Saint Francis de Sales Prayer (6)

There are two “notes” I want to make on the “fourth way” to prepare for prayer; one concerns “imagination" and the other the “Blessed Sacrament”.  Francis de Sales writes:

“The fourth way is simply to exercise your ordinary imagination, picturing the Saviour to yourself in His Sacred Humanity as if He were beside you just as we are wont to think of our friends, and fancy that we see or hear them at our side. But when the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar is there, then this Presence is no longer imaginary, but most real; and the sacred species are but as a veil from behind which the Present Saviour beholds and considers us, although we cannot see Him as He is.”

The word “imagination” is a word, like so many words, that can mean different things to different people, and mean different things in varying contexts. It is like the world “myth” in the sense that while most people use the word “myth” to mean something that isn’t real, that has no foundation in reality; others may use it to specifically refer to stories of ancient gods, like Greek, Roman, or Norse; while still others may use it to refer to stories with ancient roots that reach backward into a collective consciousness of primal truth that has been refracted in various ways through the ages. In this latter sense what is contained in “myth” may be true to one degree or another, it may have its foundation in truth, even though much of that truth has been clouded by layers of extraneous additions to the “true” story or the “true” myth.

While the latter sense of the word “myth” is seldom used by most people, God used this sense of the word to draw C.S. Lewis to Himself as Lewis engaged in discussion with J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson during a watershed night in Oxford, England. The more we use the word “myth” in this context the easier it is to see what it means and the more comfortable we become using it – otherwise using “myth” to refer to a narrative that can be true to a lesser or greater degree can seem strange and uncomfortable.

When Francis writes, “…then this Presence is no longer imaginary, but most real…”, what does he mean? I do not think that Francis means that Jesus’ presence is not real in the four ways that he suggests we prepare for prayer, but rather that Francis is saying that in the Blessed Sacrament that Jesus is “most real” or “especially Present” – perhaps we can call it Presence with a capital “P”. Such an understanding is consistent with Francis’s view of life and living in communion with God and others – Francis saw life as holistically sacramental, in much the same way that Brother Lawrence “practiced the presence of God” throughout the day. Indeed, we can find this view of our life in Christ in Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant men and women through the ages, as well as in the Fathers – its roots are in Scripture.

Therefore, when Francis uses the word “imagination” he is not suggesting that we engage in something that isn’t real and substantive, but rather that we use our God-given ability to picture images, to see and sense things beyond what our natural eyes see, in order to affirm that Christ is with us. In fact, the very basis of using our imaginations in this manner is based on God’s Word! “Lord, your Word says that you are here, help me to see you.”

In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know…” In the Prophets we read statements such as, “The words of Amos…which he saw concerning Israel” (Amos 1:1). In Hebrews 11:27 we are told that Moses endured “as seeing Him who is unseen.” And of course we have a verse which I cite frequently, “…while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). Was Elisha falsely imagining horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 5:15 – 17)?

I don’t pretend to understand what the imagination is, any more than I really understand the interplay of the heart, mind, soul, will, spirit, and body. I find it more prudent to often think and write in terms of our “inner man” or “inner woman” – to use integrated holistic terms and images. I trust God’s Word to do its marvelous work within us (Hebrews 4:12). What I know is that we are new creations in Christ Jesus and that we are being recreated and renewed is His Image (Ephesians 4:24; 2 Cor. 5:14 – 17; Romans 12:1 – 2).  

As with our hearts and minds, if our imaginations are not bathed and grounded in Jesus Christ and His Word we will misuse them. However, to fear the misuse of the imagination more than to fear the misuse of the mind seems to me to be more a question of “taste” and “preference” than of Biblical thinking (my apologies to those who will disagree, I mean no offense). After all, our minds are in darkness without Christ, and when we come to Christ our minds often still hold us in bondage – refusing to accept the fact that we are the children of God, children of freedom in Jesus Christ; or refusing to accept the fact that the work of Christ in the Atonement is perfect and that we cannot add to it – only Christ makes us righteous. As I write this, it occurs to me that our minds guide our imaginations – what I set my thoughts on I imagine – so sanctified thoughts and hearts ought to lead us to sanctified images.

The Bible is a book of images and narratives, along with what we term didactic teaching – but I think it is fair to say that the images from Genesis to Revelation which permeate the Bible form the context for the teachings – not in any sense to make one primary and the other secondary, for again we want to see things holistically, and to see all things in Jesus Christ.  Is not Jesus Christ the image of the invisible God? Are not all things to be wrapped up in Jesus Christ? Is not our calling to behold Jesus Christ? How can I behold Him if I do not see Him?

As with much of life, we need grace when we ponder these things – we don’t all hear the same way and we don’t all see the same way. There have been times when parishioners have come to me with an idea, with a vision, and I haven’t “seen” it, but I’ve trusted Christ’s working in His people and have encouraged them to pursue God’s gift in them – there have been some wonderful results to the glory of God. If we keep Christ central we have great freedom to learn and grow in Him and with one another – that freedom also includes the freedom to learn by making mistakes.

In business I learned that I needed to trust others who “saw” things that I couldn’t see, I had to trust their vision. This doesn’t mean that there wasn’t give and take as they helped me see what they saw and as I helped them clarify their vision. I worked for a man who could look at a run-down apartment community and see its potential if it was purchased and rehabilitated – he had a passion for providing affordable housing, for providing nice places for people to live. Whereas I could only see the current condition of the buildings and the challenges and problems – he could “see” the end result. I’ve had interior designers who saw a vision I couldn’t see, and it amazed me how they could bring their vision to life. While my vision for some of these things improved over time, it could never come close to equaling what those “saw” who are naturally gifted in such areas.

When we read a text, or view a movie, we hear and see differently. When we ponder memories – we can think about the past differently, we can see it differently, we can feel it differently. For some of us the past can be present, for others the past is past. Reading a text can be information for some folks, while for others it can be a visual experience.

This is one reason why it is important to respect one another, to listen to one another, to try to understand each other, and why we should not discount others who see and hear things differently than we do. This is one reason why we ought to remember that, as Christians, we are members of the Body of Christ.

It is also why it is critical that we are anchored in Christ and His Cross and His Word – Christ and His Cross and His Word must always be our measure, must always be our North Star, must always be our life and breath and, to use a natural image, our filter. Our love is to abound more and more in all discernment, wisdom, and knowledge – so that we will approve things that are excellent. In love, we are to hold one another accountable in Christ for what we see, hear, think, and feel – we need one another to keep us centered in Christ and His Word. The Christian life is personal, but it is not private – we are called to live in koinonia with the Trinity and with one another. Of course it has private elements, but I must not attempt to privatize my life in Christ any more than Christ has a life that He can privatize in God the Trinity – such a thing is incomprehensible, words fail me here, I can’t pursue this thought any further.

Well, it looks as if I’ll have to consider Francis’s words concerning the “Blessed Sacrament” in my next post in this series.  

Let us pray that our hearts, minds, wills, bodies, souls, spirits, and imaginations be sanctified completely in our Lord Jesus Christ, submitted to His Word, indwelt by, and joined to, the Holy Spirit.