Welcome to Contemplative Corner 

Each month CC will offer a short meditation for you to contemplate. In a fast moving world where we are bombarded with information from all sides, CC invites you to slow down and be present with the wisdom teachings of the Christian tradition and those in solidarity with these teachings from other traditions. CC also has resources for you to further your interest should you want to deepen your understanding of contemplative practices.

            You are on this web page for a reason — curiosity, intellectual interest, Divine guidance.  Now, as you read slowly, let your heart and mind be open and consent to the presence of the indwelling of the Divine, and be transformed.

A Meditation for this Time of the COVID-19 Virus

Now is a time of great uncertainty. Many feel a darkness surrounding them as they are forced to let go of life lived as usual. Below, we offer a mediation to reflect on “darkness” and “letting go” as a way to surrender to a deepening into life. We hope you find it meaningful.

Another offering we provide during this unusual time is centering prayer online, via videoconferencing, on Tuesday evenings. Join us if you like!

Yours in Christ,
The Centering Prayer Ministry
Carol, Richard and Patty

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“Until the culture recognizes the legitimacy of growing down, each person in the culture struggles blindly to make sense of the darkness that the soul requires to deepen into life.” —JAMES HILLMAN

Deepening into Life

TAKEN FROM R.A. FALCONER, “MIDWIVES OF THE SOUL”

One of Jung’s students, when discussing Pilgrim’s Progress, asked him what his pilgrimage had really been. “In my case, Pilgrim’s Progress consisted of me having to climb down a thousand ladders until I could reach out my hand to the little clod of earth that I am,” responded Jung.

“The little clod of earth that I am!” A far cry from the spiritual heights of positivism and perfection, the “be more, do more, achieve and know more, have more” mentality that many in the west see as a measure of material and spiritual success. This process of “growing down” is the very antithesis of the soaring heights of knowledge and spirit we assume makes us worth something — and yet it is, and always has been, a very real call from the Soul.

A growing down so often necessitates a “sinking to the depths.” If we do not consciously choose the journey, the journey will choose us on its own. The soul, weary and neglected so often captures us in the only way it can — calling us into sickness or depression, perhaps some kind of a fall or terrible grief, or a betrayal — even a lingering apathy; a “Dark Night of the Soul.” At some point all the ornaments of self-image will lose their sparkle or even vanish, and it’s often with great suffering we realize they no longer contain the meaning the world assured us they would have. Eventually we have no choice but to turn within.

The path of descent, of that “deepening into life” means letting go. At some point we must surrender — let our roots sink into our own darkness to weave and web their way into what lives in that dirt of self — what has been waiting. Here we can discover the deeper realities hidden within our own bodies, our circumstances, our experiences, let the old ways die. In this loss we can make space for Something Greater, for the soul to be reborn. It is from here that we can be re-enlivened like limbs warming back from cold or a lack of blood, returning not with the trappings of the world, but to an enriched, embodied life.

There is a profound legitimacy to this darkness that so often the world just can’t understand, and even sneers at. But it is this deepening that fleshes us out and makes us human. The very word “human” can be traced back to the ancient term for “of the earth” or “ground.” Perhaps something like “the little clod of earth that I am.” And like the spreading of roots beneath the Tree of Life we must sink into that earth within ourselves, weave roots into our own being, to awaken to the reality that those roots are connected to so many others. For it’s the “deepening down” that connects us to our own soul and to the souls of others — to the very Earth itself. And it is in the “dirt” that we find the true gold, that is: the embodied soul, and what makes us real.

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Putting it Into Practice

Commit to cultivating a contemplative practice. A commitment to a practice of sitting in silence for a period of 20 minutes, once or twice a day, is good. If you need to start with 10 minutes, do that till you are able to sit in silence for 20 minutes.  It is best to learn traditional techniques of contemplation under the guidance of a teacher or experienced practitioner. Here at ASC we have a weekly meeting of Centering Prayer every Tuesday, in the Chapel from 6:45pm to 8:00pm, where we practice contemplative prayer in a group setting, followed by 10 minutes of walking in silence, ending with a short reading and discussion. No experience with meditation is necessary to participate. Yet, even just ten to twenty minutes of following the arc of your inhale and exhale while in a seated posture, with eyes closed or gazing downward, can be transformative. Click “Contemplative Practices” below to see other forms of contemplative practice here at ASC.

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What is Contemplation?

Contemplative practices facilitate and deepen our relationship with God. The more we practice and allow the transformation process to happen, the more we are able to experience the Indwelling Presence in everything we do. Contemplative practices give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear God calling us to the banquet that is our lives, as they are.

Contemplative Practices at All Saints Church

Centering Prayer

Centering prayer is a form of contemplative prayer that is rooted in the Christian tradition and the wisdom saying of Jesus, “When you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to God in secret. And God, who sees in secret, will repay you” (Mtt 6:6). It is a discipline of intentional silence, where the individual in trusting faith, empties their self to become entirely receptive to God’s divine love. This is a prayer of surrendering life as lived on our terms to receive the indwelling love of God given to us.  Each person chooses a word to help them keep focus and as a reminder of their intention to remain open to God’s love. This practice can be done alone or in a group. Over time, it is best to do CP for two twenty-minute periods per day.  At All Saints Church we meet Tuesday evenings in the chapel.

Meditation

Here we allow ourselves to settle in silence, to come home to the refuge of who we really are as God’s own.  We sit in fellowship in our All Saints chapel, resting in the stillness of the Spirit. We listen. We keep watch. We let the healing, transformative presence work its mystery in us.

Taizé

This form of worship includes simple songs and chants in different languages, readings, silences and prayers.  At All Saints Church we have monthly and weekly gatherings.

Labyrinth

The labyrinth is like a maze you walk through, except there is only one path from start to finish. A form of movement meditation, this is an ancient spiritual tool, steeped in spiritual mystery and practiced all over the world. Our labyrinth at All Saints Church is a replica of the medieval labyrinth of France’s Chartres Cathedral.

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Carol Hekman Richard Redman Patty King

carol@centeringprayer.org richard@centeringprayer.org patty@centeringprayer.org

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Union with God is not something any of us needs to acquire. It only needs to be realized. By way of intentional silence and self-surrender into the practice of contemplation the illusion of separation from God is dispelled.

Martin Laird, OSD