Hello friends and welcome to this meditation using Pierre Théâle de Chardin's well-known prayer poem,
Patient Trust.
This will be an exercise in pausing for a moment in the midst of the busyness of life,
In slowing down and contemplating.
So just check within you now to see if you are able to give yourself wholeheartedly to a moment of pause.
If not,
Be grateful for the awareness and move into the tasks that await you with the full gift of your presence and attention.
Considering coming back to this meditation at another time.
If you are able to offer yourself to this meditation now,
Again be grateful for the awareness and for the gift of time to give to such a pause.
As this time has been given to you,
So you give yourself to this time.
As an expression of your intention to enter and give yourself to this meditation,
Either gently close your eyes now or lower and soften your gaze.
As we begin and prepare to listen to and contemplate to Chardin's Patient Trust,
Make sure you are sitting comfortably in a way that supports your body.
Notice what is supporting you,
Perhaps a chair,
The ground beneath your seat and your feet.
Notice the physical sensations of this support and allow yourself to sink into it.
Release any tension you are aware of in your body and instead of holding yourself taut and tight,
Let yourself be held by your seat,
By the ground,
By gravity itself,
So that you can soften and relax into that holding and into this moment.
Notice the natural rhythm of your breathing,
The continual movement of the inhale and exhale,
The effortless effort of the body breathing itself.
Now begin to slow and deepen your breath,
Breathing in deeply through the nose,
Filling your belly and chest all the way up to your shoulder blades and then breathing out fully,
Emptying chest and belly and noticing how the shoulders and chest fall.
Breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly and fully,
Making the exhale a little longer than the inhale.
Listen now to patient trust and notice how your body responds.
What resonates with you,
Moves you,
Energises,
Disturbs or comforts you.
Above all,
Trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown,
Something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability.
And that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually.
Let them grow.
Let them shape themselves without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on as though you could be today.
What time?
That is to say,
Grace and circumstances acting on your own goodwill will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you.
And accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.
Sit for a moment with the whole of this prayer poem and how your body responded to it.
Now,
Consider each question that follows,
Taking time with each one to go inside yourself with curiosity and compassion.
Without judgment or pressure,
And to let all of you respond and bring its wisdom,
Your mind,
Your body,
Your emotions,
Your spirit.
Ask yourself,
How am I on the way to something unknown,
Something new?
Am I passing through any intermediate stages or stages of instability?
What is this like for me?
What are my gradually maturing ideas or this new spirit gradually forming within me feel like or look like?
Is there something in the natural world that symbolizes well for me the slow work of God?
As I sit with this,
What do I notice and what could this mean for me?
What might I need to let go of in order to trust in the slow work of God?
What can I embrace in order to trust in the slow work of God?
Now,
Considering all of your answers and reaching for answers during this meditation,
Take some time to notice what stays with you as important,
What carries a sense of invitation or momentum for you.
Hold this idea or image,
Word or phrase in your mind,
Your heart and your body.
Breathe with it.
Breathe it in.
Breathe it out.
Breathe it slowly and deeply.
Receive it as a gift.
Consider how you will carry it with you and how you will respond to it.
Take a moment to express or savor gratitude,
Intention,
Compassion or whatever else has emerged during this time.
Return now to awareness of the natural rhythm of your breath,
To awareness of your body in its seat.
Becoming aware too of any sounds or sensations of the physical environment you're in.
And then when you are ready,
Slowly and gently open or raise your eyes.
Allow yourself to move into whatever the rest of your day holds slowly,
Gently and compassionately.
