On Silence and Stillness (III)
Each of us will have to discover our own most effective means to acquire a measure of quiet and a disposition toward prayer. For many people, it is enough to select a certain space—an icon corner in the bedroom or study, for example—and to set as far as possible a fixed time each day.
Alone, away from phones and other distractions, we can light a candle before an icon, then stand, sit or kneel for a few moments until the inner static dies down. Make a conscious effort to relax muscles and limbs, and breathe deeply and slowly. (This is not yoga and these are not “techniques”; they are means of reestablishing a natural harmony between mind and body that is too easily lost with the frenetic pace of our daily routine.)
In the quiet of that place, bring your mind and heart to focus on God’s presence. Then allow the Holy Spirit to direct your prayer in whatever way is most appropriate, most necessary.
Make supplication for your own needs; ask forgiveness for those who have offended you; offer intercession for those you love, for the poor, the sick and the suffering; and in all things, give thanks and praise to the One who shares to the full the world’s pain and grief, including your own.
Allow prayers of the Church, including the Psalms, to come to mind insofar as you have been able to commit them to memory. Read a few lines of Scripture and meditate on the message they offer to you personally, in that particular moment. Then close with a brief period of “emptiness,” a stillness free of words, free of thoughts, and conscious only of His Presence.
The Masoretic or Hebrew version of Psalm 46 speaks of the peace and harmony that will accompany the establishment of God’s Kingdom, His final reign over all the earth. Verse 11 begins with the familiar exhortation, “Be still and know that I am God!”
That stillness, acquired by simple yet faithful discipline, is both the precondition for prayer and the answer to prayer. On the one hand, it charts a way, a movement, a pilgrimage into the depths of the “secret heart.” But once established in that sacred space, it reveals the presence of God and makes Him known in all His power, majesty and love.
~Adapted from the Very Rev. John Breck, Life in Christ, Orthodox Church in America (oca.org), March 01, 2005
“You can tell the state of dispassion has been reached when the spiritual intellect starts to catch glimpses of its own inner radiance, when it can remain in a state of tranquility even when troubled by dream images, and when it can look on all of life’s affairs with equanimity.” –Evagrios of Pontus
~From John Anthony McGuckin, The Book of Mystical Chapters: Meditations on the Soul’s Ascent, from the Desert Fathers and other Early Christian Contemplatives
