Eastern and Muslim mysticism. But in the best Christian mysticism (that is, the type that seeks to shape itself according to traditional Christian teaching), there are some important differences.
1. Though nature can be a vehicle for experiencing God, nature never becomes God in Christian mysticism. For all their profound wonder at nature, Christian mystics always understand that there is a difference between creation and the creator.
2. Mystics tend to be impatient with language that limits God including the language of the Bible, in which God is understood in metaphors: Father, Redeemer, Rock, Lord, King, and so on. Mystics are fond of abstract language, which they believe more readily frees us from thinking about God in our "man-made" categories and allows us to experience God more truly. When they talk about God, they'll used words and phrases like these: Being, the Unknowable, Bare Pure One, Perfect Beauty, Love That Gives All Things Form, Reality, and so on.
Even many Christian mystics move in this direction. "God may well be loved but not thought," wrote the author of the mystical classic The Cloud of Unknowing. But in Christian teaching, the biblical metaphors for God especially Father,
Lord, and King have been given to us by God himself. They are not intended to say everything there is to say about God, but what they do say should not be lightly set aside.
Furthermore, the democracy of history has determined that more people find God and have come to know him better by praying to "Our Father" rather than "The Ground of All Being."
3. In some forms of mysticism, mystics become increasingly passive and isolated from society. In the Christian tradition, though, mysticism naturally leads to vigorous action in the world. In Christian history, you find mystics running monastic orders (Teresa of Avila), arguing politics with popes and kings (Catherine of Siena), and starting movements that electrify continents (Francis of Assisi).
4. In non-Christian mysticism, often the goal is for the individual to be absorbed into the divine essence, to have his or her individual personality "obliterated" and united with the All-in-All. This is decidedly not the Christian goal, which is a relationship with God and demands that there will forever remain a distinction between God and us. If a Christian mystic speaks about "obliterating the self," it's usually hyperbole for getting under control those parts of the self that stand in the way of a relationship with God.
A Brief History of Mysticism
Let's go through the following history so that you can see some of the names associated with this form of prayer. This will give you an idea of the breadth and pedigree of the tradition. As a person who likes to know where things have come from, I need this sort of thing before I dip into something new. If you're not into history, though, just move along to the next section.
We start at the very beginning of Christianity: The apostle Paul was the first great Christian mystic. Though he didn't use the terminology or theology of later mysticism, he had his share of mystical experiences: He said he was once "caught up in the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:23), whatever that means.
Mysticism as we now know it today was first articulated in the early Middle Ages, in the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, a.k.a. Pseudo-Dionysius (because many scholars think someone else wrote this stuff and just attached Dionysius's name to it). He combined Christian theology with Neo-Platonist philosophy (which is where a lot of the abstract language of mysticism comes from).
In the Middle Ages, the most celebrated mystics were found among the monks of both the Eastern church and the Western church, particularly the "Hesychasts" of Mount Athos, Greece, and, in Western Europe; Bernard of Clairvaux; Hildegard of Bingen; Francis of Assisi; Theresa of Avila; and John of the Cross. Gerhard Groote, a Dutch mystic, founded the monastic order known as the Brothers of the Common Life, which Thomas à Kempis later joined and in which he produced his famous The Imitation of Christ, a prayer classic (see the next chapter).
Johannes Eckhart, a.k.a. Meister Eckhart, was the foremost mystic of Germany. Some of his followers, members of a group called the Friends of God, wrote works that influenced the reformer Martin Luther.
Mysticism with an English touch, at least in the 1300s and 1400s, is exemplified by Margery Kempe, Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, another classic work on mystical prayer.
Post-Reformation Catholic works include The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola; The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence; and the works of seventeenth-century French quietist, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, or usually Madam Guyon. On the Protestant side, there's Jakob Boehme's Mysterium Magnum (The Great Mystery) and William Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.
In the twentieth century, the strongest mystical voices have been Austrian Roman Catholic Friedrich von Hügel, British Anglican Evelyn Underhill, American Quaker Rufus Jones, French philosophers Simone Weil and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and American Trappist monk Thomas Merton.
If any of these names have intrigued you in the past, their writings might be a place to begin your own exploration of mysticism.
The Five Stages
Depending on whose material you read, there are as few as three and as many as seven (and sometimes more) stages in the mystical way. Though writers differ on the number, most seem to agree on the characteristic phases that people go through when they try to take up the mystical tradition.
"Stages" and "characteristic phases" are loose terms. These are stages in the same way that there are "stages" in grief. We each experience denial, bargaining, acceptance, and so on, but each stage has a way of returning again in some ways, all stages are present in each one. Still, we recognize the stages as different types of experiences we have after a loved one has died. The same is true of stages in the mystical way.
