How are Catholics supposed to approach meditation?

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friardchips said:
Discernment of Spirits is always required.

Scripture tell us that if we keep knocking, the door will be opened.
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Yes. We just have to be careful we don’t rush into the first door that opens. The desert is where Our Lord went to pray, but it is also the place of His testing. The evil spirits would rather we do not pray at all, but they cannot be counted on to leave us alone when we do. Even there, they will try to practice their deceptions. It always gets around to the questions: “If you are the Son of God…” or “Did God really say…”
 
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We must decrease, so the Lord can increase. Seems relevant. Being empty of oneself does not mean being empty of God. If the word, ‘emptying’, as a verb, is to mean forcing one’s mind into a mind-state, then this is problematic. ‘Emptying’ the mind, could be taken to mean ‘quietening’ it. Or better still, quietening the soul, or, allowing the soul to rest: “Be still and know that I am God”. I can see how the word ‘emptying’ could be taken as being something aggressive. Maybe that is the problem. We ought to take into account the whole soul, and not speak in terms of the ‘mind’, only. That can induce issues.
 
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friardchips said:
Yes, and yet Jesus still went to pray.
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He did not just go! He was lead by the Spirit, and the purpose was to prepare for and to be tempted by the devil.

No matter what means we elect to use to pray, we are going to face temptations. Attack by these spirits is not something particular to “centering” prayer! No matter what way we use to respond to the call to pray–and it is always God who initiates prayer–we can accept that tests may be permitted. This is for our ultimate welfare, or it would not be permitted, but it is a real battle.

No, I think the Church was concerned because some people thought centering prayer was a technique that could remove the difficulties inherent in a life that includes prayer, fasting and penance. So much of the work of daily life has been removed, we have to be careful to remember that there is no machine or technique or “new knowledge” that builds our relationships for us.
 
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The Holy Spirit, was and is, the Spirit of Christ, also. Although a different Person of the Holy Trinity.

Yes, temptations can happen. However, prayer normally casts out temptations, although distractions can occur.
 
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friardchips said:
Yes, temptations can happen. However, prayer normally casts out temptations, although distractions can occur.
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Certainly those who never pray are not free of temptations. (Perhaps more free of being aware of them, though.)
 
All good things came by way of God’s grace, because only God is Good. All of faith is a gift, with the various gifts attributed.

Without some measure of response, then one is not participating. We don’t just all sit still, forever. We express ourselves, which is part of the worship, and which is for us (as has been said, before).

One can reduce down, or build up, the amount of expression, involved - from a simple turn of thought towards God, to prostration - depending on how we are inspired. As long as it does not devolve into something other than Catholic prayer, when we are meant to be praying.

One can recognise if one’s prayer is fruitful, or not. Things are known by their fruit. This is part of discernment. It can be taught, yet only with God, can prayer be experienced. If prayer-practices could not be taught, we would have no spiritual directors.
 
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Shakuhachi said:
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.
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Certainly not!
Shakuhachi said:
st John of the Cross speaks of this as desirable. Is a mind silently aware of the present moment an empty mind?
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I think being fully present in the moment is a skill that has been largely lost in our industrialized society. It is not an 'empty" mind, but one that is not swept away by busyness - planning, organizing, worrying, etc.

On the contrary, this is how people enjoy adoration, during which “He looks at me, and I look at Him”.
Shakuhachi said:
Is a mind that is simply attentive to the quiet of waiting for God’s action an empty mind?
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I think that the vast majority of people have no clue how to quiet the mind in this way.
Shakuhachi said:
Or do you mean an unconscious mind.
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I don’t see how this can be possible, since we do not have conscious/willful control over it.
 
St John of ther Cross in Living Flame of love.
But, of course, he was a poet and we need not always take him literally.

I.12. The soul’s center is God. When it has reached God with all the capacity of its being and the strength of its operation and inclination, it will have attained its final and deepest center in God, it will know, love, and enjoy God with all its might. When it has not reached this point (as happens in this mortal life, in which the soul cannot reach God with all its strength, even though in its center - which is God through grace and his self-communication to it), it still has movement and strength for advancing further and is not satisfied. Although it is in its center, it is not yet in its deepest center, for it can go deeper in God.

http://www.jesus-passion.com/LivingFlameLove.htm
 
I know the CDF letter on Meditation back in 198something spoke of it as seeking a “mental void”. That made no sense to me and could only be unconsciousness as far as I can tell…
 
guanophore said:
I think being fully present in the moment is a skill that has been largely lost in our industrialized society.
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Boy, you ain’t kiddin. Now with iphones and ipods any kind of silence or stillness is actually disturbing to some people
 
Shakuhachi said:
Boy, you ain’t kiddin. Now with iphones and ipods any kind of silence or stillness is actually disturbing to some people
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It’s not that recent. Back in the 80s when CDs first came out, people could buy a CD of heavy New York traffic noise so that city-slickers who moved to the country could fall asleep.

Then again, when I was a teenager, I had a penpal from the city who came to visit me, and woke me up an hour or so after we went to bed because he couldn’t sleep with “all the noise”. When I asked him what noise, it turned out it was the crickets and spring peepers.

I wonder if they ever sold CDs of crickets and spring peepers?
 
Hot Hoover Dam! There goes my chance to make a fortune. I was thinking of recording and marketing one myself!
 
As a victim of OCD myself, I’d just like to say in the spirit of charity of course, that OCD without the proper treatment is practically impossible to deal with. It is like having another person inside of you taking complete control of certain aspects of your life. Something as simple as hand washing for a normal individual can and does become a major issue for those suffering from OCD.

Such an individual can also lose control of their moral compass. Dying inside a little is not such a rare occurrence for them. They can feel completely helpless at times to the point of entering a deep sense of despair and hopelessness. But God can see through that and works beyond their limitations and shortcomings by actually lending them a hand with their efforts, be that meditation or anything else. Although, frequent confession may sometimes become necessary, (it was for me; before treatment I was going to confession once a week!), God will somehow guide that soul as He did for me! Today, I am thankful to God for the professional help I generously received from a special team of neurologists and psychiatrists! Both OCD and Bipolar Disorder have been drastically minimised! Persistently seeking God’s will while overcoming insurmountable hurdles will eventually work wonders, so faith does indeed move mountains! 🙂
 
You mention’ losing consciousness’. There is such a thing as being caught up in prayer. Saints such as St. Francis of Assisi, would levitate, so caught up was he. The difference is between, one purposefully trying to control one’s own ‘mind’ and allowing for the soul to rest in God’s presence.
 
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Prayer of Quiet, or Quiet Prayer, is what the Trappists, Benedictines, Carmelites and other contemplative orders called it.

From the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, “Prayer of Quiet.”

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12608b.htm

It began to be called “Centering Prayer,” after Fr Keating and Fr Pennington gave retreats to religious, and taught them :Quiet Prayer. "

On that week end, they read much of Thomas Merton and St John of the Cross, “Living Flame of Love.”

The term going to the center in prayer was used so much, that the people on the week-end began calling it, “Centering Prayer.”

Since the flawed articles on Centering Prayer were written and often show up in forums like this, many of the teachers are now returning to use the term, “Quiet Prayer.”

However, it still triggers offensive reactions in this forum, so I need to back away from CAF once more.

Centered in Christ
Jim
 
I don’t think that people are trying to be offensive. It is rather that people wish to get things straightened out.
 
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It sounds as though what he means is “at the soul’s center is God, or " in the center of the soul is God indwelling,” or something like that. He says that later, as “it will have attained its final and deepest center in God”.

Thanks for giving the source - that always helps.
 
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