Contemplation

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rymichael

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I always hear everyone say you need contemplation you need contemplation. But no one can ever explain it. Is it praying to god? Is it me talking to God? Im not sure how it works… do I have to read a Bible verse then meditate on that then talk to God? When someone says oh I do contemplative prayer all the time, they never explain it. So can someone explain it in depth to me without referring me to a book?

Thank you!
 
Contemplative prayer is silent. Not only do we not speak, but do not even think or meditate on anything in particular. My SD called it “resting in God.” One way of contemplative prayer is called Lectio Divina. It actually goes through several stages, only the final one being contemplative.

The point is that you give your mind a break from its normal stream of conscious thoughts that keeps it busy all the time, and let it relax, as expressed consent to God to send the Holy Spirit into your open heart and mind for purification, transformation, or healing, whatever the Lord may have to give you at any given time. Technically “contemplation” itself is a gift from God, given upon His schedule. So you don’t “do” contemplation per se, but you do “contemplative prayer” which is a form of prayer intended to invite contemplation by baring ones self before the Lord. I think it’s kind of like taking Adam out of hiding so the Lord can heal him.

A few paragraphs from the CCC article “Expressions of Prayer”

2709 What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: “Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.” Contemplative prayer seeks him “whom my soul loves.” It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.

2712 Contemplative prayer is the prayer of the child of God, of the forgiven sinner who agrees to welcome the love by which he is loved and who wants to respond to it by loving even more. But he knows that the love he is returning is poured out by the Spirit in his heart, for everything is grace from God. Contemplative prayer is the poor and humble surrender to the loving will of the Father in ever deeper union with his beloved Son.

2713 Contemplative prayer is the simplest expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty. Contemplative prayer is a covenant relationship established by God within our hearts. Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, “to his likeness.”

2715 Contemplation is a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus. “I look at him and he looks at me”: this is what a certain peasant of Ars in the time of his holy curé used to say while praying before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the “interior knowledge of our Lord,” the more to love him and follow him.

2717 Contemplative prayer is silence, the “symbol of the world to come” or “silent love.” Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the “outer” man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.

So I feel like contemplative prayer is like hanging around with God, as compared with learning about God and talking about God. When I used to have an adoration hour, I would often sit in contemplative silence in front of the Eucharist for a double-effect of Close Encounters in two forms. 😉

Alan
 
Contemplation-- from the dictionary
The action of looking thoughtfully at something for along time.

Ok, I know that sounds dorky, but I thought I’d start with that. To contemplate something is to give much thought to it. I don’t know if you have access to an adoration chapel or not, but if you do, an hour there would help. There, you “contemplate” on the presence of Jesus. He is there, in the host and in your heart. There are many types of prayer you can do there. Or Lecto Divinio. (I sure hope I spelled that right!!) Basically you begin to read your bible, paying close attention to what you are reading. When a verse or phrase really catches your attention, consider it, pray it and let your heart be open to God’s guidance.

Does that help? 🤷
 
When we are silent, God speaks. Contemplation is not something you do, it just happens. I hope you get just a taste.
 
Christy_Beth said:
Contemplation-- from the dictionary
The action of looking thoughtfully at something for along time.

Ok, I know that sounds dorky, but I thought I’d start with that. To contemplate something is to give much thought to it. I don’t know if you have access to an adoration chapel or not, but if you do, an hour there would help. There, you “contemplate” on the presence of Jesus. He is there, in the host and in your heart. There are many types of prayer you can do there. Or Lecto Divinio. (I sure hope I spelled that right!!) Basically you begin to read your bible, paying close attention to what you are reading. When a verse or phrase really catches your attention, consider it, pray it and let your heart be open to God’s guidance.

Does that help? 🤷
Click to expand...
I think the secular definition of “contemplation” is closer to “meditation” in terms of the three expressions of prayer described by the CCC. So to an active person, “contemplation” means to think about something; to a contemplative pray-er, it means to cease thinking about anything in particular.

Here are a couple CCC paragraphs about meditation… see if this sounds like what you’re talking about:

2706 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

2707 There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower.5 But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus.

2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.

Here are the summary paragraphs comparing meditation with contemplation:

2723 Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own life.

2724 Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.

Note the reference to Lectio Divina. Lectio has four movements, each going deeper into intimacy with the scripture. In practice, a scripture passage or other “meditation” is read before each segment, and the difference is how, in the silence, you receive it:


  1. *]Lectio: read
    *]Meditatio: meditate
    *]Oratio: pray
    *]Contemplatio: contemplate

    So Lectio Divina is a very good prayer form because it invokes all the expressions of prayer (vocal, meditative, and contemplative) and strikes a person at all levels of intimacy.
    soma said:
    When we are silent, God speaks. Contemplation is not something you do, it just happens. I hope you get just a taste.
    Click to expand...
    :amen:

    Alan
 
Even Sts. Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross had difficulty defining a “method” for achieving contempletive prayer! St. Teresa said prayer is taking time to be alone with the one we know loves us. What an inviting image!
As others have pointed out, meditation on a Gospel passage or a prayer can lead you deeper into contemplation. In contemplation itself, you are no longer fixing your gaze on a reading or prayer, letting go of them, letting the mind, intellect and will be at rest. It takes practice for most of us to get there, often starting with just a moment or two, and eventually 15, 30 minutes or more. So, so worth the practice and effort. Although you said you do not want to be referred to a book, in Her Life, St Teresa’s makes the analogy of watering a garden to stages of prayer, and how in the later stages (fourth water) God does the watering for you. Reading the works of these saints may help you.
Just be with God.
In silence.
“Be still and know that I am God.”
 
Catechism:

scborromeo.org/ccc/p4s1c3a1.htm

It can be noted that there is acquired contemplation…and infused.

I should note that various authors and various schools use terms differently.…such needs to be kept in mind when one goes back and forth between them.

Basically acquired contemplation can be on a philosophical level (read Josef Pieper on “natural contempation”) or theological …or even the ordinary of a mother contemplating her sleeping child or nature or in the sense of a kind of contemplation in prayer where things become more of a intuitive gaze etc (such as prayer of simplicity).

The other is that which is given directly by God (infused contemplation such as prayer of quiet).

But that is getting into the more detailed “spiritual theology” of contemplation.

For a very short and practical work on mental prayer: scepterpublishers.org/product/index.php?FULL=557

frjacquesphilippe.com/
 
Try sitting silently in the dark and kind of “lean” your intention wordlessly in the direction of “not my will, but Thine be done.” Not with your mind, but with your heart, your guts, your marrow. Keep “leaning” silently, humbly in that direction day after day for as much time as you can make for it and you can learn what contemplation is.
 
My priest pointed out that in icons, you can see saints that are praying. As they pray, they lean their head over to the left side, even resting on/near the left shoulder. They do this order to get as close to their heart as they can, the place where Jesus dwells within.

I have nothing but respect for the saints but I wonder sometimes about the emphasis on classification. It is not, I believe their intent to make contemplative prayer a matter of technique because Christianity is not a spiritual technology. Rather, I think they are trying to make sense of some very powerful inner experiences for which there just isn’t a lot of vocabulary. So, they classify, and then it seems like there must be a corresponding technique to access one of those states and then we are told that there isn’t.

Those saints in the icons, they were probably praying the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, a sinner. Praying it over and over again. There isn’t technique to this, though it is note that the Jesus Prayer naturally conforms to our breath and there are breathing exercises (technique!) that can be used but are not necessary.

It’s so simple, maybe even disappointingly simple. Pray a little prayer, listen to your heart. Put yourself in Jesus’ hands. Put yourself in Mary’s hands - she will hold hands with you if you let her.

I know you asked not for a book, but I commend to you The Way of a Pilgrim, which is about one man who learns to pray the Jesus Prayer.

Billy
 
AlanFromWichita said:
I think the secular definition of “contemplation” is closer to “meditation” in terms of the three expressions of prayer described by the CCC. So to an active person, “contemplation” means to think about something; to a contemplative pray-er, it means to cease thinking about anything in particular.

Here are a couple CCC paragraphs about meditation… see if this sounds like what you’re talking about:
2706 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting truthfully in order to come into the light: “Lord, what do you want me to do?”

2707 There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower.5 But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus.

2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.
Here are the summary paragraphs comparing meditation with contemplation:
2723 Meditation is a prayerful quest engaging thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Its goal is to make our own in faith the subject considered, by confronting it with the reality of our own life.

2724 Contemplative prayer is the simple expression of the mystery of prayer. It is a gaze of faith fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love. It achieves real union with the prayer of Christ to the extent that it makes us share in his mystery.
Note the reference to Lectio Divina. Lectio has four movements, each going deeper into intimacy with the scripture. In practice, a scripture passage or other “meditation” is read before each segment, and the difference is how, in the silence, you receive it:


  1. *]Lectio: read
    *]Meditatio: meditate
    *]Oratio: pray
    *]Contemplatio: contemplate

    So Lectio Divina is a very good prayer form because it invokes all the expressions of prayer (vocal, meditative, and contemplative) and strikes a person at all levels of intimacy.

    :amen:

    Alan
Click to expand...

  1. Thanks. I should have gone to the catechism to start with. But my dictionary was closer. I’ll get my catechism and put it by my computer as well. It may do me more good than it does anyone else.
 
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