Tag Archive for 'silent prayer'

SOAP Lectio Divina

Published on January 25, 2010 in liturgy, liturgy of the hours and spirituality. 1 Comment Tags: bible, daily office, eucharist, lectio divina, lectionary, prayer, silent prayer.

For all I know some readers of this post may wonder where I have been living all this time, or maybe that I move in far too small circles! Recently I was reading some comments of a woman who was taking for granted that all her readers knew what the “SOAP” Bible-reading method was. Well I had never heard of it. So I got in touch with her and she explained it stands for:

Scripture – pick your passage, follow a system, use a lectionary
Observation – what particularly touched you in the scripture passage?
Application – how can you apply your observation to your life?
Prayer

Recommendations are that all this be written in a journal – starting each section S, O, A, P
In my correspondence with her I mentioned how it has similarities to the great tradition of Lectio Divina, “Spiritual Reading”. She had never heard of that

Lectio Divina has four movements
Lectio – read the passage
Meditatio – reflect on the passage
Oratio – respond in prayer
Contemplatio – rest in God

Previously I have written some more on Lectio Divina
There is also a good introduction to Lectio Divina here.

One comment I found suggested that the SOAP method started here.
A website for storing your SOAP is here.

A couple of final points: SOAP and Lectio Divina do not replace serious academic study of the scriptures – it prayerfully complements study. IMO the Christian spiritual life flourishes when there is a regular balance and variety of prayer styles: Eucharist, lectio divina, intercession, Daily Office, silent prayer,… There is a danger when only one or few from this list are present to nourish our spiritual life.

Comments below, as well as responding to this post, might include other ideas, websites, and resources.

Listen to the Word

Published on May 4, 2009 in liturgy. 0 Comments Tags: Anglican, anglicans, book review, collect, eucharist, liturgy, opening prayer, presider, roman catholic, roman catholics, silent prayer, spirituality.

185193 Listen to the Word
Author: Daniel McCathy
Hardback, 154 pages
Available from Redemptorist Publications

The highlight of my weekly reading of the Tablet in 2006-7 was the commentary on the Sunday collect/opening prayer by Daniel McCarthy OSB. Cutting-edge scholarship met healthy spirituality. I am hence delighted that these commentaries have been revised and collected together.

Opening prayers transform individuals in community

Liturgy gathers individuals into a community and transforms them. At the heart of this process, when understood and applied at its best, is the opening prayer/collect in the Introductory Rites/Gathering of the Community.

Too often, in my experience, the collect/opening prayer is another little prayer read by the whole community from the pew-sheet in the still “cluttered vestibule” of the start of our eucharist.

If only communities would attempt the dynamics of the opening prayer as outlined in this book (p. xv):
1) Invitation to pray: Oremus, “Let us pray”,
2) Silent prayer of the community,
3) The opening prayer or collect given by the presider, which the rest of the assembly makes their own in the hearing,
4) And the ratification of the assembly’s “Amen”.

Often, this prayer read together from the pew-sheet has none of the polish nor even the structure of the great Western collects which once were learnt “by heart”, at least by Anglicans, as a wealth of inner spiritual resources. There is much criticism of the ICEL versions of the current Roman Rite, and new translations increasingly are approaching the Anglican style inherited from Thomas Cranmer. It is, hence, excellent to see that the preface to this book is by an Anglican bishop, Bishop John Flack. Not only do Roman Catholics and Anglicans share a common treasure, generally unrecognised, of these Western gems, but I have discovered that a number of them (currently inexplicably) are being prayed on the same days.

If you are interested, there is more on this approach to the use of the collect in Chapter 6 of Celebrating Eucharist.

For those who wish to grow more deeply into the wealth of the collect/opening prayer tradition and its scholarship, I can unreservedly recommend Appreciating the Collect: An Irenic Methodology by James G. Leachman (Editor), and the author of Listen to the Word, Daniel P. McCarthy (Editor)

Listen to the Word takes each prayer, gives its history, analyses its grammar and meaning, and then applies it to our spiritual life.

