By Marilyn Travis
This Irish hymn is very special. It is one of my favorite hymns. It can be a beautiful prayer. This morning I invite you to experience the practice of Sacred Listening (Audio Divina). I am including the lyrics so you won’t miss out on anything:
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art
High King of Heaven, my victory won
May I reach Heaven's joys, O bright Heav'n's Sun
Heart of my own heart, whate'er befall
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
I encourage you to follow this guide. If this is too much, try just part of it this time. Maybe in the future you'll want to experience more.
For many of us, music is often a transcendent experience. Consider using music as a doorway into prayer and cultivating your ability to listen with the ear of your heart.
Preparation: Choose a piece of music that you will be listening to - something that you find moving. Find a quiet place and take some time to settle into stillness. Breathe in an awareness of God’s presence, breathe out distractions and worries.
First Hearing: Listen. Play the piece of music once to enter into its landscape. Allow the music to fill you, breathing it in. If there is a dominant sound or image or feeling calling to you in this initial experience, allow a few moments of silence to follow and savor that image or feeling rising up in you.
Second Hearing: Reflect. Play the music a second time. Now allow the sound or image or feeling that first called to you to draw you more deeply into the experience of it. Allow it to unfold in your imagination. Notice how the experience of listening to the music touches your heart. What memories does it stir in you? What are the feelings rising up in your body? What images are you aware of? Become more deeply aware of how the music is flowing through you and what is being evoked. Rest for a few minutes in silence following the end of the piece, resting in what has moved in you.
Third Hearing: Respond. Play the music a third time. This time focus on how your heart wants to respond to being touched. What is the invitation present in the unfolding of sounds, images, memories, and feelings for you today? How is God speaking to your life in this moment through this music? If you feel comfortable, take a moment to express with your voice what you are experiencing in your body. It might be a simple sound or a line from a song or something you have created in the moment. What does your "yes" to God sound like this day?
Resting with God: Spend some time resting in silence and releasing the sounds, feelings, and images that are stirring in you. Close your eyes for a few minutes and rest in the stillness in simple awareness of God's presence. Allow yourself some time to simply be. Open yourself to gratitude for whatever has been revealed and offered in this time of prayer.
Closing: If you keep a journal, write down some reflections on your experience, making note of what stirred in you. Music has an incredible power in our lives that perhaps originates from our very heartbeat, that primordial life-sustaining rhythm. Over time as you cultivate your ability to hear in a deeper way, consider using other music you love and with which you are drawn to pray. Begin to notice how you listen to your life in a deeper way.
* Adapted from Christine Valters Paintner, January 01, 2000. Christine Valters Paintner, Ph.D., is a Benedictine Oblate and the online Abbess of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery without walls offering a variety of classes in contemplative practice and creative expression.
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