Distractions in Prayer: Blessing or Curse?

Spiritual Life, Summer 2006 by Centner, Fr David

Distractions in Prayer: Blessing or Curse? By Vilma seelaus, OCD. Alba House/St. Paul's: 2187 Victory Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10314-6603, 2005. Pp. xvii 138. Paper. $14.95.

"What do I do about my distractions?" In some form or another, this question is posed in spiritual direction, at retreats, and at workshops, conferences, and lectures on prayer. For many, it is perhaps the question. People complain of being distracted at quiet prayer, at Mass, while praying the rosary. What does one do? That this question arises in our life of faith should surprise no one. In our personal lives and interpersonal relations we also struggle with distractions. Almost forty years ago, before the advent of electronically assisted multitasking, Federico Ruiz, the distinguished specialist on St. John of the Cross, remarked that the most distracted person in sixteenth-century Spain had less to demand his or her attention than the most recollected person today. In the intervening decades, in spite of the many books on self-improvement and spirituality, distractions continue to plague us. How can we rid ourselves of them?

The title of Sister Vilma Seelaus's book, Distractions in Prayer: Blessing or Curse?, raises the possibility that some of our difficulty with distractions is the fruit of a wrong-headed attitude toward them. Have we been looking for a spiritual equivalent of a chemical herbicide when, like organic fanners who have discovered that not all weeds are noxious, we should regard distractions both as indicators of the health of our spiritual soil and potential green manure?

Over the years I have received-and passed on-much advice regarding distractions. None of it has proven to be good advice all the time. Not all distractions are alike, and a "differential diagnosis" is needed in order to find a solution that fits. While our Christian spiritual traditions have much to say about discerning spirits and dealing with them, there is a need to put that wisdom into forms accessible to the general readership. Sister Vilma seeks to meet that need.

Her book is the fruit of many years of personal experience as a person of prayer, a mentor of others in her community, and a speaker on prayer in Carmelite gatherings. The annual Carmelite Forum would have been poorer without Sister Vilma's contributions. The present book is based on those conferences. In it, she follows the path of spiritual growth outlined for us by St. Teresa of Jesus in her Interior Castle. Sister Vilma notes that St. Teresa has something to say about distractions in each of seven "dwelling places" that represent stages in our growth toward union with God. After a brief prologue, which sets the stage for the drama of the interior journey, the author writes seven chapters, one for each dwelling place, and encapsulates St. Teresa's concerns and teachings regarding distractions in each of them. Sr. Vilma insightfully relates this teaching to our own understanding of the human psyche and soul by making reference to the works of psychologists and theologians of our own time.

It is a shame that Sr. Vilma was not more ably assisted by her publisher. The transition from spoken word to the written page can be difficult, and the present book often seems caught in midjourney. This is not quite a scholarly work and not quite a popular work. The contemporary material, which ought to illuminate our understanding of St. Teresa, requires some technical understanding that will frustrate the less-specialized general readership. Much of it could have been left out and a lot more of it relegated to footnotes or to an appendix without diminishing the insightful quality of the text. On the other hand, most readers would welcome more quotations from St. Teresa instead of references to relevant passages in her works. In spite of these failings, this book will be useful to many spiritual pilgrims and their mentors.

The book is completed by a summary and bibliography. Also, Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, provides a lucid introduction that explains the origins of St. Teresa's masterpiece.

Fr. David Centner, OCD, is Reviews Editor for this magazine and is currently teaching a course on St. Teresa of Jesus at Washington Theological Union.