Brother Lawrence (1611-1691)

The most excellent method of going to God is that of doing our common business without any view of pleasing people but purely for the love of God.

We ought not to grow tired of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.

God has infinite treasure to bestow, and we take up with a little sensible devotion which passes in a moment. Blind as we are, we hinder God and stop the current of His grace. But when He finds a soul penetrated with a lively faith, He pours into it His grace and favors plentifully.

How can we pray to Him without being with Him? How can we be with Him without thinking of Him often? And how can we think of Him but by a holy habit we should form of it?

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Born into poverty at Toledo Spain in 1542, his father was disinherited from a wealthy family for marrying below his station. He died in his prime and his mother was barley able to keep the family together.

John was sent to the poor school at Medina del Campo, he proved tobe be a bright and attentive student, but when apprnticed to an artisan, seemed incapable of retaining anything. At which point the head of the hospital in Madina took him under wing. For seven years he divided his time to tending to the poorest of the poor and frequenting a school established by the Jesuits. He entered the Carmilite order and became a friar.

He was persuaded by Teresa of Avilia to join a reformed movement within the Carmilites known as the Discalceds. He was seized and thrown into prison by a repressive wing of the Carmilites and finally escaped.

The Discalceds won their independence, yet toward the end of his life he suffered severe persecutions at the hands of his own order. He was stripped of rank and banished to a remote part of Spain where he died.

John was a mystic and an advocate for the poor. He penned a number books now considered classics of Christian mysticism. The most famous being The Dark Night of the Soul - a poem with a commentary in prose.The night which seems unwelcome becomes sweeter than the dawn and unites the Divine lover and the Beloved until each is transformed into the other.

On that glad night,

in secret, for no one saw me,

nor did I look at anything,

with no other light or guide

than the one that burned in my heart.

for further reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_the_Cross

short bio, bibliography, quotes
http://doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com/JC.html


living water reprint from 2009

"Everything is Grace."

 











Saint Therese the Little Flower Speaks

 "Jesus does not so much look at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them." 

"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul." 

 "How happy I am to see myself as imperfect and to be in need of God's mercy." 

 "Do not fear to tell Jesus that you love Him even without feeling it. That is the way to force Jesus to help you, to carry you like a little child too feeble to walk."

 "For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus."

 "Jesus does not demand great actions from us, but simply surrender and gratitude."

 "It is only love which makes us acceptable to God."

 "What offends Him and what wounds His Heart is the lack of confidence...Your heart is made to love Jesus, to love Him passionately...We have only the short moments of our life to love Jesus!"

 Whispered to a novice while standing in front of the convent library: "Oh! I would have been sorry to have read all those books...If I had read them, I would have broken my head, and I would have wasted precious time that I could have employed very simply in loving God."


In loving memory of Brother John Henry Tilma 

Spiritual life

Spiritual life is like living water 
that springs up from the very depths 
of our own spiritual experience.  
In spiritual life everyone has to drink 
from his or her own well.  

~  St. Bernard of Clairvaux

The Sign of the Cross

Over the past 10 years i have developed the habit of Crossing my self. I apply this particularly when i first wake, before eating and after praying. I have found this to be a good way to put me in mind of the Presence. I've also taken to doing this instead of saying an audable grace particularly in public settings..

In the tradition of the eastern and western churches ( Roman Catholic and Orthox) it is customary to cross ones self when invoking the Trinity.

I have adopted the Orthox method for making the sign of the cross.

Use your right hand, even if you are left-handed. Hold your thumb and first two fingers together, and fold the other two fingers down against the base of your thumb.

Touch your forehead
Touch your navel
Touch your right shoulder
Touch your left shoulder
As you cross yourself, say, whisper, or think: “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” ( i add "the sacred three in one", my celtic connection)The movements trace a cross on the body.

The three fingers represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the two fingers folded down represent the human and divine natures of Christ. Fully Man. Fully God.

living reprint from 2008

John Tauler (1300 - 1351)

John Tauler considered one of the primary German mystics along with Meister Ekhart and Henry Suso was born about the year 1300 in Strasbourg, entered the Dominican order (probably at the age of about fifteen) and was educated at the Dominican convent in that city.  Ekhart, who greatly influenced Tauler, was active in Strasbourg c1313-26, though it is unclear what relationship they may have had.