Listen to the Word is not a book to be read at one sitting, but to be savoured and lived week by week. In fact, if one reads more than one reflection at a time, one could quickly tire of the repeated, boilerplate introduction from one reflection to the next. Alongside the occasional typo, that would be the only criticism of this book, and I unconditionally recommend it to any who follow the Western liturgical tradition.

The websites mentioned in the book have impossible URLs:
http://web.mac.com/danielmccarthyosb/iWeb/DREI/Welcome.html
and
http://www.bsac.ac.uk/DREIseries/DREIindex.htm

As a gift to them, I have reduced these to
http://tinyurl.com/appreciatingliturgy
and
http://tinyurl.com/LiturgiamAestimare

(This website each week also provides a commentary to the week’s collect – current one normally found on the home page, and previous ones can be found by clicking the button top left “prayer reflections“)

New prayers I wrote

Published on February 28, 2009 in liturgy. 0 Comments Tags: Anglican, faith, Jesus, Lent, prayer, silence, silent prayer, worship.

Anglican Missions asked me to write new prayers for three particular topics they named. These have just been published in their Partners in Prayer 2009 prayer diary. Here they are reproduced:

Vestry (or any other meeting)

Let us pray (in silence) for this (vestry) meeting.

Silent prayer

God of wisdom,
you send your Spirit to guide us into all the truth;
may we (who meet here) have listening ears and humble hearts,
that we may together find the mind of Christ,
and walk in the way of your will;
through Jesus Christ your Word
[who is alive with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever].
Amen.

Mission

Let us pray (in silence) for our church in mission.

Silent prayer

God our Creator,
in Christ you are reconciling the world to yourself
and you entrust to us this message of reconciliation;
may we make known the good news of your love
and so live the message we proclaim
that others may also grow into your reign of love
through Christ who was lifted on the cross
and is now alive with you
and the Holy Spirit
one God for ever and ever.
Amen.

Church

Let us pray (in silence) for Christ’s church.

Silent prayer

Ever faithful God,
you call us into your church
to continue Christ’s reconciling work
and reveal you to all;
may the fire of your Spirit transform us,
the gentleness of your Spirit encourage us,
and the gifts of your Spirit enable us
to worship you
and to serve you in others;
through Jesus, the Christ, our Lord
[who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever].
Amen.

Let us pray (in silence) for Christ’s church.

Silent prayer

Holy and life-giving God,
Jesus prayed that his friends may all be one
and grow into union with you;
forgive our discord and divisions,
renew our celebration of the diversity you make,
and grant us the courage to strive for the unity that is your will;
through our Saviour Jesus Christ
[who is alive with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever].
Amen,

Christchurch Carmel

Published on December 24, 2008 in liturgy and spirituality. Closed Tags: carmelite monastery, carthusians, catholic, christchurch, cistercian, hermits, monastery, roman catholic, silent prayer.

What do you bring as a “hello” gift to an enclosed, contemplative Roman Catholic nun? The September edition of the Christchurch magazine Avenues had produced a splendid article on the Christchurch Carmelite Monastery of Christ the King (I cannot locate an online version of the article – sorry). A lot was written about Sr Cushla, reminding me I had taught at Marian College while she was a student there. The article encouraged me to email Sr Cushla and I made an appointment to meet up with her.

I drove through the gates into the concrete-bricked-off wall of the monastery from the busy Lincoln Road. Parked. And with my box of chocolates in hand followed the sign to the “turn” – a small room with a two level rotating cupboard. Rang the bell. A cheerful voice with the familiar Island cadences could be heard on the other side. “I’m Bosco Peters, I’ve got an appointment with Sr Cushla”. With a cheerful response the Turn began rotating – a key appeared, nearly disappearing round again – but I stopped it just in time. I received instructions to go to Room 6. A small room with a curtain at one end. Sr Cushla was coming in behind the curtain cheerfully greeting me, pulled aside the curtain to reveal the traditional grill, and said, “You haven’t changed a bit” (do contemplative nuns ummm… bend the truth? We haven’t seen each other for 20 years!)

