Greetings in the Name of the Lord, 

We continue our journey with the Mystics. The Mystics had a lot of say about prayer, and I stumbled across something that I wanted to share this week, a piece on prayer by 14th century German Mystic John Tauler

Tauler is not as well known as his fellow monk Meister Eckhart (they lived in the same monastery) but Tauler is remembered for his writings on worship and prayer. In a piece called “Sermon 39” Tauler reflects on a line from 1 Peter “Beloved, be of one Spirit in prayer…”. He actually asks the question: “How, then, should one pray?”[1] in the sermon.

It should be noted that Tauler is particularly interested in those with an “interior life” or rather those who have understood that there are ways of encountering God through meditation and contemplation. So, in some regard, it can be understood that what Tauler is talking about is not the sort of intercessory prayer (think prayers of the people) or prayers of thanksgiving or confession that we engage in on Sundays, rather he is talking about a more holistic approach to spiritual engagement. It is important to remember that the things that tie Christian Mystics together is the concept of encounter and transformation. That through contemplative prayer, one can encounter God, and in that encounter be transformed with a fuller world view. As a result Tauler is really talking about this specific type of prayer, but as you will discover here shortly, it is more about a way of being, a way of approaching life and being in the world than any specific action one takes.

“Every good person, when they intend to pray, should gather to themselves their external senses and look into their heart and mind to see that they are well focused on God. … This is what St Peter calls being of one spirit—that the heart and mind are attached completely to God alone, and that a person have focus of their ground and spirit completely turned to God as present, and have tender benevolent attachment to God. Children, everything we have, after all, we have from God. And how could it ever be otherwise than that we offer back completely everything that we have ever received from God with our interior focus and spirit, undivided and simple, turned toward God. And then one should engage all one’s faculties, interior and exterior, and should carry them up entirely to God.” [2]

For those of you who have taken a class on Centering Prayer with me, this will sound familiar. It also reminds us of our purpose for worship, for coming to Church in the first place, to intentionally take time and be present to the great Divine Love that is made manifest in Jesus.

To summarize a little bit of what Tauler is saying, when we are truly at prayer, we focus, both heart and mind, on God. This can feel a little foreign at first, in that it is not saying anything, but rather being still and focusing on God. To do this takes practice and time, to really be able to hold the sort of focus Tauler is talking about is kind of like running a marathon, its not something someone can do right off the couch and without any intentional training. A Spiritual Director can certainly help with the journey, something I offer free of charge if you are interested.

There are a few things here I want to highlight before we conclude today. One, is that Tauler has one of the clearest and simplest explanations for why this sort of spiritual practice is valid, meaningful and important: everything we have is of God, so looking internally is looking at God. But that does not mean one acquires full knowledge of God through prayer alone, Tauler would have certainly advocated bible study and a faith community as part of gaining more complete knowledge of God. I also want to highlight that when we talk about Christian Contemplative Prayer, it is often something slightly different from what mainstream culture tends to refer to as meditation these days. Most think of meditation, or what is also referred to as mindfulness, as the act of paying attention to oneself, of slowing down and being still. This is a wonderful practice with proven psychological benefits, but the sort of prayer Tauler is advocating for is a step beyond just mindfulness. This prayer is not just about being still, but being still in front of God. That the focus is not just on being quiet, but to be focused on the Divine, the great love of God. It is about immersing oneself in that Love, with intention.

Although this sort of contemplative prayer is certainly not the only aspect of a religious life, it is a very important one, one that intentionally sets aside time for encounter, encounter that leads to transformation, or repentance—changing the way one sees and thinks about the world.

I will leave us with one last thought from Tauler. As many of the Mystics do, he offers a poetic name for God. If you remember last week Gregory of Nyssa referred to God as “the Really Real”, Tauler refers to God as “one simple One”. This eponym points to the oneness of God and God’s fundamentally simple nature of Love. It also offers some proof of Tauler’s own encounter with the Divine and the transformation that results. 

In Peace,

Mike

[1] McGinn, B. ed “The essential writings of Christian Mysticism”. The Modern Library. 2006. P 106

[2] Ibid p 106-107