Being in contemplative prayer for hours at a time?

[pianistclare]

Robert, you now have better reading material.
Read it.
But DO approach a priest who is particularly equipped to deal with mental issues as you have outlined them on these boards for a few years now.
We understand you take medications, and that you suffer greatly, while trying your level best to be a good Catholic. We hold you in prayer.
But please, call the local chancery and ask if there is a priest who is singularly equipped to guide you, as your parish priest may be overwhelmed by the may people who seek his counsel. Specialized care is in order.

God bless you Robert, please take this in the spirit in which it is given.
You have a heavy cross; may you find comfort and assistance.

 

[Sirach2]

Just a helpful hint for those who want to view the two thumbnails I posted. When you click to download them, use the tool to rotate clockwise a few times, which will put the page in front view so you don’t need to print it out. To access the tool, right click your mouse on the opened document.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Here is the excerpt I mentioned from Interior Castle, where St. Teresa describes this condition.

Folks, please understand that I am not alleging that Robert is experiencing this condition, but it is something worth discerning with the help of a good director who is familiar with Carmelite spirituality and various contemplative prayer experiences. The Enemy will go to no small lengths to try and deceive a holy prayerful person.

Thanks! I will try and communicate with a Carmelite Monastery directly to explain my situation and practice.

This morning I spent 2.5 hours in contemplation, switching between being active and passive. Before going into a contemplative state, I was concerned with writing and sending a very sensitive email to my daughter and her husband. After the contemplation session, I felt assured to write and send the email, even though I know from past experiences that the email can easily backfire on me. I felt that the contemplation lead me to write what God wanted me to write, and my ideas flowed with relative ease and I’m pleased that what I conveyed will either be understood when read or that the email will have what psychologists call a sleeper effect where what I wrote will have an eventual positive effect even if it is totally misunderstood or totally dismissed when it is read for the first time.

I did not experience any religious ecstasy or deep revelation when in my contemplative state, but it seemed to facilitate the task that I had in mind.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Robert,
I couldn’t find any way to upload an attachment in a private message. Since the book is available to anyone who orders a copy, I don’t see any harm in printing the pertinent pages I spoke to you about. You will need to print them out to read them.

Again, I thank you! I think I can relate to what St Thresa of Avila is saying here. When she speaks about a rapture, and that it lasts for but a short period of time, I think I have experienced such states in the past–for me, the most memorable spiritual experience was like a fireworks display, filled with deeper religious insights, but I have not experienced this for many years now. I also remember living in a heightened spiritual state that has seemed to have disappeared. Ironically, this was before I even knew what contemplation was!

I have to wonder what happened to me that these spiritual experiences seemed to have disappeared? Maybe the meds that I’m on? I was under anesthesia to have a saliva gland removed, and after I came out from the anesthesia is when all my mental problems began, and much of my spirituality disappeared. There are some psychologists who believe that there’s a part of the unconscious mind that can remember everything that happens while under anesthesia. This would explain a lot. On the other hand, I still feel spiritual, but in a much different way, and I’m still experiencing anxiety and depression but they seem to be dissipating.

 

[Sirach2]

I would guess that the “honeymoon stage” in spiritual growth has morphed into the day-to-day routine of marriage. My Carmelite director explained it as knowing one another so well, that conversation becomes a simple glance from years of living together, rather than the exciting discoveries that were present when getting to know one another. To take it a few steps further, in the last mansion of Interior Castle, St. Teresa wrote that all spiritual ecstacies and phenomena had disappeared, replaced by a simple “touch” from the Lord.

When the soul is negligent, the Lord Himself awakens it in the way that has been described, so that it sees quite clearly that this impulse, or whatever it is called, proceeds from the interior of the soul, as we said when discussing these impulses. It is now felt very gently, but it proceeds neither from the thought nor from the memory, nor can it be supposed that the soul has had any part in it. This is so usual and occurs so frequently that it has been observed with special care: just as the flames of a fire, however great, never travel downwards, but always upwards, so here it is evident that this interior movement

When this experience comes to you, remember that it belongs to this innermost Mansion, where God dwells in our souls, and give Him fervent praise, for it is He who sends it to you, like a message, or a letter, written very lovingly and in such a way that He would have you alone be able to understand what He has written and what He is asking of you in it.

