THIS may still sound like breaking
news to many of us, but
actually we all are meant to have contemplative life. It’s not only
nuns and monks hidden and sunk in prayer in convents and monasteries
who need to be contemplatives. Contemplative life is for all of us!
We are actually equipped for it. Contemplative life is a
great need for us since it represents the full maturity of our
consciousness. And as our radical connection with the very foundation
of reality who is God, contemplative life is indispensable to us.
That we are conscious of ourselves and of the world means
we are made for contemplation. It’s the seed that needs to grow,
blossom and bear fruit. It’s the seed that needs to realize its full
potentials. Let’s not frustrate or abort it.
We are equipped for it because we have the spiritual
faculties of knowing and loving, our intellect and will, that go
beyond the appearances of things, beyond the sensible aspects of
things.
With our intellect and will, we penetrate into the very
essence of things, establish relationships and form and develop our
life according to what we choose to know and love. We need to realize
more deeply that our most important relationship is that with God. All
other relations should flow from that.
This abiding and living relationship with God that our
contemplative life produces would enable us to see and understand
things in their most radical and ultimate dimensions. It is what gives
us the complete picture of things.
In a sense, we cannot help but live a contemplative life,
at least, some basic forms of it. Our problem is that we often fail to
go all the way in developing the fullness of contemplative life proper
to us.
We let ourselves to get entangled with its primitive
forms, fully captured by the physical and sensible world, and hardly
entering into the metaphysical, spiritual and supernatural world. We
linger in the world of feelings and passions, the carnal life in
short, and hesitant to enter into our spiritual life.
That’s why we need to find some appropriate place and time
to develop our contemplative life, since the world, especially today,
is so full of blare and glare that prevent us from being recollected
and contemplative. We are pushed and pulled in every which way,
leading us to all sorts of distractions.
This is not to mention that as beginners in the art of
contemplation, we need some controlled environment and close
supervision, something that is hardly felt and done by us in general.
We need to do something about this.
Besides, in our pursuit to develop and maintain this
contemplative life, we always would be in need of some plan or
strategy to keep us going. Even great saints, already acquainted with
mystical life, always felt the need for some plan to help them. But
sadly, this idea has not yet seen the light of day by many of us.
Then a certain self-discipline is needed too, composed of
acts of self-denial and mortification that are personally attuned to
our conditions and circumstances, because we would always be hounded
by our familiar enemies—laziness, complacency, superficiality, etc.
Our contemplative life should keep alive the presence of
God in our mind and heart. It should produce not only ideas and
images, but also impulses and feelings derived from the consideration
of with whom we are dealing and of who we are in relation to him. That
awareness should lead us to some form of awe.
In fact, our contemplative life would also provide us with
a mysterious sense of peace and joy, in spite of the trials and
difficulties we may have. There is a sublime sense of purpose in our
thoughts, words and deeds. Contrary to a popular misconception, a
contemplative life makes one active and dynamic.
This, I suppose, must be due to the working not only of
the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, but also of the
gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. This phenomenon may not be
immediately observable externally, but definitely there is a deep
sense of intimacy with God, and due to that, also an intimacy with
everybody else.
We should always remember that a true relation with God
strengthens our relation with everybody else. It makes us keenly and
properly aware of earthly realities.
What can help in developing contemplative life is an
ongoing formation consisting of daily study of the doctrine of our
faith, reception of the sacraments, growing in the virtues and waging
unceasing ascetical struggle.
actually we all are meant to have contemplative life. It’s not only
nuns and monks hidden and sunk in prayer in convents and monasteries
who need to be contemplatives. Contemplative life is for all of us!
We are actually equipped for it. Contemplative life is a
great need for us since it represents the full maturity of our
consciousness. And as our radical connection with the very foundation
of reality who is God, contemplative life is indispensable to us.
That we are conscious of ourselves and of the world means
we are made for contemplation. It’s the seed that needs to grow,
blossom and bear fruit. It’s the seed that needs to realize its full
potentials. Let’s not frustrate or abort it.
We are equipped for it because we have the spiritual
faculties of knowing and loving, our intellect and will, that go
beyond the appearances of things, beyond the sensible aspects of
things.
With our intellect and will, we penetrate into the very
essence of things, establish relationships and form and develop our
life according to what we choose to know and love. We need to realize
more deeply that our most important relationship is that with God. All
other relations should flow from that.
This abiding and living relationship with God that our
contemplative life produces would enable us to see and understand
things in their most radical and ultimate dimensions. It is what gives
us the complete picture of things.
In a sense, we cannot help but live a contemplative life,
at least, some basic forms of it. Our problem is that we often fail to
go all the way in developing the fullness of contemplative life proper
to us.
We let ourselves to get entangled with its primitive
forms, fully captured by the physical and sensible world, and hardly
entering into the metaphysical, spiritual and supernatural world. We
linger in the world of feelings and passions, the carnal life in
short, and hesitant to enter into our spiritual life.
That’s why we need to find some appropriate place and time
to develop our contemplative life, since the world, especially today,
is so full of blare and glare that prevent us from being recollected
and contemplative. We are pushed and pulled in every which way,
leading us to all sorts of distractions.
This is not to mention that as beginners in the art of
contemplation, we need some controlled environment and close
supervision, something that is hardly felt and done by us in general.
We need to do something about this.
Besides, in our pursuit to develop and maintain this
contemplative life, we always would be in need of some plan or
strategy to keep us going. Even great saints, already acquainted with
mystical life, always felt the need for some plan to help them. But
sadly, this idea has not yet seen the light of day by many of us.
Then a certain self-discipline is needed too, composed of
acts of self-denial and mortification that are personally attuned to
our conditions and circumstances, because we would always be hounded
by our familiar enemies—laziness, complacency, superficiality, etc.
Our contemplative life should keep alive the presence of
God in our mind and heart. It should produce not only ideas and
images, but also impulses and feelings derived from the consideration
of with whom we are dealing and of who we are in relation to him. That
awareness should lead us to some form of awe.
In fact, our contemplative life would also provide us with
a mysterious sense of peace and joy, in spite of the trials and
difficulties we may have. There is a sublime sense of purpose in our
thoughts, words and deeds. Contrary to a popular misconception, a
contemplative life makes one active and dynamic.
This, I suppose, must be due to the working not only of
the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity, but also of the
gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. This phenomenon may not be
immediately observable externally, but definitely there is a deep
sense of intimacy with God, and due to that, also an intimacy with
everybody else.
We should always remember that a true relation with God
strengthens our relation with everybody else. It makes us keenly and
properly aware of earthly realities.
What can help in developing contemplative life is an
ongoing formation consisting of daily study of the doctrine of our
faith, reception of the sacraments, growing in the virtues and waging
unceasing ascetical struggle.
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