Reflection on Stillness

“Be still, then, and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:11. The Book of Common Prayer, p.650).

These simple words tell us to be still and know who is God. Yet, the very moment we hear them we are made aware of how disturbed we are. The words and the punctuation are meant to give us some important spiritual direction. Be still followed by a coma, the word then followed by another coma and the knowing who is God seem to suggest a brief moment of rest with the next word being followed by another moment of repose that leads us to knowing who is God.

When I first read these words, my whole being discovers that I am anything, but, still. I have various personal issues that make being still very challenging. It is not easily achieved by my own strength. It takes me being “attentive with the ears of the heart” to remember that becoming still is something I need God’s help to do. God speaks through these words, to tell me how much God loves me and that God knows me better than I know myself. God helps me remember that it is God’s Grace that will lead me to a stillness, by helping me to let go of thinking that I must be still on my own strength.

Our God wants nothing more from us than to search for union with God with purity of heart. To be in union with God means wanting God only because of who God is and not what God can give. God knows that we cannot do this without spending some time in silence, stillness and solitude so that God can take us on a journey through our whole selves, to bring us healing and holiness through an intimate relationship with God.

In contemplation, we long for the stillness that comes from just being with God wherever we are. Through mysticism we let go of what we think we know and trust in God’s love to take care of the rest.

“Speaking and teaching are the master’s task; the disciple is to be silent and listen.” (RB 1980: The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 6. p.31).

Can you find a place and moment to be still, then, you will know who is God?

Amen.

Peace be with all who enter here.

Brother Anselm Philip King-Lowe, OSB

See: Br. Anselm Philip’s Ministry of Spiritual and Grief Companionship

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Reflection on Teaching the Heart

“Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; knit my heart to you that I may fear your name.” (The Book of Common Prayer, Psalm 87:11, p.710).

A knitter begins with an idea, then looks for a pattern before beginning a project. The one who knows how to attach yarn to a needle and sit for hours and days at a time, will be attentive and patient. They know that they will not complete the whole project within a day. Each day they pick up where they left off the day before. Maybe they missed a line completely and have to undo a few rows to start again. The joy that comes with the finished product only lasts a little while, then a new project begins.

The spiritual life and contemplative prayer are essentially the same idea as knitting. It is something that God begins in us. Each day and every opportunity gives us a chance to pick it up and keep going; knowing that God is the knitter and our hearts are being knitted to God’s ways. We learn God’s ways by letting go of being in control of the pattern and trusting in the Holy Spirit to guide the process. If something in our lives takes the work of God out of shape, God is always ready to help us begin again.

God’s truth is different from ours. God’s truth desires to have a deep intimate union with our essence; our eternal truth. When in our essence we search for union with the God who knows us better than we know ourselves; God will help get us going on God’s pattern of life. We just need to surrender the project of our heart to the master knitter’s hands.

How is God working to knit your heart to God?

Amen.

Peace be with all who enter here.

Brother Anselm Philip King-Lowe, OSB

See Br. Anselm’s website for Spiritual and Grief Companionship.

If you feel led to buy me some coffee to help support this ministry, please scroll down to the bottom of the right sidebar and click on the Benedictine Coffee Mug. Thank you very much.

Reflection on God’s Wondrous Love

“Blessed be the Lord! for he has shown me the wonders of his love in a besieged city.” (Psalm 31:21. The Book of Common Prayer).

Sometimes when our lives seem to have fallen apart, we might compare the experience to being a city that was under siege and left in ruins. Everything that was is no longer. The destruction and debris is everywhere. Nothing that was standing is without need to be rebuilt or repaired.

In Chapter 7 of The Rule of St. Benedict, he challenges us in the sixth and seventh degrees of humility. He writes about acceptance of even the harshest treatment and learning to say with Psalm 22:6 “I am a worm and no man, scorned by all and despised by the people.”

In his book The Rule of Saint Benedict: Initiation into the Monastic Tradition, Thomas Merton stresses that St. Benedict is that to live with a low self-esteem is the opposite of humility because by it, we draw too much attention to ourselves. He goes on to say that Benedict is telling us to let go of our false-sense of self. To learn to trust in God when our lives are shaken to pieces, as opposed to trusting in the little things of life to feel whole.

A contemplative learns over the course of a lifetime that seeking union with God for no other reason than God alone is to have all that we need. Yes, it takes all of our lives through moments of quiet time and living with God in the various moments in life to let go and let God be our everything. In the moments when things that were fall apart, that is where God’s wondrous love becomes best known in the whole of ourselves. When we experience the wonder of God’s love through contemplation and mysticism, the besieged city of our lives is a new beginning, and never a conclusion.

How are you experiencing God’s wondrous love in the besieged cities of your life?

Amen.

Peace be with all who enter here.

Brother Anselm Philip King-Lowe, OSB

Reflection on New Things

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (See Revelation 21:1-4 NRSV) .

My family and I recently moved to new home. It has been a stressful time. It is also why I have not written a blog entry in a while. Moving into a new home brings a lot of chaos. There is the endlessness of letting go of how things have been for so long. Getting rid of things that no longer serve a purpose. Brining together so many loose ends to make a new beginning.

As we contemplate All Saints Day, All Souls, with this reading from Revelation; we cannot help but meet a profound mystical experience. The Saints and those who have gone before us give us a vision of a new Heaven and a new earth in the here and now. God meets us where we are; in our moments of chaos and grief to speak with our hearts. God is working in our contemplative consciousness to transform us through the chaos; not from it. God is drawing us away from our false-sense of self that wants everything so neatly planned out and organized; to a new way of life through Jesus Christ and His redemption of our souls through healing and reconciliation.

At the end of The Rule of St. Benedict, he states that it is a Rule for beginners. That is why we return to the Prologue to reread those famous words; “Listen my child. Incline the ears of your heart.” The new Heaven and earth are coming to us in the here and now. This moment, place and time is where God is drawing us into a deeper relationship with God’s Self to bring a new revelation to our hearts and lives through which the Holy Spirit will “renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:31).

Are you listening with the ear of your heart for God to bring a new Heaven and earth in your life?

Amen.

Peace be with all who enter here.

Brother Anselm Philip King-Lowe, OSB

Visit my website for information about my ministry of Spiritual and Grief Companionship.

If you feel led to buy me some coffee to help support this blog ministry, please scroll down to the bottom of the right sidebar and click on the Benedictine Coffee Mug. Thank you so very much.