The Welcoming Prayer

By José Blanco
Just the other day I received the periodical - magazine or newsletter - from "The Contemplative Outreach", the communication arm of Father Thomas Keating's beautiful work during the last decade or so. Several things really 'hit' me: i.e., called my attention to them, which I want to share with you. Just like the image of school friends sharing a new found joy, ...or is it - 'toy'?

And, why do we use the phrase..."hit", as in "then it 'hit' me"? That's not too nice, no? Expectations?...hhhmmmm!.

Here it goes: grab on, there are several "hits' on this one...

"What God arranges for us to experience at each moment is the best and holiest thing that could happen to us". - Jean Pierre de Caussade.

Well, it is hard for me to conceive of a 'god' that is playing with all our lives "arranging events to happen" for each and every sentient being, as if I were some sort of marionnette (sp?) or pieces in a 'heavenly' chess set, being tugged around by this 'paternalistic' super-causal, avatar-robotic-controller, algorithm master, etc., etc. I think you catch 'my drift'. Nevertheless, were I to trust  (which is so hard, irrespective of what the 'object' of that trust is) in a god, and a universe, and a life, from which I do not have to be constantly defending myself from, and thus avoiding its surprises, such that in that trust I would live my life, and that life and the universe in which I live is essentially one to rest in "an abiding sense of confidence in "God" (1), that life would be, well, er, "different" than the one I have lived thus far. And maybe the one you have, too..., don't you think?

The periodical contained a pamphlet on the Welcoming Prayer, formulated by Mary Mrozowski, one of the founders of Contemplative Outreach, which goes like this:
(1) "Focus, feel and sink into the feelings, emotions, thoughts, sensations and commentaries in your body"

(2) "Welcome the 'Divine Indwelling in the feelings, emotions, thoughts, commentaries, or sensations in your body by saying 'Welcome'."

(3) "Let go by repeating the following sentences:
'I let go of the desire for security, affection and control',

'I let go of the desire to change this feeling/sensation'."

Wow! Tákiti! That is different, no?

Somewhere else in the pamphlet there is the  following: "The practice...is an opportunity to make choices (wow!) free (wow!) of the false-self system - responding instead of reacting to the present moment."

So there "you go"...simply put, it points to the reality that there are no "marionnettes", no sickly dependence excusing for inaction and responsibility. Free will...(I have 'choice'), and it is 'free' (we need to remember there is a cost - and it is that of the consequences of not doing 'it'), and, it is a 'response', not a reaction, nor a 'surprise'.

Wow. I think I had heard similar things coming up thru the 'yoga' world. Maybe from Patanjali. 200 BC...?

"Co - incidences".

Neat!


Ref: (1) James Finley, "Christian Mediation", Experiencing the Presence of God







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