Here we examine the classification of Evelyn Underhill as outlined in her now-classic Mysticism.
· Awakening. The person is first awakened to the reality of spiritual things and to the presence and love of God. This can happen suddenly, in an instant conversion, or it can take place over months or years: The person becomes aware of God's love as never before, and the experience comes with feelings of joy and even exaltation.
· Purification, also called purgation. Having experienced the love and holiness of God, the person before long recognizes how out of sync with God he is. Thus begins a period of mortification, the killing off of desires, habits, and states of mind that get in the way of God. Often serious disciplines are taken up longer prayer, fasting, self-examination retreats, sexual chastity, relinquishing possessions to conquer spiritual sloth and pride. The period is characterized by moral effort and spiritual pain.
· Illumination. Now more morally and spiritually honed, the person becomes joyfully aware of God at a new level. The knowing in the "awakening" phase is like enjoying the light of a full moon on a cloudless night; this is like basking in the noontime sun on a summer day.
These first three stages together are often called "the first mystic life," and this is about as far as most mystics travel along the way. As we'll soon see, it is not a perfect and ongoing experience of God, but one in which purgation is still necessary. Still, it is an experience far richer than awakening and is characterized by ongoing peace and joy.
· Dark night of the soul. This most terrible experience of the mystical way is sometimes experienced at various points in each stage, and sometimes as an extended period of its own. It is sometimes called "mystic death," for it entails the final and complete purification of the self. It takes its name from a book by this title, written by John of the Cross, in which John describes the new experience.
The chief characteristic is absolute loss of God, a sense that the sun has been completely obliterated. Desolation and despair are the usual emotions the seeker experiences. It isn't that God literally withdraws the omni-present God cannot do that but he does withdraw every emotional benefit the seeker has so far derived from faith. The seeker continues through the spiritual loneliness knowing that this "spiritual crucifixion" is necessary: One must learn to seek God for God's sake, not for the sake of the happiness God brings.
· Union. In this stage, the seeker enjoys God not as in illumination, in which God shines down upon him: Here he becomes one with God. Again, this is not one in the sense that the seeker is destroyed, but one in the sense that husband and wife become one in sex. I'm not being disrespectful here: In fact, sexual imagery is common in mystical teaching, and this stage is often called "mystical marriage."
Books to Get You Started
This is only the briefest of overviews. Underhill's classic is more than 500 pages and is only one book of many on the subject. But if this approach intrigues you still, you might look for others.
For starters, read one of Underhill's books (Mysticism or The Essentials of Mysticism), or a more modern treatment such as Father Benedict Groeschel's Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development (Crossroad, 1990). Whereas Underhill's book describes all of mysticism, Groeschel's book concentrates on discussing the stages (he has three)how they are experienced psychologically and spiritually, as well as some of their dangers and opportunities.
You may also want to read a classic in mystical writing: Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle, or John of the Cross's Ascent of Mount Carmel.
Getting "Professional" Help
If you're going to embark on this way, you also are wise to find a spiritual director all the great mystics had them. These are people skilled in the art of discerning the spiritual life. You meet with them as you would a counselor (though not at the cost!), and you discuss your spiritual life. Some are more directive, giving assignments each week (or month however often you meet); others are non-directive, asking questions to help the seeker to understand better how God is speaking.
Spiritual directors are not listed in the phone book as such, but many monasteries have people who specialize in spiritual direction. You might also contact a local Roman Catholic or Episcopal priest, who may know other places in your area where you can find a spiritual director.
You are better off not using your own pastor or priest because the relationship with the spiritual director is more intimate than most people feel is appropriate with their clergy person. In fact, I believe that it's best to not know your spiritual director in any other setting. Let this person's one job be as your spiritual director not pastor, teacher, friend, or whatever. This way he can focus on you in just this one capacity.
Furthermore, you are probably wise to select a spiritual director of your own gender. First, there's the matter of intimacy; you don't want to start becoming confused about your feelings for your spiritual director. Enough said.
Second, the spiritual life is a gendered life. How we experience God is in many ways shaped by our gender and how we relate to people of the same and opposite sex. In most circumstances, these aspects of spirituality are best discerned by someone of your own gender.
Finally, you may want first to visit a few individuals to discuss their philosophy and approach before settling in on the one person who is going to help guide your spiritual life. And there is no law that says you can't change your spiritual director if you're not being helped.
In any event, having a guide is crucial and even if you're not going to embark on the more strenuous mystical way, it can be a big help. Climbers of Mt. Everest don't go without a guide, for sure. But even those who simply want to take a nature walk through Yosemite Valley find that a ranger's company can make the experience more meaningful.
