Text: Colossians 4:2-6 (see below)
Today, the Church remembers one of the great spiritual leaders of Western Christianity, John of the Cross. He was born in Spain in the sixteenth century and embraced mysticism becoming a Carmelite friar and priest. John was a prolific writer and is considered one of Spain’s greatest poets. His works include Dark Night of the Soul, Spiritual Canticle, and Ascent of Mount Carmel. These writings are filled with rich symbolism and imagery that continue to inspire generations of Christians to contemplation and prayer. If you have not read any of the writings of John of the Cross, I encourage you to do so for these works are spiritual treasures.
The lessons assigned for John’s feast day all center on the subject of prayer and thanksgiving. Over the course of twenty-five years in active ministry and seminary study, I have read a fair number of books on prayer and the spiritual life. Most of my reading has been helpful, and some was way over my head. But, one work in particular, which I read for the first time thirty years ago, continues to stimulate my thinking and challenges me to go more deeply into prayer. The book is Henri Nouwen’s, With Open Hands.
Nouwen writes: “Prayer is a way of life which allows you to find a stillness in the midst of the world where you open your hands to God’s promises and find hope for yourself, your neighbor and your world.” In his marvelous introduction to the book, Nouwen offers the image of first prayers being like clenched fists. “The resistance to prayer,” he writes, “is like the resistance of tightly clenched fists. This image shows a tension, a desire to cling tightly to yourself, a greediness that betrays fear.”
Nouwen goes on to say that when we begin to open our fists in prayer we discover that God wants to give us nothing but love, “unconditional, everlasting love.” Other chapters in the book explore Prayer and Silence; Prayer and Acceptance; Prayer and Hope; Prayer and Compassion. The book is less than 125 pages long but it has held my interest and imagination for many, many years as it has for hundreds of thousands of readers and seekers as witness to the fact that the book is now in its twenty-seventh reprint.
Be about prayer today, open up your fists so that God can give you nothing but unconditional everlasting love.
Love One Another – Brian
There is one week left to Saint Thomas’ Day. Complete your preparations for Christmas by December 21 so that you may have time for contemplating what is the true meaning of Christmas.
Going Into Oneself
Rainer Maria Rilke
The necessary thing is after all but this: solitude, great inner solitude. Going into oneself for hours, meeting no one – this one must be able to attain.
Source: Letters to a Young Poet
Colossians 4:2-6
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving. At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison, so that I may reveal it clearly, as I should. Conduct yourselves wisely towards outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.
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