Preparing a homily recently on the book of Samuel I was taken by a suggestion in one commentary that while Samuel is listed as one of the historical books of the Hebrew Scriptures it is essentially about prophesy. Not prophecy in the sense of predicting the future but of interpreting the present in the light of God’s purposes. The immediate focus of these books is on historical people and events but its deeper interest and ultimate goal is to discover and respond to the presence and action of God at work below the surface appearance of life. The prophet is one who delves deep into the mystery of God and God’s relationship with us.
A BBC program called “Secrets of the Mayan Underworld” that I watched around that time provided some strong visual representation of what this process of diving deeper into the mystery of life entails. There are many mysteries associated with the Mayans but the one addressed by this program was about how this great civilization developed without a river. Most ancient civilizations are intimately linked to a great river – the Nile, the Ganges, the Euphrates but there is no sign of a river anywhere on the Yucatan peninsula but many signs of Mayan civilisation. These are located close to a form of sink holes called “cinotes”. The program followed a couple of cave divers who are exploring and mapping these waterholes. They show that “cinotes” are in fact collapsed caves and connecting the individual water holes is a vast network of flooded caves. They also found that there is a layer of fresh water that flows to the sea through these caves. There is indeed a river but it is hidden beneath the surface. The “cinotes” are gateways to the underworld, to the waters that sustained and supported a great civilisation.
Watching the divers I found myself thinking “there is no way in the world that I would do what these men were doing”. I think I would find diving in open waters to be a challenge but doing it in underground caves that have never been charted seems totally daunting. Reflecting on these images I found myself making some connection to prayer. When we pray what we are doing is trying to get below the surface appearance and dive deeper into the mystery of life and of God. Prayer is the gateway into mystery but I am often content to stay at the surface of things. I shy away from the process of exploring deeper realities that are unknown and possibly dangerous – at least from the point of view that what is discovered might lead to serious change in my thinking and practice. Yet not to enter might mean missing the life giving waters that flow below the surface and the adventure that prayer can be.
Finding the “cinotes” is the first major task and that is a challenge in itself but once found many are relatively easy to enter. The tough part is to start the journey of exploration when one is in the water. However there are some that are so deep that the only way in is to jump. The program has a marvellous sequence showing someone base jumping into one of these caves. If exploring the caves is an image of prayer then this is an image of faith. It is not a blind faith in that I imagine a great deal of preparation, including a plan to get out again, had been made before the jump was undertaken. The divers that were the focus of the program were certainly meticulous in their preparations knowing that they were entering uncharted and potentially hostile territory. Given all of that it still requires great faith, a great deal of courage and skill and a deep love for exploration to launch out into the deep. It was obvious that the experience was both exhilarating and enlightening for them and they have been doing this kind of exploration for 10 years. Since watching the program I have tried to enter my time of prayer as an adventure in faith. I hope I can come to it with a fraction of the thrill and excitement of those who explore the Mayan gateways to the underworld. Prayer as a way of entering into mystery has been explored by many down though history so it is not totally uncharted territory but for each individual it is a unique journey and there is much to be discovered in the depths. We just need to dive deeper.
Fr Pat O'Shea lives at St Columbans Lower Hutt, New Zealand.