Session 7: Recollecting God’s Presence

 

How to Pray

Session 6: Recollecting God’s Presence

“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  I Thessalonians 5:16-18

“In continuing the practice of conversing with God throughout each day, and quickly seeking His forgiveness when I fell or strayed, His presence has become as easy and natural to me now as it once was difficult to attain… God does not ask much of us. But remembering Him, praising Him, asking for His grace, offering Him your troubles, or thanking Him for what He has given you will console you all the time … lift up your heart … little remembrances please Him.”  Brother Lawrence

  1. How should we understand Saint Paul’s charge to pray constantly and always rejoice and give thanks?  Is this possible for us?
  2. How would your life be different if you lived this way?
  3. What kinds of disciplines do you think could help you follow these commands more faithfully?

Recollection is the “practice of the Presence of God,” the work of living entirely with God and doing everything for love of Him.  Recollection is the goal of the spiritual life, and is sustained by the practice of many different forms of prayer

  1.  
    • Habitual Recollection: a constant state of the soul
    • Actual Recollection: particular acts of prayer that recall God’s presence

Habitual Recollection is a state in which God’s presence is known or realized continuously, without interruption-state of attentiveness to God

“Habitual recollection implies a love for God analogous to a man’s love for his wife.  He will “actually” think of her fairly frequently, but mostly he will get on with his work, efficiently and joyfully, for her sake.  Subconsciously he never leaves her, but this does not make him inefficient at work like the love-sick youth who cannot concentrate on anything but the object of his affection.  Rather this love is itself the really constant thing which inspires rather than hinders everyday work; it gives everything an object and a purpose.”  Martin Thornton, Christian Proficiency, 60.

  • Mark of habitual recollection is love of God-not just as an emotion, but as a steadfast desire to do God’s will
  • Habitual recollection does not make us inefficient or absent minded, but helps us to see all our work “in the light of eternity”
  • Habitual recollection marked by focus-opposite is distraction

“O LORD, thou hast searched me and known me!
Thou knowest when I sit down and when I rise up;
thou discernest my thoughts from afar.

Thou searchest out my path and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
Thou dost beset me behind and before,
and layest thy hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high, I cannot attain it.
Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?
Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend to heaven, thou art there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there thy hand shall lead me,
and thy right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Let only darkness cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to thee,
the night is bright as the day;
for darkness is as light with thee.

Psalm 139:1-12

  • Recollection of God can involve both external and internal apprehensions of God’s presence
    1. External: an awareness that God is our companion and friend-can see his hand in the natural world, accompanying us through life
    2. Internal: an awareness of God present in our souls, the indwelling Spirit who comes through Holy Baptism

 ”Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9

  • 1. What is the goal of the “remembering” that this passage orders?
  • 2. How can these commandments provide practical advice for the practice of recollection?

Active Recollection: prayers that recall God’s presence and help to develop the state of habitual recollection.

Remembering God’s acts and his commandments is a constant theme in the Old Testament.  Strong sense that calling God’s Presence and will to mind will help us love and obey Him better. 

Different types of Active Recollection help call God’s Presence to mind

  • Arrow Prayers: recalling God’s presence through short silent invocations.  Sometime a single word will suffice: “God” or “Jesus”
  • Short silent prayers at regular points in the day-first rising, before and after meals, at certain points in workday, before sleep.  Can be timed to the clock.  The Angelus is a traditional form of recollection-a set prayer of devotion at 6, 12, and 6.  Graces before and after meals are also forms of recollection.
  • Celtic Prayer Tradition-Scottish and Irish Christians developed prayer traditions associated with different events of everyday life (sowing, milking, making fire, etc.)-these call God’s blessing over these ordinary events. 
  • Hundred B’rakhot-Jewish tradition, sometimes Christianized, of praising God and asking his blessing over 100 ordinary events each day, using set pattern of prayer: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, because…”(c.f. I Chron. 29:10-13)
  • Mind Returning to God: we can cultivate the habit of focusing our mind on God when not occupied with a significant task, thinking on God instead of day-dreaming-ample silence in life encourages this habit

 ”Then Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Select lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.  For the LORD will pass through to slay the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to slay you. You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever.  And when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, `What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, `It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.” Exodus 12:21-27

  • 1. How is the Passover festival an act of recollection?
  • 2. How can our Christian festivals function as similar acts?
  • 3. How do Church festivals help you to understand and practice your faith?

