Help Me Find You: a simple prayer of direction
“If you could recommend one practice, habit, or routine action for every person on earth to participate in for the sake of making this world a better place, what would it be?”
This is a question I have recently been asking people. Often times it is helpful to conjure an impossible scenario to help us pinpoint the various beliefs which contribute to our deepest convictions. The answer to the question posited anticipates a practice you are completely dedicated to, since you have identified it as one potential avenue for bringing love, peace, harmony, and justice into this world.
Lately, I have been answering this question with the practice of Centering Prayer. Here is a helpful link to learn more about centering prayer from teacher Phileena Heuertz. For the past few days, instead of using one sacred word, I have been offering the phrase “help me find You”.
Photo by Andrew Neal. @andrewtneel. Used with permission.
This goal of finding God within oneself is a significant deviation from modern meditative practices. In Christian contemplative practices, the trajectory of these practices is not to become a better person, or become more aware, or lower blood pressure, or become less stressed. These are all possible results of meditation, but these remain periphery benefits. They certainly can be celebrated when they manifest themselves in our lives, but the heartbeat of contemplative Christian prayer is to find God by locating and dwelling in the awareness of our true selves, which is the love of God; God within us.
Thomas Merton, in his book New Seeds of Contemplation, writes in prayer form,
“Occupy my whole life with the one thought and the one desire of love, that I may love not for the sake of merit, not for the sake of perfection, not for the sake of virtue, not for the sake of sanctity, but for You alone.”
It is very tempting to pick up practices to fulfill misdirected goals. As Merton suggests, seeking to be overcome by the awareness of Love in all aspects of life is a goal of contemplation, and through this awareness of love we become transformed more into the likeness of how God truly sees us. God sees beyond and through the veneer of our ego because this false image we project is not who God created us to be. We are created by Love, in Love, through Love, and for the sake of love. Our essence is good, beautiful, and holy because at our core we embody Divine Presence.
I invite you to quietly sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed, feet on the floor, hands resting in a comfortable position, and breathing calmly and deeply. As a mantra, recite the words…
“help me find You”...
When your mind wanders, gently return to the phrase. And when your practice concludes, take this phrase with you throughout the day as a reminder of who you are seeking, who you are living for and why each and every action in your day has the potential to bring you closer in awareness of God’s love.
