Dealing with our Monkey Minds

“In meditation leave your front door and back door open.
Let thoughts come and go. Just don’t serve them tea.”

— Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

A meditator once wrote that when she shuts the door, sits down, and begins to meditate, within a few seconds her thoughts come banging on her door yelling, “Let me in! Let me in!”  I think most of us can relate to that story.  I know I can.  It seems that when I start to meditate my thoughts intensify rather than calm down, and sometimes they rage during the entire meditation session.  The Buddhists have a good name for this phenomena.  They call it “monkey mind.”  That is what our minds do.  They chatter. They think thoughts constantly.

What are we to do in meditation and contemplative prayer to deal with our thoughts?  One good approach is to just notice them as they come up, smile at them, let them go, and then return back to your prayer focus.  Meditation is sometimes called the “practice of continual return.”  For a Christian this means returning home to an awareness of the Divine Presence, to the bosom of the God of Love.  What a great deal!

I invite you to re-read the above quote from Zen teacher, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.  Enjoy it.  Laugh at it and laugh at yourself.  And take it to heart as you persist in your meditation practice.

~ PR

Spiritual Director

Praying with St. Mary

“Be it unto me according to thy word.”   Luke 1:38

Over the years I have gathered together a collection of favorite Bible verses which I use to begin my contemplative prayer sessions.  I use them as “breath” prayers at the start of my sitting.  These Scripture verses prime the pump of my heart for prayer and help me enter into the holy presence of God.

The above verse is one of my very favorites.  These famous words were spoken by St. Mary after the angel Gabriel announced to her that she would conceive and bear a child by the Holy Spirit and that he would be called  the Son of the Most High.  Wow!  What an overwhelming message to handle!  After some pondering and questioning, Mary replied to the angel, “Be it unto me according to thy word.”  In other words Mary said “Yes” in a very deep profound way to the activity of God within her life.  It was indeed mysterious activity that she did not fully understand.  But yet, she consented to God’s Word with faith and trust.

Mary represents for us the archetype of the contemplative life.  She embodies what it means to be a contemplative:  a person who opens their body, mind, heart and soul to the Divine Presence.  A person who says “yes” and consents to God’s gracious mysterious activity in their lives.

I commend to you the example of St. Mary.  Pray her words from your heart.  Make them your own.  And then be ready for the wondrous adventure of contemplative transformation.

~ PR

Spiritual Director

The Present Moment is Enough

"Just this... Just this moment... Just this moment is enough."

During a Buddhist meditation retreat I attended recently, the teacher would occasionally repeat the following phrases: “Just this... Just this moment... Just this moment is enough.” With these simple words she was teaching us to pause, relax and appreciate the wonder of the present moment. Not worrying about the past; not anticipating the future; not striving for some extraordinary experience. Just being aware that the here and now is enough.

This is a big part of what we are attempting to do in contemplative prayer: to simply dwell in God’s presence in the present moment. We are training ourselves just to be with God in a mutual loving relationship, silently enjoying one another’s company. Just being with God in the present moment is enough. No place to go; nothing to accomplish. Just being with our Beloved.

"Just this... Just this moment... Just this moment is enough."

~ PR

Spiritual Director

Longing for God and Contemplative Prayer

As a deer longs for flowing streams,

so my soul longs for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When shall I come and behold the face of God? Psalm 42:1-2

These verses from Psalm 42 beautifully express the longing we have for God. We long for God like a deer longs to drink from a flowing stream. Our longing for God is a real spiritual thirst. We long to enter into God’s presence and behold God face to face.

Richard Rohr writes that our longing for God is like a “homing device."  It is an inner motivation or instinct which propels us on our spiritual journeys to seek union with God.  Our longing moves us forward and guides us home into the holy presence of God.  This longing reminds me of how birds instinctively know when, how and where to migrate.  Salmon know how to swim back upstream to the headwaters of their birth.  A similar spiritual process is going on inside our souls.

From where I sit on my chair each morning and evening, I nurture my longing for God through contemplative prayer.  I express my longing. I let it flow in the silence of my heart.  And I sense that my longing is bringing me home, closer to God — day by day, step by step, sitting by sitting.