Prayer and Meditation
Focused attention meditation
Focusing the attention on a single object during the whole meditation session. This object may be the breath, a mantra, visualization, part of the body, external object, etc. As the practitioner advances, his ability to keep the flow of attention in the chosen object gets stronger, and distractions become less common and short-lived. Both the depth and steadiness of his attention are developed.
Open monitoring meditation
Instead of focusing the attention on any one object, we keep it open, monitoring all aspects of our experience, without judgment or attachment. All perceptions, be them internal (thoughts, feelings, memory, etc.) or external (sound, smell, etc.), are recognized and seen for what they are. It is the process of non-reactive monitoring of the content of experience from moment to moment, without going into them.
Effortless Presence
It’s the state where the attention is not focused on anything in particular, but reposes on itself – quiet, empty, steady, and introverted. We can also call it “Choiceless Awareness” or “Pure Being”. Most of the meditation quotes you find speak of this state.
This is actually the true purpose behind all kinds of meditation, and not a meditation type in itself. All traditional techniques of meditation recognize that the object of focus, and even the process of monitoring, is just a means to train the mind, so that effortless inner silence and deeper states of consciousness can be discovered. Eventually, both the object of focus and the process itself is left behind, and there is only left the true self of the practitioner, as “pure presence”.
• Praying with Scripture – Holy Listening
- Select a short passage from scripture.
- Read it slowly aloud through a few times and listen.
- Find a quiet place, alone, relax and try to quiet yourself interiorly.
- God is present to you through the Spirit, ask for the grace to listen to what God says as you read the passage.
- Be aware of God’s presence, and acknowledge God’s presence, and respond to God with whatever feelings arise. If there are no strong feelings, simply acknowledge that God is present and thank Him. When you are ready turn to the scripture passage.
- Respond to what Jesus is saying, pause.
- When finished reflect on the experience.
• Gospel Contemplation – Imagery or Ignatian
- Select a short narrative passage of scripture.
- Relax and settle into God’s presence.
- Read aloud the passage several times.
- Set the bible aside and allow yourself to take part in the scene, using the imagination.
- Immerse yourself in the scene.
- After the prayer period make a review, reflecting on what took place during prayer
• Lectio Divina – Meditative Reading
Type One of Lectio Divina
Lectio – Reading – Really listen. Hear the Lord speak to you. Notice or underline what calls your attention. Come to a desire to understand its true content: “What does the biblical text say in itself?”
Ruminatio – Ruminate over what you noticed or underlined. “Chew” on it. Be nourished by it. Let it speak to you. (Note: This paragraph is not from Verbum Domini.)
Meditatio – Meditation. Choose one word or phrase, and ask why it calls your attention. Meditate on, “What does the biblical text say to us?” Here, each person, individually but also as a member of the community, must let himself or herself be moved and challenged.
Oratio – Prayer, which asks the question: “What do we say to the Lord in response to his word?” Prayer, as petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise, is the primary way by which the word transforms us.
Comtemplatio – Contemplate the word or phrase; connect the ideas with images. Let God speak to you through it. Ask ourselves, “What conversion of mind, heart and life is the Lord asking of us?”
Type Two of Lectio Divina
Step 1: Listening to the Word
· One person reads the passage chosen
· Each notes the word or phrase that strikes them
Step 2: Listening in Silence to the Word of God
· Listen in silence to what has struck you.
· What invitations do you hear?
· What answers do you hear?
· Listen to the deepest part of your heart.
· Be sensitive to all the attractions and inclinations of your heart.
· Is it open and welcoming the Word? Resisting?
· What feelings arise? Joy? Fear? Sadness? Etc.
Step 3: Share the Word of God
· Share the word or phrase that struck you.
· Listen in an attitude of reverence.
· No discussion.
Step 4: Listening to the Word again
· A different person reads the same passage
· Each shares the word or phrase that strikes them
Step 5: Responding to the Word of God
· Write a short Prayer or petition.
