Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Religious Music and Entertainment
(More) On Prayer: Thoughts from Meister Eckhart

(More) On Prayer: Thoughts from Meister Eckhart

Last updated on: July 4, 2016 at 4:43 pm by Chase Padusniak

(More) On Prayer: Thoughts from Meister Eckhart 2016-07-04T16:43:37-04:00 Chase Padusniak

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(A sculpture of Meister Eckhart, Bad Wörishofen, Germany, c. 2012. Source: Wikimedia, Creative Commons License).

No, be sure of this. Absolute stillness for as long as possible is best of all for you. You cannot exchange this state for any other without harm. That is certain. You would like to partly prepare yourself and partly let God prepare you, but this cannot be. You cannot think or desire to prepare yourself more quickly than God can move in to prepare you. (Meister Eckhart)

(This is a continuation of my last post, available here).

We left Simone Weil with a question: if attention—full concentration in body, mind, and spirit on God—is the essence of prayer, then how can such be achieved? I noted how simplicity is a necessary corrective to the multiplicity of the digital age, but what allows one to escape being torn to shred by competing obligations? People have jobs, families—in short, they have lives!

And, for the answer, we must turn to Meister Eckhart, a 13th– and 14th-century Dominican friar, mystic, and theologian. For Eckhart, the key to Christian existence is an inner silence, a receptivity entirely open to God, who always gives Himself to the patient, loving soul:

[Imagining an interlocutor] ‘Am I supposed to be in total darkness?’

Certainly. You cannot do better than to place yourself in darkness and in unknowing.

‘Oh sir, must everything go then, and is there no turning back?’

No indeed, by rights there is no returning.

‘But what is this darkness? What do you call it? What is its name?’

The only name is has is ‘potential receptivity’, which certainly does not lack being nor is it deficient, but it is the potential of receptivity in which you will be perfected […] It would surely be a grave defect in God if He performed no great works in you and did not pour great goodness into you whenever He found you thus empty and bare.

In other words, attention is silence. God pours Himself into us, fills our souls, works miracles within, when we make ourselves available, that is, empty of distractions, empty of the multiplicity of the world.

This should not surprise us:

Be not hasty in your utterance and let not your heart be quick to utter a promise in God’s presence. God is in heaven and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. (Ecclesiastes 5:1)

One might interject: ‘doesn’t this sound like Quietism?’

It might sound like it, but it is not. Hence, when Eckhart gave a sermon on the story of Mary and Martha, he actually declares that Martha—the active one, the worker, the housemaid—is the superior one (which runs very much contrary to the tradition):

Again, some people hope to reach a point where they are free of works. I say this cannot be. After the disciples had received the Holy Ghost, they began to do good works. And so, when Mary sat at the feet of our Lord, she was learning, for she had just gone to school to learn how to live. But later on, when Christ had gone to heaven and she received the Holy Ghost, she began to serve: she travelled overseas and preached and taught, acting as a servant and washerwoman to the disciples. Only when the saints become saints do they do good works, for then they gather the treasure of eternal life.

In his own terminology, this person is “both a virgin and a wife,” that is, empty of all things, yet fruitful. Inner silence, emptiness, receptivity are merely the ground, the ground in which God may fill us—filled so as to bear fruit, that is, to love one another.

To put our attention on God is to turn away from the vicissitudes of life. Hence, during the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, we are entreated to “set aside all earthly cares.”

Prayer, of course, is multifaceted; there are many way to pray. But here I have made the case for brevity, for silence, and for absolute attention on the love of God. Such prayer seems to me to be the antidote to our age, an age filled with business and distractions—one with no time for silence. We may love one another by letting God entirely occupy our souls; we may then express His love in fullness of attention to them. We go, then, from silence, to love, to works.

Let us, then, heed Eckhart’s words:

Martha was so well grounded in her essence that her activity was no hindrance to her: work and activity she turned to her eternal profit […] Lo and behold, then strife changes to joy. For what a man has gained by heavy toil brings him heart’s delight, and then it bears fruit.

Previous Post

July 3, 2016

On Prayer: Thoughts from Simone Weil

Next Post

July 5, 2016 Christian Patriotism: An Oxymoron?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Culture Politics Reviews Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 July 2019 April 2019 March 2019 December 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What animal tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Eagle Lion Serpent Bear