Ah, here we have another jewel from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, regarding distraction in prayer. Once more, I consider this to be pertinent--analogous--to distractions for a consecrated Catholic hermit in the eremitic vocation, since I found such profound linkages in prayer in its height, depth, and breadth to be rather synonymous with a hermit's striving to union with Christ, to living his or her vocation for Christ and His Church. Veritably, this vocation is that of prayer.
So it is with this next selection found in The Catechism, we can find that the very distractions so astutely pointed out in prayer, can also be the aspects of distraction that can keep the hermit from his or her primary, prodigious purpose--temporally and spiritually.
(And also as a Christian, as a Catholic, I find this selection on the problem of distraction in prayer, to be pertinent to anyone no matter the vocational calling--single, married, any of us in the consecrated life, and ordained. While the hermit's main focus and work is a life of prayer, distractions can hinder all of us who are seeking holiness and union in following Christ.)
For ease of noting the main points, I am going to segment the selection, 2729:
The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction.
It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer;
it can concern, more profoundly, Him to Whom we are praying,
in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer.
To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap,
when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart:
for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to,
and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him
and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified.
Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve.
While in our Christian journey, distraction, as we have just read, is a disrupter, an obstacle, a deal-breaker for our abide-in-Christ desire and goal. Prayer is that intimate communication with His Real Presence (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) of which without, we cannot begin to enter into relationship with the Divine. If distracted from prayer and its fruits, we will not learn nor grow in faith, hope, and love of Christ.
Can there be salvation without communicating with God? Can we truly know His Real Presence without communicating with Him whether it be verbally, mentally, or contemplatively? Will there be a relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit without prayer?
Thus, ridding out distractions, avoiding distractions, is all the more crucial. For a hermit, with prayer being a main focus of a hermit's vocation, a hermit's day-and-night "work," the advice to not try to identify and sort out the distractions is something I'd not considered to be a trap. Yet it is! Quickly I see this now!
All that is needed to remove ourselves from distractions is to turn again to our heart wherein we find His Real Presence in residence. He is within us; it is us who leave for quick trips or long vacations-- conceivably for years not finding our way back.
Simply being aware of having left, of having chosen this or that distraction, is humbling. Humility has been said to be the threshold of the faith. To have humility firmly underfoot--or under our knees--helps us remain meek and humble of heart in presenting ourselves repeatedly before the Lord until that point in which we never depart for this or that distraction, temporal or spiritual in nature.
Our love for His Real Presence is our preference. We prefer to love Him than any or all else. This is true with whatever vows we have professed, be it a simple, heartfelt giving our lives to Jesus Christ, or in vows of marriage, consecrated life, ordination, or by Sacraments of our Baptism and Confirmation. And consider all the times daily, informally and formally, that we have given ourselves to Christ, that we have confessed our sins, begged forgiveness, and told Him we love Him and to keep us in His Heart always.
Over and over, repeatedly, we then offer ourselves to be purified by and in Christ. Turn from the distractions we've knowingly or unknowingly chosen. Return to Jesus, return to our hearts that are secure in His Heart. This is the prayer of conversion, for deeper conversions. It is a prayer that God will always answer for ourselves and for others. When we pray with love for Christ, we pray with love of Christ.
Yes, it is true that when we wander off into distractions, we actually are choosing distractions. It is either a conscious or subconscious choice. Prayer keeps us centered, safely so, in the deepest love within His Real Presence. In prayer, we are united with His Body, the Church. In prayer, we are secured in His Sacred Heart, in His Mind, in His Soul.
For any Christian, prayer is paramount in the spiritual journey and in maintaining our presence within His Real Presence. For a consecrated Catholic hermit, prayer is our responsibility to the Church, it is our work, our life, our joy. For a consecrated Catholic hermit, each moment may have that crucial choice presenting itself to us consciously or not: What master do we choose? To what--or to Whom--are we attached? Whom do we serve?
I had not considered for quite some time, the truth in that we must NOT try to figure out our distractions or hunt them down; we are to simply keep turning back to Jesus, and in this we turn away from our other attachments that are our distractions. It is a matter of choice, moment by moment.
This reality makes me quake; I'm uneasy; I know I lack discipline, inner strength. I need to return to my heart all the more. I must make far better choices in the Order of the Present Moment which presents itself moment by moment. And while, yes, I must tend to temporal responsibilities and labor, with what--with Whom--is my mind, heart, and spirit? Which is good, better, or best? What choice in word or deed is a step toward heaven or a step toward hell? There is no standing still for the body, mind, heart, and soul!
God bless His Real Presence in us!
No comments:
Post a Comment