CHRISTIAN MEDITATION: PART ONE

We certainly hear a lot about meditation in the news and popular media today. Time Magazine and Newsweek have featured articles on the topic, and Buddhist, Zen, and New Age workshops and books abound, especially here in New York City. We don’t all recognize, though, that Christianity has its own ancient tradition of meditation, and tools for this practice remain readily available to us in 2005.

WHAT?

Unraveling a minor confusion of terminology helps define the “what” of the Christian practice. Historically, “meditation” in the Church meant a discourse or verbal exploration of a topic or passage in scripture. A retreat leader (e.g., the Rev. