My Main Concern About Religious Life

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Hello everyone,

I’m hesitant to mention this concern that I have about the religious life, but I’ve decided that it’s probably better to get it out there and see what people think. Here goes…

I’m having trouble imagining what I’ll do with myself during the meditation times, no matter which Order I enter. (The Nashville Dominicans - the Order I’m considering with most interest - don’t make a daily holy hour, but there is a half-hour meditation in the morning.) I love to spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but usually I only stay for ten minutes or so, and time drags when I’m left to my own interior resources for more than that.

So can anyone tell me, please, what contemplative periods in the religious life tend to involve? If it really does mean sitting or kneeling in silence for half an hour to an hour daily without the help of external resources - reading Scripture, for instance - are postulants taught how to keep the mind occupied in contemplation, so that it doesn’t become monotonous to pray for so long each day? Or is it assumed that the relationship between the young person and Jesus will be strong enough that a desire to pray for long periods is taken for granted?

Does anyone else have this difficulty in prayer?

At this point, I take a deep breath and click “Submit”…
 
I understand your concern. As I am preparing to discern with the Carmelites, I was quite worried about the 2 hours of mental prayer that most, if not all, Carmelite nuns make each day. I didn’t understand it at first, but after doing reading about different orders, I came to understand that no one enters perfect in every task. You go there to learn and become holy. If you were perfect, there would be no need to enter any religious order! 😉 There’s a saying which I love:
If Catholic Churches are hospitals for sinners, then the monasteries and convents are the intensive care units.
Click to expand...
Every community understands that not everyone will be able to do mental prayer or contemplation straight off. They are more concerned with your ability/aptitude to learn how to do it. It takes a daily sacrifice of your will, but it can be done!

I really only know about the Carmelites and their contemplative practices, but I know that mental prayer is made in quiet. It’s not about quieting your mind at all, though. It’s about focusing entirely on God and listening to His voice and pouring out your own insecurities and worries. It fosters a loving union with the Beloved and helps the person devote the rest of the day to God after coming to acknowledge His Presence above all in her life.

Here is the wikipedia entry on mental prayer:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_prayer

It’s wikipedia, so I know some points may be off, but all in all, I believe it’s a good read. 🙂

God bless!
 
After rereading my post, I realize I didn’t answer your question completely. 😊

In the Carmelite order, the nuns and friars both engage in mental prayer, usually in the Chapel after the Divine Office. I’ve practiced it before with the Carmelite Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus, who made it for 30 minutes. I didn’t quite understand what to do until the second day. My mind has a tendency to wander, so I have to really train myself to make mental prayer. 🙂

I believe mental prayer is a lot like prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament. In fact, a lot of communities focus on the Tabernacle or a crucifix and engage in quiet prayer and contemplation. I did notice a few Sisters, however, reading a spiritual book, so it’s not completely candid. I’m sure the active/contemplative orders understand that not everyone is equipped with the faculties to focus one on one with Jesus. You’d be quite interested to know that St. Therese of Lisieux fell asleep in quiet prayer. 😛

So don’t worry about it, most of all. It takes time to develop a good practice. 🙂
 
Thanks, CarmeliteGirl - that’s reassuring!

Reading Saint Faustina’s diary earlier this year, I learnt that she would spend hours on end absorbed in contemplative prayer, without even noticing the time passing. I’m very glad to learn that this isn’t the expectation of everyday non-mystic folk like me. 🙂

The saying about intensive care units is brilliant. I should put that on a poster!
 
There are different methods of meditation … Teresian, Ignatian, Salesian, etc. St. Dominic would position his body in different ways so as to facilitate his mental prayer.

There is, I believe, usually the expectation that, while they may not be familiar with any particular “school” of prayer, new postulants will be accustomed to some measure of mental prayer, since this is where real discernment happens, and new postulants have presumably been doing a lot of that.

Meditation is really a fundamental building block of the spiritual life, in or out of a convent. The key is to start small. If you can only stand 10 minutes a day, do 10 minutes. With practice, you’ll find it gets much easier to go long stretches.

