Five Elements of the Missionary Cenacle Spiritual Exercises
I. PRAYERFUL SILENCE
“Silence is the handmaiden of prayer and recollection. Let us think of the silence of the Son of God, and. observe silence for the sake of Him who was silent for them under trials and circumstances that could have provoked Him to speak. Let them by their silence adore the silence of Jesus tormented.
“I feel how divinely wise our Lord’s council to the apostles was when He invited them to go aside into the desert and rest a while. We need silence and recollection and a departure from the distractions of daily affairs to catch certain whisperings of the Holy Spirit.”
“One of the most useful of all employments would be to quietly leave the crowd and study, in prayerful silence, our own soul conditions. If we would just take the thoughts we think, the words we speak, the things we do, and trace these back to their roots it might be that in the midst of these we would find a great deal of chaff, imperfection, even sin.”
These three quotations from the writings of Father Judge remind us of the importance of silence. In stressing the value of silence in the spiritual life Father Judge was echoing a tradition that is as old as the Bible and as contemporary as the latest meditation technique. Because of the centrality of silence in the spiritual life, the Cenacle Spiritual Exercises are conducted in a spirit of silence.
This is not to belittle the significance of dialogue, faith sharing and spiritual conversation. In fact, the XII General Cenacle saw these as essential tools in the ongoing renewal of the congregation. Nor does the silence during the Missionary Cenacle Spiritual Exercises ignore the value of the confreres building the bonds of fraternity by getting together and sharing their stories. However, during the Missionary Cenacle Spiritual Exercises we choose to spend significant time with our most important dialogue partner and the source of all our missionary endeavors – the Triune God.
In silence we come first to listen to God. Through deepening our experience of inner silence we reach a stillness in the midst of turmoil. We create space for God to move in our hearts. Silence becomes prayer when God fills the emptiness with himself. Through silent waiting, prayer happens. And out of such prayer we receive as a gift the light and peace, which are the true sources of personal and communal renewa
The monastery at Taize expresses the value of Silence in this way:
At times prayer becomes silent. Peaceful communion with God can do without words. “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother.” Like the satisfied child who has stopped crying and is in its mother’s arms, so can “my soul be with me” in the presence of God. Prayer then needs no words, maybe not even thoughts.
At Sinai, God spoke to Moses and the Israelites. Thunder and lightning and an ever-louder sound of a trumpet preceded and accompanied the Word of God (Exodus 19). Centuries later, the prophet Elijah returned to the same mountain of God. There he experienced storm and earthquake and fire as his ancestors did, and he was ready to listen to God speaking in the thunder. But the Lord was not in any of the familiar mighty phenomena. When all the noise was over, Elijah heard “a sound of sheer silence”, and God spoke to him (1 Kings 19).
When God’s word becomes “a sound of sheer silence”, it is more efficient then ever to change our hearts. The heavy storm on Mount Sinai was splitting rocks, but God’s silent word is able to break open human hearts of stone. For Elijah himself the sudden silence was probably more fearsome than the storm and thunder. The loud and mighty manifestations of God were somehow familiar to him. God’s silence is disconcerting, so very different from all Elijah knew before.
Silence makes us ready for a new meeting with God. In silence, God’s word can reach the hidden corners of our hearts. In silence, it proves to be “sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit” (Hebrews 4:12). In silence, we stop hiding before God, and the light of Christ can reach and heal and transform even what we are ashamed of.
Silence and love
Christ says, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). We need silence in order to welcome these words and put them into practice. When we are agitated and restless, we have so many arguments and reasons not to forgive and not to love too easily. But when we “have calmed and quieted our soul”, these reasons turn out to be quite insignificant. Maybe we sometimes avoid silence, preferring whatever noise, words or distraction, because inner peace is a risky thing: it makes us empty and poor, disintegrates bitterness and leads us to the gift of ourselves. Silent and poor, our hearts are overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, filled with an unconditional love. Silence is a humble yet secure path to loving.
