welcoming prayer

 


You can read most anywhere that in these days of religious decline, many people describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious." It seems to be a norm of self realization for many folks. But anyone who has known me for a while may recall me saying from Time to Time, that I do not experience myself as a spiritual person. That I might see myself as neither spiritual nor religious; but that if I have to choose, I'm reverse to that norm, maybe religious but not spiritual. 

And I do not enjoy, and in general have little appreciation for, "spiritual writing".

Yet I absolutely appreciate Fr Richard Rohr, his writing, his outlook on life, his daily posts from the Center for Action and Contemplation. It's because I identify with the Christianity of Fr Rohr's place in life as a Franciscan. Where life's focus is not personal piety, but proactive love for neighbor. 

And being an Episcopalian fits me well, specifically because of our Baptismal Covenant with God, where I believe, I believe, I believe has consequence: Will you? Will you? Will you? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? It fits with Catholicism's Franciscan piety and ethic. Belief is meaningless, worthless, without a Therefore. 

It's why I admittedly have little use for the Nicene Creed, partly because I know its history, but mainly because, unlike our Baptismal Covenant, it has no Therefore.

Now and again, I appreciate one of Fr Richard's posts that seems more interior than external. After reading today's post I scrolled down and clicked on a link to something I'd not heard of before: the "welcoming prayer" of Mary Mrozowski. It's offered as something to wake up to. I'm copy and pasting it this morning instead of writing my own blogpost agonizing over things I cannot change. Namely and especially that America and Americans seem to be slipping off into and espousing a Christianity that I don't recognize, that seems to be based on a view that Christianity is about saving oneself into a heavenly afterlife. IDK: not directly, but MM's "welcoming prayer" may be something of an oblique antidote for that self-oriented religious poison and spiritual emptiness.

Here's Fr Richard's link:

T89&c


Practice: The Welcoming Prayer

Earlier this week we saw how unfiltered encounters with the divine are hallmarks of the Perennial Tradition, experienced by people across religions. Contemplative practice is anything we do that intentionally opens our hearts, minds, and bodies to this unitive consciousness or presence to Love.

One of my favorite practices is the Welcoming Prayer created by Mary Mrozowski (1925–1993), a spiritual teacher, mystic, and founding member of Contemplative Outreach. It is based on her personal experience of surrender as essential to transformation and the teachings of Jean Pierre de Caussade (1675–1751) and Fr. Thomas Keating (1923–2018). Welcoming Prayer is a simple way of surrendering to God’s presence in our daily life. This method can help us dismantle unhelpful mental and emotional habits so that we respond rather than react to circumstances. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that we welcome or accept abuse, trauma, or oppression, but rather our feelings around those incidents. We then become empowered to take necessary action more freely, creatively, and lovingly.

Set aside some quiet time alone to try this practice. Begin by becoming aware of how your body feels. Notice any tension or pain. After a few moments of silence, read the following intention aloud prayerfully:

Welcome, welcome, welcome.
I welcome everything that comes to me in this moment
because I know it is for my healing.
I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions,
persons, situations and conditions.

I let go of my desire for security.
I let go of my desire for affection.
I let go of my desire for control.

I let go of my desire to change any
situation, condition,
person, or myself.

I open to the love and presence of God and
the healing action and grace within. [1]

Holding this intention lightly, identify a hurt or an offense, something or someone who has hurt you or let you down recently or in the past.

  • Feel the pain of the offense the way you first felt it, or are feeling it in this moment, and notice the hurt in your body. Why is this important? Because if you move it to your mind, you will go back to dualistic thinking and judgments: good guy/bad guy, win/lose, either/or.
  • Feel the pain so you don’t create the win/lose scenario. Identify yourself with the suffering side of life; how much it hurt to hurt; how abandoned you felt to be abandoned.
  • Once you can move to that place and know how much it hurts to hurt, you could not possibly want that experience for anybody else.
  • This might take a few minutes. Welcome the experience, and it can move you to the Great Compassion. Don’t fight it. Don’t split and blame. Welcome the grief and anger in all of its heaviness. Now it will become a great teacher.
  • If you can do this you will see that it is welcoming the pain and letting go of all of your oppositional energy that actually frees you from it! Who would have thought? It is our resistance to things as they are that causes most of our unhappiness—at least I know it is for me.

References:
[1] Mary Mrozowski, “The Welcoming Prayer.” More information about the history and practice of this prayer is available atH https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/welcoming-prayer.

Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Art of Letting Go: Living the Wisdom of Saint Francis, disc 6 (Sounds True: 2010), CD.

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pic: as long as the rose poinsettia holds its bloom, it's Christmas at 7H