 Around 1330 Tauler began his preaching career in Strasbourg. The city contained eight convents of Dominican nuns and perhaps seventy smaller beguine communities. It seems likely that (as with Meister Ekhart, and Henry Suso), much of his preaching was directed to holy women. Most of Tauler's nearly eighty sermons seem to reflect a convent situation, although this may partly reflect the setting in which such sermons were most likely to be written down and preserved.

 Tauler worked with the Friends of God, and it was with them that he taught his belief that the state of the soul was affected more by a personal relationship with God than by external practices.

 Tauler traveled  extensively in the last two and a half decades of his life. He made several trips to Cologne. A number of his sermons were clearly delivered there, as indicated by their survival in the Cologne dialect of Middle High German.

Tauler left no formal treatises, either in Latin or the vernacular. Rather, he leaves around eighty sermons. His sermons began to be collected in his own lifetime - three fourteenth-century manuscripts date from around the time of Tauler's return to Strasbourg after his exile in Base. His sermons,  were considered among the noblest in the German language -- not as emotional as Suso's nor as speculative as Eckhart's, but rather intensely practical, touching on all sides the deeper problems of the moral and spiritual life.

 He was one of several notable Christian universalists in the Middle Ages, along with Amalric of Bena  John of Rusybrook, and ^{Juilan of Norwich.} He taught that "All beings exist through the same birth as the Son, and therefore shall they all come again to their original, that is, God the Father."

According to tradition, Tauler died on 16 June 1361 in Strasbourg. He was buried in the Dominican church in Strasbourg with an incised gravestone that still survives

compiled from several sources

Jesus Prayer (1)

The Jesus Prayer also refered to as the Prayer of the Heart, is a short repetitive prayer. It has been taught and used throughout the history of Eastern Christianity. The words of the prayer have varied from it's simplist form "Lord have mercy," to the more common form: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." (LK 18: 9-14)

The Jesus Prayer is highly esteemed in the Eastern Orthodox tradition . It has an important place in personal ascetic practice. The constant praying the prayer is considered to be prfoundly mystical and transformative in nature. Its practice is an integral part of the Philokalia. A collection of texts on prayer compiled in the late 18th Century.

The use of the prayer most likely has it's roots in the Egyptian desert around the end of the 4th century. John Cassian describes this type of prayer in the 'Conferences' his diolouges with the Desert Fathers. It's earliest known specific mention is in the Gnostic Chapters of Saint Diadochos of Photiki, a work found in the first volume of the Philokalia. Diadochos encouraged the use of the Jesus Prayer for the purification of the soul. He also taught that it's repetition produced interior tranquility..

John of Sinai recommended it's use in his work the "Ladder of Divine Ascent". The Russian spiritual classic "The Way of a Pilgrim" encourages the use of the Prayer as taught in the Philokalia. J D Salinger in his modern classic Franny and Zooey even eludes to it's practice as a solution to the spiritual deadness of our age.

Though practiced primarily by the Eastern tradition, it has drawn a wider range of practitioners from different streams in the 20th century.

Brother Lawrence (1611-1691)

I know that for the right practice the heart must be empty of all other things; because God will possess the heart alone; and as He cannot possess it alone, without emptying it of all else besides, so neither can He act there and do in it what He pleases, unless it be left vacant to Him.

We ought to give ourselves up to God, both in temporal and spiritual things, and seek our satisfaction only in fulfilling His will. Whether He leads us by suffering or consolation, all is the same to one truly resigned.

We only deceive ourselves by seeking or loving God for any favors which He has or may grant us. Such favors, no matter how great, can never bring us as near to God as can one simple act of faith. Let us seek Him often by faith.

Whatever becomes of me, whether I be lost or saved, I will always continue to act purely for the love of God. I shall have this good at least, that until death, I shall have done all that is in me to love Him.

Comfort yourself with the Sovereign Physician of both body and soul.

Those who have the gale of the Holy Spirit go forward even in sleep. If the vessel of our soul is still tossed with winds and storms, let us awake the Lord who reposes in it. He will quickly calm the sea.

Let us think often that our only business in this life is to please God.

