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Brookline Carmel Bulletin                         J M J T

November 15, 1959

 

 

Cogitatio Sancta

(Holy Meditation)

 

Prayer in the Midst of Activity

 

In our last bulletin, we warned against a certain false, selfish absorption in prayer, which St. Teresa describes as “a union with love of self, not with the will of God.”  Such absorption may lead one to neglect the duties of his state in life and the various calls of fraternal charity in order to seek his own pleasure in prayer.  Like all pleasure, the pleasure on experiences in prayer is not to be sought for its own sake, but only as a means to an end.  In this case, God offers this pleasure to the soul to induce it to unite its will more perfectly with His.  To repeat St. Teresa’s oft-quoted declaration, “The highest perfection consists not in interior favors or in great raptures or in visions or in the spirit of prophecy, but in the bringing of our wills so closely into conformity with the will of God that, as soon as we realize He wills anything, we desire it ourselves with all our might.”  (Foundations, 5)  When God does grant these extraordinary favors, with the pleasure that accompanies them, it is not so that the soul may simply enjoy them.  He intends the soul to profit by them – that is, use them to draw closer to Him and to help others to attain a similar union with Him.

 

It is true that the joy one experiences in prayer tends to make one seek God in solitude.  “Even if we are active,” St. Teresa declares, “we may still have a desire for solitude, for that desire is ever present in souls who truly love God.”  The atmosphere most conducive to mental prayer is, ordinarily, solitude.  “I do not hesitate to say that solitude is best.”  But it is not God’s will that we be in solitude at all times.  We must then know how to continue our prayer in the midst of the various activities that our various obligations demand of us during the course of the day.  “The true lover loves his beloved everywhere, and continually remembers Him.”  “We must be careful, in doing good works, even those of obedience and charity, not to fail to have frequent inward recourse to our God… It is not length of time spent in prayer that brings the soul benefit” (i.e., duration, of itself, does not determine the value of prayer).  In certain circumstances, “when we spend our time in good works, it is of great help to us and a better and quicker preparation for the enkindling of our love (for God) than many hours of meditation.”  It would be well if we could always be assured of sufficient time and proper seclusion to be able to devote ourselves to prayer as much as we feel inspired to do so.  Yet we can hardly limit our prayer to those periods when conditions are ideal.  As St. Teresa affirms, “It would be a bad business if we could practice prayer only by getting alone in corners.  I know that I cannot be alone for many hours, but, O my Lord, how powerful with Thee is a sigh issuing from the heart – a sight of sorrow at the thought, not only that we are in this exile, but that we have no opportunity to enjoy a solitude which might give us fuller enjoyment of Thee!”

 

In the practical order, it is often difficult to know how much time to devote to prayer itself and how much to allot to good works.  There is, of course, no fixed rule that can be applied in every case.  The general principle for the First Order of Carmel is that the friars may undertake any active apostolate that is not incompatible with the contemplative ideal.  In other words, the life of prayer is to be given first place, but the active ministry is also to occupy an essential place without detriment to the life of prayer.  It would seem that the same principle must be applied to the life of the Third Order member.  The vocation to the Third Order, like that to the First Order, is a combination of contemplation and action, with the primary emphasis on the contemplation.  The Tertiary should, therefore, strive to arrange his/her time so that the obligations of prayer (Little Office, mental prayer, daily Mass and/or visit to the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual reading) are fulfilled.  The time that remains should then be prudently allotted to various good works.  This is the general principle – the ideal to be sought.  One may find it impossible to carry this out on this or that particular day, but, as a general rule, it should prevail.  This is the Carmelite Rule of Life.  If is difficult.  It requires planning and effort.  But the rewards are such as God alone can grant.

 

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