RSS

Practice of Colloquy: Dialogue with Our Lord


These notes are a way for Meg to keep current her most extensive teaching on this practice. Over the years I have written extensively on these teachings, but this is a way to keep my most current notes in one place. Also, I had prepared many of these tools to be an appendix on the new book, Lectio Divina, but had to cut them to keep the book tightly written and focused.

There are many saints in the Christian tradition who had a transcendent experience of God breaking in to their ordinary consciousness. Some reported raptures, wounds of love and visions and locutions. None of those epic events describe the colloquy practice, as I understand it.

Colloquy is ordinary: We simply awaken to the real Presence of Jesus. Then we participate through faith by sharing our thoughts with Our Lord. We listen: locutions are “as if” you hear Him or through the imagination comes a “voice.”

We don’t consider ourselves in a “for-real” ongoing conversation, except if we understand this to be the most subtle of senses. This is a practice of faith.

The practice is to shift the “I-thoughts” to sharing “in faith” with Jesus. Self-talk responses at first might be autosuggestion but it later becomes communion.

Another way of saying this is that our Prayer is sharing all our waking thoughts. Desires are directed to Him. For example we might be attracted to use the image of the Sacred Heart or it could be the Good Shepherd, or Jesus walking from Emmaus.

Whatever the image we are inclined to use it becomes adoration. We remain in the Presence, sometimes sharing thoughts and other times in total silence we stay still with a loving gaze. This is no one-hour a day event.

Our Daily life is accompanied with this inner-dialogue with Jesus. All is shared. (Notice we don’t bring Jesus to our daily life as in intercessory prayer, but our daily life is the prayer). All our “work” is done both really and symbolically for Jesus, in the Presence of Him.

The practice takes each Impulse of grace and follows it consciously and conscientiously toward Him in love.

While Gabrielle didn’t care about stages of relationship we can witness how Gabrielle evolved first as an acquaintance, then using the language of dear friends with Our Lord, and then we see the deliberations that became commitment and finally a merging into union.

We note that Gabrielle accepted suffering as a test of strength to be firm in resolve. She had to shift always taking the path of self-lessness and shifting feelings of the heart always toward Our Lord and His suffering for us. Sacrifice becomes part of the exchange.

This practice trains the will. The consent is to notice the subtle requests in each impulse of grace. Our “willingness” was to do the will of the Beloved. We strive to focus our attention to imitate Jesus, to follow His directives, to His love and to be loving in return. Intimacy abounds.

Imitation gives way to co-creating with Our Lord: doing work on behalf of others. This ranges from little acts of kindness to picking up other's suffering on behalf of their salvation or sanctification. Intercessory prayer is dynamic and productive.

We see that her outward “work” or apostolic service is only to do God’s will (not to get anything done). Our work is real, insofar as we do much good, but our work is also a medium to give form for our relationship with Our Lord.

We are vigilant that in no way does this relationship give confidence that we have it made. We have a profound sense of otherness and separation from God and potentially, of being a sinner. We practice “Guard of the Heart” continuously so as to be worthy of this inner dialogue with Our Savior. When we fail in some way, we simply and humbly name the act and asked for forgiveness. No waste of time on our own feelings of guilt as we desire only Our Lord’s intimacy.

This intimacy was mediated through signs, like birds and sunsets. These were received as “flowers” of the beloved. Rich exchange is normal and everyday like lovers are wont to do. We address The Lord with the familial possessive pronoun, “my Lord”.

There is no unhealthy introversion in colloquy. The voice often directs certain action, projects and amazing events of compassion for others.

The path of colloquy is one of love, surrender, humility, and devotion. Often when we are attracted to colloquy we also use music, song, and affective melodies, chants and ceaseless repetition of the name of the Beloved. When praying we would not have a specific image of Our Lord that is chosen by us.

When we give our total attention to Christ, He shows up as He wills. Sometimes it is as a teacher, friend, or spouse. We respond as prompted by the Holy Spirit to Our Beloved. Then all the self-talk is silent because union abides.

Recommended text for learning Colloquy

Bossis, Gaabrielle. He and I. 1969. Trans. Evelyn M. Brown. Sherbrooke, Que.: Editions Mediaspaul, 1985.