II.PRAYING WITH THE SCRIPTURES
(LECTIO DIVINA)
The method of prayer used during the Missionary Cenacle Spiritual Exercises is “lectio divina.” This ancient prayer practice has proven to be of great value in deepening the spiritual life. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes “lectio divina” as happening where “the Word of God is so read and meditated that it becomes prayer.”
There are several excellent resources on “lectio divina.” Below are some excerpts from a book entitled Lectio Divina by M. Basil Pennington:
“One of the most amazing statements in the Bible – and there are lots of amazing statements – are those words of Jesus to us: ‘I no longer call you servants, but friends… Friend! One with whom we can share anything and everything, one with whom there is full communion and communication. Our communication with our Divine Friend needs to be a two-way street. And if we are smart, we let God get the first word in. For he surely has a lot more that is worth saying. This is precisely what lectio or more properly, lectio divina is: letting our Divine Friend speak to us through his inspired and inspiring Word. And yes, of course, it includes our response to that Word, to his communication to us through that Word. Lectio is meeting with a friend, a very special Friend who is God; listening to him, really listening; and responding, in intimate prayer and in the way we take that Word with us and let it shape our lives.”
“The Bible bespeaks a Real Presence, a place where we can encounter the living God whenever we will. When it comes time for our lectio, we pick up our book with reverence. For just a moment we reflect on the wonder of the Divine Reality, present here in his Word in this book in our hands. And we turn to Holy Spirit. This Word is so special because the Holy Spirit in a very special way inspired these writers to write all and only what God wanted to use to communicate with us. As our Lord told us at the Last Supper, the Holy Spirit abides with us to teach us all things, bringing to mind all that he has taught us. So we ask Holy Spirit, who inspired these texts and who abides within us as teacher, to make them now a living communication with the Lord, to help us to understand all that the Lord now wants to communicate to us… We listen. We don’t just read. The Lord is present, speaking to us. We listen to him. And we respond. In lectio we have the wisdom not only to give God a chance to say something to us, but to let him speak first and give direction to our conversation.
The following is a simple way to pray using lectio divina.
Before beginning – Take the text with reverence and pray to the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer.“The Spirit, too, helps us in our weakness…” (Romans 8:26)
During the time of prayer –
First, read (“lectio”) a passage from the Sacred Scriptures for ten minutes or more. Read aloud so that you hear with your ears, listening to what the Lord, who is present in his Word, may be saying to us. Reread the text slowly, pausing whenever something strikes you – no matter how it strikes you.
Second, think (“meditatio”) about what you have read. Is there something in particular that grabs your attention? Is there something that unsettles or disturbs you? Is there something that is not clear? Consider these texts in the light of your own experience and lived reality.
[If it is helpful, use your imagination to place yourself in the scene presented in the reading, especially from the Sacred Scripture. See what is happening. Who are the people there? What are they saying, doing? What are the odors, the sounds? Use all your senses. Let your imagination lead you as you relate to the people and the scene. What are you feeling, saying? What are the emotions you experience: for example, attraction, courage, rejection, love, fear, praise, gratitude, shame?]
Third, talk (“oration”) to God about what you have read, thought, questioned, experienced. Share your thoughts and feelings openly and frankly, whatever they may be. Be as honest as possible in opening up your heart to God. Think about what you hear and allow yourself to respond to him.
Fourth, sit in silence (“contemplatio”). Rest peacefully in silence and in the presence of God without the need to think or feel anything. Feel free just to be there with him, being one with him.
If you wish, go back to the beginning and begin the process again: read, think, talk to God, sit in silence. However, do not feel that it is necessary to “finish” the scripture passage.
III. THE REVIEW OF PRAYER
After you finish the prayer time – Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you have really experienced, felt, thought, prayed about during the time of prayer. Take about 15 minutes for this exercise. Many find it helpful to keep a prayer journal where they briefly write down some thoughts on their prayer experience.
After the formal prayer period is over I should review what happened during that time – not so much what ideas did I have, but more the movements of consolation, desolation, fear, anxiety, boredom and so on – perhaps something about my distractions, especially if they were deep or disturbing. Questions like the following may help:
- What passage did I choose?
