The Pain of the Contemplatives

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ThomasEugene

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hi!

i just realized the “pain” of being a contemplative;

u know people don’t understand them…

they think that they do nothing good

because people don’t see what they do

because they are hidden…

and it really hurts i know as it is a part of being a contemplative;;
 
Will it comfort you to know that I wrote this prayer in August 2001?
If I think this way, perhaps there are more who might understand than you many think?

Prayer as an act of charity

Jesus, those who devote much effort to prayer may be labelled ‘lazy’ and ‘impractical’. That is how Your friend Martha regarded her sister Mary. Yet, both sisters loved You dearly. Martha was a virtuous, practical woman who understood that charity requires us to serve others. Her valued guest required food and hospitality. This could not be achieved if everyone sat idle. Martha prepared your meal, but Mary remained ‘idly’ with you. To Martha she appeared to be failing You.

You kindly defended Mary because of the love she offered to You, love that You often were denied by others. While Mary was offering love and attention to a fellow human, she was also giving her love to God, for You are fully human, but also fully divine. Within one act, Mary of Bethany fulfilled Your two commandments of love.

Those who ask for prayer are seeking genuine charity of remembrance, time and effort. Their need is sometimes desperate, and while in crisis, they may be unable to sustain faith or to pray. They find reassurance in our promise to pray for their intentions! They receive our promise as an act of love.

The understanding that prayer is genuine charity, does not absolve anyone of responsibility to give practical aid to others. As Saint James wrote, love does not say, “eat well and keep warm” and then walk away. Even in our poverty, we may give something. Please help us to be generous, in the act of love that is prayer for others, and in our practical charity.

Dear Jesus, friend of both Mary and Martha, and beneficiary of the acts of kindness and love of each, please grant us to emulate both Your dear friends in our lives.
 
This is an “unseen” pain in the contemplatives. But the reward is great. We must remember that.
 
ThomasEugene said:
hi!

i just realized the “pain” of being a contemplative;

u know people don’t understand them…

they think that they do nothing good

because people don’t see what they do

because they are hidden…

and it really hurts i know as it is a part of being a contemplative;;
Click to expand...
Listen I am sure a lot might think I am a nutter at times. But the person I was most hidden from was myself in many ways. And to contemplate God is to contemplate myself, and that can be painful at times, just as it is painful at times that people do not understand us, but we also sometimes do not understand others. What often others do not understand about us, is sometimes a reflection of what we don’t understand about ourselves and about others. As contemplatives become unhidden from themselves, and as they understand God more and He becomes less unhidden to us, contemplatives have an opportunity to show others God more, just sometimes it is hard to find the right words, or the ability to speak, but somehow he does find a way. And that might be in a number of different ways depending on the person. But we are each the way we are for a reason. And whether someone is a contemplative or not, they can experience pain too in the journey to God. Some feel more then others, some do not feel enough. But as some can assist others to feel more, those who feel less can assist in how to deal with feeling too much. Thomas many feel different or are seen as different regardless of whether they are a contemplative or not. The thing is, God will if we let him, raise us all up to stand on a mountain, and he will assist us in finding the joy in pain, and sometimes through pain it is how we find Him in deeper ways, and sometimes it is how we find ourselves in deeper ways. Give yourself and Him some time to help you find a way to embrace yourself more, and for others to see who you are and what you have to give.

God Bless,
 
Thank you all for acknowledging this. As I have found myself traveling the contemplative journey, I have thought that I was imagining all of this…the pain. However, I now know that I am not. Ive coined it “sweet suffering”.

God Bless,
stteresasgirl
 
yes this is a sweet suffering…

but i hate it when other people continue to bash our contemplatives
 
What a blessing, however, that we have an opportunity to unite our suffering with Christ! To be misjudged, alone, abandoned…

Peace in Christ,
stteresasgirl
 
As an OCDS novice, I actually love to hear myself explaining the contemplative charism of our order and finding bewildered expressions on the person listening. Truly otherworldly to them! 😃

:blessyou:
 
kyria said:
Are you referring to contemplatives in a religious order? or just contemplatives in general?
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when i was writing this i have the contemplative orders in my mind, i have heard many criticisms about them: they say theyre wasting time, or just wanna hide, they do nothing good, etc. and it is painful.
 
Contemplatives, in general, don’t think they do good because, more than others, they recognize that God is the source of all goodness, whereby they can’t take any credit for good works - which leaves them with sin and weakness, and so, they are very brutal with themselves, seeing in themselves only evil and wretchedness: which is the truth, truly.

Contemplatives, in general, don’t care if people don’t notice them. The less notice, the better! We must do good in secret, so that the Father who sees in secret may reward us.
 
