ABOUT 18 MONTHS AGO twelve teenage boys, all members of a football team, became trapped in a flooded cave system in Thailand before being rescued after 17 days as the world looked on. All of them coped remarkably well – that is, all bar one. For eleven of them were Buddhists, trained in the skills of meditation, whilst the twelfth was a Christian who he found it hard to cope with such sustained solitude. At his church, no one taught the importance of contemplation.
I mention them because of the
place of the contemplative as we enter Holy Week. According to St. John’s gospel today, Monday,
Jesus came to the home of his friends; Mary, Martha and Lazarus in Bethany (Jn.12.1). The two sisters, Mary and Martha, play quite
a prominent role in the gospels; Martha seems to be the active one whilst Mary appears
to be more reflective. Luke’s gospel
contains a famous account of a visit Jesus paid to them when Mary sat at his
feet whilst Martha was distracted by the many tasks she had to undertake. This caused Jesus to observe: “Martha,
Martha. you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only
one thing. Mary has chosen the better
part which will not be taken away from her” (Lk. 10.41).
It’s a statement many consider
shows Jesus commending the contemplative way over the active; others
disagree. Whatever the truth, it’s clear
he’s is drawing attention to the importance of ‘sitting at the feet of Jesus’ –
contemplating him – and the dangers of becoming ‘distracted’ from giving
attention to that necessity. And that
would certainly seem to be true when consider the way eleven of those Thai boys
had been taught the importance of meditation whilst the one who went to church
clearly had not.
Discovering our
inner world
As I’ve talked about before, this
present period of enforced ‘lockdown’, when many cannot pursue their normal
activities, has spawned a whole range of virtual replacements: if you can’t
sing and dance, go to parties, play sports and so on there’s a whole range of
similar activities being offered online so you never need feel alone, never
have to explore alternative ways of living.
Even churches are offering online services, some of which are clearly
designed to prevent people becoming bored.
And none of that is bad, it’s just that we’re missing an important
opportunity to discover our inner world, an opportunity the church ought
to be offering.
A long time ago, at another time
of social upheaval, a wise monk said to an explorer: “Go to your cell, your
cell will teach you everything.” Those words
strike me as important now we’re instructed to self-isolate. Some, of course, will relish the monk’s instruction
more than others, although it’s clear that even in our ‘cell’ we can do everything
to avoid being there, never have to face what the cell might teach us.
Whilst this crisis is a time of
major, world-wide danger, it’s also, by definition, a time of opportunity; some-thing
which is a very, very rare gift to humanity.
And whilst none of us want anyone to be affected by this virus, some see
one consequence might be that we learn some vital truths about this matter of
being human. We’re offered a time when,
unable to connect in real-time with friends, we have the opportunity of
deepening our spiritual lives. Instead
of attending events where many gather, we’ve the chance of diving deeper into
the cave of our inner-being and find our lost soul, both as individuals and as societies. Will we take it? Or is that inner world so foreign we fear going
there?
Many, when they first shut the
door of their soul to the outer world find what lies within strange, even
fearful, but this is the home of the ‘soul-self’, the one from whom we can
never be parted, yet we can easily ignore.
Instead of finding the silence of the cell boring, we have the
opportunity to practice ways of prayer which can unite us with the Other –
which is one of the great discoveries I made as a Religious (a Franciscan),
when I had to spend 30 minutes each day in silence alongside my brothers – and
realised a depth of connectivity which no amount of partying enables.
At one with the
other
Those of us living in ‘advanced’
societies can forget the wisdom of the ages – forget the deeper truths that,
for millennia, sustained our ancestors.
After three or more years when we’ve torn ourselves apart over separating
from a Union half the country said they wanted, and the other half didn’t, we’re
suddenly realising a need for each other in profound ways. Life’s no longer about some of the goals
we’ve become accustomed to reach for; greatness doesn’t come with wealth but
compassion; and that compassion is enabled by more than just a sense of
empathy, it’s enabled through opening our self, our soul, to the Other.
Those contemplative
prayer-practices many have forgotten, or of which they’re ignorant, have much
to offer, especially for those needing to overcome fear and loneliness. We’re part of a hidden communion, a communion
of saints, who surround us and to whom we can open the door of our heart. That deep, slow breathing into the heart;
holding on to a word and repeating it silently with the breath; being aware of
ourselves as part of a beautiful, alive and life-giving creation – all this and
so much more – reading those strange books called ‘gospels’ which nurtured
humankind for over two thousand years, but which have been discarded in one
generation – we have the opportunity of re-connecting with all these ways which
touch into the heart of our humanity, the heart of God, during this
crisis. But will we take it? There are so many resources around to help, and
I’d be very happy to share some with you if you contacted me for ways of
developing contemplative prayer.
The two Bethany sisters reflect
our humanity and our society: we have grasped at the outer world of activity
and ignored our need to nurture contemplation.
Now, for a few weeks, we have the real opportunity to dive deeper and
learn practices that will help all of us – change all of us so that the
tectonic plates of our humanity make a profound shift. Practices that will open us to God in whose
image we are made; which will enable us to become more at-one with the
world. Spiritual exercises good for the
soul – as well as the body.
Go to your cell, your cell will teach
you everything …
