For a wonderful introduction to Lectio Divina from within the Benedictine tradition visit the Monks of Conception Abbey: Lectio Divina.View a heartfelt production with the 4 steps is at CatholicProductions: Lectio Divina.This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him." (CCC Par 2708) There are various approaches to Lectio Divina.
#PRAYER IN SILENCE FREE#
Prayer has been described as communion with God (our note: feel free to use the term that best resonates with you, there are so many different names for God). You simply become mentally quiet, physically still, and make contact with your own indwelling Lord. Christian prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. In the prayer of silence, you cease trying to think, be, do, get or have anything. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. For those within the Catholic tradition, a word of wisdom: meditative prayer "engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. Lectio Divina is a type of meditative prayer that can have great value to the Christian disciple. In this silence, unbearable to the 'outer' man (sic), the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus." (CCC Par 2717). It is also silence, "the 'symbol of the world to come' or 'silent love.' Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. The Catechism of the Catholic Church expands on contemplative prayer as a 'gaze of faith', 'hearing', a union in mystery and the night of the soul'.
#PRAYER IN SILENCE FULL#
And, Full text of homily: Silence and the Shadow of God. To consider: Pope Francis: the silence that is the force of the Spirit, the mystery of our path in the life with the Lord. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Part IV: Christian Prayer.Rodriguez, OCD (Washington DC: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976), I,67.) And, "Contemplative prayer seeks him 'whom my soul loves '." Song 1:7 cf. Teresa of Jesus, The Book of Her Life, 8,5 in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, observed: "Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us." (St. The silence of Christian contemplative prayer opens in mystery on a promising invitation to abide in and share more deeply the love of God. It is not the ground which favors falsity, injustice, repression, and oppression. This is not that silence of denial and obfuscation. Often difficulties and objections disappear when they find out what Christian theology really says.The silence that arises in Contemplative Prayer is integral to Catholic life. Many Christians are unfamiliar with the full beauty of their faith. The poetry also alludes to the Bible, especially the Gospels and the psalms which are my daily bread. I have used poetry for some years in my work of spiritual accompaniment one-to-one, and I hope that online readers may find the poems helpful as they move from pondering the poem, into prayer to God in words and movements of the heart, and finally into the deep inner silence of abiding in the divine presence.Īll my poetry presupposes foundational Christian theology such as the doctrine of the Trinity and the resurrection of Christ, and cannot be properly understood without it. These things move the heart into a place of receptivity and faith-filled expectation, and ease the transition into inner stillness. Poetry works on the borders of the inexpressible, approaching mystery sidelong by means of metaphor and image. Then there is spiritual reading such as poetry. There is prayer in words, such as the prayer of the daily office.
But there are ways of preparing the heart for the silence of contemplative prayer.
Poem – prayer – silence: what is that about? Aren’t words and silence opposites? It is true that the deepest communion of prayer is silence deeper than thought.
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