13. If at First Your Don't Succeed...

Yesterday morning I stayed in Church after the morning service to practice the hymns for the coming Sunday. Having grown up in a Vicarage family with a father who was an accomplished pianist meant I learnt to play at an early age. When I had mastered a few of the basics, it was a natural progression from the piano to the church organ. It also meant I could go to the church building whenever I wanted, and I particularly loved to practice in the early evening. It was then and there that I learnt to love the stillness and the presence that filled the stillness.

Learning to become still and centred has similarities to learning any new skill – whether it is playing a musical instrument or cultivating a contemplative prayer practice – because both require self-discipline. One way that the Franciscan Saint Bonaventure encouraged us to pray was to use our five physical senses. He described these as being, 'Five doorways, through which we become aware of, enjoy and judge the world that surrounds us. In this way, our knowledge of everything in the outer world enters into our interior world... This suggests first: that the One who is 'the invisible image of God...exists everywhere.(Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3) And second... that we can clearly see the eternal God in them, as in a mirror'. (1)

One simple way to develop this way of prayer is to focus, for example, with undivided attention on whatever you are experiencing when you breathe in a particular fragrance or touch the bark of a tree; taste a favourite dish, look at a field of wild-flowers or listen to a bird song. It is not about analysing, naming or even thinking about what you are experiencing. It is re-learning to experience the world with child-like delight, and as your skill develops, you will begin to experience subtle differences you had missed before. How quickly this occurs will depend, in part, on your psychological make-up.

The good news is, we all carry God's presence within us. By using our five senses as spiritual pathways into our inner being, and our intuitive ability to perceive God's presence in and around us, we discover a very inclusive way of prayer that is beautifully reflected by the 13th-century Franciscan poet, Jacopone da Todi:

O Love divine, You besiege my heart:
you are overwhelmed with love for me,
and cannot rest.
My five senses are assaulted by You,
hearing, sight, taste, touch and scent.
Love, You woo me, and I cannot hide from You.
I gaze through my eyes and see Love all around
in radiance and colour, in earth, sea and sky.

Drowning in such beauty, You draw me to Yourself... (2)

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga
May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.
Phil
__________________
(1) Bonaventure, Journey into God, Tawera Press, 2013, Ch 2, para 1-3, 7.
(2) Jacopone Da Todi, The God-Madness. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/89200-o-love-divine-love-why-do-you-lay-siege-to