- What grace did I ask for?
- What went on during the period of prayer?
- Where did I dwell?
- What struck me or stood out for me?
- Did I experience comfort or discomfort?
- How did I feel about what went on?
- What was my mood, changes in mood?
- Was it enjoyable? Distasteful? Moving? Boring?
- What did the Lord show me? How did I respond?
- Did I receive the grace I asked for?
- Did the time go slowly, moderately, quickly?
- Is there some point I should return to in my next period of prayer?
During the review of prayer, I thank God for divine favors and ask pardon for my own negligence.
This review is an instrument to help me to reflect upon the experience of the prayer period. It helps me notice my interior experiences. Thus, it enables me to be spontaneous during the actual prayer time and to go with the flow of experience. If I were to monitor myself during the period of prayer, I would be interfering with the Lord’s communication. I let happen what is happening during the prayer time; afterwards I take a look to see what the Lord is saying in all this.
It is helpful during this review to jot down a few reflections that strike me so that I can more easily prepare for my next period of prayer. The Lord may be inviting me to go back to a point where I was moved. Father Judge says, “You should continue on a point until you get no more thought from it,” i.e., until the movement has been completed (the insight completed; the struggle resolved; the consolation ended; the meaningfulness finished … for now.)
Jotting down my reflections during the review of is also a help for me to discuss my prayer experiences with the spiritual director.
It is also helpful at the end of a prayer period to signalize the difference of this review from the prayer period by some change of place or posture; the activity of review is different from the activity of the prayer period.
IV. SPIRITUAL ACCOMPANIMENT
The true director of the Missionary Cenacle Spiritual Exercises (MCSE) is the Holy Spirit. Your prayers and inspirations will not come to you as the result of expertise on the part of a human director but as graces bestowed upon you as a divine gift. Even so, as part of the process of the Cenacle Spiritual Exercises you will be accompanied by one of the confreres who will serve you as a Spiritual Guide.
The relationship between the one making the retreat and the spiritual guide is not exactly equivalent to the relationship that you have with your spiritual director. It is not the role of the Spiritual Guide during the MCSE to provide counseling, to discern subtle movements of the spirit or to teach lessons about the spiritual life. No, the Spiritual Guide is there to pray with and for you, to listen to the fruits of your prayer, and to present the scripture readings and the writings from Father Judge, which provides the “grist” for your own meditations. The spiritual guide during the MCSE is there to be a loving, listening presence.
Calling the ones who are accompanying those making the MCSE “spiritual guides” might be too strong a term since the only “guidance” that goes on is through the material of the exercises. In the literature, such persons are sometimes referred to as “spiritual mentors” or, in the felicitous term from Celtic spirituality, as “soul friends.” But whatever they are called those accompanying the retreatants during the MCSE are there to offer “support and understanding, rejoicing with those who rejoice and sorrowing with those who sorrow” (Constitution #27). The spiritual guide does not steer the retreatant but walks with him.
Thomas Merton goes back into the monastic tradition and describes the one serving as spiritual director to be God’s usher who “must lead souls in God’s way, and not his own… He does not merely want to know our problems, our difficulties, our secrets…. He wants to know the action of grace in our souls. His direction is, in reality, nothing more than a way of leading us to see and obey our real Director – the Holy Spirit hidden in the depths of our soul.”
Those making the MCSE do not turn the Spiritual Guide for answers. Rather, the guide is there as someone to whom the retreatant can talk, candidly and in depth, about what matters most in our lives as religious men – our relationship with God. The Spiritual Guides pledge on their part to offer complete confidentiality, genuine fraternal love and a ceaseless openness to the Spirit as their ministry during the Exercises
V. FAITH-SHARING IN GROUP
This is what we proclaim to you: what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have touched – we speak of the word of life… What we have seen and heard we proclaim in turn to you so that you may share life with us. John 1:1-3
Our God is a God who becomes know to us, who is manifest4ed in the very events of our history. The people of the Old Testament knew that; their experience of salvation, of encounter with the God of life, was one which called them to faith and to a new vision of the world and history and possibilities. The gradually came to hear – and to really hear – because they were given new ears; they gradually came to see – and to really see – because they were given new eyes.