ThomasEugene said:
hi!

i just realized the “pain” of being a contemplative;

u know people don’t understand them…

they think that they do nothing good

because people don’t see what they do

because they are hidden…

and it really hurts i know as it is a part of being a contemplative;;
Click to expand...
These are not so much the sources of a contemplative’s pain as is the vision they hold of God and the world in opposition to Him. There is, too, the pain of the contemplative arising from self-understanding and knowing how far the soul on its pilgrimage has to go to be fully transformed by its Beloved.
 
Jessica Powers became a Carmelite nun in Wisconsin at the age of 36 back in 1941. One of her poems was, “If you have Nothing”

The gesture of a gift is adequate
If you have nothing: laurel box or leaf or bay,
no flower, no seed, no apple gathered late,
do not in desperation lay
the beauty of your tears upon the clay

No gift is proper to a Deity;
no fruit is worthy for such power to bless.
If you have nothing, gather back your sign,
and with your hands held high, your heart held high
lift up your emptiness.
 
ThomasEugene said:
when i was writing this i have the contemplative orders in my mind, i have heard many criticisms about them: they say theyre wasting time, or just wanna hide, they do nothing good, etc. and it is painful.
Click to expand...
Many who have not reached certain levels of ascent themselves, nor know them to exist, often will not understand or might be critical. But many contemplatives have done good. Their writings done in secret with the Trinity, have blessed others to know God more, and the way to God in stronger ways.

Not everyone is going to understand others and certain orders. It is not just contemplative orders some might not view favourably. As someone who is also charismatic, some of the things some have said about the CCR and charismatics in general have been deplorable, and from Catholics that is the hard part.

Someone once gave me some good advice. That was to turn the other cheek. Being a Catholic is often a hard road in itself, because sometimes we face rejection, abuse, name calling, etc. But most practicing Catholics can see the joy of our Faith. And whether someone is a contemplative or not, when we have to turn the other cheek, we are turning it towards God.

It might be painful at times to be contemplative, and painful at times to be seen as different or odd, or inactive. But these things avail us of the opportunity to learn some fortitude and become stronger in our calling. It gives us a pause to pray for others, to reflect on why we are the way we are and what our purpose is. Criticism does not necessarily have to be a negative thing. It can actually help us grow more with God.
 
so it is wrong to say that contemplatives don’t suffer because they’re contemplatives?

sorry if i misunderstood your posts i just cannot understand some english hehe. sorry!
 
Thomas,
Did you understand why I posted the poem from the contemplative nun?
Code: 
 She, like you and other contemplatives, gave up all material things.  However, she and you are giving God the best gift possible......................your emptiness!

 The rest of us mere mortals are still clinging to material things that really don't belong to us but to God.  We care if people think highly of us...................that is called pride.  The true contemplative prays for sinners and does not worry about what other people think about them.
 
When I was still an Episcopalian years ago an Episcopal priest explained it this way and I still believe it is true.
If it was not for the contemplatives, cloistered, continuous pray-ers the world would be totally hell. They are the earthly voices that continually praise God. They lift the needs of the world before the throne along with the Saints. They are the glue that keeps the seams of the earth from completely unraveling.
Thank God for our religious. Thank God for those who sit in the garden awake while our Lord prays to His Father for us.

P.S. I am not a contemplative. I am a run of the mill grandmother/wife/Godmother who works 40 hour weeks in the world. I pray. I go to Mass. I try to do what God wants me to do. I am “Martha”. And I know I am blessed by all the “Marys” out there.
 
thank you for letting me understand… for explaining!
;);)😉
onetruechurch said:
Thomas,
Did you understand why I posted the poem from the contemplative nun?
Code: 
 She, like you and other contemplatives, gave up all material things.  However, she and you are giving God the best gift possible......................your emptiness!

 The rest of us mere mortals are still clinging to material things that really don't belong to us but to God.  We care if people think highly of us...................that is called pride.  The true contemplative prays for sinners and does not worry about what other people think about them.
Click to expand...
 
ThomasEugene said:
so it is wrong to say that contemplatives don’t suffer because they’re contemplatives?

sorry if i misunderstood your posts i just cannot understand some english hehe. sorry!
Click to expand...
Not to worry, TE. 🙂 No, it’s not wrong to say that contemplatives can suffer because of the misunderstandings about their vocation (given the climate of our increasingly secular world, such misunderstandings will only increase), but those misunderstandings are more of an “exterior” suffering put upon contemplatives from outside of themselves rather than the interior suffering arising from their encounters with God and His purifying actions in their souls.
 
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