House Cleaning! It is a necessity. However, the routine of dusting, scrubbing, doing dishes, and vacuuming can become tedious. Out of all these chores, it is the vacuum cleaner which intrigues me this day. It has the ability to pull things into itself!
According to Blaise Pascal the French Enlightenment philosopher and mathematician, there is a God-shaped vacuum within us.[1] Can you image that God has created us with an exclusive yearning for God? God invites us to come with open heart and open hands for God’s infill of this empty space within us. Yet, how often we find ourselves reaching for something – maybe going to the refrigerator again to fill our hungering heart, or drinking a cold one to wash down the stress of the day. We reach for many quick fixes to fill the restless God-shaped vacuum within us.
To satisfy this restless yearning, we seek God. Some people are prone to silence and pious prayer. Others go stir-crazy sitting in stillness. These active type personalities may discover God’s creative-energy-shaping life through active prayers such as hiking, swimming; or perhaps one is drawn to notice God’s presence through the camera lens by taking photographs. Practices for growing in personal love, delight, and devotion of God are as varied as our unique image of God in whom we are created.
Spiritual Formation
Just like routine and regular house cleaning, a regular rhythm and intention of prayer is necessary. It is this intentional process of attentively seeking God’s presence and listening to God’s whispered Word through Scripture, creation, conversations, and many other forms of God’s infilling-prayer which stirs the spiritual formation process within the depths of our being.
This process is both an attention and intention toward God. The ways we seek and allow God to form our inmost being has both inward and outward influence on our lives. This inward shaping into greater Christlikeness smoothes the rough edges of our impulsive responses to life. Without spiritual formation our impulsive responses may launch projectiles of explosive emotion (e.g. anger, fear, resentment), into any relationship or life situation. As we participate in daily prayer practices or spiritual disciplines, we gradually notice that our presentation of self to God, others, and even our own self, becomes gentled by Christ. The embodiment of this God-shaping process changes how we see, hear, and move through every dynamic of life.
Spiritual Disciplines
There are many classical and contemporary ways to pray. Silence, stilling the inner and outer noise and voices, is foundational to spiritual formation. To see and hear beyond presentation of words and events is also vital for us to notice the ever increasing God-shaping presence in our personal and collective lives. As we become more Christlike our character, attitudes, and mannerisms our perceptions of the world shift as we embody more of God in the world.
Through the process of spiritual formation, we begin to listen with the ear of our heart[2] rather than just the ears on the side of our head. As we regularly practice prayer disciplines, we increasingly embody the love of Christ in our interactions with others.
Prayer Practices for Daily Spiritual Formation
Using classical and contemporary spiritual disciplines, such as Lectio Divina, Breath Prayer, silence, and movie meditation, we gain a foundational rhythm of opening space within ourselves to hear and see God’s presence amid humanity. Today you can choose which prayer practices you would like to experience.
Breath prayer can be practiced anytime and anyplace as you turn your attention to God. A breath prayer is a 6 -8 syllable phrase that addresses God with the heart’s deepest desire. A classic breath prayer is “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Breath prayers often lead us into deepened experience of the stillness and silence before and within God.
When we pray Scripture, rather than read for study or sermon preparation, we discover the discipline of Lectio Divina, or Divine Reading. Each reading draws our heart deeper and deeper into God’s Word and moves us into open-hearted resting in God. The Scripture is read four times. You may desire to prayer with Luke 4:14-30.
- After the first reading, explore questions you have of the text. Often these are informational comments or questions.
- Following the second reading, consider what word or phrase jumps out to your heart from the Scripture.
- After the third reading, consider how the text intersects with your life.
- Following the fourth reading, ponder what God is inviting you to be or do from this Scripture.
Movie Mediation is a contemporary way of seeing God through movies. Here is a link to the lasso the moon video clip from A Wonderful Life. How could God be speaking to you? Like with Lectio Divina, the video is viewed four time. First become familiar with the video. Then after subsequent viewings consider: As you walk into the New Year, what are your heart’s deepest dreams? With whom do you share your dreams? On the final viewing, contemplate what actions you can take empowered by God to turn your dreams into new possibility and reality.
Through the intentional process of spiritual formation, we have potential to “Learn to see God in the details of your life, for [God] is everywhere.”[3] How will you intentionally choose this year to experience new ways of prayer? This is truly the key to being formed by the process of spiritual formation as we become more nearly conformed into the image of Christ for the sake of others.
Enjoy praying.
[1] Wikiquote, s.v. “Blaise Pascal,” http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal (accessed June 7, 2007). In 1656, Pascal wrote the Provincial Letters, which were widely read by the Jesuits. His most influential theological writing was the Pensées, a “coherent examination of and defense of the Christian faith.” Pascal was considered “one of the most important authors of the French Classical Period and is read today as one of the greatest masters of French prose. ” Wikipedia, s.v. “Blaise Pascal,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal (accessed June 7, 2007)
[2] “Listening with the ear of our heart.” This phrase comes from the Rule of St. Benedict.
[3] Teresa of Avila.