The end we ought to propose to ourselves is to become, in this life, the most perfect worshippers of God we can possibly be, as we hope to be through all eternity.



quotes from practicing the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

Group Lectio

Here is a group lectio Divina model i have used , in seminars, gatherings,  workshops and community

1. Open with prayer

2. The passage is read two or three times slowly and deliberately and participants are asked to mull over the word or phrase that speaks to them

3. After sharing the word or phrase with the group; the passage is read two or three more times with different voices (different gender or two or three in unison)

4. Again in silence participants reflect on the word or phrase that speaks to them. This time attending to the emotions or feelings that it conjures up.

5. The passage is read twice again in a distinctive voice. Then a long period of silence is kept to inquire and reflect on why this word or emotion has been provoked.

6. Finally a time of sharing ends the session with each person having an opportunity to reflect what they felt God was saying to them through the text

7. Can be closed with prayer

Historically this exercise was done with scripture or a devotional text.

graphic: leading a group lectio session at the Nidus festival

Hesychasm

Hesychasm

Hesychasm or "prayer of the heart as it was known and taught by Gregory Palamas is a form of constant purposeful prayer or experiential prayer, explicitly referred to as contemplation. It is to focus ones mind on God and pray to God unceasingly. Under church tradition the practice of Hesychasm has it beginnings in the bible, Matthew 6:6 and is expounded on in the Philokalia. The tradition of contemplation with inner silence or tranquility is shared by all Eastern ascetisim having its roots in the Egyptian traditions of monasticism exemplified by such Orthodox monastics as St Anthony of Egypt.desert fathers

In the early 14th century, Gregory of Sinai learned hesychasm from Arsenius of Crete and spread the doctrine, bringing it to the monks on Mount Athos The terms Hesychasm and Hesychast were used by the monks on Mount Athos to refer to the practice and to the practitioner of a method of mental ascesis that involves the use of the Jesus Prayer assisted by certain psychophysical techniques. The hesychasts stated that at higher stages of their prayer practice they reached the actual contemplative union with the Tabor light, i.e., Uncreated Divine Light or photomos seen by the apostles in the event of the Transfiguration of Christ and Saint Paul while on the road to Damascus.

compiled from several Orthodox sources

How to do Lectio: (4)

How to do Lectio Divina

Lectio divina is a way of getting in touch daily in a personal way with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; it is a way of getting in touch with Jesus Christ our Lord and our brother. It is away of reading centered on God and, if you do it with faith you will be able to hear what he has to say to you here at this moment.  It is a way of reading which is slow so that the words are savored in meditation. It moves from the literal meaning to what only the Spirit can make clear to you. It calls for action by your involvement and for passive surrender as it draws you into the heart of God. It is disinterested; the text must be read for its own sake and not for the achievement of having read it.

Lectio is a way of experiencing Christ. You will encounter him personally in the sacred scriptures because he is there hidden in the pages of your Bible and you ought to believe in his presence with greater assurance than if you could see him with your eyes.  He has the same power there as he revealed in the gospels and he cures you of your physical and moral ailments, brings his light to your everyday life and leads you to eternal life.

Your encounter is with the Word who loves you unconditionally and is ever present and real in your life. From all eternity God has had a plan for the whole course of your life, your personal fulfillment, your vocation, your happiness. You will surely stray from the right path and become alienated from your true self through serving other gods, if you do not allow him to reveal himself to you daily through his word. It is in your Bible that the true story of your life is written. If you don't at once understand what you read, then have confidence that the Lord will reveal it to you in his own time, because no word comes form the mouth of the Lord without achieving in you the work he intended. If your thoughts and imagination get in the way of your prayer, then fling them immediately before Christ.  Make no attempt to master them by your own strength, but try to turn back to your prayer.

You ought to do lectio every day, even if it is only one single verse of the Bible, because, "It is not on bread alone that man lives but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:4)  Your reading of the word of God should be deliberate, moving slowly from verse to verse, from word to word, watching for the context, paying close attention to each passage, looking out for the answers that are there in sacred scripture itself and the echoes they evoke, watching the notes and marginal references and always treasuring silence so as to make space to listen. You should know that the word you hear is directed to you personally and individually. When you read the word of God, it speaks to you; when you pray, you speak to the word and so turn your prayer into conversation.

