In this final reflection, we look at the John Main prayer in light of his theological understanding of the Trinity. The theology of the Trinity, while simple in some respects, is nonetheless very challenging to explain. St Patrick is renowned for having used the metaphor of a shamrock to speak about it And the 8th Century prayer, St Patrick’s Breastplate, concludes with the verse:
I arise today
Through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession in the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
Heidegger wrote that ‘Poetry is language in service of the unsayable.’ And there is a 9th Century Celtic Christian Verse called The Sacred Trinity which refers to the shamrock as just one of four metaphors to speak of the Trinity [from Irish Verse: An Anthology]:
Three folds of the cloth, yet only one napkin is there,
Three joints in the finger, but still only one finger fair,
Three leaves of the shamrock, yet no more than one shamrock to wear,
Frost, snowflakes and ice, all in water their origin share,
Three Persons in God: to one God alone we make our prayer.
Those who practice Christian Meditation usually recite a short but very deep and beautiful prayer before each meditation session: “Heavenly Father, Open our hearts to the silent presence of the spirit of your Son. Lead us into that mysterious silence where your love is revealed to all who call.’ This prayer is underpinned by Jaohn Main’s Trinitarian theology. Indeed, we can say that it is the Trinitarian nature of his understanding of the ‘prayer of the heart’ that makes our meditation ‘Christian.’ John Main makes clear that, through the work of meditation, we are joining our spirits with the Spirit of Jesus in communion with him and his Abba in our hearts.
In his book Moment of Christ, John Main describes the theological basis of Christian Meditation: ‘It is our conviction that the central message of the New Testament is that there is really only one prayer, and that this prayer is the prayer of Christ. It is a prayer that continues in our hearts day and night. I can describe it only as the stream of love that flows constantly between Jesus and his Father. This stream of love is the Holy Spirit.’
Meister Eckhart expressed the same idea in these words: The Father laughs with the Son; the Son laughs with the Father. The Father likes the Son; the Son likes the Father. The Father delights in the Son; the Son delights in the Father. The Father loves the Son; the Son loves the Father. This laughter, liking, delighting, loving is the Holy Spirit!
John Main continues that ‘ it is our conviction that it is the most important task for any fully human life that we should become as open as possible to this stream of love. We have to allow this prayer to become our prayer; we have to enter into the experience of being swept out of ourselves, beyond ourselves into this wonderful prayer of Jesus —this great cosmic river of love.
In order for us to do this we learn a way that is a way of silence, of stillness, and this by a discipline that is most demanding. It is as though we have to create a space within ourselves that will allow this higher consciousness—the consciousness of the prayer of Jesus — to envelop us in this powerful mystery.
We have got used to thinking of prayer in terms of “my prayer” or “my praise” of God, and it requires a complete rethinking of our attitude to prayer if we are going to come to see it as a way through Jesus, with Jesus, and in Jesus.’
Elsewhere he explains that ‘The presence of Jesus within us, His Holy Spirit, calls out to us to become fully conscious of this level of our being. In the twinkling of an eye, we awaken to ourselves, to the Spirit dwelling within us, and thence to consciousness of the communion within God in which we are called to share. And so we awaken, not to a platonic aloneness but to a complete communion of all beings in Being itself.
We begin with a dim awareness of the stirring of the Spirit in our heart, the presence of Another by which we know ourselves. In awakening to its full reality, in listening to our heart, we awaken to the living proof of our faith justifying that first dim awareness, that first hope. And, as St. Paul told the Romans: “This proof is the ground of hope. Such a hope is no mockery because God’s love has flooded our inmost heart through the Holy Spirit he has given us.’ [Word Into Silence, 38]
Because this theme is so central to our meditation practice, some time ago I wrote a closing prayer for meditation to match John Main’s opening prayer. While the opening prayer asks God to ‘Open our hearts to the silent presence of the Spirit of your Son’ we do not mean to open our hearts merely for the period of our meditation, but that it should always be open. Hence, my closing prayer reads ‘Lord, May our hearts remain open to your Presence and guide us to love like you.’
I invite you now to spend some time in the stillness and silence of meditation where you can begin to experience that truth for yourself.
