Monthly Osuna: Letter G
Just Say No
This is a monthly series on Francisco de Osuna’s The Third Spiritual Alphabet.1 In each post, we reflect on one letter from his Alphabet. The Alphabet was written as an aid to recollection. Recollection (being recollected in God) is both a form of prayer and a way of being in the world. This month’s letter is G.
This Letter Teaches How We are to Cast Out Evil Thoughts, Saying: Thoughts Start War If the Gate Is Not Closed (SA 178). Guerra dan los pensamientos; tú con no cerrar la puerta.
A Quick Digression
I chose to do a series on Osuna’s Alphabet because it gives many opportunities (an alphabet’s worth) to write on recollection/contemplation. But, to be honest, there is much that Osuna says that I simply pass over. To state the obvious, Osuna was an individual of his own time. Sometimes his theology is questionable, at least from my perspective. His exegesis, although often charming and entertaining, can be laborious. Osuna has a way of taking the most circuitous route to the point he is trying to make so that reading him can be a challenge, but it can also be a pleasure. When I was first given a copy of his Alphabet, I read it three times (all 608 pages), partly because I was fascinated with the whole topic but also because I kept noticing these little, helpful nuggets that have proven invaluable.
That being said, if I were to suggest a book for someone interested in learning more about contemplative prayer but not wanting to start with a late medieval text, I would suggest something like Martin Laird’s Into The Silent Land, which presents the ancient practice of Christian contemplative prayer in a way that is accessible, entertaining, and practical. Plus, it’s much shorter than Osuna’s Alphabet!
Still, Osuna has his moments, and this letter is one of them. In this letter, Osuna gives us a very simple and practical way to deal with unwanted thoughts when we are engaged in recollection.
Just Say “No”
“Remember, if various thoughts plague you, the one simple cure is to say no if they come during prayer, for this time is reserved exclusively for God. So, let prudence be the doorkeeper who tells everyone you are not receiving visitors at this hour…This short little word will bar the entrance to everyone, and with it you can tell them all goodbye.” (SA 203-04)
“Those who enter into their hearts know it is a house with many doors and therefore requires many doorkeepers, all of whom must say goodbye with the no, and in becoming more recollected we will realize even more the value of this little no and understand that in the case of recollection it affirms more than it denies. (SA 205)
If you were wondering how to deal with those persistent thoughts that keep interrupting your prayer, then just “say goodbye with the no.”
Using A Prayer Word
When we are distracted during prayer, Osuna suggests saying (mentally), “No.” I have found this to be a helpful method for recollecting myself. But it should be clarified that you may choose any word as your “prayer word” to help refocus your attention. This is one of the wonderful things about a contemplative practice: whatever works for you is good enough. At any rate, there are a number of contemplatives since Osuna who have suggested a similar practice, e.g., Martin Laird makes this suggestion in his Silent Land.
The author of The Cloud of Unknowing also suggests choosing a one syllable word and then sticking with it in order to “strike down” distracting thoughts.
“For a simple reaching out directly towards God…If you like, you can have this reaching out, wrapped up and enfolded in a single word. So as better to grasp it, take just a little word, of one syllable rather than of two; for the shorter it is the better it is in agreement with this exercise of the spirit. Such a one is the word “God” or the word “Love.” Choose which one you prefer, or any other according to your liking…Fasten this word to your heart, so that whatever happens it will never go away. This word is to be your shield and your spear…With this word you are to beat upon this cloud and the darkness above you. With this word you are to strike down every kind of thought under the cloud of forgetting.”2
In my experience, the benefit of choosing and sticking with a short word or phrase is that, on account of habitual use, I immediately become recollected when I mentally speak it. This is such a simple suggestion, but it has proven beneficial in helping me discard mental traffic.
Making Space for God
It’s tempting to think that we make progress in the contemplative life through our own effort, but there is really no effort needed on our part. If we put forth effort, it is in being open to the work of God in us. Saying our prayer word in order to discard distracting thoughts takes some effort, I suppose, but what we are really doing is widening our inner space for divine love to flow in us and through us. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings in saying this, but God doesn’t really need our help. All God needs is for us to trust the divine love enough to wait for God to work in the depths of our being in ways we could have hardly imagined. If we are patient and persistent, it will happen. Just remember, in saying, “No,” we are affirming so much more than we are denying.
“Much occurs during recollection that requires the strength greater than Samson. This strength is none other than our daring to be open to whatever may come in the belief that it is from God.” (SA 382).
Francisco de Osuna The Third Spiritual Alphabet (Trans. Mary E. Giles; Preface Kieran Kavanaugh; Paulist Press, 1981)
The Cloud of Unknowing, author unknown (Ed. James Walsh, S.J.; Paulist Press, 1981, pg. 134)