Share what you wrote.
• Awareness Examen – Sensing the Spirit in one’s Life
- Sit quietly.
- Begin by reflecting on the day to see where you need to be thankful or gratitude naturally arises.
- Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where God’s presence has been in your life, the events, people, experiences, emotions, and feelings.
- Be sensitive to the interior movements are you in consolation or desolation.
- Talk to Jesus and ask to make decisions that help you grow in loving.
- Respond to God in dialogue, asking God for your needs for tomorrow.
What is Consolation and Desolation?
Consolation and desolation are states of the soul that, if we pay attention to them, can guide our steps and aid our prayer. When in consolation, we are growing in love and grace, moving toward God and God’s desires for us. When in desolation, we are moving away from God, and we experience a diminishment of peace and other marks of spiritual growth and health.
It’s important to understand that consolation does not always feel good, and desolation does not always feel bad. False consolation can give us feelings of pleasure and satisfaction in situations and activities that are not enhancing our spiritual growth. And sometimes when we are moving in the right direction, we can experience emotional turmoil, even deep sadness.
The best way to understand consolation is that it is the set of feelings that occur when we are authentically self-transcending. When I pray the Examen I am really asking myself: how is my self- going today? Am I being attentive, intelligent, rational, responsible? And, of course, the ultimate question is: “Am I expressing the results of someone who is in love with God and with all things through this love of God?”
Desolation:
· Turns us on ourselves.
· Drives us down a spiral ever deeper into our own negative feelings
· Cuts us off from community
· Makes us want to give up on the things that used to be important to us
· Takes over our whole consciousness and crowds out our distant vision
· Covers up all our landmarks
· Drains us of energy
Consolation:
· Directs our focus outside and beyond ourselves
· Lifts our hearts so that we can see the joys and sorrows of other people
· Bonds us more closely to our human community
· Generates new inspiration and ideas
· Restores balance and refreshes our inner vision
· Shows us where God is active in our lives and where he is leading us
· Releases new energy in us
As we learn to recognize when we are in desolation and consolation, we can respond accordingly-changing course (through prayer, community, discernment, spiritual direction) when in desolation, and staying the course when in consolation.
• Centering Prayer – Deep Center of Ourselves to God
- Sit comfortably, relaxed.
- Rest within yourself, aware of your desire for God.
- Slowly move to the center within your deepest self.
- In the stillness, become aware of God’s presence, peacefully absorbing God’s love.
• Centering Prayer with Mantra – Deep Center of Ourselves to God
- Sit quietly, comfortable and relaxed
- Rest within your longing and desire for God.
- Choose some suitable mantra.
- Relax, thanking God for God’s goodness.
- Take a comfortable posture.
- Repeat the mantra over and over in rhythm with or without your breath focus.
- If using breath, Divide the word or phrase between your breathing in and your breathing out.
- If distracted simply return and repeat mantra.
- Be aware of senses: Sounds, touch, breathing. Or you can just watch the thoughts flow by.
- Move to the center within your deepest self. You can facilitate this movement by imagining yourself walking down a flight of stairs or descending a mountain or go down into the water, as in a deep pool, or descending in an elevator.
- In stillness, become aware of God’s presence; peacefully absorb God’s love.
- You can use a mantra which is a prayer word or phrase that you repeat from within your heart.
- Examples are:
- Abba
- Jesus
- Spirit
- Healing
- Mercy
- Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.
- O God, make speed to save me. O Lord, make haste to help me.
- Be still and know that I am God. – Psalm 46:10 (45:10)
- My help comes from the Lord. – Psalm 120 (119)
- I know whom I have believed. – II Timothy 1:12
- For 10 to 30 minutes, repeat the sacred word or phrase. It should be repeated not only mechanically, but with focus and emotional content. Each repetition should be like a prayer.
- While repeating those prayers you can also feel that you are breathing in and out of the heart. It helps you further connect to it.
