One
of our most common experiences in prayer is the periodic stream of distraction
that removes our focus from God and places it on ourselves, on our own worries
and concerns, and sometimes on nothing really relevant at all, just the usual
rambling nonsense of the unfocused human mind.
Two
things lie at the cause. First, most
human beings would rather be distracted than deal with realities; after all how
much time do we spend in everything from television, to movies, to sporting
events, to computer games, to thinking about food and a whole host of other
things? Second, there is an Enemy. Listen to what Screwtape, the Senior Devil,
writes to the junior devil Wormwood in the Screwtape letters.
One
day, as he sat reading, I saw a train of thought in his mind beginning to go
the wrong way. The Enemy was at his
elbow in a moment. . . . I struck instantly at the part of the man which I best
under my control and suggested that it was just about time that he had some lunch.[i]
The
simple distraction in this case is nothing more mundane than lunch. The Enemy is Satan, or in Greek, satanas (satanas) which means Adversary. While you may not be saintly enough to rate
his direct and immediate intention, you surely will be tempted at the point of
your weaknesses by one of the lesser devils.
That is the point of The Screwtape Letters. When you start to pray a host of minor
distractions will spring into action.
While they may find their root in your weaknesses, the role of the tempters
is to use them to distract you from prayer.
St.
Benedict also is aware of this temptation to distraction and in his Rule, he
writes:
Let
us consider then, how we ought to behave in the presence of God and his angels,
and let us stand to sing the psalms in such a way that our minds are in harmony
with our voices.[ii]
It
takes decision and constant attention for us to sing psalms or pray in such a
way as our minds are in harmony with our voices. To put it another way; mind, heart, and voice
all need to be aligned in singing psalms or praying.
Because
of our fallen human nature, we are prone to being distracted instead of dealing
attentively with the realities that face us; even when that is the ultimate
Reality, God Himself. That is echoed in
the very first temptation.
Now
the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God
had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat
of any tree in the garden'?" And
the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in
the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is
in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you
die.'" But the serpent said to the
woman, "You will not surely die.
For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil."
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a
delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she
took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with
her, and he ate. [iii]
Note
that in this first temptation, as in every temptation, there is a Tempter. That
Tempter is the Father of Lies.[iv] We do not live in a spiritual vacuum. Nothing
he says can be assumed to be true, and when a blatant deception won’t do he
loves to resort to half-truths warped and twisted for his own ends. When he
questions Eve the very question he poses is a lie. The only safe thing that Eve could have done
is refuse to dialogue with the devil.
Instead of answering the lie she should have said, “Get out! Satan.”
Implicit
in the temptation is the simple fact that the temptation woos Eve away from
Reality by playing on the points of her weaknesses, “For God knows that when
you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.” For Eve the temptation is threefold;
the still contemporary temptation of good food, of things that delight the
eyes, and the temptation to be like God, which if you think about it is a
terrifying appeal to pride. Taken
together the underlying fundamental temptation is to put oneself first before
God. This is the classic summary of the three major
sources of temptation and of distraction in prayer, “For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is
not of the Father but is of the world.”[v]
For
us the temptation may be any one of a number of distractions that draw us away
from the task at hand. Those
distractions range from the lazy habits of the disordered mind, to our
perpetual worrying over things we should have left in the hands to God, to that
kaleidoscopic range of fears that afflict most of us at one time or another,
and to the old hurts and resentments that should have been covered with the
Blood of Christ and buried in the Tomb with Him. Of these latter things one of
the Western Desert Fathers said, “If you have a snake or a scorpion, put it in
a box and put the lid on it, and sooner or later it will die.” All of these things put the self before God
and His grace. The remedy for dealing
with most of these distractions is awareness and a renewed surrender to God and
a rebirth of faith in His ability to control the things that we cannot control.
There
are times when the things that come to mind are indeed things that need to be
done; they just don’t need to be done in the midst of your time of prayer. A simple way of setting them aside is to keep
an index card by your Prayer Book and jot down in one, or two words only, the
thing that has come to mind; having done that, set the card and that concern
aside and return to your prayers.
St.
Benedict instructs us to focus our conscious attention on God who is the
ultimate Reality with renewed effort and deliberation. He says,
When
we wish to suggest our wants to persons of high station, we do not presume to
do so except with humility and reverence. How much the more, then, are complete
humility and pure devotion necessary in supplication of the Lord who is God of
the universe! [vi]
If you are going to borrow a lawn mower from your
neighbour it best to go across the street, knock on his door, and get his
attention before you humbly start asking for his lawn mower. Humility is an essential. If your neighbour is not present to you, you
are not going to get much success following through on your request. Yet, Christians all too often just launch
into prayer without focusing on Whom they are talking with; all their focus is
on their cares and concerns.
Awareness
of Whom we are praying to is a decision, and we often need to remind ourselves
of that simple reality. It is not that
God is not always present. Of course He
is; it’s just that we are not always present.
That brings to mind the cocktail party syndrome. Two people are talking at each other, but
neither is listening to what the other has to say; instead each person is only
attentive to what brilliant and witty thing he might say next after the other
person has finished chattering. Prayer
is not a monologue directed at God, but a dialogue in which He, through the
Holy Spirit, and through His written Word, has a lot to say to us; and if we
are not listening He might just wait until we are. Those who pray best are those who listen best
and are clearly aware of just Whom they are talking with.
Remember
the structure of Lectio Divina? Read,
Reflect, Respond, Rest. Read the Word of God.
Reflect on its meaning and what He is saying to you in the
passage. Respond to His Word in Prayer.
Rest in His Presence.
Don’t
ramble in your prayers or expect to pray for too long a time. Benedict
instructs us that,
Prayer
should be therefore short and pure, unless perhaps it is prolonged under the
inspiration of divine grace.[vii]
[i] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape
Letters, (New York: Harper-Collins, 1996), p. 3
[ii] The Rule of St. Benedict,
Chapter 19: The Discipline of Psalmody
[vi] The Rule, Chapter 20: On Reverence in Prayer
[vii] The Rule, Chapter 20: On
Reverence in Prayer
