On the Fifteenth Sunday in ordinary time, I attended Mass at St. Joseph's parish in Plymouth, MN. The pastor, Fr. Terry Rasmussen, focused his homily on the Gospel of Matthew (the famous "Parable of the Sower and the Seed"), and, more specifically, how we are called to till the soil of our lives with the "blade" of contemplation in order to receive the Word of God fruitfully. I'd like to elaborate a bit more on how contemplation, as a "practice" and a "disposition", can open us to God's Word and "bear the fruit" of a Christ-like life.
Contemplation as a practice involves etching out time on a regular basis simply to be attentive and present to life, God, relationship, and one's self. It is a practice that is both a matter of "mindfulness" (reflectiveness) and "mindlessness" (simply "being"). Mindfulness is a state of awareness of one's self and one's interactions with the world beyond the self. It is a manner of "being in the world" with a concentrated and focused awareness on one's own make up and an openness and receptiveness to one's surroundings. Mindfulness is a mode of heightened awareness of self and others. Recently I took a walk outside and practiced mindfulness by imagining that I was reaching out and touching every thing that I could see. To my surprise, I actually "sensed" what everything that I reached out to felt like! The experience that I took away from this exercise was a heightened sense of oneness and communion with my environment. Mindlessness, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. It is less a mode of experiencing than of being experienced. Mindlessness doesn't mean a lack of awareness or mental functioning but a "suspension" of the primacy of the ego and self as the final court of appeals with regard to experience. In other words, it is a way of forgetting the ego and self and an openness to simply being experienced by another without judgement or analysis. An example of this would be allowing one's self to be gazed at with appreciation and affection and simply accepting this as embrace and gift.
Practicing contemplation as "mindfulness" and "mindlessness" "tills the soil" of our body, mind, heart, spirit, and soul (or, "disposition") in such a way that we become contemplative in our fundamental way of being in the world. Contemplation is an orientation of curiosity, interest, and intrigue. In other words, it means being radically opened to experience, others, and, ultimately, God. When we strive to practice contemplation and live contemplatively, we become the fertile soil that accepts and embraces the Word of God, allowing it to humbly take hold of our lives and bear the fruit of the belief that life, God, and others are ultimately worthy of our faith, our hope, and love. Pat
