Last September 23rd I wrote a blog posting on the prayer of the heart that prompted some questions via Comments:
I responded with a lengthy comment and noted that another post would continue the conversation. Here, then, are some words of Henri Nouwen’s (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, pages 74, 76-77) that may be useful to anyone questioning how far he or she should go in the pursuit of prayer:
“Prayer is standing in the presence of God with the mind in the heart; that is, at that point of our being where there are no divisions or distinctions and where we are totally one. There God’s Spirit dwells and there the great encounter takes place. There heart speaks to heart because there we stand before the face of the Lord, all-seeing, within us.
“We have to realize that here the word heart is used in its full biblical meaning. In our milieu the word heart has become a soft word. It refers to the seat of the sentimental life. Expressions such as ‘heartbroken’ and ‘heartfelt’ show that we often think of the heart as the warm place where the emotions are located in contrast to the cool intellect where our thoughts find their home. But the word heart in the Jewish-Christian tradition refers to the source of all physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional, and moral energies.
“From the heart arise unknowable impulses as well as conscious feelings, moods, and wishes. The heart, too, has its reasons and is the center of perception and understanding. Finally, the heart is the seat of the will: it makes plans and comes to good decisions. Thus the heart is the central and unifying organ of our personal life. Our heart determines our personality, and is therefore not only the place where God dwells but also the place to which Satan directs his fiercest attacks. It is this heart that is the place of prayer.
“The prayer of the heart is a prayer that directs itself to God from the center of the person and thus affects the whole of our humanness.
“The prayer of the heart challenges us to hide absolutely nothing from God and to surrender ourselves unconditionally to his mercy.
“Thus the prayer of the heart is the prayer of truth. It unmasks the many illusions about ourselves and about God and leads us into the true relationship of the sinner to the merciful God.
“Temptations and struggles will remain to the end of our lives, but with a pure heart we will be restful even in the midst of a restless existence.”
Showing posts with label Prayer of the Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prayer of the Heart. Show all posts
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Saturday, October 25, 2008
The Prayer of the Heart is Short, Unceasing and All-Inclusive
The Way of The Heart concludes with an emphasis on three characteristics of the prayer of the heart:
• The prayer of the heart is nurtured by short, simple prayers
• The prayer of the heart is unceasing
• The prayer of the heart is all-inclusive
Henri Nouwen explains “When we use a very simple sentence such as ‘O God, come to my assistance,’ or Jesus, master, have mercy on me,’ or a word such as ‘Lord’ or ‘Jesus’ . . . Such a simple, easily repeated prayer can slowly empty out our crowded interior life and create the quiet space where we can dwell with God. It can be like a ladder along which we can descend into the heart and ascend to God” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, page 65).
A Russian peasant was once challenged by the New Testament verse: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Not surprisingly he wonders what this means “I began to think how it was possible to pray without ceasing, since a man has to concern himself with other things also in order to make a living.”
A wise man told the pilgrim “Ceaseless interior prayer is a continual yearning of the human spirit towards God.” In the course of his travels, the pilgrim makes the Jesus Prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” his constant companion until one day “It seemed as though my heart in its ordinary beating began to say the words of the Prayer within at each beat . . . I gave up saying the Prayer with my lips. I simply listened carefully to what my heart was saying” (quoting R.M. French, trans., The Way of the Pilgrim, New York: The Seabury Press, 1965, pages 1-3).
Can anyone, even a busy minister, pastor, teacher, journalist, parent, student, or mechanic learn to “Pray without ceasing”?
Nouwen responds that “The prayer continues to pray within me even when I am talking with others or concentrating on manual work . . . I am not suggesting that we should imitate . . . the Russian pilgrim, but I do suggest that we, too, in our busy ministry should be concerned to pray without ceasing, so that ‘Whatever we do, whether we eat or drink we do it all for the glory of God’ (1 Corinthians 10:31).
“To love and work for the glory of God cannot remain an idea about which we think once in a while. It must become an interior, unceasing doxology.
“A final characteristic of the prayer of the heart is that it includes all our concerns. When we enter with our mind into our heart and there stand in the presence of God, then all our mental preoccupations become prayer. The power of the prayer of the heart is precisely that through it all that is on our mind becomes prayer.
“We have seen how the prayer of the heart is nurtured by short prayers, is unceasing and all-inclusive. These three characteristics show how the prayer of the heart is the breath of the spiritual life and of all ministry” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, pages 68-70).
