CP11 - Deepening Prayer Beyond Comfort - Reflections from Contemplative Provocations by Fr. Donald Haggerty

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Reflection 11 – Deepening Prayer Beyond Comfort – Reflections from Contemplative Provocations by Fr. Donald Haggerty – Discerning Hearts Catholic Podcasts

The desire for an experience of God’s presence may bring us to prayer, but the same impulse, if not purified, will exact a later cost. If we become anxious for emotional consolation in prayer, a focus on self can begin to affect the life of solitary prayer. It becomes incidental to this whether an hour of prayer is consoling or dissatisfying. The habitual desire for a gratifying experience will turn prayer into a self-centered enterprise. Then, in one of the ironies of spiritual life, a soul that perseveres in prayer comes away from it more turned toward self than toward God. This desire for satisfaction in prayer leads many people simply to give up silent prayer. Indeed the abandonment of prayer in this manner by those who aspired to a serious prayer life is one of the more hidden tragedies in the Church.

Emotion incites the imagination. Religious emotion is no different. If we seem to feel God’s presence, the thought may arise that God must be near in that moment. But surely this perception under the sway of emotion appeals also to self-love. Is God actually closer then to the soul? Is he closer than in times of aridity? Perhaps not, although it can be hard to resist the thought. The error can be consequential if it means that we forsake a purer pursuit of God in his transcendent mystery in exchange for sporadic encounters with our own inflamed desire. A sobering corrective is to remember that God in his immensity cannot be contained, held down, possessed within the human heart.

Sometimes souls serious about spiritual life become demanding of affection and regard from others, desirous to draw others close to themselves. It is a flaw that may have a background in a prayer life that resisted purification. The connection is not difficult to perceive. Purification in prayer is self-emptying. Long aridity if undergone with perseverance burns away our desire for satisfaction. The dryness is a humbling deprivation. But some souls cannot bear this impoverishment. When prayer has settled into chronic dryness and God shows no closeness, the response may be to seek love from others. Instead of embracing poverty, we may react by becoming possessive and demanding of human affections. It is as though we seek to secure a confirmation of being loved which the life of prayer withholds. Finding ourselves needed by others grants a spiritual worth not being received in prayer. It is good to recall that in surrendering to God, we give ourselves to a real poverty. If we make no peace with our poverty in prayer, the pursuit of consolation in human relations may strongly attract us. Without our realizing it, being needed by others placates the anxious thought that God has chosen other souls for his greater love and we have been left behind.

Haggerty, Donald. Contemplative Provocations: Brief, Concentrated Observations on Aspects of a Life with God (pp. 72, 75). Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

Discerning Hearts Daily Contemplative Prompts

How can we cultivate a prayer life that is focused on seeking God for His own sake, rather than for the emotional consolations we may desire, and what steps can we take to embrace the spiritual poverty and dryness that may come, seeing them not as signs of God’s absence, but as opportunities for deeper union with Him?

Embrace a disciplined prayer life, focusing on deepening your relationship with God rather than seeking emotional comfort. View spiritual dryness as an opportunity for growth. Aim to purify your prayer intentions, seeking God for His own sake. Engage in acts of service to shift focus from self to others, embodying Christ’s selfless love.

Obtain a copy of the book here

A great many religious people undertake a serious dedication to prayer. They are moved by a longing for a deeper encounter with God that beckons them as a distant light at night on the sea. Yet far fewer become true contemplative souls, for it is difficult to continue the quest for God in the face of many obstacles.

For those who are spiritually courageous and full of desire for God, this book will provoke them to persevere in this ultimate adventure in life-the more complete discovery of the living God. Thematically unified by the notion of God’s ultimate transcendence to our limited human knowledge, this work offers a rich profusion of insights on the life of prayer and the pursuit of God.

A key to spiritual growth is the understanding that the hiddenness of God becomes a paradox in the experience of a soul seeking him wholeheartedly. Rather than enjoying a more intimate familiarity with God, the soul advancing in prayer is likely to experience more intensely the concealment of God. This surprising truth undergirds true contemplative prayer. It is a reason why every contemplative soul, and every saint, is inflamed with a never satisfied thirst for God.