Religious art often shows Mary carrying a rosary in her hands. But it would not make sense for Mary to be saying Hail Mary…Our Lady never said the rosary; but it does make sense as her gift, something that prayerful people have developed over the centuries as a simple way of praying. The fingers can find comfort in passing the blessed beads through them. The rhythm of repetitive prayers releases the mind, and it can go in all sorts of directions: to designing clothes, to focussing on the needs of children, or of sick friends, or of some overwhelming concern, and asking God to hear our prayer; to reflecting on the mysteries of Jesus’ life, as linked with the different decades; or to reflecting on joyful or sorrowful times in our own lives, trying to see how God was there, when at the time he may have seemed far away.
Even when our prayer becomes more silent and wordless, as we grow older, the rosary can still help. It still releases our mind, because the telling of the beads becomes quite automatic. There are people who move from the reciting of the beads into a sort of prayer that no longer needs any thought or language. It has been called the prayer of simple regard, or the prayer of stupidity, or mystical prayer. Names do not matter. Prayer is, as the catechism used define it, a lifting of the mind and heart to God, and for that the rosary is only a springboard. It is Mary’s gift, to be used as it helps us.
The Mary bits don't really interest me at the moment but the prayer of simple regard jumped out at me because of its lack of thought or language.
So I read a bit more on Wikipedia and it doesn't seem too disimilar to a form of meditation. The article ends with this:
Basil Pennington, one of the best known proponents of the centering prayer technique, has delineated the guidelines for centering prayer:I think this is the kind of direction my prayer life is taking - "being in love and faith to God" - and I'd really like to build on this. I'm interested in prayer again and it's nice to be reminded that out loud Sunday morning type prayers aren't the only way to be with God.
1. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed, relax, and quiet yourself. Be in love and faith to God.
2. Choose a sacred word that best supports your sincere intention to be in the Lord's presence and open to His divine action within you (i.e. "Jesus," "Lord," "God," "Savior," "Abba," "Divine," "Shalom," "Spirit," "Love," etc.).
3. Let that word be gently present as your symbol of your sincere intention to be in the Lord's presence and open to His divine action within you.
4. Whenever you become aware of anything (thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, associations, etc.), simply return to your sacred word, your anchor.
Ideally, the prayer will reach the point where the person is not engaged in their thoughts as they arrive on their stream of consciousness. This is the "unknowing" referenced in the 14th century book.
1 comment:
I find that once again catholic style is great.
Although the rosary and using it does nothing for me, its another way of worshiping through our senses, in this case touch. I guess it could adequatley done by something else.
Other examples are incense (worship by smell) and bread and wine (taste).
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