The Knitting Theologian

This question has occurred to me more than once, ever since I took the vocations self-test in the Catholic Northwest Progress and answered Yes to 7 out of 9 questions. (If you answered Yes to at least 2 questions, you are supposed to call the Vocations Office. I haven’t yet.)

Yesterday, via the excellent OSV Daily Take blog, I found an article that provides one answer to the question. It is an interview with a Catholic lay person who is exactly that: a contemplative in the world. The interview is lengthy, but inspiring. I highly recommend it. Go take a look.

(Thank you to Mary DeTurris Poust for the original tip.)

This summer I spent $1700 in tuition to learn tai chi (shibashi, actually—note: link opens a Word document in a new window), among other things, in a class on Spiritual Discernment at a Catholic university. And you know what? I managed to get to a place of acceptance about the whole thing.

Oh, not about using it as a mindfulness practice. I have my own ways of doing that, and they work just fine, thank you. And although I recognize and accept that some people feel that praying by moving their bodies is a necessary spiritual practice for them, it doesn’t really do anything for me. I have been accused, not without foundation, of using my body as a case in which to drag around my brain.

So what happened? Well, the fact that I do like exercise is a good place to start. I mean, I’m usually a runner. Not right now; I have a stubborn pulled hamstring, so I’m on the bench. But I like to move. And I like to be outside. So looking at shibashi as simply exercise was a good start for me.

I came to enjoy the movements, the slow transitions from one to another. We were asked to hold a prayer intention while we moved. I was uncomfortable with that until I remembered that I used to pray the Rosary while walking and I thought about the injunction to pray constantly. I noticed that almost every movement we made was repeated three times. Three times: Trinity! I began to see how to make this work.

With the first repetition I prayed the introductory prayer to the Liturgy of the Hours, the one used if you have already prayed the Invitatory:

God, come to my assistance; Lord, make haste to help me.

I have already discovered the usefulness of this prayer for turning to God and asking for help at any time during the day. And I got that idea from one of the desert fathers—John Cassian (see Conferences, number 10. I have the Classics of Western Spirituality edition; it’s on page 132).

With the second repetition of whatever movement, I prayed the Jesus prayer, another favorite of mine, and a technique I often use to quiet myself, especially in front of the Blessed Sacrament:

Lord Jesus Christ, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

With the third repetition, I prayed the first part of the Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love.

There you have it: Trinitarian Tai Chi.

…but I’m not sure. It looks like something Swamp Thing would like. Check it out over at LOLSaints. And take a look around the rest of the site, too. Who says Catholics don’t have a sense of humor?