respects that God knows best when
you are ready for more clarity. it
makes peace with the reality that
“my” timetable is not necessarily
God’s timetable.
Three ways to hear what
God is saying to you
As you travel the road of discernment, three spiritual practices are
basic to adopt this disposition of
holy ambiguity. if you don’t want
your doubts, fears, confusion, or
impatience to detour you along the
way, it would be wise to incorporate these methods into your daily
life: contemplative prayer, meditative scripture reading, and ongoing
spiritual direction and exploration
through a spiritual director and visits
to religious communities.
The best definition of contempla-
tion i have ever heard is: “a long, lin-
gering look at God.” you can’t make
that happen. it is a pure gift of God.
But you can prepare for that gift by
opening yourself to sit silently in
God’s presence for certain periods of
time each day. This exercise is often
referred to as “centering prayer.”
Begin by sitting daily for a pre-
determined amount of time, say 10
minutes (eventually working up to
20 minutes twice a day) and think-
ing of a prayer word (abba—Jesus’
name for God the Father—Mary,
love, peace, be, and so on) so that
when thoughts or images come, you
say this word to yourself and use it to
let yourself sink into a restful silence
without latching onto thoughts and
images, letting them float by like
clouds in the mind’s vast sky. This
resting in God in complete openness
to God’s spirit within is the ideal set-
ting for hearing the life-feeding Word
Enter #188 at VocationMatch.com
God has for you that day. This exer-
cise of the soul is a form of imageless
prayer.
Meditative scriptural reading,
on the other hand, is prayer open to
whatever words or images a scripture
passage offers you. Just as its name
suggests, it encourages an unhurried
thoughtfulness to the text scripture
provides, dwelling prayerfully in its
midst, and allowing the Holy spirit
to bring to the surface whatever God
wants you to take from the word that
day.
This exercise introduces you
to what is known as lectio divina—
“sacred” or “holy reading.” you call
on the Holy spirit as you reverently
approach a scripture passage and
read it several times slowly. After
about 10 minutes (or more if the
spirit moves you) of letting your
divine Friend speak to your heart,
thank God for God’s presence and
notice the word or phrase that keeps
coming up in your reading as a sign
of what God wants you to take with
you. A meditative attitude moves
patiently, listens deeply, and, like a
sponge, spontaneously soaks up the
substance provided within all its
pores. This spiritual exercise requires
you to listen with the ears of your
heart and to see with the eyes of
your soul.
VISION 2013
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