What is a Contemplative Life?

Gary Norbraten http://www.blaryphotography.com/

As I've been writing these few posts it hit me that I haven't taken the time to actually discuss what this contemplative life I'm trying to sell is all about. I'll tell you first, and I hate to ruin it for you, it's not about laying around in hammock all day in varying degrees of sobriety. Before we get into what constitutes contemplative life we need to know what we mean by contemplation. Before we define contemplation we have to define prayer, as contemplation is form or fruit of prayer. So, here we go...

Prayer, as defined by the Church, is "the life of the new heart" and "ought to animate us at every moment". It is the "elevation of the heart and mind to God in praise of His glory" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2559-2565). Prayer is essential to the process of becoming contemplative to the degree that we really become aware of what we are doing and who we are talking to. It's not about words or lack of words or whether everyone else hears you or not. St. John Chrysostom said, "Whether or not our prayer is heard depends not on the number of words, but on the fervor of our souls". Let me offer a few descriptions of contemplative prayer:

From the Catechism: Contemplative prayer is...
"... the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more." (2712)
"... the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer." (2713)
"... silence." (2717)
Romano Guardini defines it as an attempt to "apprehend the nature of God, to grasp the meaning of the Kingdom of God, to gain insight into the condition of man and an understanding of one's own place in the pattern of things, to obtain a true picture of the world" (The Art of Praying, 110). Also from the Art of Praying:

When contemplative prayer is rightly practiced it sooner or later tends to become very simple... Step by step, however, the subject of contemplation will become both simpler and more compelling. Our thoughts will diminish in number but gain in depth and concentration. The words will come more sparingly, and ultimately the inward prayer is resolved in silence or even in something which goes beyond the duality of speech and silence (110). 

Alright, so that is contemplative prayer, but what is contemplative life? It is simply the living-out of the prayer. If you are woefully unsatisfied with that answer, I understand. This is like teaching someone to surf. I can explain the mechanics of surfing in less than a minute, I can even show you what to do in a couple of minutes. Now try to do it. Like surfing, contemplation is a profoundly simple concept but a very difficult practice. Again, what is contemplative living? In New Seeds of Contemplation the Trappist monk Thomas Merton says, "It is an awakening, enlightenment, and the amazing intuitive grasp by which love gains certitude of God's creative and dynamic intervention in our daily life".

There is a film (I use the term loosely) that everyone should be made to watch. It's called Surf's Up and it stars talking, surfing, animated penguins. Before you roll your eyes (wife of mine), remember that the Church commands that because God is the author of all truth we are obligated to recognize truth from wherever it comes. Anyway, there is a scene where the old master of the surfing penguins is asked how to determine the best surfer on the beach. He laughs and responds, "It's the one having the most fun." The contemplative life is not about being better or more or further than others. The best contemplative life is the one closest to God and therefore, in the purest and most theologically correct form of the word, it's the one having the most fun.