Spiritual Practice – The Prayer of Quiet
Preparation:
o Sit comfortably in a place where you will not be disturbed. During this time of ‘staying at home’ I recommend that you use ear plugs to block out the noise of other people in your home and other sounds that may disturb you.
o You may want to light a candle.
o Set a timer for 20 minutes – if possible, choose an alarm with gentle sounds to end your prayer time.
Practice:
Start by saying a short prayer or do something (eg. Sign of the Cross) to mark the start of your prayer time.
Breathe in and out concentrating on the inward breath and the outward breath. Breath in God, breath out (your chosen phrase.) It can be a verse from the Bible or a line of praise and petition (one common formula is a name for God followed by your desire, such as “Spirit, peace”). You could also use the inward breath to name what you would like to receive and the outward breath to state what you would like to release.
Imagine yourself sitting beside the sea, perhaps cross-legged with your hands in your lap.
Bring to mind something that is concerning you (eg. Covid-19, anxiety, finances) and using your imagination, hold it in your hands and say its name.
After a minute or so, imagine your ‘named concern’ being carried on a feather. Open your hands slowly and let it slip gently from your hands into the sea. The top part of the sea is quite rough, the waves will swirl and shake the feather around.
The feather begins to sink below the rougher part of the water into the still water beneath the waves. Sound is muffled in there, silenced – it becomes very quiet and so the feather floats down through silence, down into darker, quieter water gently into The Eternal Embrace of Love.
Stay with this.
When other thoughts enter your mind, acknowledge them and let them go.