The Way of a Pilgrim: Session 3

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

You're listening to a podcast by the Center for Action and Contemplation. To learn more, visit cac.org.

James Finley (0:07)

Greetings, I'm Jim Finley. Welcome to Turning to the Mystics.

Greetings, everyone, and welcome to our time together, Turning for Trustworthy Guidance to The Way of a Pilgrim, one of the classic texts in the Christian mystical tradition.

We left off in the previous session with the pilgrim in the midst of receiving guidance and the art of ceaseless prayer from the spiritually awakened teacher he had so hoped to find.

And we began to see in their initial interactions with each other, he begins to layer in some foundational dimensions of this mystic path.

And to single out one again here that's so key is that the ceaseless prayer is something we're not capable of doing. That's the point. And so, but by accepting our incapacity, our finite abilities to actualize a oneness, and it deepens our complete dependency on God, who in our dependency on God infinitely actualizes the infinite union in us that consummates the longing of our longing for God and God's infinite longing for us as the beloved.

And then he gives him a more kind of specific way to practice this, which is what the Pilgrim's been waiting for. Like, how do I do this? And he says, the teacher says, The continuous prayer of Jesus is a constant interrupted calling upon the divine name of Jesus with the lips and the spirit and the heart, while forming a mental picture of his constant presence in imploring his grace during every occupation, at all times and all places, even during sleep. The appeal is couched in these terms. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. One who accustoms himself to this appeal experiences as a result so deep a consolation and so great a need to offer the prayer always that he can no longer live without it and will continue to voice itself within him of its own accord. Now do you understand what the prayer of unceasing is? Yes, indeed, Father. So here then, as we see the point at which the vision aspects of the path, this spiritual world view of the mystical traditions, begins to merge with path talk, like what is the path along which that vision might be actualized in me? And he begins to transition it over in giving him in principle what this activity is.

But then the pilgrim goes on to say, because he's a pilgrim, he knows by experience what matters.

Yes, I do, yes, indeed, Father, and in God's name, teach me how to gain the habit of it, I cried, filled with joy. That is to say, that very often in our life, we see something desirable, and there's an initial upfront realization of it in our heart, like to be married or to have a child or to teach or to be an artist or a poet or a healer or to serve the community, whatever it is.

But then the transformation occurs in investing ourself in the process, along which we're transformed in fidelity to that process, because there's all kinds of unforeseeable stuck points and obstacles, unexpected graces, so he says, show me what that path is, like guide me, and what this is really going to be like for me to commit to this, because it's my life, it's my actual life, he says.

And so the teacher then says to him, another important phase in the process, read this book, he says, it is called The Philokalia, and it contains the full and detailed science of constant interior prayer set forth by 25 holy fathers. The book is marked by a lofty wisdom and is so profitable to use that it is considered the foremost and best manual of the contemplative spiritual life. As the Reverend Mecafora said, it leads one to salvation without the labor and sweat. This is another important phase of this, really. The teacher is not freelancing, he's not making this up. He's actually passing on to the pilgrim the ancient lineage in which he himself was transformed to become the teacher. Like he's handing on the lineage and it carries over from awakened heart to awakened heart. When I was in the monastery, I was so graced to have Thomas Merton as my guide. And so he handed on to me this lineage. It goes down to the mystics, down through the centuries, back to the 11th century with Bernard, the 5th century with Benedict, the Desert Fathers, and led me through readings and teachings and practice to hand on that lineage to me, this living lineage this way. So he's now in the presence of the teacher who embodies that lineage. And it is now introducing to him the lineage this way that's in these collections of these writings. And so what this is, the Philokalia, which means love of the beautiful, is a collection of the orthodox Catholic masters in contemplative prayer. And they offer ongoing detailed guidance in how to move beyond the obstacles, how to be very discerning about self-deception, about getting used to being surprised over and over again by the graces that come to you, and so on.