Perhaps the most intriguing prayer tradition is that of mysticism. This is the aspect of much New Age spirituality that, I believe, makes it so attractive. Yet the mystical tradition is also one of the most misunderstood. At first glance, it seems like the Advanced School of Prayer, and in some ways it is. We are wise, though, to understand it as simply another way of prayer that has its own gifts to impart.
There's Mysticism and Then There's Mysticism
Mystical prayer is prayer in which the prayer seeks to experience God, or ultimate reality, in an immediate, direct, intuitive way that is, you experience God more immediately than the chair you're sitting in. This is a broad definition, so many people who do not consider themselves mystics have had mystical experiences. For such people, including myself, the occasional experience (once or twice in a lifetime) is enjoyed but not sought after, remembered but not dwelt upon.
For the person pursuing the mystical way, more such experiences are sought, with the ultimate goal of ongoing or complete union with God. No one has understood mysticism better than Evelyn Underhill, an early twentieth-century Anglican writer who said this about a true mystic: "The central fact, it seems to me, is an overwhelming consciousness of God and his own soul: A consciousness which absorbs and eclipses all other centers of interest."
As such, mysticism can be found in every religion: in the Hindu metaphysical system known as the Vedanta, and in the philosophy of Yoga, which offers a rigorous discipline to encourage mystical experiences. Taoism, especially as expounded by its traditional founder, the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu, has a strong mystical emphasis. The Muslim Sufi sect also practices a form of mysticism that closely resembles that of the Vedanta.
Some forms of Christian mysticism sound very similar to Eastern and Muslim mysticism. But in the best Christian mysticism (that is, the type that seeks to shape itself according to traditional Christian teaching), there are some important differences.
1. Though nature can be a vehicle for experiencing God, nature never becomes God in Christian mysticism. For all their profound wonder at nature, Christian mystics always understand that there is a difference between creation and the creator.
2. Mystics tend to be impatient with language that limits God including the language of the Bible, in which God is understood in metaphors: Father, Redeemer, Rock, Lord, King, and so on. Mystics are fond of abstract language, which they believe more readily frees us from thinking about God in our "man-made" categories and allows us to experience God more truly. When they talk about God, they'll used words and phrases like these: Being, the Unknowable, Bare Pure One, Perfect Beauty, Love That Gives All Things Form, Reality, and so on.
Even many Christian mystics move in this direction. "God may well be loved but not thought," wrote the author of the mystical classic The Cloud of Unknowing. But in Christian teaching, the biblical metaphors for God especially Father,
Lord, and King have been given to us by God himself. They are not intended to say everything there is to say about God, but what they do say should not be lightly set aside.
Furthermore, the democracy of history has determined that more people find God and have come to know him better by praying to "Our Father" rather than "The Ground of All Being."
3. In some forms of mysticism, mystics become increasingly passive and isolated from society. In the Christian tradition, though, mysticism naturally leads to vigorous action in the world. In Christian history, you find mystics running monastic orders (Teresa of Avila), arguing politics with popes and kings (Catherine of Siena), and starting movements that electrify continents (Francis of Assisi).
4. In non-Christian mysticism, often the goal is for the individual to be absorbed into the divine essence, to have his or her individual personality "obliterated" and united with the All-in-All. This is decidedly not the Christian goal, which is a relationship with God and demands that there will forever remain a distinction between God and us. If a Christian mystic speaks about "obliterating the self," it's usually hyperbole for getting under control those parts of the self that stand in the way of a relationship with God.
A Brief History of Mysticism
Let's go through the following history so that you can see some of the names associated with this form of prayer. This will give you an idea of the breadth and pedigree of the tradition. As a person who likes to know where things have come from, I need this sort of thing before I dip into something new. If you're not into history, though, just move along to the next section.
We start at the very beginning of Christianity: The apostle Paul was the first great Christian mystic. Though he didn't use the terminology or theology of later mysticism, he had his share of mystical experiences: He said he was once "caught up in the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:23), whatever that means.
Mysticism as we now know it today was first articulated in the early Middle Ages, in the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, a.k.a. Pseudo-Dionysius (because many scholars think someone else wrote this stuff and just attached Dionysius's name to it). He combined Christian theology with Neo-Platonist philosophy (which is where a lot of the abstract language of mysticism comes from).
In the Middle Ages, the most celebrated mystics were found among the monks of both the Eastern church and the Western church, particularly the "Hesychasts" of Mount Athos, Greece, and, in Western Europe; Bernard of Clairvaux; Hildegard of Bingen; Francis of Assisi; Theresa of Avila; and John of the Cross. Gerhard Groote, a Dutch mystic, founded the monastic order known as the Brothers of the Common Life, which Thomas à Kempis later joined and in which he produced his famous The Imitation of Christ, a prayer classic (see the next chapter).
