contemplation, more ancient than many later formsbothCarmelite andAthonite. Being so ancient, it comes with very few directions. Much of its “method” has been developed and handed down by monastics over the centuries since St. Benedict.
Even in that embellished form, it remains a very, very simple and
efficient means to contemplative prayer. One simply reads Scripture or the Fathers (or Mothers!) slowly, reflectively, ruminating (like a cow chewing its cud!) on each word and verse. As St. Romuald later observed, one waits like a chick for whatever its mother gives it.
One does not read to get through the book. One reads to see if and when the Holy Spirit calls us to higher prayer with a word or phrasethat strikes the heart. At that point, one should follow one’s heartand not worry about finishing the page! Cleared for takeoff!
It is interesting that St. Benedict weaves all these schedules of
contemplative reading and prayer together with his manual labor
concerns, without any ado. There’s another example of the dignity and holiness of work in a Benedictine theology. Our work, too, is prayer.It must be.
We must, somehow, learn to be all prayer. That same
ruminative mindfulness that colors our lectio must color our labor as well. It is a different form of attention, a different form of
prayer, but it is prayer nonetheless! Just ask any gardener or cook with a mystical heart or, for that matter, any toilet cleaner or
diaper changer of the same ilk!
The Carmelites prescribe mental prayer, which should, with
recollection, spread throughout one’s day. The hesychasts of Mount Athos, Romania and Russia stress the Jesus Prayer, said vocally until it becomes automatic in the heart at all times. Both of these are more explicit methodologies, but the Benedictine aim is the same: prayer without ceasing, prayer in choir and garden and cell, prayer at reading and prayer at work. Mindfulness of God at all times is the contemplative goal of all these systems.
… well said.