- When thoughts or emotions arise, bring the mind back to the sacred word or phrase.
- Cease after a comfortable period, finish with the Lord’s Prayer.
• Journaling – Meditative Writing Not a Diary
TYPES OF JOURNANLING
- Write about a Scripture passage that you read.
Read a passage from Scripture and begin writing whatever comes to you. Pay attention to your feelings, what attracts you in the Scripture passage. Write you feelings, what attracts you, what you want to say to God. You can thank God, confess to God, ask God questions, ask for something. Write what is on your heart
- Write a letter addressed to God.
Dear God,
I think of the blind man wanting desperately to come to you. I hear you ask him, “What do you want me to do for you?” I see my own blindness in . and I come to ask you..
- Write a conversation between oneself and Jesus or another significant person.
Me – Today I am so tired.
Jesus – What are you trying to do?
Me – I want to ..
Jesus – Go ahead. Be open with me.
Me – Okay Jesus, you know how .
- Write a dialogue with an event, a value or an experience, or answering a question
Me – Who are you, Truth?
Truth – I am a very important value for every person.
Me – Why are you so important?
Truth – Without me, people cannot trust each other.
Me – But then why are people afraid of the truth?
Steps to Journaling:
1. Pick one of the above method of writing or just let the Spirit move you.
2. Write
3. When you are finished journaling, reread what you have written.
Some Passages for Journaling
What are you looking for? – John 1:35-3
What do you want me to do for you? – John 5:1-15
Who do you say I am? – Matt. 16:13-23
Come and follow me! – Mark 1:16 – 20
• Guided Meditation
- Traditional Meditations — With these types of audios, the voice of the teacher is simply there to “illustrate” or “guide” the way for your attention, in order to be in a meditative state; there is more silence than voice in it, and sometimes music. The purpose is to develop and deepen the practice itself, with all the benefits that come with it.
- Guided Imagery — Makes use of the imagination and visualization powers of the brain, guiding you to imagine an object, entity, scenery or journey. The purpose is usually healing or relaxation.
- Relaxation & Body Scans — Helps you achieve a deep relaxation in your whole body. It’s usually accompanied by soothing instrumental music or nature sounds. The purpose is relaxation and calmness.
- Affirmations — Usually coupled with relaxation and guided imagery, the purpose of these meditations is to imprint a message in your mind.
• Practice of the Presence of God – Mindfulness
Practicing the Presence of God is the spiritual practice which intentionally sees all our acts as contributing to bringing about God’s Reign, God’s Dream for humanity and the world. In this practice, no task is too small, too mean. Everything we do, if we do it out of love for God and God’s world becomes prayer
• Mindfulness
1. Savor and appreciate the loveliness of the earth and all its riches.
2. Take time to feel and use your senses.
3. Take time to look, really look, at things.
4. Pay attention to what is really happening around you.
• Contemplation in Action – Mindfulness
Active contemplation helps us avoid burn-out or resentment or deception by always keeping us focused on the fact that we are living and acting in God’s World, not ours, for the sake of God’s Mission, not ours.
• Breathing Prayer – Awareness and Mindfulness
1. We pay attention to our breath, and to nothing else.
2. Every time we become distracted; we return to our breath.
3. Some exercises suggest that we count from ten backwards with every breath.
4. Others suggest that we pay attention to the air passing in and out of our nostrils.
5. Still other techniques propose a mantra on the in-breath and another on the out-breath. Something like: (in) “I breathe in God”; (out) “I breathe out my tension (worries, anxiety…)”
6. Some propose that, as we engage in breathing, we pay attention to our body, how it feels, where the tensions are, and that we let those tensions go.
7. While some practices recommend that we breathe normally, others propose that we take deep breaths from our diaphragm and let all our air out.