The Church Year-a pattern of festival and fast, is a kind of recollection-it makes real to us the great events by which we are saved, and helps us to understand more deeply their impact on our lives

“The Church’s worship is not only the commemoration, in artistic forms of evangelical [Gospel-based] or other events concerning the Church.  It is also the actualization of these facts, their reenactment on the earth.  During the service of Christmas there is not merely the memory of the birth of Christ, but truly Christ is born in a mysterious manner, just as at Easter he is resurrected…The life of the Church, in these services, makes actual for us the mystery of the Incarnation.  Our Lord continues to live in the Church in the same form in which he was manifested once on earth and which exists for ever; and it is given to the Church to make living these sacred memories so that we should be their new witnesses and participate in them.  Sergius Bulgakov, qtd. in Thornton 68-69)

Where to Go from Here

Developing a Spiritual Rule is an important step in bringing order and discipline to your spiritual life

  • A rule should include a variety of spiritual practices, but should be structured to reflect the demands of your life and your own gifts and spiritual temperament
  • A rule should be developed in consultation with a spiritual director (see Fr. Mark for advice on finding one), who can help you monitor your progress in living with the rule
  • It is usually helpful to practice life under rule together with others.  Many devotional societies exist within the Episcopal Church with common rules and support for members
  • One can become an oblate, associate or third order member of a religious community, so that your practice of the spiritual life is linked with the community’s particular vocation-can often involve visits, retreats, and contributions to the community
  • Can we begin a prayer group at Saint Paul’s? (daily office group, contemplative prayer group, meditation group, intercessory prayer meeting, Eucharistic or Marian devotion group)

 

Devotional Societies within the Episcopal Church

Anglican Fellowship of Prayer: focuses on intercessory prayer, has nation-wide network of “prayer warriors” who pray for requests, offers training in prayer.  http://www.afp.org/

Brotherhood of Saint Andrew: men’s devotional society, especially concerned with discipleship through evangelism and service.  www.brotherhoodstandrew.org

Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.  Encourages reverence for the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament, local chapters sponsor Eucharistic-focused devotions.  http://home.sandiego.edu/~baber/CBS/

Contemplative Outreach: an ecumenical network committed to contemplation through Centering Prayer.  http://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/.

Fellowship of Contemplative Prayer: society members follow a rule including daily times of contemplation and annual retreat.  wmcoerp@verizon.net

Order of Daughters of the King: women’s devotional society, focused on spiritual growth through prayer, service and evangelism. http://www.dok-national.org/

Society of Mary.  Encourages devotion honoring  the Blessed Virgin Mary.  http://www.societyofmary.net/

Some Religious Communities within the Episcopal Church

The Order of Saint Benedict: contemplative monks living at Three Rivers Abbey, Michigan.  www.geocities.com/stgregorysabbey

The Order of the Holy Cross: Benedictine monks living at several monasteries and priories.  West Park, NY is nearest.  http://www.holycrossmonastery.com

Society of Saint Francis: community of friars living in tradition of St. Francis http://www.s-s-f.org/. Mt. Sinai, NY is nearest. 

All Saints Sisters of the Poor: Benedictine nuns based in Catonsville, Md.  http://freepages.religions.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~oakcottagefamily/AllSaintsConvent/

Community of St. John the Baptist: contemplative nuns based in several convents http://www.csjb.org/

Community of St. Mary.  Contemplative nuns based in several convents.  Greenwich, NY is nearest.  http://www.stmaryseast.org/

Suggestions for Further Reading

De Waal, Esther.  The Celtic Vision (collection of prayers from Carmina Gadelica)

Harton, F. P. Elements of the Spiritual Life, chapter 20

Thornton, Martin.  Christian Proficiency, chapter 6

Resources from Saint Paul’s Library

Porter, H. Boone.  Keeping the Church Year.  New York: Seabury, 1977.  Call # 203

Roth, Nancy.  Organic Prayers.  Cambridge: Cowley, 1993.  [No Call #]