How are Catholics supposed to approach meditation?

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friardchips said:
unless utilizing another religion’s technique and/or invoking a non-Catholic identity
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If another tradition has a technique that I find useful, I would not hesitate at all to adapt and use it myself, provided that it does not conflict with my beliefs as a Catholic.

Rejecting something good simply because someone else came up with seems sorta silly to me.
 
There difference is between known and unknown sources / derivations of techniques.
 
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The Mike, you have received some bad advice on this thread - one good suggestion is Annie’s, #19/19: read this about “centering prayer”:
The Danger of Centering Prayer | Catholic Answers

Read that and then hopefully stay away from centering prayer. A Christian is not wanting to empty his mind - he wants to fill his mind with the truth of God. Eastern religions have a completely different meaning for the word “mediation”, from the meaning that faithful Catholics have for that same word. “Christian meditation”, in other words, is NOT “meditation” as practiced and understood by Eastern religions.

One method of Christian meditation is “Lectio Divina”, as someone already suggested. I’d suggest that you find a good source online, however, to learn it well enough to do it well. One source I’d recommend is this blog essay on it; it is in two parts - (this is Part 1):

renewthechurch.com

Praying Scripture – Lectio Divina (part I)

The Catechism teaches much about prayer that can help us to grow in prayer. It can help us know why we should grow in prayer – why we should want to grow in prayer. To begin this post, let us…
renewthechurch.com renewthechurch.com

(and this is Part 2):

renewthechurch.com

Lectio Divina – and praying Scripture

This will be a long post! Please read it all, even if you need to read part at a time. The ancient method of Lectio Divina can help us “cross the bridge” to the place of our deepest yea…
renewthechurch.com renewthechurch.com
 
friardchips said:
Just because western society names someone from somewhere as having practiced something for the first time and given it a name by which it can be popularly recognised, does not mean that the type of meditation was not in use, beforehand i.e:- in the early centuries, saints went to live in caves, and were probably praying unceasingly, in whatever ways they thought necessary, as were people probably doing in Scripture. Meditation is meditation, and is spiritually healthy, in whatever form, unless utilizing another religion’s technique and/or invoking a non-Catholic identity, in contrast to whom God has revealed Himself to be.
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OK, but by the same token just because it can be imagined that something happened in the past in a particular way does not mean it ever did. Certainly it cannot be assumed that Christians in the past who did something a certain way found it to be a reliable path to sanctity. If provenance cannot be shown for a school of thought or a technique, it is totally possible that it has never existed in its current form.

To get on to the same page: Centering Prayer is an actual thing, a technique with certain parameters, not just any prayer that involves anything that somebody might refer to as centering. As far as I know, it does not trace its provenance back to any particular person recognized by the Church or even a local church as a saint. Instead, it is a method whose description can be traced back to books written by monks in St. Joseph’s Abbey in Massachusetts. Their book, in turn, was influenced by Thomas Merton and the writings of certain contemplatives, but the techniques they teach are not directly taught by saints who left writings on prayer.

I’m not the one to give an analysis of the matter, though, not when the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith has published statements that cover the areas of concern:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...th_doc_19891015_meditazione-cristiana_en.html
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/p...s/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html

These are of particular interest since they cover mistakes that can be made that the authors at St. Joseph Abbey insist were never intended. The method they teach may not be problematic, but ways that have attempted to implement their methods wrongly definitely do exist. It is worth understanding where the wrong turns are.
 
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We know from certain sources, where certain practices originated, and why. The derivation of Christian meditation, is Christianity. Trusted. And the practices, themselves, are void of any kind of link (some on CAF in past times have mentioned the term ‘philosophies’) to non-Christian eastern practices, in which the invoking of other ‘gods’ took place, which St. Paul named as being demons. So, if something lacks a source, we are dealing with an unknown, and therefore, could be using a practice known previously for invoking false ‘gods’, by which there is a complicated, real, history, behind it.

This appears to contradict something I said to another poster, when I said that most meditations probably come from previous centuries. But, it doesn’t. Because there are certain types of meditiation, which other religions cannot claim as theirs, because of the simplicity of expression, involved. I can imagine a desert father at prayer, in a cave, sitting or kneeling in silent ‘contemplation’, as another poster called it. Quietly inviting God into prayer, silently, is of such simplicity, that it cannot be claimed by any other religion, as theirs.

As opposed to, a more complex eastern practice, such as Yoga, or something else, that might involve extra areas that one does not fully understand. Things have their references and applications.

‘Meditation’, ‘contemplation’, is probably the same thing. Contemplation is maybe more active on the part of the praying person, than meditation. Although, both are in, and with, God.
 
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friardchips said:
So, if something lacks a source, we are dealing with an unknown , and therefore, could be using a practice known previously for invoking false ‘gods’, by which there is a complicated, real, history, behind it.
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Not really. When we borrow a practice, we do not need to borrow its history. That would like saying that I become Lutheran by singing “A Mighty Fortress”, or become Chinese by eating General Tsao’s chicken. A technique is a technique, and we can do with it what we want, including discarding its history, or those parts of it that we do not agree with.
 