It is very useful to have the Bible or some other spiritual book. For many years, St. Teresa never went to pray without a book handy. So, take a book. Read a verse or thought. If it describes a scene, imagine yourself there. Think about whatever you’ve read; think about the ways in which it is true… how it applies to you, to your relationship with God, what does it mean for your relationship with your neighbor, and how you should behave in the future etc., Talk to God about what you’ve read and the thoughts you’ve had. Praise Him or thank Him, ask Him to help you acquire some of the virtues you’ve been meditating or keep any resolutions you’ve made …

all of this can take a good deal of time. Mental prayer does not necessarily mean sitting and having “free association” conversation with the Lord, although it certainly can be that.

In my former community, there was a holy hour, and weekly confession. Before I entered, I wondered if I could sit still for so long day after day, at 6 in the morning. I wondered if I could possibly rack up enough sins living in a convent to have anything to say in confession every week. Once I was actually living the life, I learned how to meditate … and my conscience got sensitive enough that I always had something to say in confession.
 
Lengthy meditation really can be a purging and testing and discovery ground all at once for the soul. . Fighting off the distractions can teach you a great deal spiritually and mentally.
 
There is nothing wrong in your question. Don’t be embarrased by it.

Communities don’t expect you to know everything or be perfectly holy before you enter. That is what the whole formation process is about. The community you will enter will teach you about meditation/mental prayer. They will get you started in the aspirancy or postulancy and then give you more time in mental prayer in the novitiate.

Most people do bring something with them for meditation, the bible or some spiritual book. Usually communities have a certain amount of time designated for scripture and spiritual reading and for mental prayer. I tend to do mine together, so my scripture and spiritual reading feeds my meditation.

I found that a half hour can go really quickly now, not always but usually. It would be good though for you to start to practice mental prayer now. You can start with reading a passage that you can think about and discuss with the Lord. Distractions will come, that is not unusual. You’ll come to love that quiet time with the Lord.
 
Spiritu said:
Thanks, CarmeliteGirl - that’s reassuring!

Reading Saint Faustina’s diary earlier this year, I learnt that she would spend hours on end absorbed in contemplative prayer, without even noticing the time passing.
Click to expand...
I wind up doing that at work when there’s nothing to do or I’m waiting for something. There might be something I read that sounds like a scripture verse or parable would apply to it, and I ponder it for the next hour or so.

Personally, I think 2 hours is great. Sometimes, 1 hour before the Blessed Sacrament seems far too short!
 
Hey Spiritu,

Hello there Down Under! You really raise some great questions. The longer prayer times in most communities are NOT left to one’s own imagination or interior resources. They are rooted in the word of God, though some people need little or no help. Some get by with simply recalling God’s presence, but many others need something more.

If you are looking for a system, you may want to check out the method proposed by St. Francis de Sales in Introduction to the Devout Life, Pt 2:

<ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.html>

Everyone experiences difficulties in prayer. You may enjoy what the Catechism has to say about the Battle of Prayer… (Section 4, Part 1, Chapter 3, Article 2, nn. 2725-2745)

<vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P9O.HTM>

Continue to be faithful to God and he will show you the path!!
 
Many thanks for your responses, everyone!

Lilllabettt, I’m very grateful that you mentioned the different traditions of prayer that need to be learnt: I hadn’t factored that in until you reminded me.

skallal, thank you for the links you posted; I like Saint Francis De Sales, so I’ll look forward to reading the chapters online when I next have a break between essays.
 
Spiritu said:
Hello everyone,

I’m hesitant to mention this concern that I have about the religious life, but I’ve decided that it’s probably better to get it out there and see what people think. Here goes…

I’m having trouble imagining what I’ll do with myself during the meditation times, no matter which Order I enter. (The Nashville Dominicans - the Order I’m considering with most interest - don’t make a daily holy hour, but there is a half-hour meditation in the morning.) I love to spend time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, but usually I only stay for ten minutes or so, and time drags when I’m left to my own interior resources for more than that.

So can anyone tell me, please, what contemplative periods in the religious life tend to involve? If it really does mean sitting or kneeling in silence for half an hour to an hour daily without the help of external resources - reading Scripture, for instance - are postulants taught how to keep the mind occupied in contemplation, so that it doesn’t become monotonous to pray for so long each day? Or is it assumed that the relationship between the young person and Jesus will be strong enough that a desire to pray for long periods is taken for granted?

Does anyone else have this difficulty in prayer?

At this point, I take a deep breath and click “Submit”…
Click to expand...
I also have these same problems with silent prayer times. I love adoration but after a while I can’t concentrate on prayer any more and I have to read the Bible or pray a rosary. The hardest thing I am dealing with is right now on Friday’s after morning mass a small group of us our going into our chapel at church with the Blessed Sacrament present and we say a rosary and do the Legion of Mary prayers. But then following we have a period of silence and then people say prayer intentions afterwords and that’s were they loose me because I never share a prayer out loud and I just think its weird when people ask for prayers out loud. Not that I think something is wrong with it, its just I’m not used to it. It reminds me to much of the Charismatic movement or something, I don’t know. I think I’m just babbling now.
 
I am a postulant with the Dominican sisters in Farmington Hills–a cloistered, contemplative community. When I came for my first visit–just 3 or 4 days on the outside–I didn’t attend most of the office and spent only a 1/2 hour or so in adoration. The rest of the time I walked around the neighborhood, watched movies, slept, read books,etc. I thought, “They’re going to think I’m nuts wanting to come in here.” Well, they didn’t. They didn’t expect me to BE holy, just to WANT to GROW in holiness.

We have two prayer times, one between lauds and mass, and the other after vespers. There is also time for prayer or study in the afternoon. That’s a lot of prayer! I will tell you sometimes it is easier. Sometimes I forget the time–and that is a grace from God! Mostly I just fight off distractions. After 7 months (and almost 3 years in discernment) I’m finally starting to get Lection Divina–when you fall into distractions you have the Scriptures to return to and focus on. But, when I do nightly adoration and know I won’t disturb anyone, I stand up, sit down, walk around, stand still, lift my hands to God, prostrate myself–I’m very active!

I try different kinds of meditations–putting myself in the picture, imagining talking with Jesus, imagining being someone in the “audience” listening to Jesus, focusing on a word or phrase, connecting Scripture in a kind of prayer, and trying to be quiet and listen, just listen for God.

You can also do devotional prayer–chaplet to the Sacred Heart, Divine Mercy, sometimes I use the Pieta prayer book, sometimes I use a book called “Praying with St. Dominic” that has different reflections, sometimes I write in a journal.

There are many ways to pray. Your novice director will help if you ask. I will say that it has become easier in many ways. At first I could hardly last the 10 minutes of silence after Eucharist, now I organize my mornings so I won’t miss it.

In the end, it all comes down to the grace of God. He will provide whatever it is you need–a book, an internal attitude, a method, a person to lead you…You obviously love God. Let that be what leads you.
 
toknowservelove, I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am that you posted: thank you!
 
This is wonderful! Praise God! I’ve been a religious for close to 30 years and have tried to learn every form of meditation/contemplation. It may be that God doesn’t want me to succeed, He just wants me to try (Ven. Teresa of Calcutta - I think). So, I will try - every day. And I will not leave chapel early under the rationalization that I’m not “getting” anything out of it. Does He want me there in His presence? Absolutely! Do I need to feel something? Absolutely not! With God’s help, though, I can make it through the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
 
prayer is like rolling a snowball it starts small then gets bigger and bigger. when I started praying it a an all father and a couple of hail marys. now after 3 years of my hermitage I can not stop praying its jesus 24/7 I think about him in some way shap or form while Im awake then dream about him. anything not about jesus is boring. Just let the holy spirit flow and you to can become an obsessive compusive jesus freak Just like me (only by the grace of god have I become a Eucharist Junkie The body and blood of christ is better than a line of coke!!!). The more you pray the more you want to pray till one day you come to undertand that as long as there is love in you heart you never stop praying.
 
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