How do Catholics Meditate?

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How do we Meditate? I don’t assume we do as the Buddhists do but surely we have our own way?
 
We call it mental prayer and there are many ways.

A simple one to start is to meditate on the crucifix, to do this get in a comfortable position where you can see a crucifix and focus yourself completely allowing yourself to think of al the things related toe the crucifixion of Christ and His suffering which he bore for you on that cross
 
Meditation for me begins with a single idea, such as “GOD did not “need” me, so why did HE create me”?

And from that single idea, I mentally begin to create a list of pro’s and con’s on the single idea, playing devils advocate and continue to asking challenging questions with each new thought, not holding back any thought or question. Sometimes, I have to stop and do research, but at the end of the meditation - which may be a few minutes, hours or days (off and on) - I have come to understand the relationship I have with GOD a little bit better, and thus move closer to HIM. And as I grow closer to an understaning of the point upon which I mediate, my thoughts begin to move from a debate mode into prayer, as my meditation has led me to love GOD more.
 
Mist said:
How do we Meditate? I don’t assume we do as the Buddhists do but surely we have our own way?
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There is a fundamental difference between Catholic and Buddhist meditation. Buddhists are to meditate by emptying their mind completely. Catholics meditate by filling our mind with Christ.

Fr. Thomas Dubay explains it quite well in his classic, A Fire Within.
ignatius.com/Products/FW-P/fire-within.aspx
He writes about the steps to meditation and contemplation written by St. Teresa of Avila.

The rosary is a form of meditation. The prayers may be rote, but through them we calm or mental processes and focus more on the mysteries of the rosary.
Read about the mystic saints to learn more about Catholic meditation.
 
Advocatus_Fidei said:
We call it mental prayer and there are many ways.

A simple one to start is to meditate on the crucifix, to do this get in a comfortable position where you can see a crucifix and focus yourself completely allowing yourself to think of al the things related toe the crucifixion of Christ and His suffering which he bore for you on that cross
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Also icons are wonderful, you would use them just like looking at a crucifix. They have been called ‘windows to heaven.’ :heaven:
 
There is a book published by TAN called “Conversation with Christ.” Here is a link for purchase. (N.B. The author wrote some dogmatically problematic or even heretical works later in life; this work is free from error, though, and was written before he went off track. I have read it and know it to be doctrinally sound, and it is used by the FSSP for their first year seminarians, so you can trust that it is a good book on the subject.) This is an excellent place to start. Once you have an idea of what meditation is, I highly recommend the ascetical works of St. Alphonsus Liguori (especially Preparation for Death, also Passion and Death of Jesus Christ), along with the “classics” (Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, which both has the classical meditations to begin the work and an explanation of the Christian life following it). I really think that Preparation for Death is an absolute essential for modern man. It entirely changed my way of thinking about the spiritual life.
 
St Francis de Sales has some very helpful instructions about how to meditate in his Introduction to the Devout Life. Here are links to the relevant chapters from Part II. The chapters are very short. The English of this translation is a little old fashioned but not very hard to follow. This book is a wonderful guide to living a Christian life.

CHAPTER I. The Necessity of Prayer.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.i.html

CHAPTER II. A short Method of Meditation. And first, the Presence of God, the First Point of Preparation.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.ii.html

CHAPTER III. Invocation, the Second Point of Preparation.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.iii.html

CHAPTER IV. The Third Point of Preparation, representing the Mystery to be meditated to Your Imagination.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.iv.html

CHAPTER V. Considerations, the Second Part of Meditation.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.v.html

CHAPTER VI. The Third Part of Meditation, Affections and Resolutions.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.vi.html

CHAPTER VII. The Conclusion and Spiritual Bouquet.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.vii.html

CHAPTER VIII. Some Useful Hints as to Meditation.
ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.iv.viii.html
 
Wonderful, wonderful repsonses. Thank you all very much:)

May the holy cross be your shield.
 
It should also be noted there is a big difference between meditation and contemplation. Meditation entails using mental or real imagery/objects/concepts as aids to prayer.

Contemplation is uniting oneself to God in a purely spiritual sense. It is being caught up in the presence of God alone. It requires nothing except surrender, but it cannot be achieved just by wanting it. Most who experience it never sought it, but rather simply found themselves in this state while in prayer.

