Contemplation and the Brothers & Sisters of Charity

In "The Psychology of Prayer," Christopher Bryant discusses prayer as adoration, confession, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession.[1] This appears to be the standard dictionary approach to prayer.[2] However, the Brothers & Sisters of Charity focus more on the type of prayer that is described by Gregory the Great as "resting in God" or "waiting on God."[3] This type of prayer is also referred to as "contemplative prayer."[4] This is the first of three articles on contemplation and contemplative prayer prepared for the BSC to be used during the season of Advent. In this article, I present an overview of contemplation as set forth in the RCD.[5] In the second article, I set out to define contemplative prayer.[6] In a third article, I want to see how contemplative prayer has been defined by the RCD, particularly in the earliest of community documents, A Way of Life. Contemplation is fundamental to being a brother or sister of Charity but it is especially important during the season of Advent when we focus less on what we are called to do and more on the coming of Christ and what he does for us.

The terms contemplative or contemplation are used forty-seven times in the RCD. Although some of these references are duplicates, for example, found in the Constitution and a directory that discusses the same subject, this amount of usage should alert the reader that this is an important subject within the RCD. This article explores these usages and challenges the reader to focus on this emphasis within our community during the season of Advent. As we wait upon the coming of the Lord, let us heed the words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah that “by waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust shall be your strength.”[7]

The BSC Constitution states that we are called to develop an integrated spirituality that includes both the charismatic and contemplative spiritualities.[8] Have you thought about what it means to have a contemplative spirituality? One of my pet lines in spiritual direction is “Tell me what that would look like.” What would a contemplative spirituality look like? Would we pray more and be slower to get up and do things? Would we be silent more and talk less? Would we seek solitude more and hanging out with our friends less? Having a contemplative spirituality sounds good but how would my life be different if I had it?

The Constitution also calls us to balance “a primary call to contemplative community with a mandate from the gospel to the apostolic action of the evangelical life.”[9] This passage inspired me to take as my community name Brother Clare-Vincent. Saint Clare of Assisi is a great contemplative and Saint Vincent de Paul is a great evangelist. A name is one thing, though, and getting the balance between the two is another. Do not misunderstand me here. I know that I am no busier than anyone else in our community but I am busy. As a Catholic deacon, I go from Mass to a wake service to a baptism to a healing service to a sick person’s bed to a spiritual direction session to a meeting and another meeting and another meeting. You get the drill. And all of you are busy, too. So, how do I keep St. Vincent de Paul from pushing St. Clare to the sideline?[10] Advent is a good time to think on this. Let us wait, be quiet, and ask the Spirit to help us get the balance we crave.

On the other hand, our Constitution is not void of guidance on this very subject. It states that we “are helped toward the stage of contemplation through teaching and practice.”[11] First, we are helped through teaching, but not just any teaching. The Constitution is explicit: we receive teaching that will help us toward the stage of contemplation when we read and meditate on “the writings of the mystics of the church, especially those of the Franciscan and monastic tradition....”[12] Second, we are helped through practice and this includes “private and communal times of retreat in solitude and silence....”[13] We can certainly expect community leadership to build solitude and silence into communal retreats but what do I do as an individual to include silence and solitude in my daily routine?

More assistance is given to us in section 24 of the Constitution. This is a key community text on those tried and true practices that lead us to contemplation and I propose that we study it during Advent. Although we cannot unpack them here, those practices include:

• Lectio Divina, or sacred reading,

• The Jesus Prayer,

• The Purgative, Unitive, and Illuminative stages,

• The various active and passive dark nights of the senses, soul, and spirit,

• Christian Breath Prayer, as taught by our Founder, and

• Spiritual direction.
  

The General Directory states that the very spirit of our community “demands” that we spend a “substantial amount” of our time in more contemplative prayer.[14] Without it, we cannot achieve a “healthy human balance.”[15] It also states that contemplation is one way that we do apostolic service on behalf of the community. The purpose of our apostolic service is to reveal the glory of God in the world, to give witness to the presence of Christ and the imminent kingdom of God.[16] This apostolate is primarily for the sake of the world but we are also called to serve our community and this is done, first and foremost, through “conversion and contemplation.”[17] The GD also tackles the notion that contemplation is easier for a person who has a life of leisure. Perhaps when I am retired I can become a great contemplative. No, the GD states that “[m]anual labor is well suited for the contemplative life, for it nurtures a spirit of humility, simplicity, and inner solitude and silence.”[18] However, we cannot become workaholics because this will ultimately threaten to destroy our way of contemplation and the witness of this way of life.[19]

There are also a number of modern “conveniences” that can stagnate the contemplative life. Although Monastic Directory 80c was written for the monastic community, it is just as relevant for the domestic community. In some ways the passage is prophetic. Although written when cassette players were common, the principle applies to the new world of gadgets. We live in a gadget society. I confess. I have and use the gadgets, too. We should praise God for these wonderful tools. However, MD 80c correctly warns us about an over-reliance on these gadgets. If I need something sticking in my ear before I can pray, something is wrong. MD 80d gives us good advice when it says, “Strict moderation is maintained in the acquiring and using of any media product, and complete abstinence is sometimes preferable for the contemplative.” Would Advent be a good season to practice gadget abstinence?

In article two in this series I will proffer a definition for contemplative prayer and in article three we will consider what A Way of Life says about it. In the meantime, let us hasten to our rest in the presence of the living God. Let us lift up our heads and know that our redemption draws near. Let us patiently await his coming.

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1. Christopher Bryant, "The Psychology of Prayer," in The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983), 317-19
2. See John MacQuarrie, "Prayer," in The Westminster Dictionary of Christian
Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983), 307-8; George Appleton, "Prayer," in The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Gordon S. Wakefield (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983), 311; "Prayer," in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974), 1115-16; Everett Ferguson, ed., "Prayer," in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, vol. 846, Garland Reference Library of the Humanities (New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1990), 744-47; W. L. Liefeld, “Prayer,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 3, ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 931-39.
3. See Thomas Ryan, “Taizé,” Ecumenism 124 (December 1996):
4. See Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayer (Garden City, N.Y.: Image Books, 1971), 20-21.
5. The BSC documents include our Rule, Constitution, various directories, and the Way of Life, hereinafter referred to as the RCD. Individual documents within the RCD are abbreviated as follows: Constitution (C), General Directory (GD), Monastic Directory (MD), Domestic Directory (DD), and A Way of Life (WL). None of the references to the words “contemplation” or “contemplative” in the RCD are found in the Rule, although the concept is.
6. The terms “contemplative prayer” and “contemplation” are used interchangeably.
7. Isa 30:15.
8. C, 5. Cf. WL, p. 138.
9. C, 5.
10. This appears to be the point of GD 6 which is entitled Contemplative Apostolic Mix and states, “The life of the brothers and sisters is an intentional combination of contemplation and apostolic action. Our apostolic work flows forth from prayer and leads both ourselves and others back to prayer, and it is through the idiorhythmic life of prayer and action that we come into union with Jesus.” I’ll bet you didn’t realize that you have been called to an idiorhythmic life! GD 7 also emphasizes that, without St. Clare, St. Vincent de Paul will not bring forth fruit. Cf. MD, 14; DD, 7.
11. C, 23.
12. Ibid. 23a. I will say more about this in article three in this series.
13. Ibid. 23b. Cf. WL, p. 151
14. GD, 29. Cf. MD, 39-40; DD, 23.
15. GD, 33.
16. Ibid., 41.
17. Ibid., 43.
18. Ibid., 50. Cf. MD, 62.
19. Ibid., 52.