Your prayer may be simply staying with the word in silence, or it may be a thanksgiving, or a petition, or praise, or blessing, or contrition, or intercession, or one single word on which you pause and then repeat at will, or it may be a prayer of inspiration. If you are taking part in shared lectio, the way to share what the scripture has said to you is by means of a personal comment spoken in the first person singular and applied to your own life, or else it may be a prayer out loud offered directly to God.

By José Manuel Eguiguren Guzman of the Manquehue Movement, Chile; translated by Abbot Patrick Barry, O.S.B.

monasticism (10)

The Hermits Cell on Iona

Today all that remains of the Hermit’s Cell on Iona is a rough stone foundation of an oval hut which would have been made of timber or turf. An entrance faces southwest to capture the most daylight.
As he tells stories from Colmcille’s life, the saint’s biographer Adomnán describes the island of Iona and the life of the monks:

‘One day, when St Columba was living on Iona, he set off into the wilder parts of the island to find a place secluded from other people where he could pray alone.’

 Monastic life has always focused on the need for deep reflection and contemplation, away from the distractions of everyday life. The monks and nuns of Iona would have had a number of smaller cells in the remote parts of the island which were used as retreats.

 This site is known as the Hermit’s Cell and is said by some to be the place where Colmcille prayed. For some pilgrims to Iona, the site represents the importance of solitary reflection and prayer, a tradition passed down by the saint to his followers.

As with many places which are linked to saints and holy figures, there is no historical evidence for this connection.

The name Hermit’s Cell is said to be a translation from Gaelic. Cobhan means ‘box, chest or ark’ - so may mean something like a small wooden cell - and cùilteach means ‘remote, hidden or private’ which suggests a hermit’s retreat. So it may not be a precise translation but the words perhaps suggest a link to a monk’s isolated place of contemplation.

excerpts of article from Sli Cholmcille 

graphic: the site known as the Hermits cell on Iona island

Clare of Assisi ( 1194 -1253 )

 On the Joy of Contemplation

That is why you, too, dearest, must always rejoice in the Lord, and not let bitterness and confusion envelop you, O Lady most beloved in Christ, joy of the angels, and crown of your sisters. 

Place your mind in the mirror of eternity;
Place your soul in the splendor of glory;
Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance;
And, through contemplation, transform your entire being into the image of the Divine One himself,
So that you, yourself, may also experience what his friends experience when they taste the hidden sweetness that God alone has kept from the beginning
For those who love him.

And completely ignoring all those who in this deceitful and turbulent world ensnare their blind lovers, you might totally love him who gave himself totally out of love for you,  whose beauty the sun and moon admire, and whose rewards, in both their preciousness and magnitude, are without end.  I am speaking about the Son of the Most High,

 (an excerpt from Clare's 3rd letter to Agnes of Prauge, the language in Clare's letters is so rich and full of exquisite imagery oozing with compassion ) 

graphic: Icon of St Clare

Lectio Divina (2)

The Basic Steps of Lectio

The Practice opens with the reading (lectio) of a text, which leads to a desire to understand its true content: what does the biblical text say in itself? Without this, there is always a risk that the text will become a pretext for never moving beyond our own ideas. 

Next comes meditation (meditatio), which asks: what does the biblical text say to us? Here, each person, individually but also as a member of the community, must let himself or herself be moved and challenged. 

Following this comes prayer (oratio), which asks the question: what do we say to the Lord in response to his word? Prayer, as petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise, is the primary way by which the word transforms us. 

Finally, lectio divina concludes with contemplation (contemplatio), during which we take up, as a gift from God, his own way of seeing and judging reality, and ask ourselves what conversion of mind, heart and life is the Lord asking of us? In the Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul tells us: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (12:2). Contemplation aims at creating within us a truly wise and discerning vision of reality, as God sees it, and at forming within us "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16). The word of God appears here as a criterion for discernment: it is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Heb 4:12). 

We do well also to remember that the process of lectio divina is not concluded until it arrives at action (actio), which moves the believer to make his or her life a gift for others in charity"  

(Verbum Domini, 87). 

Lectio Divina (1)

 Lectio Divina is Latin for divine reading, spiritual reading, or "holy reading," An ancient form of meditation on scripture where one reads "very slowly through a text until a word or phrase 'lights' up and attracts the reader. The text is then laid aside and the phrase is repeated in the heart...without analysis."