To the uninitiated it may appear like Buddhist meditation, but it is not the same thing. It is an emptying of oneself so that God is all, not just the emptying of oneself to obtain nothingness.
 
Della said:
It should also be noted there is a big difference between meditation and contemplation. Meditation entails using mental or real imagery/objects/concepts as aids to prayer.

Contemplation is uniting oneself to God in a purely spiritual sense. It is being caught up in the presence of God alone. It requires nothing except surrender, but it cannot be achieved just by wanting it. Most who experience it never sought it, but rather simply found themselves in this state while in prayer.

To the uninitiated it may appear like Buddhist meditation, but it is not the same thing. It is an emptying of oneself so that God is all, not just the emptying of oneself to obtain nothingness.
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“Meditation of Budddhism and Hinduism” is just the opposite of “meditation of Judaism and Christianity”. The former involves letting your mind go blank while the latter involves pondering (racking your brains) over God’s law. The genuine christian quest is responded by the HS who reveals. The encounter is ecstatic and called contemplation.
 
Pitcharan said:
“Meditation of Budddhism and Hinduism” is just the opposite of “meditation of Judaism and Christianity”. The former involves letting your mind go blank while the latter involves pondering (racking your brains) over God’s law. The genuine christian quest is responded by the HS who reveals. The encounter is ecstatic and called contemplation.
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If I understand you correctly, I believe you have just restated what I wrote. But, it’s welcome just the same. 🙂
 
IntegraCatholic said:
There is a book published by TAN called “Conversation with Christ.” Here is a link for purchase. (N.B. The author wrote some dogmatically problematic or even heretical works later in life; this work is free from error, though, and was written before he went off track. I have read it and know it to be doctrinally sound, and it is used by the FSSP for their first year seminarians, so you can trust that it is a good book on the subject.) This is an excellent place to start. Once you have an idea of what meditation is, I highly recommend the ascetical works of St. Alphonsus Liguori (especially Preparation for Death, also Passion and Death of Jesus Christ), along with the “classics” (Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales, which both has the classical meditations to begin the work and an explanation of the Christian life following it). I really think that Preparation for Death is an absolute essential for modern man. It entirely changed my way of thinking about the spiritual life.
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I’ll second the recommendation of “Conversation with Christ”. I picked it up a week or so ago and I still can’t put it down. Probably the best explanation of how to meditate I’ve ever seen. Some people might find it a little simplistic, but it’s the kind of book you need BEFORE you read more advanced spiritual books. It’s made a lot of things “click” that I didn’t understand before.
Too bad to hear Rohrbach went off track later in life. I was going to try and acquire some of his other writings.
 
I’m a HUGE fan of Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel for meditation… it has been a tremendous boon to my spiritual life.

That said… I think next on my to-do list are the collective works of St. Josemaria Escriva… but The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius might take priority.
 
joe_cool said:
I’m a HUGE fan of Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel for meditation… it has been a tremendous boon to my spiritual life.

That said… I think next on my to-do list are the collective works of St. Josemaria Escriva… but The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius might take priority.
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Do you have the old or the new version of Divine Intimacy? I once borrowed a copy of the old version but found it a bit difficult to pick the daily readings because of the old calendar/new calendar differences.
 
PadraigPearce said:
Do you have the old or the new version of Divine Intimacy? I once borrowed a copy of the old version but found it a bit difficult to pick the daily readings because of the old calendar/new calendar differences.
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Wasn’t aware there’s a version difference. I’d imagine that I have the new version since I’ve yet to run into a discrepancy… and I’ve just bought it in the last six months.
 
If you have the opportunity go on an “Ignatian Retreat”. These run for 5 days and are AMAZING on a whole lot of levels…they do teach meditation, and the book of “Divine Intimacy” has all ready been mentioned…this is great as it follows the same format.

But you can meditate on anything, the rosary,scripture, the Mass to mention a few.
 
Zacdecat said:
… you can meditate on anything, the rosary,scripture, the Mass to mention a few.
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I thought most of us do exactly this most of the time. Does it require training? Who trained David, a man after God’s own heart?

Regards
Pitcharan:)
 
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