Johannes Eckhart, a.k.a. Meister Eckhart, was the foremost mystic of Germany. Some of his followers, members of a group called the Friends of God, wrote works that influenced the reformer Martin Luther.
Mysticism with an English touch, at least in the 1300s and 1400s, is exemplified by Margery Kempe, Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, another classic work on mystical prayer.
Post-Reformation Catholic works include The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola; The Practice of the Presence of God, by Brother Lawrence; and the works of seventeenth-century French quietist, Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, or usually Madam Guyon. On the Protestant side, there's Jakob Boehme's Mysterium Magnum (The Great Mystery) and William Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.
In the twentieth century, the strongest mystical voices have been Austrian Roman Catholic Friedrich von Hügel, British Anglican Evelyn Underhill, American Quaker Rufus Jones, French philosophers Simone Weil and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and American Trappist monk Thomas Merton.
If any of these names have intrigued you in the past, their writings might be a place to begin your own exploration of mysticism.
The Five Stages
Depending on whose material you read, there are as few as three and as many as seven (and sometimes more) stages in the mystical way. Though writers differ on the number, most seem to agree on the characteristic phases that people go through when they try to take up the mystical tradition.
"Stages" and "characteristic phases" are loose terms. These are stages in the same way that there are "stages" in grief. We each experience denial, bargaining, acceptance, and so on, but each stage has a way of returning again in some ways, all stages are present in each one. Still, we recognize the stages as different types of experiences we have after a loved one has died. The same is true of stages in the mystical way.
Here we examine the classification of Evelyn Underhill as outlined in her now-classic Mysticism.
· Awakening. The person is first awakened to the reality of spiritual things and to the presence and love of God. This can happen suddenly, in an instant conversion, or it can take place over months or years: The person becomes aware of God's love as never before, and the experience comes with feelings of joy and even exaltation.
· Purification, also called purgation. Having experienced the love and holiness of God, the person before long recognizes how out of sync with God he is. Thus begins a period of mortification, the killing off of desires, habits, and states of mind that get in the way of God. Often serious disciplines are taken up longer prayer, fasting, self-examination retreats, sexual chastity, relinquishing possessions to conquer spiritual sloth and pride. The period is characterized by moral effort and spiritual pain.
· Illumination. Now more morally and spiritually honed, the person becomes joyfully aware of God at a new level. The knowing in the "awakening" phase is like enjoying the light of a full moon on a cloudless night; this is like basking in the noontime sun on a summer day.
These first three stages together are often called "the first mystic life," and this is about as far as most mystics travel along the way. As we'll soon see, it is not a perfect and ongoing experience of God, but one in which purgation is still necessary. Still, it is an experience far richer than awakening and is characterized by ongoing peace and joy.
· Dark night of the soul. This most terrible experience of the mystical way is sometimes experienced at various points in each stage, and sometimes as an extended period of its own. It is sometimes called "mystic death," for it entails the final and complete purification of the self. It takes its name from a book by this title, written by John of the Cross, in which John describes the new experience.
The chief characteristic is absolute loss of God, a sense that the sun has been completely obliterated. Desolation and despair are the usual emotions the seeker experiences. It isn't that God literally withdraws the omni-present God cannot do that but he does withdraw every emotional benefit the seeker has so far derived from faith. The seeker continues through the spiritual loneliness knowing that this "spiritual crucifixion" is necessary: One must learn to seek God for God's sake, not for the sake of the happiness God brings.
· Union. In this stage, the seeker enjoys God not as in illumination, in which God shines down upon him: Here he becomes one with God. Again, this is not one in the sense that the seeker is destroyed, but one in the sense that husband and wife become one in sex. I'm not being disrespectful here: In fact, sexual imagery is common in mystical teaching, and this stage is often called "mystical marriage."
Books to Get You Started
This is only the briefest of overviews. Underhill's classic is more than 500 pages and is only one book of many on the subject. But if this approach intrigues you still, you might look for others.
For starters, read one of Underhill's books (Mysticism or The Essentials of Mysticism), or a more modern treatment such as Father Benedict Groeschel's Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development (Crossroad, 1990). Whereas Underhill's book describes all of mysticism, Groeschel's book concentrates on discussing the stages (he has three)how they are experienced psychologically and spiritually, as well as some of their dangers and opportunities.
You may also want to read a classic in mystical writing: Teresa of Avila's The Interior Castle, or John of the Cross's Ascent of Mount Carmel.
Getting "Professional" Help
If you're going to embark on this way, you also are wise to find a spiritual director all the great mystics had them. These are people skilled in the art of discerning the spiritual life. You meet with them as you would a counselor (though not at the cost!), and you discuss your spiritual life. Some are more directive, giving assignments each week (or month however often you meet); others are non-directive, asking questions to help the seeker to understand better how God is speaking.