And I am quite dazed myself when I observe that, on reaching this state, the soul has no more raptures (accompanied, that is to say, by the suspension of the senses), save very occasionally, and even then it has not the same transports and flights of the spirit. These raptures, too, happen only rarely, and hardly ever in public as they very often did before. Nor have they any connection, as they had before, with great occasions of devotion; if we see a devotional image or hear a sermon, it is almost as if we had heard nothing, and it is the same with music.

Something to look forward to, huh?

Meanwhile, as both she and St. John of the Cross wrote, there will be long periods of purgative darkness that will cause the soul to think it has lost everything. This, too, is normal and may be a sign of much deeper growth. Since it follows after the beautiful honeymoon stage, wherein the soul has received many wonderful favors from God, it is easy for the soul to form this belief.

Take heart, they say . . . God is working, but in a different manner.

 

[Sirach2]

Oops, on a second read of my last post, I see that I did not fully copy/paste the last sentence in paragraph one of St. Teresa’s quote.
This is how it should read:

This is so usual and occurs so frequently that it has been observed with special care: just as the flames of a fire, however great, never travel downwards, but always upwards, so here it is evident that this interior movement …** proceeds from the centre of the soul and awakens the faculties.**

Source

 

[Anne1964]

As St. Teresa of Avila’s writings can sometimes be difficult to understand I highly recommend reading Fr. Thomas Dubay’s book, The Fire Within. He does a great job of explaining the writings of St. Teresa and St. John of the Cross.

It will be helpful to learn the commonly used terminology for each type of prayer when you are discussing your experiences with a spiritual director.

I have included below excerpt from Fr. Jordan Aumann’s commentary on St. Teresa’s Grades of Prayer. There are 9 grades, but I have only included the first six.

St. Teresa of Avila
9 Grades of Prayer

Grade 1: Vocal Prayer (Act of the Will)

The words spoken or sung aloud have immense power to purify or cleanse one’s spirit, soul and body of all unwanted human and spiritual energies. Normally it works slowly in souls filled with sins or sinful energies, while faster in purer souls. It is sad to see that many Christians stop at this grade of prayer after a long vocal prayer or hymn singing. To let the Spirit lead us to a higher grade in prayer, it seems better if we can do our vocal prayer at the beginning of our prayer time.

Grade 2: Meditation (Act of the Will)

Rev. Jordan Aumann succinctly sums up the fundamentals of meditation as follows: “Meditation can be defined as a reasoned application of the mind to some supernatural truth in order to penetrate its meaning, love it, and carry it into practice with the assistance of grace.” (Spiritual Theology, p.318) “Regardless of method, all mediation can be reduced ultimately to a basic framework containing all the essential parts of meditation: consideration of some supernatural truth, application of that truth to one’s life, and the resolution to do something about it.” (Ibid., p.322)

In this context we may better recognize the functions of meditation. Indeed, meditation can help us penetrate certain spiritual truth, know ourselves, repent of our sins, correct our faults, discern God’s will, understand others, realize the situation, refocus our life, and make a firm resolution to spend our time, energy and resources fruitfully for our love for God and others. As St. Teresa points out, meditation consists not so much in thinking a great deal but in loving a lot. Yet love cannot be idle. It constantly urges us to action. (cf. Spiritual Theology, p.319)

Grade 3: Affective Prayer (Act of the Will)

Affective prayer may be defined as a type of prayer in which the operations of the will predominate over discursus of the intellect. It is merely a simplified meditation in which love predominates …

The will is a blind faculty that needs direction and enlightenment before it can love and desire the good. For that reason discursive meditation and spiritual reading play an important part in the practice of affective prayer; they supply the material that stimulates the activity of the will.

“Thank you, Lord. This is exactly what I need!” A good meditation and affective prayer oftentimes end with this grateful conviction towards a certain truth, situation, experience, trial, consolation, or discernment, etc., in life. It may also save us a lot of time and energies struggling in confusion and bitterness, etc.

