chris@mcdonnell83.freeserve.co.uk Previous articles by Chris |
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May 30, 2012
Chris McDonnell, |
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Beads of Prayer Published
in SPIRITUALITY November/December 2006Dominican Publications
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It was certainly a struggle that Merton knew only too
well. Isaac of Syria linked love and prayer in a way that points to personal
circumstance when he wrote that “Love
comes from prayer and prayer comes from remaining in seclusion” (3).
For although many of us experience prayer in the company of others,
be it parish, school, family or in the monastic community, there is an essential
core in prayer that identifies a personal relationship with God, and in that, we
are alone. Mark tells us in the first chapter of his Gospel that “in
the morning, long before dawn, He got up and left the house and went off to a
lonely place and prayed there.” (4). Of course this is not exclusive to
our Christian commitment, for many faith traditions invite the experience of
solitude, a time of stillness and an opportunity to be. “Most of the time, we are lost in the past or carried away by the
future. When we are mindful, deeply in touch with the present moment, our
understanding of what is going on deepens, and we begin to be filled with
acceptance, joy, peace and love” (5)
Sitting
alone for an extended period of time, whether on an open hillside, by the shore
of the ocean, or in a church or at a shrine, is not easy. Our attention
naturally wanders, distractions come and go and we too often become caught up
with lots of words and fine phrases in our attempt to be alone with the Alone.
This quest for solitude and quiet is in fact a contradiction to the very nature
of our society where noise and busyness abound and our purpose is to be found in
our doing something.
It
was to help with such times that these beads were made. They are not intended as
traditional rosary beads, though they can be used for that purpose, for the
group of ten beads give the count for a single decade, but rather they offer a
focal point for fingers to handle in a repetitive way during a time of
meditation. The loop, slipped over the second finger of the right hand, leaves
the thumb and index finger available to go from bead to bead, back and forth,
maybe to the background of music, or the repetition of a simple phrase or just
in silence. A small group of beads that are easily contained in the palm of the
hand, offering a presence and a reminder whether outdoors in the garden, during
a beach walk or in a city street; or indoors in the quiet tranquillity of an
empty church or before a candle lit icon picture at home or in the dark hour
before dawn. Whatever the setting, the intention is the same; that the handling
of the beads
might bring us in to the still presence of God, and that finding us there, we
might listen to him.
We
may wish from time to time to use a simple repetitive phrase such as:
·
Lord
in your mercy, hear my prayer.
·
Love
comes from prayer.
·
In
your mercy Lord.
·
Jesus,
remember me.
·
Into
your hands Lord.
Maybe
a line from a psalm that has some particular association for us can be repeated
as our fingers move from bead to bead. We might say slowly the Our Father,
handling a bead with each phrase, and allowing time before rushing on to the
next phrase, for it is time that we must give if meditative prayer is to grow in
us. It is this surely that the writer of the Cloud of Unknowing is moving us
toward when he wrote “We
must therefore pray in the height and the depth, the length and the breadth of
our spirit- and not in many words but in a little word of one syllable” (6)
Each
string of beads has a central group of ten beads with ten spacing discs or
smaller beads. A larger bead, by the loop, heads the string and is separated
from the central group by one or two other beads. Likewise, above the cross,
hand-made from a hard wood, a further group of beads is placed. After a while,
the cross and the beads develop their own patina from handling and the hours of
our prayer struggle are evident in the worn wood.
This
piece, written some ten years ago, long before I made the first bead string,
reflects the same story.
wordless hour of solitude
inner
silent peace
Silent peace for wordless
prayer space
solitude
of inner time
Wordless
space for
inner peace
silent prayer
time hour (7)
References-
2.
Vow of Conversation – Thomas Merton
3.
Isaac of
4.
The Gospel of Mark: Chapter 1
5.
The Long Road turns to Joy: Thich Nhat Hanh
6.
The Cloud of Unknowing Chapter XXXIX
7.
A short time in expectation: personal collection 1995
8.
Now as Then|: personal collection 2009
END
Words are shaped smooth round
beads, handled each day, gentle
strung
stones, passed between
finger and thumb till darkened wood,
worn by touch, cross grained, is reached
and
the return journey begins.