Spiritual directors are not listed in the phone book as such, but many monasteries have people who specialize in spiritual direction. You might also contact a local Roman Catholic or Episcopal priest, who may know other places in your area where you can find a spiritual director.
You are better off not using your own pastor or priest because the relationship with the spiritual director is more intimate than most people feel is appropriate with their clergy person. In fact, I believe that it's best to not know your spiritual director in any other setting. Let this person's one job be as your spiritual director not pastor, teacher, friend, or whatever. This way he can focus on you in just this one capacity.
Furthermore, you are probably wise to select a spiritual director of your own gender. First, there's the matter of intimacy; you don't want to start becoming confused about your feelings for your spiritual director. Enough said.
Second, the spiritual life is a gendered life. How we experience God is in many ways shaped by our gender and how we relate to people of the same and opposite sex. In most circumstances, these aspects of spirituality are best discerned by someone of your own gender.
Finally, you may want first to visit a few individuals to discuss their philosophy and approach before settling in on the one person who is going to help guide your spiritual life. And there is no law that says you can't change your spiritual director if you're not being helped.
In any event, having a guide is crucial and even if you're not going to embark on the more strenuous mystical way, it can be a big help. Climbers of Mt. Everest don't go without a guide, for sure. But even those who simply want to take a nature walk through Yosemite Valley find that a ranger's company can make the experience more meaningful.
SEEKING THE BEST FOR OTHERS
Seeking the Best for Others
One thing I discovered early on in prayer is how quickly I become bored praying for others. I mean, after I've said, "Bless my brother-in-law," for two weeks running, what then? This gets pretty monotonous pretty quickly. How exactly should I pray for him? How do I determine what he most needs without butting into his personal life?
Well, I find a classic prayer and use it as a guide, like those found in the letters of the apostle Paul. When I figured out how to use such a prayer, it recharged my interest in praying for others. Perhaps it will do the same for you.
Beyond Daily Bread
Paul was the most influential Christian in the early years of the church. He founded churches throughout Asia Minor (what today we call Turkey) and in Greece, and he had relationships all over the Mediterranean world.
In his letters to his friends, Paul usually told them how exactly he was praying for them and in some letters he actually prayed for them. These prayers can teach us a lot about how to pray for others more fully.
Our natural tendency is to begin with the concrete, such as praying for health and for success in endeavors: "Lord, help John get over his flu rapidly, and help him do a good job at his presentation tomorrow." That sort of thing. We might add requests for peace or freedom from worry.
Paul's prayers take us to a new level: He is concerned mostly for the spiritual welfare of his friends, and all his prayers are directed to that end. You'll never hear Paul tell his friends that he's praying for their health.
This isn't because Paul despised such prayers. Having been raised in a Jewish environment, there's little doubt that very concrete prayers for concrete blessings were a normal element of his prayers. But in his letters, he wants his readers to realize that he is also praying for them on a different level: for their spiritual needs.
That's all well and good for a spiritual giant like Paul, but can we do the same? To some people, this is presumptuous: "What gives us the right to tell someone else how to run their spiritual lives? That's an individual decision and a matter of privacy."
I won't get into that here other than to say: No, we shouldn't try to tell people how to run their spiritual lives though I think it's okay to ask God to do that. Furthermore, a person's spiritual life may be private, but that doesn't mean that it's not our business. My brother-in-law's finances, for example, are none of my business, but I still want him to use his money wisely and to stay solvent.
Such is the nature of praying for others' spiritual lives: We're not trying to make them become like us, or whomever. We just want what's best for them in God's mind which is why we're asking him in the first place.
In particular, let's look at one of Paul's prayers for the people of Ephesus (on the west coast of modern Turkey), a group he lived with for a time. In this prayer (Ephesians 1:1523), we see four key themes that can become a part of our prayer for others.
Thankfulness
Paul starts on a characteristic note: "I have never stopped thanking God for you. . . ." Paul was one thankful person, and one of the things he is most thankful for is his friends.
To friends in Philippi, he wrote, "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God" (Philippians 1:3). To friends in Colosse, he says, "We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God . . ." (Colossians 1:3). Even to new acquaintances in Thessalonica (whom he had known for only two weeks), he says, "We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly" (1 Thessalonians 1:2).
This is not how we usually think of our friends. Friends are people to worry about, or to fix, or to use, or to help. But here we see a whole new approach: We can thank God for friends and not just at Thanksgiving.
For me, probably the biggest temptation in prayer is to try to "fix" my loved ones. I see a problem she worries too much; he needs more patience; she needs to be more sensitive; whatever and I pray for that, hoping that God will fix the person in that way.
