Tag: Prayer

How to: Change Dead Ends

no way out?
no way out?
Does your life feel like this image sometimes? Maybe now? Here is a road that is signaling both a Dead End, but also a No-U-Turn sign too. It’s a tough spot to be in, and we’ve all been there. That sinking feeling washes over us, and we start to think, “It might not get better.”

Maybe you’ve thought, “Is this all there is?” What do we do to resolve feelings or circumstances that seem just like the situation illustrated above?

Reframing. Reframing is pulling one’s self out of a situation, mentally, long enough to find a new perspective that changes how one will cope and adjust to the circumstance at hand. When it seems dire, one can always find a new way to see it. It’s a decision of the mind, not the feelings. Later, we find that our feelings will follow.

It’s like the story of the two children who were sent to clean rooms entirely filled with awful manure. One saw the mess, and all at once sank into despair, the other got to work happily, why? She said, “With all this poop, there has to be a pony around here somewhere!”

But what about a Dead End, No-U-Turn situation? Can something like reframing really help, when it seems that desperate? What then? Then, you tear down the signs. You challenge the very premise. Should the signs really be there? Who put up the signs? Was it you? Your parents? Someone else? Society? Was that proper, and should they come down? Who says it’s a true Dead End? Who says No-U-Turns?

Look for new options, unseen possibilities, and new ways to find hope, renewal, and paths to a better place. Treasure hunt for them. It may take time, help from others, concentration/prayer, sweat, and tears, but that’s how a person makes a game-changing move. That’s how you change the road on which you travel, and the scenery you are seeing.

How have you changed your scenery?
What would you like to change right now?

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Kataphatic and Apophatic Prayer Explained

prayerpictInfo. gathered from:

SPIRITUALITY TODAY
Spring 1986, Vol. 38, pp. 41-52.

Frederick G. McLeod: 
      Apophatic or Kataphatic Prayer?

In regard to how kataphatic and apophatic are related to each other, they are in a sense complementary or perhaps better described as being at opposite ends of the same prayer spectrum. They aim at producing different kinds of faith experiences: apophatic at provoking an experience of union with the Lord beyond conscious awareness, and kataphatic at evoking experiences of God’s merciful and salvific love in which one is aware of a dynamic movement towards conversion as well as aiming at intimate experiences in which one seeks to know more who Christ is so as to be able to love and serve Him more and in which one sensibly feels an at-one-ment with Him.

Read the full article-

Dark Night of the Soul- Part 1

Q: Where did the term “dark night of the soul” come from?

R: The phrase first turned up in the poetry of Spanish Carmelite monk John of the Cross in the 16th Century. He composed many poems while in torment in prison.

Q: “Dark” seems awfully negative, is it?

R: In Spanish the term is closer to the word “obscure”. Though the process may be confusing and painful, “dark” is not implying a negative state. It is a description, especially once one is aware of the progression of growth involved, and knows how the dawn will approach.

Q: Is the “dark night of the soul” the same as depression?

R: No. It’s also not a “spiritual term” for the suffering of someone who needs help for trauma/abuse, medical treatment for illness (mental and otherwise), and/or therapy. Sometimes the two states are seen hand-in-hand, and many times they are not.

Q: Are there different kinds of “dark nights” of the soul?

R: Yes. John of the Cross spoke of a “dark night” involving the senses, and one involving the spirit. One may have numerous dark nights of the senses. (I will go into more detail in future posts.)

Q: What is a good way to recognize a “dark night”.

R: A dark night of the senses may “feel” as though modes of prayer, experiencing the spiritual, or spiritual practices don’t “work” or satisfy. God may “feel” out of reach, distant, unavailable, or gone. It may feel like a dry period, or a time of being in a spiritual dessert. (This is not cause for discouragement or alarm, but for stamina. It is a Divine invitation for growth, and greater spiritual depth beyond what one knows. I will elaborate on what is taking place more in future posts.)

Next time I will post about the “dark night and ‘union with God’,” the process of the “dark night,” any questions/responses that come in from this post, and more. Come back soon.

Information taken from my reading: Gerald G. May, M.D. The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth. Harper San Francisco, 2004.

My (upcoming) book Life as Prayer: A New Paradigm for contemporary Spirituality Inspired by Ancient Piety dedicates a whole chapter to this topic. I will update this blog with details as this work continues. Thanks for your interest. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Now, Read PART II

spiritual practices… good for what?

spiritual practices…

Unlike many people (including Christians) realize, spiritual practices do not make us closer to God. They don’t give us points of any kind either. We start to strive and use them as such, perhaps, but then they just become works for righteousness. Useless. (We recall the term used by St. Paul “filthy rags”)

Spiritual practices (ways we are spiritual) serve us only in that they prepare the heart for God’s work, and his grace. We can think of it like a carburetor that is primed by drawing up fuel through the fuel line, so combustion can take place when a spark joins it with the oxygen there. It’s preparatory.

These practices are not ends onto themselves. They don’t even help us move anywhere. God does all the work. (This is grace.) But, we may be willing in the process. The whole idea of this can cause us to relax. Why? Because all the trying doesn’t help. Only a passionate devotion, and willing, open heart to the Loving Divine.

Prayer may be a spiritual practice, but it mustn’t be thought of as a means to gain God’s pleasure, or even to grow holy through doing it. But, prayer may prepare us for God to make us more like himself.

What has prepared your heart? (what practices or attitudes?)

Or do you feel like you are in a dry spell?

Send in your spiritual queries or comments. I’d love to hear from you.