Pure Attention:

A Form of Prayer

My friend of many years and now divinity student, Linda Miles, took one of my book recommendations to heart. After reading Waldron's "Thomas Merton: Master of Attention" she decided to use it with a small group at her church. She has given permission for reprint here of the quotations she used and the reflection questions offered. Perhaps you may find them stimulating.

REFLECTIONS FROM
Thomas Merton: Master of Attention
by Robert Waldron

Attention
(poem inspired by Simone Weil)

Lord,
Teach me to be attentive
To all your vestiges;
To the first light,
To the waking bird,
To the leaf’s rustle and to the rain’s drop,
To the scent of water and to the sky’s hue
And to the rise of the wind;
Lord,
Teach me to be so attentive that
I shall hear the first flakes of the snow’s fall.
Robert Waldron

The key to a Christian conception of studies is the realization that prayer consists of attention. It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable of toward God. The quality of the attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of the heart cannot make up for it. The highest part of the attention only makes contact with God, when prayer is intense and pure enough for such contact to be established; but the whole attention is turned toward God.
Simone Weil

How Merton had become a “spiritual master” ?

“Merton, of course, prayed in church while chanting the psalms, when attending and later celebrating Mass, and at set times in the day he meditated on biblical texts. But he also prayed while reading, studying, and writing, while sweeping and cleaning his hermitage, while watching the deer outside his door, while gazing upon the Kentucky hills or listening to the birds outside his window, while looking at a blazing fire in his hearth on cold winter days and nights.”(Waldron, p.3)

“Deep prayer is not an esoteric activity only for mystics and proficients: it is available to all of us if we would only pay attention.” (Waldron p. 7)

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1 How is prayer like attention?
2. Which experience is more dominant in your prayer, you paying attention to God or God paying attention to you?
3. How satisfied are you by your prayer and what might you change to make it more attentive?
4. How is attention to nature, art, study, or scripture like prayer for you?

“The Hawk” in The Sign of Jonas by Thomas Merton

“The eagle attacked a tree of starlings but before he was near them the whole cloud of them left the tree and avoided him and he came nowhere near them. Then he went away and they all alighted on the ground. They were there moving about and singing for about five minutes. Then, like lightening, it happened. I saw a scare go into the cloud of birds and they opened their wings and began to rise off the ground, and in that split second from behind the house and from over my roof, a hawk came down like a bullet and shot straight into the starlings just as the were getting off the ground. They rose into the air and there was a slight scuffle on the ground as the hawk got his talons into the one bird he had nailed…..”

“It was a terrible and yet a beautiful thing, that lightening flight, straight as an arrow, that killed the slower starling….The hawk, all alone, in the pasture, possessed his prey. He did not fly away with it like a thief. He stayed in the field like a king with the killed bird and nothing came near him. He took his time.”

“I tried to pray, afterward. But the hawk was eating the bird. And I thought of that flight, coming down like a bullet from the sky behind me and over my roof, the sure aim with which he hit this one bird, as though he had picked it out from a mile away…But in the end, I think the hawk is to be studied by saints and contemplatives because he does know his business. I wish I knew my business as well as he does his…”

“I wonder if my admiration for you gives me an affinity for you, artist. I wonder if there will ever be anything co-natural between us, between your flight and my heart stirring to serve Christ, as you, soldier, serve your nature. And God’s love a thousand times more terrible! Now I am going back to the attic and to the shovels and the broken window and the trains in the valley and the prayer of Jesus.”(p.274-275)

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Is your prayer life like that of the eagle or the hawk? How so?
2. What did Merton see in the hawk and how did he connect it to prayer?
3. Recall a time of prayer that was especially focused for you. What factors contributed to your heightened attention?
4. How can you apply Merton’s spirituality of attention to your life?

All in the Family

Breaking Vocation
News to the Family

Sr. Julie Viera, IHM is the blogger I would like to be when I grow up! Her blog, A Nun's Life at http://anunslife.org is just terrific. She is doing a tremendous service to religious life by demystifying it, publicizing its past and current achievements of service, and giving valuable information to those who are considering vowed religious life. Her question today is about family. How does one break the news of a religious vocation to the family? How does one present the determination to enter a contemplative monastic community; a cloistered monastery of nuns. Of course, this has its own particular set of issues for younger people whose families are looking forward to the achievements coming from the college education they bankrolled and parents who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of grandchildren, that great reward of their own years of hard work and sacrifice.

But my case is a bit different because when I had to present my intentions to my parents I was 55 years old, had already used that college education and then some, and had presented them with three grandsons. One would have thought that the job of being a good daughter had been fulfilled. Not so. As my mother reminded me when she expressed concern over my well-being after having had a baby, "You will always be my baby."

It is quite amazing to think that the very same fears that kept me from following through on the call to religious life when I was a teenager were still hanging around some 40 years later. A bit of background is necessary here. While I was raised in a culturally Italian household; while my parents were diligent about their two daughters being educated in the faith and receiving the sacraments; neither of them went to church, nor did the other two adults in our nuclear family. Many people find that hard to believe especially since my faith has always been so vital to me. My parents felt that religious education was good moral education but it did not go further than that. Nor were children given much leeway in our home. Expectations were high.