Grade 4: Prayer of Simplicity or Acquired Recollection (Act of the Will assisted by the Grace of God)

It is simply the prayer of acquired recollection, a simple love or gaze on some divine object, whether on God Himself, His nature, the Holy Eucharist, some Christian truth or mystery. The former reasoning and affection have now been transformed into a simple loving attention on the divine. The prayer is the last grade of ascetical prayer, meaning that the soul is able to attain to this prayer by its own effort with the help of ordinary grace. There is no particular method for this prayer. All it takes is a simple loving gaze and attention amidst a great deal of sacred space and quietude. However, it takes a certain intensity of God’s grace or Energy to do so, i.e., the intensity which builds up through the former three grades of prayer. (cf. Spiritual Theology, pp.327-328)

We may begin to want to spend a lot more time before the Lord. Yet, in varying degrees, we may find ourselves continuously hindered by various unknown forces. Prayer is indeed a daily battle. How deep we pray can be defined by how deep we can tap into God’s Energies, the unshakable foundation of all creation everywhere. Between God and us, there are various types of unholy and unwanted energies disorienting us from God’s holy presence. However, the Lord is always our good Shepherd who enjoys blessing us. With our patient cooperation, God will guide us through.

Fr. Aumann cautions us as follows: “During the practice of the prayer of simplicity, the soul should strive to preserve the loving attention that is fixed on God, but without forcing itself. It must avoid distractions and slothfulness, but if it exerts too much effort it will destroy the simplicity of the prayer. Psychologically it is difficult for us to remain attentive over a long period of time, and therefore we should not expect, especially in the beginning, to be able to practice the prayer of simplicity for long periods of time. As soon as the loving attention begins to waver, we should turn to the use of affective prayer or simple meditation. All must be done gently and without violence. Nor should the soul be upset if periods of dryness occur. The prayer of simplicity is not always sweet and consoling type of prayer; it is also a transition from ascetical to mystical prayer, and therefore the soul may experience the aridity that normally accompanies transitional states.” (Ibid., p.328)

 

[Anne1964]

Grade 5: Infused Contemplation or Infused Recollection (Gift from God)

As the intensity of God’s presence, grace or energy within us continues to increase through the first four grades of prayer, our prayer may be advanced by God to this first grade of mystical prayer, i.e., infused recollection or contemplation. From here on, God would become increasingly active and we passive. However, we cannot jump into this grade on our own ability. This prayer is totally beyond our control. We can only cooperate with God. As soon as this movement of the Holy Spirit is felt, we should instantly abandon our vocal prayer, meditation, affective prayer and prayer of simplicity.

During this short or long period of time, individuals in varying degrees begin to be infused with God’s own supernatural knowledge, wisdom, understanding, insight, love, joy, strength, etc., beyond description. God gives to the soul a deep intellectual, experimental taste of His presence and even gifts, etc., which cannot be depicted clearly and distinctively.

Fr. Aumann lists twelve characteristics of Infused Contemplation for us as follows (cf. Ibid., pp.331-336):

1. It is an unmistakable experience of God’s presence, experimentally and intellectually.
2. This is also an invasion of the soul by the supernatural as God inundates the soul with supernatural life.
3. The experience will not last a second longer than is desired by the Holy Spirit who causes it with the operation of His gifts.
4. The soul cannot contemplate whenever it wants, but only when God desires and in the measure and degree He so wishes.
5. The experimental knowledge of God enjoyed is not clear and distinct but obscure and baffled.
6. During this mystical prayer it is impossible for the soul to doubt about God’s very presence and activity within, although the soul may doubt about it afterwards.
7. The soul also enjoys a certain moral certitude of being in the state of grace. Yet this certitude is far superior to that possessed by ordinary Christians in the ascetical state.
8. This mystical experience is indescribable as such, beyond the expression of human languages.
9. Although this mystical union with God may last for a long time, sometimes it is so brief as if it is nothing more than a divine touch. It also admits of variations and fluctuations in intensity.
10. When mystical contemplation is very intense, the body may react visibly. “The eyes become clouded and dull, the organism is weak and intermittent, with an occasional deep breathing as if trying to absorb the necessary quantity of air; the limbs are partly paralyzed; the heat of the body decreases, especially in the extremities…” (Ibid., p.334) [Please take note that there are countless types of spiritual experiences.]
11. This prayer may be so intense that it results in an ecstatic trance. Because of the absorption in God, it is often difficult and even impossible for a mystic to give attention to any other prayers or activities during this prayer.
12. A surest sign of true contemplation is that the soul often leaves this prayer with a great impulse toward a virtuous life. Sometimes the soul may be given a degree of progress in a certain virtue which has been impossible to attain despite great efforts. However, this prayer does not instantaneously bring us to perfection.

