SPIRITUAL AUTHORS TELL us that we need to spend some time every day being still, either seated or standing. They encourage us to have a “prayer word”-the Jesus Prayer, the single name “Jesus,” some other short prayer, or silence. Our quest for a spiritual life pivots on quiet time and intimacy with Christ. Our quiet time can be part of our personal prayer rule as directed by our spiritual father.
The usual directive is to sit attentively for a period of time every day. Every day. In his fine little booklet, The Power of the Name, Metropolitan Kallistos says that the Jesus Prayer, or a variant of it, “causes the brightness of the Transfiguration to penetrate into every corner of our life.” He goes on to say that if we spend a few moments in contemplation every day, “we deepen and transform the remaining moments of the day, rendering ourselves available to others, effective and creative in a way that we could not otherwise be.”
So we are called to be faithful to our rule of quiet time with the Lord every day, faithful to the Word dwelling in us, faithful to a steadfast call of God that we may “ask, and it will be given to [us]; seek, and [we] will find; knock, and it will be opened [to us]” (Matt. 7:7). Choosing a time to be quiet with Christ, a time of contemplation, is our part in the synergy between God and us.
Some people are able to spend twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening, sitting quietly, saying their prayer word. Other people have less time to spend in quiet contemplation. The answer is not arithmetic. Quantity is not primary. Steadfastness in choosing to be still, every day, is primary.
What can we expect if we decide to sit quietly for a period of time every day? We learn that when we get quiet, our dark inner world explodes out. All the repressed negative thoughts, all the undone tasks, all the backed-up sludge comes to the surface. That’s ugly. So we just stay busy and avoid the discomfort. But if we allow that phase to pass—and it will pass—a gradual peace Hoods our soul. St. John Chrysostom said that if we continue to pray, we ” lay the snake low.” What beautiful phraseology! We become conquerors. This is a scene of conquest. We gradually begin to allow the light of Christ in, and a gradual expansion of consciousness occurs.
However, like faith, contemplation is a gift we receive, not a program we design. God’s ways often seem serendipitous. During quiet time, we may experience mostly serenity or mostly dryness. Whatever. It was said that Teresa of Avila, the great Roman Catholic saint who founded the Discalced Carmelites, said that for long stretches of time her quiet prayer was spent “counting the grains of sand as they fell through the hourglass.” That is to say, she experienced long periods of dryness during prayer time. Many of the great saints tell of extended bouts of this dryness.
We enter our quiet time of contemplation with no expectations except to put ourselves in God’s hands. He does with us as He will. We don’t expect lower cholesterol, stabilized blood pressure, or a sunny outlook. But we can expect more intimacy with Christ, however that occurs.
Our role is simply to be as still as possible and to pray as best we can, faithfully. God provides the rest.
We trust in God to give us what we need. The soldiers in the Revolutionary War had a saying: “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.” Our war is not against other humans. Rather, it is with ourselves. We keep our “powder dry” by doing our part, by choosing to be still.
The spiritual war rages, and we can be victorious.
~Albert S. Rossi, Becoming a Healing Presence