 

1. Reading/thinking about Scripture

2. Reflecting on a personal word from the text

3. Responding in prayer on how the passage speaks into their life today

4. Resting in (or listening to) a personal message from God

the Four Rhythms in Lectio Divina):

1. Lectio: Read the Scripture passage slowly and give it a title.

2. Meditatio: Reflect on one word or phrase the Holy Spirit directs your attention to.

3. Oratio: Respond in prayer with emotion about a personal struggle or longing.

4. Contemplatio: Rest in a personal invitation or affirmation spoken to you by the Lord. (Write down what you sense God might be saying to you or just rest in his loving arms.)

What is Centering Prayer

 

 

What is centering prayer?

Centering prayer is a form of meditative or contemplative prayer that has  ancient Christian roots. Seeds of what would become known as contemplation were sown early in the Christian era. The first appearance of something echoing contemplative prayer appears  in the 4th century writings John Cassian. He writes of a practice he learned from the Desert Fathers (specifically from Isaac). Cassian's writings remained influential until the medieval era, when monastic practice shifted from a mystical orientation to Scholasticism. 

 It can therefore be very safely argued that contemplation was one of the earliest devotional practices of Christian monasticism. During the enlightenment a shift in practice took place moving emphasis from the heart to the head and so contemplation.was supplanted in importance  by  scholastic theologians, with more of an interest in rational systematic approaches.

The primary expression of centering prayer in  late Medieval Christianity is thr book The Cloud of Unknowing. Cloud was actually written in Middle English, not Latin. This indicates the primary audience was not solely meant to be priests and monks, but the common person. The  heart of the 'cloud's" practice centers around experiencing God's presence in daily  life.

 Despite what you might hear from so-called “discernment ministries,” centering prayer and other contemplative practices are very much a part of Christianity's early DNA.

Centering prayer shifts the focus in prayer from talking to God, which is probably how most of us are more accustomed to praying, to listening. It emphasizes prayer as a personal relationship with God,  as a movement beyond conversation with Christ to 'being" with Him..

As abbot at St Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts ( an area with a high concentration of spiritual retreats)through the 60s and 70s. cistern  monk Father Thomas Keating , tells of meeting many young people,  who had turned to Eastern practices for contemplative work  He found many of them had no knowledge of the contemplative traditions within Christianity and set out to present those practices in a more accessible way. The result was a clearer contemplative practice of Centering Prayer.

Candles and Incense (1)

Candles and incense have been used in Christian worship for centuries.The scripture is full of  God as light and fire and of incense as symbolic of prayer and presence.

Lighting a Candle (A Symbol for Christ, "the Light of the World") or some Incense can be a way of engaging our senses in worship, prayer and practicing the presence. They can also helping make our times of prayer special  and set par, enhancing  our daily rhythm and fixed hour prayer.

Advent is a wonderful time to incorporate these elements into our practice.

Scriptures referencing light: Gen.1:3, Lav.24:1-2, Ps.27:1, Ps.43:3-4, Ps.97:10-12, Ps.119:105, Pr.60:1-3, Mat.5:14-16, John8:12, 2Cor.4:5-6

Scriptures referencing fire: Ex.13:17-22, Deaut. 4:9, Jer. 20:9, Lk. 3:15-16, Acts 2:1-4

Scriptures referencing incense: Ex.30:34-36, Ps.141:1-2, Mal. 1:11, 2Cor. 2:14-17, Rev 8:4

Madame Guyon (1648-1717)

Guyon's parents brought her up in pious religious training which took place in the home, school and convent. She was deeply influenced by her own reading of Francis de Sales and Madame de Chantal, as well as her interactions with the nuns and teachers. At a young age, she wanted to become a nun but was dissuaded by her sister.

After turning down many proposals, she married a wealthy man twenty-two years her senior. She was 16. Her life was plagued with suffering and constant abuse from her mother in law, husband and maids. The lack of love in the marriage drove her deeper in to pursuit of God. Her pursuit of god's presence and her willingness to embrace suffering formed the pillars of her spirituality.

After twelve years of in the loveless marriage, she was left as a widow of three children after losing her two children and husband in succession.

Guyon believed that in imbracing suffering she would be drawn closer to God's heart. At age 28 after twelve years of marriage, she was left widowed, by this time she had also lost 2 of her four two children.

