Reflecting more on chapter 2: listening to God

Hello, Companion Mustard Seed Library book readers,

On page 50, the author writes "One day in the middle of a directed retreat, the issue that needed facing came forth on its own. This was a moment of grace, and nothing I could ever have done would have made it happen one second sooner. If I could have made it happen sooner, I would not have been able to face it, for when I dealt with this issue I did so with all the spiritual and emotional strength that I had developed in the three years of praying the prayer of quiet."

The prayer of quiet is very intereting, the long tradition evidently in Christianity of using repetitive words or phrases in prayer. I'm trying to contextualize the practice and can mainly think of the Taize worships we have had at Emmanuel where we pray/sing together "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom" over and over for quite a few minutes and then also the praise hymns sung, particularly in the African American context where very simple words are repeated over and over through the whole hymn. Do you think there is something here which we need to recapture in our spirituality?

I was consistently with Pastor Troike as he led us in this practice of centering prayer, prayer of quiet, but have found it hard to keep up the discipline. Get busy with things you know and let it slide. One natural repetitive practice that just comes out of me is, whenever either joy or else very troubling things happen, is I just start praying "Thank you, thank you, thank you............"
When troubling hurtful things happen, if I was saying "thank you" to a human person, might think I was being disturbingly masochistic but, somehow, praying it to God and at the same time knowing deep down that behind the troubling experience is a loving God, I also am believing that everything is being transformed by Him in some way, at some time, some how that is actually currently beyond my ken, for the good of both me and the other. One thank you wouldn't suffice, it has to be repeated over and over until I feel some relief. And it feels like God has talked to me. Do you have some practices in your prayer life where you use repetitive words/phrases? Do you enjoy praise hymns which use repetition? Can you think of any Euro-American hymns which use repetition of a word/phrase throughout the hymn?

Actually, reading this book is starting to get me motivated to set aside some time regularly to pray the prayer of quiet. The author is convincing about the spiritual growth he himself experienced and feels called to communicate to others via this book he wrote. The spiritual growth the author experienced was "But as I began to pray the prayer of quiet, I found that I first began to hear God--although at times more vaguely than I would have wished--in my compassion for others in pain as I tried to minister to them and pray healing prayer with them, in my deepest feelings about life and friends, in the words of the Bible, which seemed more and more to speak directly to me, and in the Eucharist." That kind of prayer life is very, very attractive to me and maybe to you as you reflect upon it also.

God bless,
Sharon