AS043 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on October 1, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: inclusive language and using male pronouns exclusively for God, Catholic stance on gambling and bingo, nun titles, a right to life, and more!

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• Where does the Church stand with gambling such as betting on matches, playing poker, etc.? What about bingo?
• What is “inclusive language” all about? What’s wrong with using all-male language in prayer?
• What are the different titles that Catholic sisters and nuns use to refer to themselves and to their sisters in leadership positions?
• The nuns talk about what it means to have a right to life. Backdrop: young people, bullying, outing of others, controlling others, taking care of ourselves–and others–in the midst of our relationships in school, family, online communities, etc.

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On today’s bike ride meditation, I took a country road and thought about God’s good creation, and how we are part of that. I meditated on the second account of creation in Genesis (Gen 2: 4-17), where God creates the human from the earth. Then God breathes the breath of life into the human.

Breathing is a creative act by God, one that I’m really grateful for as I bike, and as I live for that matter! So for today, I will be especially conscious of how I am God’s breath in the world. I will try to be a stellar representative of the Good Creation all day, in all my words and actions. That’s easier to do sometimes than others. So, if I’m tempted to be impatient waiting in a line somewhere, or to get frustrated if my work projects don’t go as expected, I’ll take a deep breath and remember how it feels to be part of the Good Creation.

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Meditation can mean many things and is variously defined. But basically it is any way that helps a person to center herself, become quiet and still within so as to be open. Meditation is creating a listening heart.

Within the Catholic tradition, meditation has it’s goal being open to God. We become quiet and still in order to be more aware of God who is always with us. We are always in God’s presence, we are not always present to God.

Meditation helps us to bring ourselves consciously into God’s presence. We don’t just think about God, we open ourselves to the experience of God who is right now relating personally with us. We ask God to help us as we draw closer to God, realizing that we do so only because God first called us and loves us dearly.

We use Scripture, our imagination, a mantra, an icon, a quiet space in the woods — whatever it may be — to draw us more closely to God and to be more open to hearing God. God becomes the focal point for whatever spiritual “tool” (for lack of a better word) we use. Sometimes God draws us away from these “tools” and pulls us into a space of just being. Being with God alone. No words, no images, just God. This space of just being alone with God is referred to as contemplation. It is sheer gift of God. Whereas with meditation, we are actively disposing ourselves to listening to God, to being in God’s presence; with contemplation, we are no longer doing anything because God has swept us up into Godself. Teresa of Avila writes at length about these different ways of experiencing God and is a good source if you want to spend more time learning about prayer — Interior Castle is a great place to start.

When you meditate on Scripture, you are allowing the Word of God to wash over you, to draw you into a place of quiet and stillness. It’s different from “reading” Scripture because when meditating, you might only read a few verses, maybe even a single phrase or word. You savor that word … the Word … like you might with repeating a mantra. When I meditate with Scripture I start with either a favorite passage or maybe something has struck me from the daily readings or from Mass. I take that Scripture to prayer with me almost like a doorway to the soul, knowing that God is attracting me, pulling me near through that particular passage. I meditate on it as a way to focus myself on God and God’s particular Word for me at that time.

In the Christian tradition we call this way of meditating/praying “Lectio Divina” or simply “Lectio”. It means “Divine Reading”, a way of drawing closer to God. Here are some more resources on Lectio.

• Spiritual GPS a post I wrote about Lectio Divina
• Too Deep for Words: Rediscovering Lectio Divina a great book with explanation of Lectio, lots of resources, and 500 scripture texts for prayer
• Lectio Divina from the Benedictines wonderful resources and links on Lectio
  

Yesterday I wrote about Cycling and Meditation (BTW, I had a wonderful ride — felt great to be out, got a bruise, briefly lost my riding partner at Cicero and Devon, inhaled a bug, dodged a car driven by someone on her cell phone, saw a young deer with furry little antlers, beheld the beauty of the forest preserves, waved to a little girl on a bike, drank a ton of water, and got home safely and full of joy!)

David commented on my post and shared some of his own experience of prayer.

When “in the groove” with prayer- whether on a bike or not- it is great feeling. The words seem to take on deeper meaning than other words, and are virtually tangible. You don’t dwell on them- everything flows smoothly- but they are particularly meaningful and they seem to permeate your entire body- not just your brain.

I wish this were my daily experience with prayer, but it has not been for me. It is very weird how easy prayer and meditation sometime come, and how forced they are at other times. I have reflected upon it often and can’t find a cause and effect. Sometimes prayer is “easy” when life is going well, I am rested, not anxious, etc. Sometimes it is the opposite.

David well described the feeling of prayer when it is effortless — that is truly a gift of the Spirit. It is something we can’t conjure up ourselves. We can certainly prepare ourselves to be open to it, but it is a totally free gift of God.

I too wish that this was always my experience of prayer, and the temptation is to think “I must not be doing it right” when prayer doesn’t have that effortlessness. But prayer can take so many forms, so many feelings. “Effortlessness” — which I love — is not the only indicator of prayer. Sometimes we struggle, we get distracted, we feel out of sorts. These feelings are okay too and can be part of prayer.

Like David, I don’t like that feeling of prayer being forced … still we have to be faithful to prayer even in these times. Feeling like it is forced might mean we have to try something different — like pray the Rosary instead of centering prayer or vice versa. Or try a different time of day. Maybe it means continuing with the same prayer and just saying to God, “I’m feeling like this is really forced right now, God. I know you are with me in this.”

And remember, prayer is nothing more or less than being with God, talking and listening with Someone who loves us very much. As with other relationships, it takes time to grow with one another, learn our own quirks about how we are with the other. We can develop a “habit of prayer” by regularly taking time to pray and to develop an attitude — a life, really — of prayer such that we are always disposed to being open to God — in prayer, at work, on a bike ride, in an argument, shopping, etc. It takes practice and desire and openness on our part.

And be assured that this is God’s desire for us — to draw close with us, to be with us even if it feels forced or effortless. It is still being with God.

<span class=”drop_cap”>I</span> had my first bicycle ride of the season. Yesterday was a spectacular day here in Chicago. I think the temp got up to at least 70 F. The sun was shining, the sky was blue. What’s not to love? I spent the morning answering some emails and then tuned up my bicycle. The chain was rather gunky and there was still mud splatter from my last ride. Cleaning the bike was something of a meditation for me. It focuses me on what is right in front of me and calls me to pay attention to the way each piece works and is part of the whole. Yes, it’s messy (my fingers are still stained with grease) but it is also a preparation for the supreme joy of riding. I met up with a friend of mine, threw the bike on the car rack and took off for a forest preserve. It was beautiful. Families were out in the park, people running, biking, strolling, and playing ball. I didn’t have my bike computer (odometer) on so I was blissfully unconscious of time and clocking miles.

Riding my bike also reminded me of a lecture I was at on Friday. It was given by the renown Scripture scholar N.T. Wright. He was talking about the notion of time and how time is like a bicycle wheel—it is cyclical (because it repeats itself like a wheel spinning around an axle) but it is also linear (because as the wheel spins it is also moving the bike forward along a line). Fascinating. Such an understanding of time was not a new concept to me, but the image of a bicycle wheel to explain it was new to me. I am often a visual thinker–I do better when I can picture concepts in my mind. This image has stuck with me. Now when I am out riding my bike I can meditate on how I am a part of time!