Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Methods of Contemplative Prayer

Mother Nadine, founder of Bellwether, more famously known as the Intercessors of the Lamb (http://www.bellwetheromaha.org/), is a friend I made during a visit to Omaha a couple of years ago. She is a contemplative whose writings on the subject you may want to read. One of the methods she suggests is taking "an elevator ride from the mind down to the heart". I found this a useful technique that I adapted to suit my own needs, and I share it with you here.

Find a quiet place — a must for any contemplative prayer — and after a time of worship, imagine getting into an elevator that's stopped on the floor of your mind. You press the button to the heart, and very slowly the elevator begins to descend. It gets slower as it goes down, and quieter as well, until it finally stops at the heart. There you open the door and you find Jesus (or the Father/Holy Spirit) waiting for you. He takes your hand as you step out and leads you to a secluded spot where you begin to engage in contemplative dialog with him. Ask him a question. Wait for an answer. That may lead you to another question. Ask. Listen. But let these questions and answers be heart to heart, rather than mind to mind. When you are done, review the conversation in your mind and extract insights or lessons that you have obtained.

Another good method is Ignatian contemplation, which makes use of active imagination within a selected gospel text. It is a method I followed for years before I discovered that St Ignatius had already put his mark on it, though my method was more meditative than contemplative. Difference below.

Read a passage from the Bible and ponder over it for a few seconds, running the entire scene in your mind's eye. Read it once again to take in any details that you may have overlooked. Read it a third time if you feel the need to do so, then close the book—and your eyes—and put yourself in the scene. Identify with a person or situation in the narrative and re-live what the Bible describes happened. It can prove to be a fascinating exercise.

We followed a similar method a few days ago as we meditated on Jesus's agony in the Garden of Gethsemane (see link) but meditation involves more of the mind, whereas contemplation involves more of the heart. Therefore, when contemplating the Agony, there is more passivity when you re-live the scene, with others controlling the events of the scene and you just going along, making no judgements or comparisons, or trying to arrive at intellectual conclusions.

After you are done contemplating, you go through what actually took place during the time you spent in contemplation, writing down what you felt, thought, etc.

It's a lot of fun, really, and if you do try it, let me know how it went for you. God bless.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for this, Brother Aneel. I praise the Lord for I have been trying to find a way to get very close to Him. There were times when I really thought that Jesus was talking to me but then when I waited for an answer to eventuate it did not. I asked Him why it was like that and that was when I get confused. I will certainly try what you have written in my quiet time with Him. Thank you, Beneteta

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  2. Dear Br. Aneel thanks for this wonderful insight. I was just looking for such an inspiration. God heard me. I will be sending this to all my friends.

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