"Mindful Silence": A Study of a Book by Phileena Heuertz

 

A LESSON ON - “MINDFULL SILENCE: THE HEART OF CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATION” (Phileena Heuertz, Author, Intervarsity Press)

Scripture Verses on At-One-Ment with God

Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Luke 17:21

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water. Jn7:38

But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you. Rom. 8:10-11

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no long I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

Excerpts from the Book, and Some Questions.  

Contemplative spirituality is a way of seeing…. Contemplative practices are those that create margins to pay attention to and observe our life…. It involves some introspection --- not for the sake of inner knowledge, but for the sake or living a more skillful life… Contemplative prayer offers an antidote.  Through contemplation we find alleviation of our personal suffering, and we discover how to minimize our infliction of suffering on others. Over time, as we engage in contemplative practice, we become less self-absorbed and able to be of greater service to others. (pp. 7-8)

What lesson from God has made you more skillful about living?

I wondered, “If people are basically victims victimizing, and God created us, then surely God must answer for this. God must be to blame. I thought, “Perhaps God is not all that good after all… Father Thomas’ teaching… helped me realize that I didn’t need to be troubled or discourage by God’s felt absence and grueling silence… I found courage to give myself to the silence with all of its darkness, questions, doubt, and pain. And it was there, in the great deafening silence, that I woke up. (pp.12-13)

How have you wrestled with God’s silence?

Eventually, as we stay faithful to the dark night of prayer, God will uncover the root of our sickness. There a wound of separation from God and others is exposed that can now receive healing. Finally, our defenses are dismantled and the burning flame of God’s love breaks though our consciousness. We realize we are in God and God is in us. (p. 92)

How have you experienced the healing of the wound of separation?

We just have to learn how to open to the grace that overcomes the obstacles that keep us from knowing God’s presence. We do this, not by our own willpower, but by responding to grace and cooperating with the divine. When we practice letting go of all thoughts, feelings, distractions, and preoccupations of the mind, we then learn to overcome the obstacles that keep us from God and our true self. Then we can move by faith into a state of unknowing, a state of open and receptive awareness, where direct encounter with God is more likely. (p. 156)

When do you most need to have a quiet mind?

Your family and community need you to be a courageous pilgrim on the spiritual journey. God knows our world needs your bravery too. The more of us who commit to the contemplative path – the path of seeing, observing, and taking responsibility of our life through meditative practice – the more possible it will be to experience God’s presence in the center of our being. From that center, we can build the world we all want to live in. (p. 173)

Where do you exhibit a God-given courage?

Where do you experience “at-one-ment?

A POEM BY THE AUTHOR

Let it be done to me according to your Word

Let me be a womb for you

Come Lord

Be conceived in me anew

Fill me with your presence

And then break me open in your process of redeeming* the world.

(*referring to “at-one-ment/return to unity)