I don't doubt that people need fixing, and it's certainly appropriate to pray such prayers. But before we start trying to make people better, we are wise to thank God for people as they already are. This prevents us from making friends into projects, or from being perpetually dissatisfied with them a special temptation of spouses and parents, as I can attest.
This habit beginning with thanks will, more than anything else, transform your prayers for others. Even when you have no idea how to pray for them, you can certainly thank God for them. And many days, that's enough.
Knowledge
When Paul moves from thanksgiving into requests, his first request is this: He wants God, he tells his friends, "to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God" (Ephesians 1:17).
If we need wisdom, so do our friends in both the big decisions (school, marriage, moves, and jobs) and in the daily ones (how we use our time day by day). But Paul is thinking a bit more than this: He prays for "spiritual wisdom and understanding." He wants his friends not just to be healthy, wise, and successful, but also to grow in their knowledge of God.
Is there any more important prayer than this? And yet, if you're like me, it's a request I rarely make. I, too, readily assume that either loved ones are pursuing that already or that they really don't care about spiritual things, so why bother? But no matter their current spiritual state: They will have more joyful and meaningful lives if they get to know God better.
Hope
Another surprising request of Paul's is the next one: "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so you can understand the wonderful future. . . . I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people" (Ephesians 1:18).
Paul isn't talking about a promotion at work or a new political administration. He's talking about ultimate things: the hope of heaven.
Here again, I find my prayers shortsighted. I'm constantly aiming for the here and now. But life is so fragile that we all need to have our hope pinned on something beyond this world, on something even more real than this present existence. To pray that friends will experience such hope, that they'll have confidence in God in their most frightening and despairing moments, ranks right up there in importance with Paul's first request.
Power
Lest this whole business remain in the spiritual stratosphere, Paul adds one more request: "I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe in him" (Ephesians 1:19).
First, let's get a handle on this power: It is the power that created the world. It's the power that redeemed Israel from Egypt. It's the power that raised Christ from the dead. We're talking power.
Second, let's note that Paul assumes that something of this power is available to people like us and to our friends.
Third, let's note that without this power being available to us, everything Jesus taught and Paul reiterated including all this stuff about prayer would be a big lie. It is not a new way of looking at things, not a new state of mind, not some helpful tips to make life easier: The radical promise of the Christian message is that people can be given a power, a strength, and an ability to actually move forward and upward in life. And this is nothing less than God's power working within us.
This amazing fact God in us is something we can pray about. The implication is that if we don't pray about it, the power will not be as available to us. If we do pray about it, for us and for our friends, we will experience it more and more.
One area in my life in which I've discerned God's power is my temper. In my younger days, it didn't take much to make me angry: misplacing my glasses, walking into a messy kitchen, arriving late. Over the years I've prayed about this, as have friends for me.
I'd say I'm now better at controlling my outbursts when I'm angry, but I chalk that up mostly to my own will power. Where I think God has changed me is in getting angry in the first place. Over time, I have found myself unperturbed by situations that would have formerly incited an internal riot.
I remember one day sitting in a traffic jamat one time a surefire rage producer and feeling pretty much at peace. I was surprised at my reaction, but also pleased. I couldn't take much credit for it because I simply hadn't actually tried to feel calm. I knew I didn't have the power to do that. Instead, it was a gift, I believe from Godhis power was working in my warped personality!
How Exactly to Use This Stuff
I am not able to pray Paul's prayer as I do the Psalms. For one thing, it's not as poetic. For another, Paul tends to like run-on sentences, which make me gasp for air by the end.
Nor do I find it helpful each day to pray all four requests as modeled here. Frankly, the ideas are too rich to be expressed sincerely all at once.
Instead, I'd suggest that you take one of these ideas and run with it for a day or a week (depending on how you go about praying for others). For example, I might go down my prayer list like this:
"Lord, I pray for John, that he might grow in spiritual wisdom and in knowledge of you. I pray for Elizabeth, that she might grow in spiritual wisdom and in knowledge of you." And so on. When I repeat the same words in the same way for each person, I find that the words sink deeper into me, and then I can pray them ever more sincerely.
When such a routine threatens to become monotonous, I'll pray for groups of people, whole families, before I repeat the phrase: "Lord, I pray for John and Elizabeth, and their children Joanna, Michael, and Stephen, that they might grow in spiritual wisdom. . . ."
As I mention each name, I try to picture the person, and I also try to picture God doing something for them that will make them happy. This checks my tendency to pray only that people will be fixed according to my desires, but instead that they will be blessed by God in a way that will truly make them happy.
