Christian meditation

Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts (such as a Bible passage) and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.

We begin by thinking of the favor which God bestowed upon us by giving us His only Son; and we do not stop there but proceed to consider the mysteries of His whole glorious life.

[16] Building on that theme, E. P. Clowney explained that three dimensions of Christian meditation are crucial, not merely for showing its distinctiveness, but for guiding its practice.

[3] Thomas Merton characterized the goal of Christian meditation as follows: "The true end of Christian meditation is practically the same as the end of liturgical prayer and the reception of the sacraments: a deeper union by grace and charity with the Incarnate Word, who is the only Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.

[23][24] In the 12th century, decades before Guigo II's the Ladder of the Monk, one of his predecessors, Guigo I, emphasized this belief by stating that when earnest meditation begins, the Holy Spirit enters the soul of the meditator, "turns water into wine" and shows the path toward contemplation and a better understanding of God.

"[26] In the 20th century, Hans Urs von Balthasar paraphrased this teaching as follows:[24] The vistas of God's Word unfold to the meditating Christian solely through the gift of the Divine Spirit.

[40] Thomas Merton, an American Catholic monk, believed Christianity had forsaken its mystical tradition in favor of Cartesian emphasis on rationality and concepts.

Another Buddhist practice described to support Aitken's argument is the Nembutsu, a chant, or prayer, meant to elicit an influential super-being in Buddhism, Amida.

Additionally, Kyeongil Jung writes of his own personal journey to find peace, or liberation from suffering, as he is consistent and engaged in both Christianity and Buddhism.

Jung paints this complex scene in which it is possible to find liberation through these two religious paths, yet there are also four main dichotomies that he presents which he has climbed over in his own spiritual walk.

Jung presents a more abstract case of a congenial plight on mindfulness; mediation and action, finding that there isn't one that comes without the other first.

[50][51] The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by Guigo II, a Carthusian monk who died late in the 12th century.

[52] Guigo II's book The Ladder of Monks is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition.

[53] In Eastern Christianity, the monastic traditions of "constant prayer" that traced back to the Desert Fathers and Evagrius Pontikos established the practice of hesychasm and influenced John Climacus' book The Ladder of Divine Ascent by the 7th century.

[55] Teresa's contemporary and collaborator, John of the Cross continued the tradition of Guigo II and taught the four stages of Lectio Divina.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola use meditative mental imagery, with the goal of knowing Christ more intimately and loving him more ardently.

[10] Hesychastic prayer and meditation continues to be used in the Eastern Orthodox tradition as a spiritual practice that facilitates the knowing of Christ.

To this day, the Spiritual Exercises remain an integral part of the Novitiate training period of the Roman Catholic religious order of Jesuits.

Her prayers described in The Way of Perfection involve meditation on a mystery in the life of Jesus and are based on the faith that "God is within", a truth that Teresa said she learned from St.

[66] In her Life, she wrote that she taught herself from the instructions given in the book, The Third Spiritual Alphabet – by Francisco de Osuna – which relates to Franciscan mysticism.

[70] She would use devices such as short readings, a scene of natural beauty or a religious statue or picture to remind her to keep her focus.

[30] Early studies on states of consciousness by Roland Fischer found evidence of mystical experience in the writings of Saint Teresa of Avila.

[75] This corresponds to the fourth stage described by Saint Teresa, "Devotion of Ecstasy", where the consciousness of being in the body disappears, as an effect of deep transcendent meditation in prayer.

[78] James Finley is a former Trappist monk and clinical psychologist who teaches meditation Center for Action and Contemplation, founded by Richard Rohr.

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.

[88][89] Significant portions of the writings of the Venerable Concepcion Cabrera de Armida were reported to have been based on her adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

[93] The practice of meditation during the praying of repeated Hail Marys dates back to 15th century Carthusian monks, and was soon adopted by the Dominicans at large.

[13] In his 2002 encyclical Rosarium Virginis Mariae, Pope John Paul II placed the rosary at the very center of Christian spirituality.

"[98] During the Byzantine Empire, between the 10th and 14th centuries, a tradition of prayer called hesychasm developed, particularly on Mount Athos in Greece, and continues to the present.

[citation needed] This style of prayer was at first opposed as heretical by Barlam in Calabria, but was defended by Saint Gregory Palamas.