• The prayer of the heart is nurtured by short, simple prayers
• The prayer of the heart is unceasing
• The prayer of the heart is all-inclusive
Henri Nouwen explains “When we use a very simple sentence such as ‘O God, come to my assistance,’ or Jesus, master, have mercy on me,’ or a word such as ‘Lord’ or ‘Jesus’ . . . Such a simple, easily repeated prayer can slowly empty out our crowded interior life and create the quiet space where we can dwell with God. It can be like a ladder along which we can descend into the heart and ascend to God” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, page 65).
A Russian peasant was once challenged by the New Testament verse: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Not surprisingly he wonders what this means “I began to think how it was possible to pray without ceasing, since a man has to concern himself with other things also in order to make a living.”
A wise man told the pilgrim “Ceaseless interior prayer is a continual yearning of the human spirit towards God.” In the course of his travels, the pilgrim makes the Jesus Prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me” his constant companion until one day “It seemed as though my heart in its ordinary beating began to say the words of the Prayer within at each beat . . . I gave up saying the Prayer with my lips. I simply listened carefully to what my heart was saying” (quoting R.M. French, trans., The Way of the Pilgrim, New York: The Seabury Press, 1965, pages 1-3).
Can anyone, even a busy minister, pastor, teacher, journalist, parent, student, or mechanic learn to “Pray without ceasing”?
Nouwen responds that “The prayer continues to pray within me even when I am talking with others or concentrating on manual work . . . I am not suggesting that we should imitate . . . the Russian pilgrim, but I do suggest that we, too, in our busy ministry should be concerned to pray without ceasing, so that ‘Whatever we do, whether we eat or drink we do it all for the glory of God’ (1 Corinthians 10:31).
“To love and work for the glory of God cannot remain an idea about which we think once in a while. It must become an interior, unceasing doxology.
“A final characteristic of the prayer of the heart is that it includes all our concerns. When we enter with our mind into our heart and there stand in the presence of God, then all our mental preoccupations become prayer. The power of the prayer of the heart is precisely that through it all that is on our mind becomes prayer.
“We have seen how the prayer of the heart is nurtured by short prayers, is unceasing and all-inclusive. These three characteristics show how the prayer of the heart is the breath of the spiritual life and of all ministry” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, pages 68-70).
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Prayer of the Heart
“The crisis of our prayer life is that our mind may be filled with ideas of God while our heart remains far from him. Real prayer comes from the heart,” writes Henri Nouwen, adding: “It is about this prayer of the heart that the Desert Fathers teach us” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, page 58).
Reading The Way of The Heart will help us learn how to pray with and from our hearts.
The classic definition of the prayer of the heart comes from the Russian mystic, Theophan the Recluse: “To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you” as quoted by Nouwen citing editor Timothy Ware’s The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology (London: Faber & Faber, 1966).
“The word heart in the Jewish-Christian tradition refers to the source of all physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional and moral energies . . . it is this heart that is the place of prayer. The prayer of the heart is a prayer that directs itself to God from the center of the person and thus affects the whole of our humanness.
“The prayer of the heart is a prayer that does not allow us to limit our relationship with God to interesting words or pious emotions. By its very nature such prayer transforms our whole being into Christ precisely because it opens the eyes of our soul to the truth of ourselves as well as to the truth of God. In our heart we come to see ourselves as sinners embraced by the mercy of God. It is this vision that makes us cry out, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“The prayer of the heart challenges us to hide absolutely nothing from God and to surrender ourselves unconditionally to his mercy” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, page 59-61).
When you pray, pray with your heart.
Reading The Way of The Heart will help us learn how to pray with and from our hearts.
The classic definition of the prayer of the heart comes from the Russian mystic, Theophan the Recluse: “To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all-seeing, within you” as quoted by Nouwen citing editor Timothy Ware’s The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology (London: Faber & Faber, 1966).
“The word heart in the Jewish-Christian tradition refers to the source of all physical, emotional, intellectual, volitional and moral energies . . . it is this heart that is the place of prayer. The prayer of the heart is a prayer that directs itself to God from the center of the person and thus affects the whole of our humanness.
“The prayer of the heart is a prayer that does not allow us to limit our relationship with God to interesting words or pious emotions. By its very nature such prayer transforms our whole being into Christ precisely because it opens the eyes of our soul to the truth of ourselves as well as to the truth of God. In our heart we come to see ourselves as sinners embraced by the mercy of God. It is this vision that makes us cry out, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“The prayer of the heart challenges us to hide absolutely nothing from God and to surrender ourselves unconditionally to his mercy” (The Way of The Heart, Ballantine Books, 1983, page 59-61).
When you pray, pray with your heart.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)