Guest Column / Richard Etienne

Are you a contemplative? Reflecting on our individual call to discipleship

Are you a contemplative? Do you find peace in quiet or in soft instrumental music? Does silent prayer time renew you? Have you put any effort into studying the art of mindfulness?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you may be a contemplative. Let’s take those questions one at a time.

Do you find peace in being still or does silence actually create terrible anxiety in you? For those of us who are able to get glimpses of it, there is often a wonderful peace that comes with finding a moment of stillness in an otherwise busy existence.

I find myself breathing slower and enjoying almost any calm or quiet period when it becomes available.

Does silent prayer renew you or have you always been deterred by the many distractions all around whenever you attempt to create stillness? Prayer doesn’t always have to include an endless—almost “stream of consciousness”—procession of words. Prayer can be quite renewing when it involves just sitting and “being” with God.

Listening. I use the image of being up on a mountain with Jesus in a quiet clearing when he has left the vast crowds and gone to be alone (except for me with him.) I see us sitting against a boulder and just breathing.

Next, have you put any effort into studying the art of mindfulness or are you happier when there is some radio or television turned on just for background noise in your daily routine?

I have found that it takes practice to be “still” and have no other agenda but to breath in and out. For me, it is like hitting the re-set on an electrical outlet or circuit breaker that has been temporarily tripped.

My heart rate and breathing slow. I can sometimes tap into a veritable reservoir of calm. And I have found that a person must work at finding silence in the ever-moving modern world.

There are so many bells and whistles that are constantly calling us to tune in, download or engage in a necessary, urgent or amazing activity.

Is it any wonder that even in first-century Palestine Jesus had to take time to remove himself from the crowds to refocus on the next step in his mission, which often required a short journey to some remote location to achieve?

Can any person today expect to approach prayer—and life—any differently?
 

(Richard Etienne has a degree in theology from Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad and resides in Newburgh, Ind.) †