The Spiritual Heart and Everyday Spiritual Practices and Exercises: A Mystic’s Journal Entries: May 31 and June 1, 2006
Wednesday, May 31
Taught N. how to meditate tonight. We sat at the edge of a beautiful woods, after dinner, and meditated together for about twenty minutes. She said that at one point during her meditation laughter had arisen in her. N. has a wonderful sense of humor, she is an old soul and yet a spritelike being - and she has been very depressed this long winter. So laughter was good news. “Laughter is your true self”, I said ... Then I thought back on when I taught D. to meditate, many years ago. She insisted that nothing had happened during our first meditation together, that she was disappointed. And then she asked: “But what were those beautiful bells ringing, near the end of our meditation? They were so resonant, and there were so many of them ...” And I had laughed. They were inner bells, not outer ones ...
Thursday, June 4
We are still reading The Ways of Mental Prayer by Rev. Dom Vitalis Lehodey (TAN Books and Publishers, Inc.) in meditation class.
Pam opened to a beautiful paraphrase by Lehodey on the words of St. Francis de Sales: “God’s presence is everywhere. He is in everything and in every place, nor is there any place or thing in this world wherein He is not by a most real presence, so that at the birds meet always with air whithersoever they fly, so we, whithersoever we may go, always and everywhere find God there ....” After some discussion we agreed this would be so, as the universe flows from God. God is the very source of the material universe, and also the substratum of our material universe. Lehodey then directly quotes St. Francis de Sales: “as the soul being diffused throughout the whole body is present in all its parts” and Lehodey adds: “so God penetrates our whole being and dwells in every part”. This is a bit different from the concept of the soul that many people hold, that the soul somehow occupies a limited, contained space within our physical body. Whereas, in truth, the soul is every part of us, and if anything extends far beyond the physical body. We agreed that God resides in every particle of our being.
St. Francis de Sales continued: “as the soul ... resides nevertheless in the heart in a more special manner, so God is in a most particular manner in your heart, and in the very centre of your spirit, which He vivifies and animates, being, as it were, the heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit.” This profoundly deep and beautiful quote led us to an interesting discussion. “As the soul ... resides nevertheless in the heart” we all agreed refers to the spiritual Heart, not the physical heart. Although they both reside within the body, and in a similar region of the physical body. M. said that the spiritual Heart is the Throne of the soul, and the innermost core of our being. We also wondered if this “heart of your heart and the spirit of your spirit” was the divine spark within us that Meister Eckhardt speaks of in his writings. We then agreed that this special presence of God in the spiritual Heart becomes more apparent as our meditations progress and deepen.
We then read passages on the disposition of soul if we are to achieve success in mental prayer, from an earlier chapter of Lehodey’s excellent volume. Lehodey first reminds us that ultimately all is dependent on the Will of God: “Who distributes His gifts as He pleases.” Lehodey then adds: “Still there are divers elements of success that depend on our own will.”
Our discussion then turned to how to achieve a state of grace. In the state of grace, we should feel in alignment with the soul and with God. I asked the meditators how we could reach a state of grace, and the answers were numerous and varied: wanting to get there, intention; meditation practice, prayer; spiritual practices such as fasting and self-discipline; remembrance of God; trying to align ourselves with the soul’s vision ; asking that the Will of God be achieved through us, in our lives; devoting all that we do to God; church and religious practices if we belong to a church; removing all the obstacles which stand between us and God; asking forgiveness and making amends for our transgressions and various mistakes; non-attachment to anything material or in the physical world, including our own thoughts and emotions and desires; spiritual studies, our classes; reading sacred books and scripture; thinking and also talking about God whenever possible; living the principles we study; searching for God in our lives; forgiveness of others, ourselves and situations; asking for Grace.
I then asked the meditators what spiritual exercises they practiced in their own lives. They said: meditation; prayer; beginning each day with a short meditation; imaging ourselves and others as Divine Light when in difficult situations; standing back and trying to take the Witness position in difficult situations; repeating “I am the soul” throughout the day, and especially when in difficulty; remembering other people are also the soul; praying while walking down the street; writing spiritual exercises and reminders on post-it notes or on scraps of paper that we will frequently see; asking for angels; sending angels to others; calling on God and His saints; reading sacred books; avoiding scruples; being mindful of our thoughts and emotions; putting God first in our lives; knowing we are not the thoughts or emotions, that we are the soul; asking that any negativity in us be transformed into positive, Divine Light; using the simplicity and Beauty of nature and Music as a reminder of the Holiness and Beauty of God; listening to Gregorian chant; reading and studying the inspiring stories of the saints; enjoying our daily chores and duties, knowing that God is everywhere; offering all to God, even washing the dishes; service to others; giving our every heart beat to God; trying to pray always; acts of kindness; trying to see God everywhere and in every person and thing; patience; inwardly asking that others be sent to their Higher Selves, to their own souls; praying for others; sending others Healing, asking God to Heal them; sending St. Francis and St. Anthony to all animals, to guide and protect them; compassion for others; recognizing that if someone doesn’t have your talents or abilities, they have their own; seeing the other side of difficult issues that arise; mini meditations, a few seconds long, throughout the day; expressing caring to others, both verbally and in our actions; praying for the world; thinking of others, selflessness; the constant awareness of God in our lives and in our Hearts; the intention to be in a state of Grace; asking for Grace.
The Spiritual Heart and Everyday Spiritual Practices
Moderator: figaro