Other Gold Mines of Prayer
If this is a practice you find you enjoy, you're not limited to the language and ideas of this prayer. You might want to mediate on some of Paul's other prayers, including these:
Ephesians 3:1421Philippians 1:311Colossians 1:314
Or, you might simply pick a phrase from one of Paul's letters, or even a saying of Jesus', and use that as the key phrase by which you pray for others. Here are some phrases that immediately come to mind:
''Lord, help Steven to become purer in heart, that he might see more and more of you." Based on Matthew 5:8, though you could do this with any of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:310).
"Lord, help Kathryn to love you with her whole mind, her whole heart, her entire soul, and with all her strength." Based on Luke 10:27.
"Lord, help Monica know that only faith, hope, and love endure, and that the greatest of these is love." Based on 1 Corinthians 13:13.
You get the idea. It's another reason the Bible is the book of prayer: Its resources are nearly infinite.
One thing I discovered early on in prayer is how quickly I become bored praying for others. I mean, after I've said, "Bless my brother-in-law," for two weeks running, what then? This gets pretty monotonous pretty quickly. How exactly should I pray for him? How do I determine what he most needs without butting into his personal life?
Well, I find a classic prayer and use it as a guide, like those found in the letters of the apostle Paul. When I figured out how to use such a prayer, it recharged my interest in praying for others. Perhaps it will do the same for you.
Beyond Daily Bread
Paul was the most influential Christian in the early years of the church. He founded churches throughout Asia Minor (what today we call Turkey) and in Greece, and he had relationships all over the Mediterranean world.
In his letters to his friends, Paul usually told them how exactly he was praying for them and in some letters he actually prayed for them. These prayers can teach us a lot about how to pray for others more fully.
Our natural tendency is to begin with the concrete, such as praying for health and for success in endeavors: "Lord, help John get over his flu rapidly, and help him do a good job at his presentation tomorrow." That sort of thing. We might add requests for peace or freedom from worry.
Paul's prayers take us to a new level: He is concerned mostly for the spiritual welfare of his friends, and all his prayers are directed to that end. You'll never hear Paul tell his friends that he's praying for their health.
This isn't because Paul despised such prayers. Having been raised in a Jewish environment, there's little doubt that very concrete prayers for concrete blessings were a normal element of his prayers. But in his letters, he wants his readers to realize that he is also praying for them on a different level: for their spiritual needs.
That's all well and good for a spiritual giant like Paul, but can we do the same? To some people, this is presumptuous: "What gives us the right to tell someone else how to run their spiritual lives? That's an individual decision and a matter of privacy."
I won't get into that here other than to say: No, we shouldn't try to tell people how to run their spiritual lives though I think it's okay to ask God to do that. Furthermore, a person's spiritual life may be private, but that doesn't mean that it's not our business. My brother-in-law's finances, for example, are none of my business, but I still want him to use his money wisely and to stay solvent.
Such is the nature of praying for others' spiritual lives: We're not trying to make them become like us, or whomever. We just want what's best for them in God's mind which is why we're asking him in the first place.
In particular, let's look at one of Paul's prayers for the people of Ephesus (on the west coast of modern Turkey), a group he lived with for a time. In this prayer (Ephesians 1:1523), we see four key themes that can become a part of our prayer for others.
Thankfulness
Paul starts on a characteristic note: "I have never stopped thanking God for you. . . ." Paul was one thankful person, and one of the things he is most thankful for is his friends.
To friends in Philippi, he wrote, "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God" (Philippians 1:3). To friends in Colosse, he says, "We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God . . ." (Colossians 1:3). Even to new acquaintances in Thessalonica (whom he had known for only two weeks), he says, "We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly" (1 Thessalonians 1:2).
This is not how we usually think of our friends. Friends are people to worry about, or to fix, or to use, or to help. But here we see a whole new approach: We can thank God for friends and not just at Thanksgiving.
For me, probably the biggest temptation in prayer is to try to "fix" my loved ones. I see a problem she worries too much; he needs more patience; she needs to be more sensitive; whatever and I pray for that, hoping that God will fix the person in that way.
I don't doubt that people need fixing, and it's certainly appropriate to pray such prayers. But before we start trying to make people better, we are wise to thank God for people as they already are. This prevents us from making friends into projects, or from being perpetually dissatisfied with them a special temptation of spouses and parents, as I can attest.
This habit beginning with thanks will, more than anything else, transform your prayers for others. Even when you have no idea how to pray for them, you can certainly thank God for them. And many days, that's enough.
Knowledge
When Paul moves from thanksgiving into requests, his first request is this: He wants God, he tells his friends, "to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God" (Ephesians 1:17).
If we need wisdom, so do our friends in both the big decisions (school, marriage, moves, and jobs) and in the daily ones (how we use our time day by day). But Paul is thinking a bit more than this: He prays for "spiritual wisdom and understanding." He wants his friends not just to be healthy, wise, and successful, but also to grow in their knowledge of God.
