Prayer: Silence with the Beloved

Immediately (Jesus) made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray. When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. ~ Mark 6:45-47

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. ~ Matthew 6:7

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. ~ Romans 8:25-26

 Lift up your heart to God with a gentle stirring of love...Don't let anything else run through your mind and will...Forget what you know. Forget everything God made and everybody who exists and everything that's going on in the world, until your thoughts and emotions aren't focused on or reaching toward anything...Let them be. ~ The Cloud of Unknowing

 Hence monastic prayer, especially meditation and contemplative prayer, is not so much a way to find God, as a way of resting in him whom we have found, who loves us, who is near to us, who comes to us to draw us to himself. ~ Thomas Merton



 I love words. It's part of the reason I started a devotional blog. It's part of the reason I was a Drama major for a while before becoming an English major in college. It's often the part of ministry that I am the most drawn to.

Churches - well, Christianity in general - like words as well, especially in our Protestant traditions.

Words of sermons. Words of scripture. Words of Eucharistic and Intercessory Prayers. Words of the Lord's Prayer.

We ask people to pray for us in times of trial or joys. 

Pray words for us.

Martin Luther likened prayer to being beggars. Ask God with words.

And words are healing. Words are helpful. Words bind us together in prayers that are shared. Praying with words is indeed a good and wonderful thing.

But words alone are not enough.

Jesus did not simply pray with words. He withdrew in silence not simply TO pray, but also to be IN prayer. To be in prayer is not only an activity. It is a place.

As Christians, an over-focus on prayer with words can cut us off from a full relationship with the Divine. Think about your relationship with your own beloved. Are there times when it is simply enough to "be" with them? Are words always necessary with the one who knows you best?

An over-focus on prayer with words can also cheat us out of restorative time with God. Jesus' retreat to silent prayer also served as healing balm. We live in a chaotic, over-scheduled, busy world. Time in silent, contemplative prayer and meditation can restore the soul and refocus us on being part of God's union with creation.

I love words and I have ADD, so silence is really, really hard for me. But at those moments when I allow myself to simply be - to exist in a moment with God rather than simply to talk to God - something wonderful stirs in me.

Just allowing God to hold me - to BE with me - rather than just listen to me, can be a gift. 

God is a beggar as well, wanting relationship and time with me: wanting relationship and time with you.

God IS the beloved, inviting us to rest in the quiet, healing Presence of the Divine.


Prayer: Set a timer for as long as is comfortable for you and simply be with God, being led by heart and not mind.





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