Prof. Aumann further counsels us below (cf. Ibid., pp.336-337):

1. We should not cease discursive meditation until we clearly perceive the call to a higher grade of prayer. As St. Teresa warned us, when the soul is not sure, it should not try to remain passive and inactive. Such self-direction or pride would produce only empty aridity and restlessness which goes nowhere.
2. We should immediately terminate all discursive prayer as soon as we feel the impulse of grace toward infused contemplation. “Since this is God’s activity, it would be most imprudent for a spiritual director to command a particular soul to discontinue mystical prayer in order to return to ordinary prayer.” (Fr. Aumann, Spiritual Theology, p.332)
3. People so graced should give themselves completely to the interior life and the practice of virtues. They should also break with all attachments that still keep them in unholy or ungodly bondage.

 

[Anne1964]

Grade 6: Prayer of Quiet (Mystical Prayer in which God takes over the Will)

As we are ascending higher and higher, or exploring deeper and deeper, into the ever unutterable mystical grades of prayer, it is only wise to let Prof. Jordan Aumann, O.P., describe them more and more for us.

“The prayer of quiet is a type of mystical prayer in which the intimate awareness of God’s presence captivates the will and fills the soul and body with ineffable sweetness and delight. The fundamental difference between the prayer of quiet and that of infused recollection, apart from the greater intensity of contemplative light and more intense consolations, is that the prayer of quiet gives the soul an actual possession and joyful fruition of the sovereign Good.” (Spiritual Theology, p.337)

“Infused contemplation principally affects the intellect, which is withdrawn from the other faculties, but the prayer of quiet especially affects the will. Although the intellect and the memory are now tranquil, they still remain free to realize what is occurring, but the will is completely captivated and absorbed in God. For that reason, the prayer of quiet, as its names indicates, tends to contemplative silence and repose. Since the other faculties remain free, however, they can be occupied with the work of the active life, and they may do so with great intensity. The will does not lose its sweet quietude, but the activities of Martha and Mary begin to merge in a beautiful manner, as St. Teresa points out. Yet the perfect blending of the active and contemplative life will not be achieved until the soul has reached the state of union with God.” (Ibid., pp.337-338)

“St. Teresa describes the prayer of quiet in the following way: ‘From this recollection there sometimes proceeds an interior quiet and peace that are full of happiness because the soul is in such a state that it does not seem to lack anything, and even speaking [e.g., vocal prayer and meditation] wearies it; it wishes to do nothing but love. This state may last for some time and even for long periods of time.’ The sanctifying effects produced in the soul by the prayer of quiet are enumerated by St. Teresa in the Fourth Mansions of her Interior Castle: (1) great liberty of spirit; (2) filial fear of God and great care not to offend him; (3) profound confidence of God; (4) love of mortification and suffering; (5) deep humility; (6) disdain for worldly pleasures; and (7) growth in all the virtues.” (Ibid., p.338)

"The general rule of conduct for the soul in any of the states of contemplative prayer is to cooperate with the working of grace and cultivate an increasingly profound humility. For the prayer of quiet in particular, the following rules should be carefully followed:

1. Never attempt to force oneself into this grade of prayer.
2. Cooperate with the divine movement as soon as it is experienced.
3. Do not disturb the quiet of the will by attending to the activities of the lower faculties. (The memory and the imagination, since they are still free for their operations, could easily become a distraction in the prayer of quiet. St. Teresa advises the soul not to pay any attention to these operations, but to ignore them until such time as God will bind them and captivate them.)
4. Scrupulously avoid any occasion of offending God.
5. Never abandon the practice of prayer in spite of any difficulty or obstacle."

Moreover, the experience does not last for a long time, although the soul may return to this experience. Above all, we should not take this phenomenon as a sign that we are far advanced in the spiritual life, but should humble ourselves before God and never seek to practice prayer purely for obtaining consolations from God. (Cf. Ibid., p.340)