Keeping the Lenten Mission Alive in our Hearts - Part 1

Lenten Mission

This past Lent, Father Mark Thibodeaux, S.J. conducted a Parish Mission on the topics of “Cloister, Community, and Hospitality.” As a way for us to keep the mission’s message alive in our hearts, the handout for each session will be posted here on the blog. Today, “How to Have Daily Cloister Time with Jesus” follows. Next week, “Session II: Community” will be posted. In the week of the 24th of May, “Session III: Hospitality” will be posted. Parishioners are encouraged to leisurely reflect on these handouts. Let the content inspire us to grow in the Lord Jesus.

Monsignor Robert Romero

Session I: Cloister

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Revelation 3:20

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

John 14:1-3

For your reflection

• Every person, every family and every community needs to have a balance of cloister, community, and hospitality. But for each, that balance will look a little different. In your own personal life, is there such a balance? Do you have as much cloister as you need? In your family/community life, is there as much cloister as is needed? What do you and your family/community need to do in order to being about such a healthy balance?
  

• Ignatius was convinced that the Creator deals directly with the creature. Do you have that direct contact with God? Ignatius saw himself as a companion of Jesus. Do you have a companionship with Jesus?
  

• In our spiritual lives, sometimes we see ourselves as being called to God’s House and sometimes we hear Christ knocking on the door of our own house. Which image resonates more with your present spiritual life? Speak with Jesus about this.
  

How to Have Daily Cloister Time with Jesus (1)

• I don’t need to pray for long stretches of time every day, but I do need to pray a little every day. Very few people have the luxury of praying for long periods, and frankly it isn’t necessary. If I am a beginner, I could start with ten or fifteen minutes and very gradually build up to thirty or thirty-five. That’s all that is really necessary. What is essential is that I do not skip many days. It is better to pray consistently for fifteen minutes a day than to pray an hour only every now and then.
  
  
• Concretely, what do I do in my prayer time? There are many step-by-step guides for beginners in prayer including my own book Armchair Mystic. I recommend getting one of these and working through it with a mentor who has been praying a while. Basically, this is what usually happens in one’s daily prayer.

1. Before beginning prayer, I think about what has been on my mind and heart these days, what I might want to pray about. I set by my side anything that might help me to focus on this matter: a scripture passage, a spiritual reading, a photograph, the brochure of the college I hope to attend, a journal entry, my wedding ring.
2. I begin with some formulaic prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer or the Glory Be. I ask God to come to me and I name for God the topic about which I would like to pray.
3. I spend a few moments getting myself quiet. I might hum a religious song for a while. I stay with this quieting down as long as it feels right. Sometimes, it’ll take up the entire prayer time.
4. If I feel moved to do so, I pick the object I’ve placed by my side. I read the scripture passage. I look intently at the photograph. I hold my wedding ring in the palm of my hand. If I don’t have any such object, then I close my eyes and place before me an image that moves me: the person I have strong feelings for, the city I’m being transferred to, the sin I hope to be freed of.
5. As best I can, I now let the Lord take over and let whatever happens happen. My only job is to spiritually hold that object or image, to mull it over in my mind and my heart. I avoid getting heady about it; I don’t use this time for intellectual reasoning. Instead, I simply sit with this matter: I hold it not only in my hand or my head but most especially in my heart. I allow this matter to move me to some deep emotion: joy, fear, contentment, anger, peace, longing, sorrow.
6. I sense Jesus or God the Father present with me in this manner. I imagine the Lord being moved by this as well and I begin to sense the way in which the Lord is moved. I notice that the way my heart is feeling about the matter is moving in sync with the way the Lord is feeling about it. Or I notice the opposite: I notice how differently we seem to feel about it. I listen quietly for anything the Lord might want to say to me. I listen for anything my heart might be saying to the Lord.
7. When I feel moved to do so, I gently pull out of the prayer. I say another Our
   Father. I thank God for this moment and I close with the Sign of the Cross.

• My prayer life will go smoother if I have a consistent time, place, and opening and closing ritual. For example, I might pray in my overstuffed living room chair every morning before the kids wake up. I might begin every prayer with a Glory Be and end it with a Morning Offering. I might light a special candle or cover myself with a blanket or prayer shawl.
  
  
• It is highly recommended that I work with a mentor or spiritual director who has been praying this way for a while. I will need someone to speak to about my prayer as questions or problems arise.

(1) Excerpt from Ignatian Intuition by Mark E. Thibodeaux, S.J., Loyola Press 2009