Marisol Chirosa rscj
For many, the later years of life bring with them time to pause, to stand and gaze and to be caught up in the marvel of life and the beauty of the world around us. The simple trust in the eyes of a child, the sun's rays caught in a drop of dew, the tiny flower struggling through the cracked concrete of the garden path, or a spider weaving a web of silken strands, all speak of the wonder of God's creation. How often have we passed by unheeding in the rush of life? To pause awe-struck can be the deepest kind of prayer - a communion with the Creator. It is here in the simplest act of contemplation that we meet Wisdom which the book of Proverbs tells us is "ever at play in God's presence, at play everywhere in God's world “delighting to be with the children of men" (Proverbs 8:30-33).
The wonder and delight we feel flow gently, and perhaps wordlessly, into gratitude as our whole being is caught up in a response to the One whom Thomas Merton describes as "the God who has no voice" "Contemplation", he tells us in Seeds of Contemplation "is a response to a call. A call from the One who has no voice and yet who speaks in everything that is in us, and who, most of all, speaks in the depths of our own being, for we ourselves are words of God".
As we move into our wisdom years in the afternoon of life, the human wisdom born of life's experience melds with that sacred wisdom, which is the gift of God. This opens us to see in fresh ways, to listen deeply and to be receptive to the good. We are more fitted now to journey deep within where we can rest in silence, attentive to the Lord.
Contemplation has been spoken of as looking long and lovingly at reality, be it the radiance of a sunset or the soft glow of dawn, the strong strokes of a swimmer or the broken body of the wounded. The real is all around us waiting to be welcomed into our hearts with joy, with gentleness, just anger or compassion. It is here that we meet the God of the real and learn to live a life of contemplation. Through this long, loving look at the real we are gradually changed, transfigured by the Spirit of God, until with St. Paul we too can say "I live now no longer I”.
Contemplative prayer comes as a gift and in our awareness and openness we can ready ourselves for that gift The very losses and diminishments, which age inevitably brings, can be the source, if accepted graciously, of the "hollowing out" which Teilhard de Chardin speaks of as so necessary if we are to make
adequate space for God In our lives. Times of loneliness too, can lead us to our own inner depths where God awaits us in the silent realm of solitude.
At a recent International Liturgy Assembly an Australian Aboriginal speaker, Miriam Rose Ungunmerr, described the richness of dadirri, a form of contemplation which combines deep inner listening, quiet still awareness and patient waiting. "There are deep springs within each one of us" she explained, "within this deep spring which is the very Spirit of God, is a sound. The sound of Deep calling to Deep. The sound is the Word of God, Jesus"
In the stillness of contemplative prayer we learn to listen to that Word uttered by the God "who speaks to us through everything that is, and who, most of all, speaks in the depths of our own being, for we ourselves are words of God".
Mary d’Apice rscj
Province of Australia – New Zealand
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