• Jesus Prayer
5. Slowly say, Lord …. Jesus Christ …. Son of God …. Have Mercy …. on Me …. a Sinner.
6. Say it slowly and deliberately. The mind should be locked into the words of the prayer and should be forced back each time it departs from it. Try to keep your mind from escaping from its total concentration on the words.
7. The essential part is to dwell in God, and this walking before God means that you live with the conviction ever before your consciousness that God is in you, as He is in everything: you live in the firm assurance that He sees all that is within you, knowing you better than you know yourself. This awareness of the eye of God looking at your inner being must not be accompanied by any visual concept, but must be confined to a simple conviction or feeling.
8. You can expect to be bombarded with thoughts like a swarm of gnats. When your mind is distracted from the prayer by thoughts, and it will, be polite and gentle but firmly nudge your mind back to the concentration on the prayer and seeking God. When you recognize your mind is wandering do not let it continue on this path. Don’t accept even good thoughts. Let your soul take charge and move your focus back to the words of the prayer.
9. When you reach the end of the prayer immediately begin to say it again. Make it like a continuous chain. The spacing of the words must fit your own make-up. Some will want to go very slow and others a little faster.
• Divine Office
A routine typical of praying the Hours. A variety of approaches are available on the market today, including two on-line versions, one at Divine Office or Universalis.
• Ignatian Exercises
1. First week. The first week of the Exercises is a time of reflection on our lives in light of God’s boundless love for us. We see that our response to God’s love has been hindered by patterns of sin. We face these sins knowing that God wants to free us of everything that gets in the way of our loving response to him. The first week ends with a meditation on Christ’s call to follow him.
2. Second week. The meditations and prayers of the second week teach us how to follow Christ as his disciples. We reflect on Scripture passages: Christ’s birth and baptism, his sermon on the mount, his ministry of healing and teaching, his raising Lazarus from the dead. We are brought to decisions to change our lives to do Christ’s work in the world and to love him more intimately.
3. Third week. We meditate on Christ’s Last Supper, passion, and death. We see his suffering and the gift of the Eucharist as the ultimate expression of God’s love.
4. Fourth week. We meditate on Jesus’ resurrection and his apparitions to his disciples. We walk with the risen Christ and set out to love and serve him in concrete ways in our lives in the world.
Prayer in the Exercises
1. The two primary forms of praying taught in the Exercises are meditation and contemplation.
a. In meditation, we use our minds. We ponder the basic principles that guide our life. We pray over words, images, and ideas.
b. Contemplation is more about feeling than thinking. Contemplation often stirs the emotions and enkindles deep desires. In contemplation, we rely on our imaginations to place ourselves in a setting from the Gospels or in a scene proposed by Ignatius. We pray with Scripture. We do not study it.
2. The discernment of spirits underlies the Exercises. We notice the interior movements of our hearts, and discern where they are leading us. A regular practice of discernment helps us make good decisions..
• The Mass
The Liturgy On Sunday
• Bible Study
Bible study – a focus on the meaning, the context, the implications, the references, and the application of a text. Of particular interest are those passages that outline a “rule of life,” or a creed, for example the Beatitudes, or some of Paul’s letters in which he begins an articulation of the “Cosmic Christ.”
• Spiritual Reading
Spiritual theology: what is the grounding of spirituality? What does a spiritual psychology look like? What are the historical roots of contemporary spirituality? What are contemporary theologians and scholars saying about God? Christ? Jesus? One needs to remember that the purpose of such study is not knowledge for its own sake but challenge to deepen our own relationship with God
• The Rosary
1. The Rosary as spiritual practice is designed to occupy the mind through repetitive rote prayer so that one’s imagination and affect can focus on the events of Jesus’ life and ministry that are the object of meditation.