After public elementary school, I attended a high school where the teachers were the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood both familiar and attractive to me in the parish setting where, probably in eighth grade, the idea of becoming a sister emerged. It remained in my head and in my heart all during high school. I followed the advice of older girls headed for the convent and visited a priest they had found helpful. But when it came to telling my parents, I just could not do it. I could not muster the courage to deal with all that I knew would have to be endured. Eventually college and love stepped in and the rest is history.

At the age of 55, my three sons were well on their way; the old and very inexpensive mortgage was almost completely paid off; and the always lingering desire was blooming. Where secular institutes had refused me because I was too old, it looked like the Redemptoristine Nuns had never totally given up on old ladies. The community knew me well; a three month live-in experience confirmed what I thought was God's will for me; and the application was made. I did not approach my parents until I had been officially accepted and then only with the advice and support of a counselor and the promise of support from my sons. And this last was my salvation.

I invited my parents to come for dinner. My middle and youngest sons were to be present and they knew it was my plan to break the news. I said to my parents, "Remember how I spent last summer at the monastery. Well that was not just for a long retreat. I was testing the waters to see if I really wanted to enter the community. And now that is what I am going to do. I will finish teaching in six months and then I will enter the community for a trial period." Just what I had expected to be said 40 years before was spoken at that table. It was painful to hear the disappointment and the scolding voices. But something happened which I did not expect and it lightened my heart. I was seated at the head of the table with my parents on one side and my sons on the other. The conversation soon turned into a ping pong match between the sides and I just sat quietly while my sons respectfully did battle for me. I was so proud and happy. Finally, my middle son said to his grandparents, "We don't really understand this either but we know how much Mom has done for us and for others. She has let us do what we wanted to do. How can we not support her in this?" My parents had no answer and no understanding of the generosity and acceptance being expressed by my sons.

How did it all turn out? My sons, daughter-in-law, sister and parents came to be present at my entrance. My parents visited me in the monastery every 6 weeks or so until about three years ago when their ages became a factor. They have been comforted by seeing that I am not hidden away from them and am still part of the family although in a different way. They know, and this grows in importance with each passing year, that if they should need me I can be there for them. Since they are not "church types" they seemed quiet observers of the rituals of my first profession, all quite new to them. But gradually they have grown more and more comfortable. Now my mother closes phone calls with, "Send my love to the ladies." On the occasion of my solemn profession, my father told me, "I am glad that you have found your place."

The Holy Season of Lent

Re-orientation Time

An image that speaks to me of the Ash Wednesday commission is that of the Sargent of a squadron of parade marchers shouting the command, "Eyes Right!" There was probably a lot of that during the parade following the recent Presidential Inauguration. It is a call to re-orient, to shift focus and pay tribute to the one being honored. The image conjures up some questions for self-examination: In what direction has my attention wandered? Am I attentive only to what is right in front of me in my own little world? What kind of effort might I have to make to orient myself to another reality? To whom am I being called to pay homage?

For the next five days some men and women will participate in an online directed retreat focusing on Vocation Discernment, what God's call to them might be at this time in their lives. Each is trying to determine the directive for their re-orientation and answer the question, "Where shall my focus be?" This retreat is being sponsored by the Vocation Office of the Archdiocese of New York and is the combined effort of the director, Sr. Deanna Sabetta, and many vocation directors of various religious congregations and orders. We will provide the spiritual direction for these participants via e-mail.

You might find the daily meditations and reflection questions challenging. Here is the link: http://www.seekotherpossibility.blogspot.com

Season of Lent

Last year we offered a Lenten Contemplative Studies Series: three Mondays in Lent beginning at 7pm with presentation, break at 8pm and Night Prayer with the community at 8:15pm. The topics were contemplative values for daily living, contemplative prayer and the contemplative monastic life in our time. We were amazed at the interest in this sessions.

This year we are going to offer material on the history, theology and practice of the Liturgy of the Hours. The main title is The People's Divine Office. Local parish bulletins and newspapers published announcements yesterday and registrations are already coming. There is a hunger out there! Hope we can help to satisfy it in our little way as contemplative nuns who would like their monastery to be a school of prayer for all the faithful.

Vocation Development

Here is our ad that appears in this week's issue of National Catholic Reporter. We tried to make our advertising buck do double duty; announce our community, its website and this blog AND issue our invitation for Monastic Experience Weekends. They are acheduled for May 22-24 and October 16-18, 2009. We hope that women who have felt an urging toward contemplative prayer and perhaps its expression in monastic life will be drawn to 'come and see.' Monasteries of contemplative nuns never were part of the mainstream, even the mainstream of Catholic experience. Today that reality is even more true. However, people keep buying the Liturgy of the Hours and CDs of monastic chant, are enthralled with films like "Into Great Silence", "Agnes of God", and now, "Doubt." So something continues to be 'going on.' Oh, I forgot to mention the thousands of titles that a search for "contemplative life" would produce on Amazon.com.

We are hoping that our effort will draw those who are curious or unsure, who do not want to commit yet but want to see. At the very least, we wish to educate and better yet, provide opportunity for an experience of God.

Help us in this effort by passing on this invitation. May you be blessed for your effort.