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billcu1
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When you say “divinizes” the soul. Is that like the term “Theosis”?
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Dorothy
Guest
I am not talking about stretching when I respond to your post, but it is true that there is a subtle but important difference between sitting and attempting to think about nothing at all, and in sitting and putting oneself in the loving Presence of the Lord, while letting go of distractions.
I remember a holy priest who was a retreat master saying we should never meditate the first way, because it can lead to deception. It is desiring the presence of God that makes all the difference.
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billcu1
Guest
Makes a lot of sense
because you have to reach a certain level of purity to get to the point to think about nothing. That’s not for anyone. That’s why you need a spiritual guide. Sounds in short like you’ve received some very sound advice. That’s why I’ve got a Lama R(name removed by moderator)oche (don’t what to go off topic) and need a teacher like a Franciscan. There’s nothing like being in a state of grace when you mention “the loving presence of the Lord”. I want and need so much for an absolution. 
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hazcompat
Guest
YES. you said you are going to get spiritual direction from your priest? LISTEN to him!
Peace
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hazcompat
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billcu1
It is important that you understand…I posted the words of Saint Benedicta of the Cross(Blessed Edith Stein). If you read her “Science of the Cross” you will gain great insight of Saint John of the Cross. It may be helpful to you. It helped me.
Peace
It is important that you understand…I posted the words of Saint Benedicta of the Cross(Blessed Edith Stein). If you read her “Science of the Cross” you will gain great insight of Saint John of the Cross. It may be helpful to you. It helped me.
Peace
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Bookcat
Guest
The Cross happened in time. The Paschal mystery is yes made present with the Eucharist but it is not that the cross was a non-temporal event. It was quite temporal.
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Bookcat
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Quite theological - first audience was Bishops -but an excellent little document:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19891015_meditazione-cristiana_en.html
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19891015_meditazione-cristiana_en.html
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billcu1
Guest
I got that from reading “The 7 secrets of the Eucharist”. Quite informational.
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Michael_Mayo
Guest
I think if more people had the patience to sit with a little reading and then a little silence, more people would receive the gift of contemplation. God wants us to have union.
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Bookcat
Guest
It very certainly happened in time. In history. Yes that one sacrifice is made present at Mass …but that does not mean the paschal mystery did not happen in time. It did.
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billcu1
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I don’t mean it didn’t happen in time. It happened outside time also. And at Mass you are taken outside of time to the Cross. Quite literally.
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billcu1
Guest
I have not talked to my Ast. Pastor yet. I expect to in a couple of days. It may not be as simple as reading a book. He might need to bless me in some fashion to enable me to have the strength or permission to do this type of meditation/prayer. In many religious lineages you need a blessing to follow the spiritual teachers teachings. The Christian Franciscans may be no different. Especially if you are accepted as a disciple. Remember Jesus breathing on the disciples and saying “Receive ye the Holy Spirit”? Of course we have that already. At least I received at confirmation after RCIA.
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Bookcat
Guest
It is not about being “taken outside of time” etc – rather the paschal mystery is made present.
Here the Catechism can do better than I:
1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:
Code:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.189More: scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a3.htm#V
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Michael_Mayo
Guest
The reading only helps you to settle.
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MysticMansion
Guest
Even in religious practices egos reign supreme. In my understanding we cannot reach contemplation ourselves but only with God’s grace.
We can meditate, think about and envision holy people, places and things etc. Contemplation sometimes called infused as one person points out is a state in which God reaches down to our intellect and raises it up to see above the human scope of vision. Perhaps like angels see truths.
If we remain faithful, frequent the sacraments especially daily holy communion in time God will bring us as high up into holiness as He knows we are suited to achieve. We cannot put up stop signs or set goals for God but accept our relationship and it will thrive as we surrender to His Will.
We can meditate, think about and envision holy people, places and things etc. Contemplation sometimes called infused as one person points out is a state in which God reaches down to our intellect and raises it up to see above the human scope of vision. Perhaps like angels see truths.
If we remain faithful, frequent the sacraments especially daily holy communion in time God will bring us as high up into holiness as He knows we are suited to achieve. We cannot put up stop signs or set goals for God but accept our relationship and it will thrive as we surrender to His Will.
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breixo
Guest
There is a very good book to begin with mental prayer, it is called " The Ways of Mental Prayer" by Rt. Rev. Abbot Dom Vitalis Lehodey, O.C.R… You may find it in TAN Books.
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spina1953
Guest
There is a wonderful section on prayer in the CCC that would be very helpful to anyone wanting to pray. meditative prayer involves reading, thinking, imagining, drawing conclusions and conversing inwardly with the indwelling trinity, contemplation is none of these things. It is a real awareness of God, desiring and loving Him, which we do not produce but simply receive from Him when we are ready for it. There are no images, ideas, or words. In the first stages what God gives is usually a dry desire for Him( that is, with little or no feelings), or it is a gentle, delightful awareness are brief. They are just there, that is not produced in a human manor. They can’t be had whenever we want them. No methods or techniques can produce them. Contemplation then is really a loving gaze on God being silent so that God can speak to us if He so desires. It is loving God, God for what He is and not for what God can do.
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Michael_Allen
Guest
I have just finished reading ‘A good heart’ by the Dalai Lama. It is the record iof a joint Catholic and Buddhist symposium hosted by the Benedictine monk Fr. Lawrence Freeman. It is a feast for those interested in inter-faith dialogue. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is asked to comment on scriptural passages, but often the dialogue revolves around the place of meditation in our practice of our faith.
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christofirst
Guest
Thanks for that recommendation, and Happy Easter!
I was able to follow Fr. Lawrence’s Bere Island Holy Week retreat via Youtube, which was a blessing too.
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Robert_Sock
Guest
The Imitation of Christ is written with very short chapters, with each packed full of prayerful meditations that is great for actually engaging in contemplative prayer. Check it out.
LOVE!
LOVE!
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