Spiritual Disciplines

Five years after its founding, and the Sodality of Mary, Mother of Priests has only really now drifted into my view: I was aware of the name, but that was all. The SMMS took its place among 'the Catholic Societies of the Church of England' in 2016 and draws together any priest of whatever tradition, sex or marital status, who wishes to structure their spiritual life around a form of Catholic devotion taking the Marists and Sulpicians as its model. The language is as outré as the most ultramontane of the old societies, if nothing else, and makes the Society of Catholic Priests look very beige by comparison.

Not being a great Marian, I can only watch beneficently from a distance the SMMS's intention to deepen the spiritual life of its members by meditating on the inner life of the Blessed Virgin, but there are other things I'd find equally hard to swallow. Members are not 'required', but 'expected' to pray the Office while on holiday, for instance. When I was a curate I did this, but when I became an incumbent I found I absolutely needed to vary my prayer life to mark the times when, while still a priest, I was not actually on show as Rector of Swanvale Halt. I had to build in a rhythm, and found that coming back to saying the Office after not doing so for a week or so - or even on my day off - made it sweeter to the mind, at least to a mind often dull and unresponsive. 

I do 'observe the season of Lent as a time of self-discipline' and 'Friday abstinence' in a very modest way. Of course I'm in the middle of this again at the moment; by the time I get to the evening of a Lenten Friday the pleasure of a slice of dry bread and a glass of water is surprisingly intense, and this year the mild hunger that arises from missing breakfast and lunch is reminding me more than usual of the involuntary hunger many others undergo. But again, once upon a time I fasted on Wednesdays in Lent as well, and eventually discovered that that was having no very beneficial effect on my soul at all. Fr Somerset Ward advised the Christian to have three rules of life: 'a rule of fasting, a rule of prayer, and a rule to have no more rules'. All spiritual disciplines are supposed to have spiritual effects, and while you absolutely need structure and order - otherwise there is nothing left but whim and the passing enthusiasms or indifferences of the moment - you must also be attentive to the way they interact with your changing circumstances. What brings you closer to God at one stage of your life may be an empty or even harmful habit at another. 

I'm glad the SMMS exists: I won't be joining them, but might add them to my prayers. If I can fit them in!