There are only nine of them here. Five aged over 70. Sr Cushla is the youngest. She’s been here 10 years. She exudes joy and peace. A sense of being in the right place. She describes the vocation as “hermits in community”. We talk about Cistercians, Carthusians, family, our journeys the past 20 years. I’m interested in the two hours of “recreation” the community have daily when they sit around and talk. The grill may give a confusing message – they are certainly well in touch with what is happening. They knew about the success of the Merton service by the next day. “But what do you talk about for two hours every day?” She laughed. I know that even Carthusians, with their little contact with news chat Sundays and Mondays – but two hours a day with the same 9 people! Sr Cushla says there is seldom a lull in the conversation, and on that rare occasion that there is a lull they have a saying that a Carmelite has been born. May this blog-post help contemplative life. Yours. Ours. That of the church generally. May contemplative life flourish – within and outside cloister walls.

Awkard pause

Let’s hope a Carmelite has been born.

Christchurch Carmel Website (Maintained by Sr Cushla)

Christchurch secondary school teacher Joseph Houghton interviewed Sr Cushla in July 2008 for a DVD to promote vocations. This is the interview in four parts:

Daily Timetable

5:30am Rise

6:00am Morning Prayer (Divine Office) followed by 1 hour silent prayerRinging the Bell

7:15am Breakfast, followed by Work

8:10am Mass bell – Prayer at 8:20am

8:30am Mass preceded by Prayer Before Noon (Divine Office)

9:20am Work

11:00am Midday Prayer (Divine Office)

11:20am Dinner

12 noon Recreation

1:00pm Work , Study or Rest – in Solitude

2:00pm Spiritual Reading

2:45pm Afternoon Prayer (Divine Office)

3:00pm Work

4:30pm Evening Prayer (Divine Office)

5:00pm Silent Prayer

6:00pm Supper

6:40pm Recreation

7:45pm End of Recreation

8:00pm Night Prayer followed by Office of Readings (Divine Office)

Followed by time for reading, study etc

collect – four parts

Published on October 21, 2008 in liturgy. Closed Tags: Anglican, collect, episcopalians, eucharist, litany, Mass, opening prayer, presider, roman catholics, silence, silent prayer.

The collect (opening prayer) has four parts [not the parts I suspect you are thinking of - see * at the bottom of this post]. The collect I believe is a key to liturgy. Not as we so regularly experience it – a few seconds of just another little prayer near the start of a service, even read together from a printed pew-sheet for the day (reducing it to merely one part).

The word “collect” in Latin is collecta – gathering together. A collect gathers a litany (list of petitions) together into a final, single prayer. Or a collect gathers silent prayer together into a single prayer. This is what the collect is in the Entrance Rite – the Gathering of the Community. As it gathers the silent prayers of everyone it functions to gather the individuals into a praying community.

The bidding: The presider invites the community to prayer – “Let us pray”. Or in a more extended way, something like: “Let us pray in silence that God will make us one in mind and heart”.

The silence: This is the heart of the collect. This deep silent praying of the community is what the collect is collecting. No silent prayer and it is not a collect, there is nothing to collect. Without this silence the “collect” is reduced to merely another little prayer cluttering the vestibule at the start of our service.

The collect:* After sufficient silent prayer the presider proclaims the collect, gathering the prayers of the community, and articulating the prayer of the church – the body of Christ. As Christ’s body the collect is addressed in Christ’s name, on Christ’s behalf, to God the Source of all Being, in the power and unity of the Holy Spirit.

Amen: The community makes the collect its own by a strong “Amen” – “so be it”.

*The collect prayer itself can have up to five parts in its composition. There is more about that in the Gathering of the Community in Celebrating Eucharist. Some further history of the collect is included here.

The collect when well understood and aptly used can powerfully gather the community, deepen our prayerfulness, and profoundly express much at the heart of Christian spirituality.