Attention is an essential element of prayer. A recollected life fosters such attention, whereas a life where the mind is left to wander freely will not foster attention. The principle which comes into play here is that one must be before prayer what one wants to be at prayer. The state of one’s life before prayer will influence the state of one’s prayer. A heart that is given over constantly to daydreams and fantasies, or to filling the mind with what comes from the radio or the television, will find it difficult to focus on God at prayer; whereas a life which is lived with attention to God as integral to it will focus more easily and consistently on God at the time of prayer.
Recollection is the cultivation of the presence of God in one’s life. It is achieved by constantly turning the heart to God throughout the day, so that the heart is gradually, more and more, focused on God. It doesn’t just happen naturally, but requires a constant effort on the part of the person. One needs to make use of those times during the day when the heart is unoccupied and alone. One must use silences constructively to make them an occasion for focussing one’s attention on God. Some people cultivate this recollection by turning the heart to God during certain activities, or practising manual labour as a means of enabling them to focus their heart on God. Pierre De Caussade developed the spirituality of the Sacrament of the Present Moment, in which a person communes with God in each moment of the day. This is just one example of the efforts of spiritual writers to explain the recollection under consideration here.
Under the heading of “lack of attention”, one could consider distractions at prayer, because these are basically moments when one’s attention on God is wavering. When one gives in to a distraction, one allows one’s attention to focus on something else rather than on God. The author of the “CIoud of Unknowing” offers two attitudes to distractions: the first is to fall down before them, as if dead; and the second is to look over their shoulder, as one might look over the shoulders of people in a crowded room to find a friend. In neither case, does it involve focussing on the distraction.
In the past, I believe, we have tried to meet distractions by focussing on them to handle them. In fact, what we have done is give in to them by making them the focus of attention. In the face of distraction, one must keep the attention on God, never letting the distraction capture our attention.
Perhaps a word could be said here about sickness. In sickness, it can be difficult to focus our attention on anything, as it can be in times of worry and tension. This is not so much a distraction, as a physical or mental weariness, to which we need to attend.
Such occasions often call for a different form of prayer, one which requires less attention, or one in which there is a particular focus, e.g. vocal prayer or mantra prayer.
by Bishop David Walker