In the fullness of time – our time – it was an event of history which constituted the full manifestation of God among people. The word of self-revelation which God spoke was spoken to all persons in Jesus, the most ambiguous revelation ever to those God had chosen to be God’s own. Jesus is the Word who speaks “Abba” – who proclaims a saving and lasting Presence.
Faith sharing is doing verbally what the evangelists did in writing the Gospels, and what the prophets of the Old Testament did through their lives and words. It is the proclamation of the presence of God in the midst of God’s people. It is a sharing of the good news. It is a writing of salvation history as it continues to be lived in our day.
This is simple in theory. In practice, faith sharing is often made difficult because of attitudes and beliefs that have developed among today’s people of God. For example:
- It is difficult to believe God’s activity in the world.
- It is difficult to speak as though I were the special object of God’s concern. And besides, my faith is a private matter.
- When I think about it, my God is mostly a crisis God, and this means that when I try to share my relationship with God, I am likely to focus on what is most negative in my life. It’s too depressing a project.
- The pressure to share that is often associated with group sessions really takes the possibility of enjoyment out of faith sharing.
Perhaps, then, the real faith sharing requires of us the following basic, simple beliefs:
- Belief that my God chooses self-revelation in history – my history – and that I must reflect on that history if I am to grow in discernment, i.e., if I am to find God in my life and know God’s will for me.
- Belief that I can find non-crisis situations in which the presence of God has been real to me.
- Belief that the call to share the good news is a call to the humble acceptance of the fact that I am, indeed, the special object of God’s concern – and a humble acceptance of the mission I have to share that with those around me.
- Belief that only if I can freely choose to respond to that call – and only if I lovingly grant that freedom to everyone else – can there be true faith sharing. The faith-sharing experience is intended to be a help to developing those kinds of beliefs.
That a person encounters God and enters more deeply into salvation history is an event that should be recorded. It is certainly worthy of being shared. That someone comes to believe in – to see with new eyes – a new world, and a history that has direction, and a self that can be a “mover” in that history – all of this is surely a cause for rejoicing and for giving praise: Blessed be the God of Israel, who has indeed visited the people and set them free (Lk. 1:68).
The faith-sharing experience is a format for such faith sharing. There is a dynamic which builds during the sessions of the faith experience allowing the participants to get to know one another at a level which is “different” from the normal, everyday exchange that is part of our lives. This experience progresses from introduction through a recounting of one’s salvation history, to an acknowledgement of the Christ-likeness of those in the group. The time invested includes personal prayer and reflection, group prayer, “formal” sharing and informal get-togethers.
The goal of the faith-sharing experience is not a discussion group, a sensitivity session, group therapy or an extended period of introspection. Its goal is in the sharing itself. The faith-sharing experience is simply a time set aside for people to come together to reflect on and to share God’s presence in their lives, to proclaim the goodness of God, to seek to know God as revealed in and through the lives of one another. The real result of this experience is a growing awareness in each person of God’s saving activity in our lives, an awareness strengthened by the witness of others.
While not part of its stated goal, however, participation in the faith-sharing experience can result in new realizations for those who share their faith in a community context. In an atmosphere of freedom and acceptance, faith sharing takes people out of the realm of ideas and into the realm of experience, and opens us up to the realization that our experiences are just as valid and good as anyone else’s: there is no need to explain or defend one’s life experiences.
The faith-sharing experience can open a whole new way of looking at life. We see God working in our lives in ways and at times we had never considered as such. Even the “negative times” can be seen as growth-producing when they are looked at as part of one’s salvation history. We begin to see with new eyes.
Finally, the faith-sharing experience can help us to become better listeners. We need not spend time trying to plan out what to say, which questions to ask and how to assert ourselves or our point of view. Instead, we can experience listening and presence as our response, our unique gifts given in thanks for the verbal sharing of others.
Missionary Cenacle Spirituality 