After her husband's death, Madame Guyon felt herself drawn to Geneva. She left her children in the care of a family member and sought out Father LaCombe. who was to become her spiritual director. Together they began to proclaim entire sanctification through faith in Christ, becoming major voices in the Quietism* movement.

Louis XIV was pivotal in the condemnation of Quietism in Rome. He would not allow similar mysticism in his own capital. Father LaCombe was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Guyon was herself arrested and subjected to fierce interrogation.

In October 1688, when Guyon was released from prison, she met Father Francis Fénelon who became Her most famous and influential disciple, who latter became the Bishop of Chartres. Through Fénelon the influence of Madame Guyon increased, as her influence increased so did persecution.

Guyon taught that we should learn to pray without ceasing. Whatever one was doing, learn to cultivate the practice of being constantly aware of God's presence. "Prayer is the key of perfection and of sovereign happiness; it is the efficacious means of getting rid of all vices and of acquiring all virtues; for the way to become perfect is to live in the presence of God. Prayer alone can bring you into His presence, and keep you there continually."

In one of her peoms she wrote: "There was a period when I chose, A time and place for prayer ... But now I seek that constant prayer, In inward stillness known ..."
Guyon defended the belief that salvation wholly is the result of grace, not works. She taught that a person's deliverance can only come from God as an outside source, never from within the person himself or herself.

In 1693 she was arrested for her ideas and again imprisioned in the Bastille. Guyon was finally released in 1703 after more than 7 years captivated and banished from Paris. She went to live with her son in Blois where she lived for fifteen years in silence and isolation until she died in 1717 at the age of 68. She left behind a volume of poetry and number of books, two of the most important being "A Short and Easy Method of Prayer" and her AutoBiography.

* Quietists embraced the ideology of dying to self and living in Christ , reaching a“state of pure contemplation where God flows in and becomes the inward reality initiating His perfect and holy will.” Passivity is understood in the context of actively surrendering to Divinity where pure love, pure faith and pure prayer unite the believer in union and intimacy with God.

St. John of the Cross (1542-1591)

Born into poverty at Toledo Spain in 1542, his father was disinherited from a wealthy family for marrying below his station. He died in his prime and his mother was barley able to keep the family together.

John was sent to the poor school at Medina del Campo, he proved tobe be a bright and attentive student, but when apprnticed to an artisian, seemed incapable of retaining anything. At which point the head of the hospital in Madina took him under wing. For seven years he divided his time to tending to the poorest of the poor and frequenting a school established by the Jesuits. He entered the Carmilite order and became a friar.

He was persuaded by Teresa of Avilia to join a reformed movment within the Carmilites known as the Discalceds. He was siezed and thrown into prison by a repressive wing of the Carmilites and finally escaped.

The Discalceds won their independence, yet toward the end of his life he suffered severe persecutions at the hands of his own order. He was stripped of rank and bannished to a remote part of Spain where he died.

John was a mystic and an advocate for the poor. He penned a number books now considered classics of Christian mysticisim. The most famous being The Dark Night of the Soul - a poem with a commentary in prose.

The night which seems unwelcome becomes sweeter than the dawn and unites the Divine lover and the Beloved until each is transformed into the other.

On that glad night,

in secret, for no one saw me,

nor did I look at anything,

with no other light or guide

than the one that burned in my heart.

for further reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_the_Cross

short bio, bibiliography, quotes
http://doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com/JC.html

The Jesus Prayer (part 4) Personal experience

I became acquainted with the Jesus Prayer over 25 years ago but never began applying it until 2000. Around that time a friend who had been in Macedonia brought me back a Chotki (a knotted cord for keeping track of prayers) and I began implementing the practice.

The Jesus prayer has become for me a wonderful tool for helping in the cultivating of an awareness of God's presence through out the day. I have a job that doesn't particularly engage my mind and this type of prayer is easily implemented in situations like that. It has also been useful as a discipline when dealing with stress or a wandering mind.

I have also used the Prayer in tandem with the Chokti. Not when working, of course. This has been useful when out and about. I keep it in my pocket where i can easily reach it. I will expand more on prayer using the Chokti later.

Experiment. This along with other practices or disciplines (as they are often referred ) that we discuss are simply tools to help us in deepening our relationship with God.