2. Traditionally a set of beads, known as “Rosary beads” are used. The beads are divided into five groups of 10, separated by a slightly larger bead. Each bead represents one “Hail Mary” while the larger bead represents a “Glory be.” As a spiritual practice, before beginning each “decate” of beads one reflects on the mystery being proposed (see below.) Then for each bead, one recites a “Hail Mary” – “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.” Between decates is the “Glory be” – “Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Amen
3. Traditionally, there are four sets of meditations on the key events in the life of Jesus and Mary.
• Here are the four sets:
The Joyful Mysteries – focusing on events of the Incarnation:
1. 1. The Annunciation: meditate on what it means to say “yes” in trust
2. 2. The Visitation: imagine two saintly women surprised at their pregnancies
3. 3. The Nativity: reflect on the theological implications of such a humble birth
4. 4. The Presentation: reflect on the Jewishness of Jesus
5. The Finding of Jesus in the Temple: imagine Jesus at 12 beginning to think about his call
The Luminous Mysteries – focusing on events of Jesus’ ministry as “light-bearer”:
6. The Baptism in the Jordan: reflect on the experience of being unconditionally loved
7. The Wedding at Cana: meditate on new wine instead of old water of purification
8. Proclamation of the Kingdom: imagine living with (distributive) justice and compassion
9. The Transfiguration: reflect on peak experiences
10. Institution of the Eucharist (Last Supper): the bread of our labours; the wine of our suffering
The Sorrowful Mysteries – focusing on events of Jesus’ death:
11. The Agony in the Garden: meditate on “not my will but Yours”
12. The Scourging at the Pillar: reflect: this is what the dominant culture does to those who challenge it
13. The Crowning with Thorns: reflect: why does the dominant culture insist on mocking anything that purports to come from a higher power?
14. The Carrying of the Cross: imagine the horror of this form of execution
15. The Crucifixion: reflect: this is how the dominant culture always treats those who threaten its dominance
The Glorious Mysteries – focusing on Jesus’ resurrection and Mary’s role
16. The Resurrection: meditate: death is not the last word
17. The Ascension: reflect: what kind of existence does Jesus have now
18. The Descent of the Holy Spirit: imagine Ruach, Sophia, Spirit pervading the universe
19. The Assumption of Mary: imagine Mary’s place in the broad scheme of things
20. The Coronation of Mary: reflect: what role does Mary play in your life?
• Body Prayer
1. As you practice the simple presence of God,
2. use your body to express your prayer.
3. There is a wide range of established body prayers, that use gestures and postures to express wordlessly what is on your heart.
4. Experiment with forms of bodily gestures such as kneeling, bowing, prostrating to express your deepest feelings.
5. Learn and practice forms of gentle, reflective and intentional body movement.
• Divine Contemplation – Not something someone does – God brings them to it.
Contemplation is a long, loving, listening, joyful gaze at God. It is a personal experience of God, a direct and immediate contact with the divine. It is as Moses experienced and that is seeing God face-to-face, not through a concept or an image but directly through faith. It is knowing God deeper than the intellect, will or external senses; it is knowing God at the core.
Signs of Contemplation
1. No longer is meditation (which was once helpful) enjoyable.
2. Attentiveness to meditation is impossible.
3. There is a pleasure just being alone with God. Acknowledging these three signs, with the coordination of a few efforts, just as one might prepare for an athletic competition, the door to contemplation can be opened.
How Do We Contemplate?
To achieve the state of contemplation we must prepare ourselves. It is a time when we stop, listen, and be still. Doing nothing is almost impossible for some people. The masters suggest we find a quiet place, and begin with the body. Still the feet, the hands, then close the eyes and ears. Then, still the emotions (especially discarding negative thoughts), shed all desires or feelings. Above all, still the imagination and memory.
One way to use the imagination in Contemplation:
a. Enter into a Scripture passage.
b. Become involved.
c. Make use of all your senses.
d. Example – in a Gospel story enter into dialogue with Jesus. Be there with him. Pay attention to your feelings-senses. Let Jesus be for you what He wants to be like Shepherd, Consoler, Companion. Respond from your heart to him.
e. End in thanks
