Encounters with the Most High

[Shakuhachi]

Continuing the discussion from Mysticism-Meditative or Contemplative Prayer?:

Whether we are talking about liturgy or personal prayer, are we all not seeking an encounter with the Most High? Something that convinces us that there is more to life than what our five senses tell us about the material world.

It is so strange that there are so many tv shows and movies that deal with the paranormal or supernatural, but in a negative sort of way. I think we have a hunger for the transcendent, for deeper and deeper knowledge, but we get distracted and side tracked. All we need is the patience and discipline to do a little meditation and the Blessed One will indeed touch us and ignite our souls.

 

[Mintaka]

Um… no.

“He isn’t a tame lion.” God is not a consolation machine. Not everybody who prays will receive consolations in the same format, or at all. Many people who pray will receive intellectual or emotional lights that they may not recognize as a reliigious experience at all. Some people receive treatments directly at the level of the soul, in a way they cannot feel or recognize in any way, with no involvement whatsoever by their minds or feelings. (I wouldn’t be surprised if some people receive help directly to their physical bodies; we all know somebody who suffers a lot but can inexplicably do more in a day than a healthy young person.)

Praying is never useless. If you spend time with the Lord, He will help and He will help make you better. But His ways are not our ways, and we can’t expect to recognize all the stuff He does with us.

I know I seem a little touchy about this. I’m one of those people who got lots of consolations and good feelings of enthusiasm when I was younger, and then felt them petering out. When I ran into a period of spiritual desolation and dryness, I had no idea that it was a normal part of how God trains most of us. When consolations came back, I spent a while with a bad tendency to chase after them, and ignore the normal course of life with God. I don’t want other people wasting their time and energy like I did.

Consolations are like the weather; we don’t have them under our control.

I also had no idea that many people are led to expect consolations, don’t get them, and end up becoming bitter about it, like God doesn’t care to talk to them.

Contemplation is a way to get to know God better, by chewing over things with Him. In the process we can learn to understand ourselves, other people, and the cosmos better, too. Everything else is the dessert course. (It’s sometimes a very good dessert course.)

But we shouldn’t be surprised if we often get the desert course, instead.

 

[Mintaka]

Now that I think about it, though, spiritual dryness in the desert does make it easier for us to catch on fire.

But like the song says, “Our gifts we are given to share.” It is very common in the spiritual life for gifts to have a big effect on other people, but for you yourself not to feel them very much, or only periodically.

Mother Teresa had tons of visions and consolations earlier in her life, but then had them all taken away. She spent most of her life “thirsting,” which helped her be very giving to other people in need. But it wasn’t a training program full of fun, for her.

What’s more common is that you get consolations early on, while using your gifts or starting prayer and contemplation, because God is trying to train you to get out there and do it. Once you have been at work for a while, he lets your feelings go back to normal. Every so often you get that spiritual high again, but mostly you just work and pray. Other people may be strongly affected and give you lots of praise for your gifts, but you don’t feel anything special.

This can be depressing or even scary for people, but it is a normal part of the spiritual life. We get those mountain views so we know where to go, but most of the journey is down in the flatlands. If we use our gifts totally for others, it will turn out better for us in Heaven; but right now, it can be a pain.

That doesn’t make it wrong to hunger and thirst for God. It is healthier to know that you love Him and long for HIm, than to be some lost person looking in all the wrong places.

I agree that we could use a lot more stories about seeking and finding God. That’s why the lives of the saints are so fascinating and adventuresome.

 

[Shakuhachi]

Um… no.

I am not sure what you are disagreeing with. Our perceptions change and we go through seasons. That is why patience and discipline are so important.

 

[poche]

What gets me with these shows and movies about the paranormal is how the ‘heros’ go and fight against the supernatural forces of evil and we don’t see any of them praying.