The Pillars of Contemplation

Jesus prayed a lot. He understood that prayer was not merely about petitioning God for favors, it was also about seeking his will, and Jesus did so before every major undertaking in his life (and presumably every minor undertaking too). Look at this narrative from Luke as an example:

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke 6:12-16)

We can learn a lot about contemplation from this little passage.

Pillar 1: Solitude
One, we see he went to a mountainside. He often went to the mountainside to pray. Why? Mountains are places of solitude. When in solitude, we set ourselves apart from all human beings, so that we can spend time exclusively with God. This is what Jesus advises us to do when he says, "When you pray, close the door and pray to your father who is unseen" (Matthew 6:6:). Not only does this build our relationship with God, time thus spent has remarkable purgative benefits, because it is in times like these that we are often, tried, tested and found to be true. Immediately after his baptism in the River Jordan, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. When he came out, it was in power, ready to begin his mission.

Pillar 2: Silence
Mountains are also very quiet places. I am sitting in my study as I write this. It is a relatively quiet place, with just the occasional aircraft flying overhead and the main door opening and closing to disturb the peace. Yet, I am aware that there is a lot of noise that I cannot really hear because I have become so accustomed to it. I discovered this a month ago when we suddenly had a power cut and all the appliances in the house shut down. Only then did I realize how much noise these devices made. But that is not the only noise there is. There is a perpetual noise in our heads too, with thoughts chasing each other like a million bees. It is so hard to think, much less listen, with all this noise going on, and if we really want to hear the voice of God, we need to have silence all around us.

Pillar 3: Prayer
What was Jesus doing on the mountain? He was praying. Read that as communicating. He was talking to the Father, telling him about the disciples who were following him, and asking which of them he needed to select as his apostles. I imagine Jesus speaking first, telling the Father about each man in turn, and then keeping quiet and listening as the Father started speaking, showing him the men he was to choose, and telling him why he needed to choose them. I imagine the anguish Jesus felt as Judas was named as one of the twelve, knowing the nature of the man and what he was going to do. But, still in prayer, he is comforted and strengthened as his Father explains. This is the real fruit of contemplation: obtaining understanding along with comfort and strength.

Pillar 4: Penance
It was morning before Jesus left the mountain side, having spent the whole night there. I don't think he took a tent and sleeping bag with him, which meant he was probably awake the whole time. Choosing God and his will over everything else will always cause discomfort—and even pain—but with it comes immense blessings as we cooperate with God in fulfilling his plans for us in our lives. Jesus didn't begin carrying his cross the day he walked toward Calvary; it began the moment he began his mission, and it is the same for us. Jesus said, "Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:27). We often believe that carrying a cross means carrying the burdens of life, but in Jesus's time carrying a cross meant only one thing: it meant death. We need to die, too, not so much to our body as to ourselves, and contemplative penance is a way of preparing ourselves.

Next: Pathways to Contemplation