MEDITATION AND
CONTEMPLATION
There are many and varied methods of meditation and I will look at a number of them during this essay. There are a variety of spiritual master too, and again I will mention a number of them in this essay.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) advises that Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly lest they come to resemble the three kinds of soil in the parable of the sower (Mark 4 v 1- 19). That is the path that hears the word but Satan immediately snatches it away, the stony soil that hears the word but falls away in persecution or trouble and the thorn filled soil that hears the word but the concerns of the world choke the word.
Remember that the methods and spiritual masters we look at are only guides. It is the Holy Spirit who is the true guide who will lead us in the way of prayer, meditation and contemplation.
Meditation can employ your thoughts, imagination, emotions and desires. All these faculties enable us to deepen our understanding and conviction of our faith, bring about further conversion of our hearts and strengthen our will to follow Jesus.
The CCC states that meditation is a quest to seek and understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere and respond to what Jesus is asking of us.
The required attentiveness is difficult to sustain.
To maintain attentiveness and focus in meditation we can be helped by the Scriptures, the writings of the spiritual masters, liturgical texts, icons or creation itself.
Scripture Meditation
There are various methods of Scripture meditation and it is outside the scope of this essay to look at them all!
A good way to begin is with prayerful reading of the chosen Scripture passage; giving ourselves time to listen to what God is saying to us. It is an encounter with God who comes to us through the words of Scripture.
This prayerful reading allows us to search out the implications of Gods word for our life, growth and commitment.
It helps us to digest and be responsive to His word.
It helps us to open our hearts to His word and treasure and ponder it there.
Let this prayerful reading lead us into wonder and awe that God has spoken to us.
This wonder and awe can then lead us to a starting point for further meditative prayer and even contemplation.
The Ignation way
St Ignatius of Loyola taught a form of meditation called the Application of the Senses.
He taught that the person meditating should enter into and picture the various scenes in the Scripture being meditated upon. The person places themselves in the Scripture and in their imagination listens to what is said by those in the scene and reaches out with the senses to experience the scene. The main approach here is not one of reasoning but of touching Gods Word with the senses and the heart.
Lectio Divina
Lectio Devina (holy reading) involves three things:-
1. Reading the Scripture passage;
2. Meditating on it by trying to discover all its hidden meaning, reflecting on the ways it impacts on your life and the world around you. In Lectio Divina we do not use our imagination (as in the Ignatian way where we imagine ourselves in the Scripture passage) but use the events memories and experiences of our lives and the world around that come to mind.
3. Praying. Pray using the words of the Scripture passage you are reading.
· Thank Jesus for being in our lives in the events memories and experiences we have recalled.
· Ask forgiveness for the ways we have not lived according to the Scripture passage. Allow His grace and mercy reach out to us.
· Ask the Lord for His help to live according to the Scripture passage.
Some Qoutes
Deitrich Bonhoeffer the German theologian, pastor and martyr said "We ponder the chosen text on the strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say to us for this day and for our Christian life, that it is not only God’s word for the church, but also God’s word for us individually."
Again in his words "We expose ourselves to the specific word until it addresses us personally. And when we do this, we are doing no more than the simplest untutored Christian does every day; we read God’s word as God’s word for us."
St John of the Cross said "If we seek in reading, we will find in meditation."
Meditating on our life situation
As well as meditating on God’s word in Scripture we can meditate on ourselves and what is happening in our lives. This kind of meditation must not lead us to look at ourselves in isolation but to see ourselves and our daily life as something filled with God’s presence and providence.
Adrian Van Kaam in his book Spirituality and the Gentle Life says
"I never concentrate on an isolated me. I look at myself always as showing up in the light and love of God."
"Meditative reflection thus directs me primarily toward the mysterious presence of God in all that is and especially in that dimension of the universe that is my personal ordinary life.
I see myself as taken up in a divine plan that manifests itself at every moment of my life. I experience a total at homeness. In and through my everyday situation, I feel myself immersed in the eternal Divine Presence."
I am reminded here of Our Lady in the Gospel of Luke 2 v 51 " His mother treasured all these things in her heart."
Mary I am sure constantly meditated on her life and the plan that God had for her and her son Jesus.
I would recommend Thomas Merton’s book ‘What is Contemplation?’ (ISBN 0-87243-103-7) to anyone looking at contemplation for the first time.
Merton describes two strands of contemplation; infused or passive contemplation and active contemplation.
Infused or passive contemplation
Contemplation in its strict and correct sense that is infused or passive contemplation he describes as ‘a pure gift of God and, as we shall see, God is the principal agent Who infuses it into the soul and Who, by this means takes possession of the souls facilities and moves them directly according to His will.’
Active contemplation
Active contemplation is a broader form of contemplation where a person aided by ordinary grace making use of resources such as scripture, theology, art and music to focus a simple affective gaze on God.
All traditional means ad practices of the interior life (including those referred to in the section on Meditation above) come under the remit of active contemplation to the extent that they help us the know and love God by a simple gaze on Him. It demands the thoughts and acts of will of the person contemplating.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church at para.2709 asks what is contemplative prayer? . St. Teresa answers, "Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than the close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us."
Love and desire are required to grow in the gift of contemplation. St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 says "set your hearts on (desire) the greater gifts”.
God's gifts are free but it is necessary that we desire them and to desire them we need to be aware of them.
Our desire must be for heavenly things, not worldly things.
Love is essential for growth in the spiritual life and in contemplation.
As St Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians verses 12 and 13, love is the better way.
Contemplation also requires openness to the will of God.
God's will and his love come to us through the Holy Spirit.
John 14 especially verses 15,17,21 and 23 speak of these elements.
All we bring to contemplation is ourselves and in silence open ourselves to receive that union with God which he wishes to give us.
to be continued.....Meditation
