I have just read an interesting article on the BBC News website about the disconnect between us as human beings and the natural world. It’s an interesting read and you can find it here:

Biodiversity - a kind of washing powder?

It brought to mind another disconnect that I was considering earlier in the week – the disconnect between humankind and the spiritual world – or to phrase it differently our disconnect with our own souls. If you doubt this disconnect, then go out into a busy town centre on a Saturday night – or preferably, watch one of the police television programmes where you can be a fly on the wall. Safer that way!

So, is there any way of addressing this disconnect? Well, one of the exciting programmes on British television at the moment is The Big Silence, which is the story behind a group of ordinary people being introduced to silence and, in particular, to an eight day silent retreat. The retreat is based at the delightful North Wales Retreat Centre of St Beuno’s. I know it’s delightful because I have spent time there myself – and will no doubt do so again – seeking the stillness and ‘God-centredness’ of this special place.

You can catch the episodes you may have missed on the BBC iplayer and the final episode occurs on November 5th 2010.

Silence is tha main way in which we can do something about our disconnect with our own souls and I love the description of silence as the ‘doorway to our soul’ and the soul as the ‘doorway to God’.

One way you might give silence a try is to do the following short exercise.

Put aside five minutes and turn off your phones, computers, and other things that might disturb you.

Find a comfortable place to sit, stand or lie, depending on your inclination (but remember the purpose of this is not actually to sleep!)

Spend a minute making yourself comfortable, closing your eyes and concentrating on your in-breaths and out-breaths.

Relax your body.

Now remember this fact – God is in every part of our world, so God is there with you, whether you can sense that or not.

And now for a few minutes imagine this God who is with you actually looking at you – simply looking at you.

And you simply look at God, who is looking at you.


… Looking at God, looking at you…


Finish by speaking to God what is there in your heart.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

• 2 comments »

Perhaps the title of this post seems a bit of a paradox. After all, the only real way to deepen prayer is to engage in it - to commit time and effort - to give God the first place in our lives. Reading about prayer is not the same as praying - but, having said that, there is some useful reading we can do to help us on our way and to point us in new directions when our prayer life has become a little, how shall we say, stale!

If you found Deepening Prayer - 1 helpful, then I would like to recommend a little book that I have found useful and continue to find useful whenever I dip into it. It is called Coming to God in the Stillness and is by a Dutch missionary called Jim Borst.

It is a book in two parts - the first part describing a method of contemplative prayer, and the second part answering such questions as:

• What is contemplation?
• What does contemplation achieve?
• How do I deal with distractions?

Jim describes contemplative prayer as a prayer of the heart when the lips and the mind come to rest.
If you want to venture into this form of prayer then this is a very useful book to have on your shelf. If not, don't worry, God has made such an infinite rich variety of life in the world - if we all looked the same it would be very boring and if we all prayed the same I'm sure God would find it equally boring!!

Blessings upon you as you grow in prayer.

• 0 comments »

The next few posts will be a short series about deepening our prayer lives. I guess that is something we would all like to do - at whatever point in our journey we are. And there is something about it that seems to be, relatively consistently, difficult - you have only to read the writings of the early Fathers of the Church to see that. This prayer of Anselm shows that.

So where shall we start? Well, a useful place to begin would be in a place of stillness. Stillness! Now that's something that is in rare supply in our busy world. So how do we go about finding some of it?

Firstly, we have to want it. If we don't, then we won't be motivated to seek it out. I rather like this quote of D H Lawrence:

One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on.

We could change that to be:

One's prayer ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere prattling on!

Now an achieved stillness implies some effort - and to make an effort, you have to be motivated. So perhaps it would be helpful to look into our hearts and ask ourselves - honestly - 'Is deepening my prayer life really a priority to me? Am I prepared to put some effort into drawing closer to God?' If the answer to these questions is 'Yes', then we have our reason to work at achieving stillness - because stillness is such an excellent way into prayer.

Next, let's look at what would be useful practical prerequisites. We need to find a place where we can be still and we need to put aside some time when we can be still. Not always easy - but if the motivation is there, then we'll find them somehow.

Having found our place and some time, where to next? If you're like me your mind will usually be busy with a hundred and one things and the list of to-do jobs will be lying in wait to mug you at the first opportunity. What I need at this moment is attentiveness. That might seem contradictory, but it's really not.

My first attentiveness needs to be to my body. To let go of the tensions that are embracing it. We all keep our tension in different ways within our body - mine is in my neck and shoulders. So I pay attention to my neck and shoulders and focus on relaxing the muscles there. Then, I find that focussing on relaxing the muscles of my face has a very 'releasing' feeling. I let the tension and stress flow away.

My second attentiveness needs to be to my mind - to all those buzzing thoughts. In Psalm 46 we are exhorted to 'Be still, and know that I am God!' So, why not use the words to help? As I let the tensions slowly release, I am attentive to my breathing and allow it to steady to a natural rhythm. Then on the in-breath say, 'Be' and on the out-breath, 'still'. Or you might prefer 'Be still' / 'Know God' or 'Know me'. Being attentive to my breathing allows my mind to become more quiet and slowly, instead of saying 'Be still', I find that I am becoming still.

Now, my third attentiveness is to God. As my body and mind still, then my focus can move away from myself and towards the source of my being. When you are in love, you can sit and be still with the loved one for long periods of time - looking deeply into their eyes, simply enjoying their presence, smiling at them. That is what this third attentiveness is about. Being in loving, still presence with God. Letting your love flow out towards your maker. Perhaps wrapped in spiritual smiles - or perhaps more serious. Simply loving and being loved.

If you use this method of prayer, then after the third attentiveness (which may initially seem a very short time but with practice will lengthen), simply talk to God - about how wonderful God is, about the ups and downs of your day, about the ups and downs of praying.

And if you sometimes fall asleep, don't worry about it! You're in good company!

• 0 comments »