Pondering Prayer
September 11, 1994
Brother John Raymond
There is a certain form of meditation that can be very useful on
a daily basis. This technique can be likened to a cow that chews
grass all day long until he extracts from it all the useful
nutrients. How to do it? You take a short passage from the Gospels
in the Holy Bible, say for example from the Beatitudes, "Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." This becomes your key
phrase to repeat and think about all day long. Some spiritual
authors talk about repeating it until it becomes "part of your very
person." In other words the profound meaning of the words passes
from the head to the heart. You become a merciful person. Then when
your kids track mud through the house for the one-millionth time or
decide to do finger painting on the newly painted walls and you feel
as if a volcano is about to erupt inside the words "Blessed are the
merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" can save the day.
Opportunities for practicing mercy will pop out of nowhere during
the day - perhaps opportunities that were there all the time but you
didn't "see" them before. Like the cow chewing its cud you will be
extracting all you can from the little phrase you choose. You can
use the same phrase for many days or change it every day. One cannot
do better than to use the Living Word of God for the phrase. The
Holy Spirit will teach you the depths of these seemingly simple
words.
Monks for centuries have used the same technique to meditate on
the Psalms. Some could be heard mumbling a particular phrase or
psalm all day long. Sometimes a particular passage can strike us in
a way it never did before. This is a grace from the Holy Spirit and
we shouldn't lose the opportunity to draw the most out of this
grace. Take the phrase and ponder it in this way. One of the
greatest missionaries the Church has ever known was converted by
pondering one phrase of the Gospel. His name was St. Francis Xavier.
He was studying at a college pursuing worldly honors and glory. St.
Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, quoted to him Our
Lord's words, "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world
and loses his soul." Well, St. Francis Xavier took these words to
heart, left everything and is now honored as the Patron Saint of the
Missions.
My high school football coach used to tell us that wherever our
head went our body would follow. He was trying to get us to keep our
heads up while playing. But this advice can be equally applied to
the spiritual life. Where our heads are our hearts will follow and
vice versa. Our daily tasks are constantly pulling our heads down to
strictly earthly thoughts. At times our jobs can occupy all our
thoughts - even after work. But these thoughts pull our hearts down
and make us miss the more important opportunities for spiritual
growth that arise throughout the day. We pass by people with many
needs because our thoughts are so preoccupied with other things. By
practicing this simple method of phrase repetition we continually
pull our thoughts above these mundane and superficial things. We
become a living Gospel for all to see.
Some people have become saints by concentrating on even one
phrase of the Gospel. These are the Words of Life. It's too bad we
fill our minds with other words. Let us implore this simple method
to keep our minds and hearts fixed on things above and not on the
passing things below.