“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” Psalm 105:4
The past few years I’ve come to learn more about contemplative prayer. Contemplative prayer can be defined in many ways. I would say it is quieting our minds for the purpose of becoming more aware of God’s presence in our midst. It’s certainly not that God is “less” present when we are busy and preoccupied with other things, but just as we can easily overlook anything if we aren’t really paying attention, so too, we can miss the reality of God all around us if we choose not to notice.
My spiritual director recently described contemplative prayer as “gazing at Christ as He gazes at us, and then turning to see the world together.” I love this idea and have been thinking about it a lot. Surely our view of the world would be different if we modeled such an approach to see it.
Taking time to look at and contemplate Christ does something within our souls—something that is redemptive and restorative, something that realigns our minds with what is True, something that reorients our wills to reconciliation—reconciling the world to God as our Loving Creator.
I’m learning that I cannot affect meaningful, positive change in the world apart from staying grounded in God. I’m not talking about a legalistic following but a merciful embracing of the gentle yoke of Christ, living under His moving, His leading, His prompting. This “rest for our souls” (Matthew 11:29) is The Way of living into the Mercy, Grace, Forgiveness, and Love that He first showed us through His birth, life, death, and resurrection.
May we take the time to gaze upon the risen Christ as He gazes upon us... and then turn and see the world together. I can’t help but think the world will look a whole lot different when we do.
~em