J
joshrp
Guest
What do you think about the relationship of ideas to prayer? A lot of times while I am praying, a lot of good ideas will come to my mind. I will make a lot of discoveries about various things while praying and asking God questions. I cannot assume that I personally am creating all of these ideas because many times these thoughts produce good results in my ability to do good for others, and they help me increase in virtue and love to others. But what do you think about the role of God’s ideas in our prayer? What is the relationship between God’s perfect ideas and our flawed and rough edged ideas?
I brought this up because recently I have begun to really enjoy meditating upon the mysteries of the rosary as well as praying the Liturgy of the Hours at www.divineoffice.org . Some people talk about contemplation as being above meditation in that their are no ideas or thoughts involved. I cannot really see myself praying without thoughts and ideas, but it is possible that this has happened to me a few times. I just think that so many of the ideas that God has created for us to know and apply to loving Himself and others are so beautiful and wonderful. I used to just meditate on various ideas purely for the intellectual enjoyment of them, but now I infuse my meditations with love for God and all of His children, and it is like discovering limitless inexhaustible buried treasure!
What do you all think of the role of ideas and thoughts in prayer, especially the usual kinds, like petition, thanksgiving, praise, adoration, verbal, mental, meditation, and contemplation?
I brought this up because recently I have begun to really enjoy meditating upon the mysteries of the rosary as well as praying the Liturgy of the Hours at www.divineoffice.org . Some people talk about contemplation as being above meditation in that their are no ideas or thoughts involved. I cannot really see myself praying without thoughts and ideas, but it is possible that this has happened to me a few times. I just think that so many of the ideas that God has created for us to know and apply to loving Himself and others are so beautiful and wonderful. I used to just meditate on various ideas purely for the intellectual enjoyment of them, but now I infuse my meditations with love for God and all of His children, and it is like discovering limitless inexhaustible buried treasure!
What do you all think of the role of ideas and thoughts in prayer, especially the usual kinds, like petition, thanksgiving, praise, adoration, verbal, mental, meditation, and contemplation?