Is there any more important prayer than this? And yet, if you're like me, it's a request I rarely make. I, too, readily assume that either loved ones are pursuing that already or that they really don't care about spiritual things, so why bother? But no matter their current spiritual state: They will have more joyful and meaningful lives if they get to know God better.
Hope
Another surprising request of Paul's is the next one: "I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so you can understand the wonderful future. . . . I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people" (Ephesians 1:18).
Paul isn't talking about a promotion at work or a new political administration. He's talking about ultimate things: the hope of heaven.
Here again, I find my prayers shortsighted. I'm constantly aiming for the here and now. But life is so fragile that we all need to have our hope pinned on something beyond this world, on something even more real than this present existence. To pray that friends will experience such hope, that they'll have confidence in God in their most frightening and despairing moments, ranks right up there in importance with Paul's first request.
Power
Lest this whole business remain in the spiritual stratosphere, Paul adds one more request: "I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe in him" (Ephesians 1:19).
First, let's get a handle on this power: It is the power that created the world. It's the power that redeemed Israel from Egypt. It's the power that raised Christ from the dead. We're talking power.
Second, let's note that Paul assumes that something of this power is available to people like us and to our friends.
Third, let's note that without this power being available to us, everything Jesus taught and Paul reiterated including all this stuff about prayer would be a big lie. It is not a new way of looking at things, not a new state of mind, not some helpful tips to make life easier: The radical promise of the Christian message is that people can be given a power, a strength, and an ability to actually move forward and upward in life. And this is nothing less than God's power working within us.
This amazing fact God in us is something we can pray about. The implication is that if we don't pray about it, the power will not be as available to us. If we do pray about it, for us and for our friends, we will experience it more and more.
One area in my life in which I've discerned God's power is my temper. In my younger days, it didn't take much to make me angry: misplacing my glasses, walking into a messy kitchen, arriving late. Over the years I've prayed about this, as have friends for me.
I'd say I'm now better at controlling my outbursts when I'm angry, but I chalk that up mostly to my own will power. Where I think God has changed me is in getting angry in the first place. Over time, I have found myself unperturbed by situations that would have formerly incited an internal riot.
I remember one day sitting in a traffic jamat one time a surefire rage producer and feeling pretty much at peace. I was surprised at my reaction, but also pleased. I couldn't take much credit for it because I simply hadn't actually tried to feel calm. I knew I didn't have the power to do that. Instead, it was a gift, I believe from Godhis power was working in my warped personality!
How Exactly to Use This Stuff
I am not able to pray Paul's prayer as I do the Psalms. For one thing, it's not as poetic. For another, Paul tends to like run-on sentences, which make me gasp for air by the end.
Nor do I find it helpful each day to pray all four requests as modeled here. Frankly, the ideas are too rich to be expressed sincerely all at once.
Instead, I'd suggest that you take one of these ideas and run with it for a day or a week (depending on how you go about praying for others). For example, I might go down my prayer list like this:
"Lord, I pray for John, that he might grow in spiritual wisdom and in knowledge of you. I pray for Elizabeth, that she might grow in spiritual wisdom and in knowledge of you." And so on. When I repeat the same words in the same way for each person, I find that the words sink deeper into me, and then I can pray them ever more sincerely.
When such a routine threatens to become monotonous, I'll pray for groups of people, whole families, before I repeat the phrase: "Lord, I pray for John and Elizabeth, and their children Joanna, Michael, and Stephen, that they might grow in spiritual wisdom. . . ."
As I mention each name, I try to picture the person, and I also try to picture God doing something for them that will make them happy. This checks my tendency to pray only that people will be fixed according to my desires, but instead that they will be blessed by God in a way that will truly make them happy.
Other Gold Mines of Prayer
If this is a practice you find you enjoy, you're not limited to the language and ideas of this prayer. You might want to mediate on some of Paul's other prayers, including these:
Ephesians 3:1421Philippians 1:311Colossians 1:314
Or, you might simply pick a phrase from one of Paul's letters, or even a saying of Jesus', and use that as the key phrase by which you pray for others. Here are some phrases that immediately come to mind:
''Lord, help Steven to become purer in heart, that he might see more and more of you." Based on Matthew 5:8, though you could do this with any of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:310).
"Lord, help Kathryn to love you with her whole mind, her whole heart, her entire soul, and with all her strength." Based on Luke 10:27.
"Lord, help Monica know that only faith, hope, and love endure, and that the greatest of these is love." Based on 1 Corinthians 13:13.
You get the idea. It's another reason the Bible is the book of prayer: Its resources are nearly infinite.
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