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You can’t go wrong if you stick to the writings of the saints.

Also, here is a link to a letter that Joseph Card. Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) wrote entitled LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON SOME ASPECTS OF CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

It is highly informative!!

http://www.ewtn.com/library/curia/cdfmed.htm
 
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OK, but by the same token just because it can be imagined that something happened in the past in a particular way does not mean it ever did. Certainly it cannot be assumed that Christians in the past who did something a certain way found it to be a reliable path to sanctity. If provenance cannot be shown for a school of thought or a technique, it is totally possible that it has never existed in its current form.
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With something has simple as breathing in the Holy Spirit, or better put, inviting the Spirit from within, cannot be claimed as a contemporary technique, due to its simplicity. Unless, people are claiming that in ancient Christianity or in our Hebrew heritage, there was never present, people praying silently, or contemplating. What is that, if not a kind of meditation? If someone wants to place a label on it, for the sake of others being able to recognise and furthermore practice it, then I can see why they have done so.

What you are talking about, is the danger of New Age practices. I will have a look at the documents and links provided in order to remind myself of them.
 
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The article you linked, which no longer lists the author, Fr. John D. Dreher, was written back in 1997 and was borderline fraudulent.’

Everything he wrote about Centering Prayer is the opposite of what Fr Keating and Fr Pennington taught.

The author, who lived only an hour away from St Joseph’s Abbey, never bothered to interview the two monks who brought the method of Quiet Prayer, which became known as Centering Prayer. I myself spoke with monks about Fr. John D. Dreher’s article and they merely rolled their eyes and said he never came to the Abbey to ask about it.

Instead it appears that the author took New Age “Centering,” and applied it to “Centering Prayer.” The two aren’t even close

I’m surprised CAF continues to keep this article available.

Jim
 
fide said:
A Christian is not wanting to empty his mind - he wants to fill his mind with the truth of God.
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This is often misunderstood. What is an empty mind? Certainly you cannot mean a quiet mind, a mind undistracted by inner monologue, thoughts and images. st John of the Cross speaks of this as desirable. Is a mind silently aware of the present moment an empty mind? Is a mind that is simply attentive to the quiet of waiting for God’s action an empty mind? Or do you mean an unconscious mind. What do you mean by “to empty his mind”?
 
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So, expression doesn’t mean anything, then e.g:- one could use a symbol known for representing an evil organisation and wear it on a t-shirt, but as long as you are wearing it for other reasons, other than what it has been used for, then it is okay? I get that the intention, counts. But, to say that one can completely separate every aspect of a non-Catholic religious practice, has to be an incorrect affirmation. Unless, every aspect, including the title, changes. Even then. There are expressions used for evil and those for good. This cannot be refuted. Those expressions found within another religion, came from a different source of knowledge.
 
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Fr Pennington wrote in his book, Centering Prayer, the origins of Centering Prayer.

It does not come from the Cloud of Unknowing except that the Cloud’s author, used the method of Quiet Prayer.

The origins go back to Abba Isaac and his disciple, St John Cassian

Centering Prayer was originally called “Quiet Prayer, or Prayer of Quiet.” It became known as Centering Prayer as Fr Keating taught on St John of the Cross, “Living Flame of Love,” where the Saint wrote much on going to the “center.” of our being, to be in the presence of Christ.

Jim
 
And that gets to another point of our identity. St. John says the center of our soul IS God.
 
friardchips said:
one could use a symbol known for representing an evil organisation and wear it on a t-shirt
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That is a perfect example of what I mean. Both of my boys have shirts with Nazi swastikas on them. In a crossed out circle. Like this:

https://res.cloudinary.com/teepublic/image/private/s–Dnn7y92C–/t_Preview/b_rgb:191919,c_limit,f_jpg,h_630,q_90,w_630/v1516076877/production/designs/2282859_0.jpg
Do you think that makes them Nazi’s?

Also, you are aware that the Church itself borrowed heavily from Pagan philosophers, especially Plato and Aristotle?

Does that make the Catholic church Pagan?
 
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Good example because: The swastika (as a character 卐 or 卍) is a geometrical figure and an ancient religious icon from the cultures of Eurasia, where it has been and remains a symbol of divinity and spirituality in native European religions, Indian religions, Chinese religions, Mongolian, and Siberian shamanisms. According to René Guénon, the swastika represents the north pole, the centre and the axle of the world, the activity of the absolute God of the universe shaping the world.
From Wikipedia
 
But by using a non-Catholic religious means of worship, one is not crossing out, but using it.

I disagree that the Church took anything from anywhere else. I do assert, however, that things find their rightful place, in the Catholic faith. Because Catholic means ‘universal’. In which all things find their usage.
 
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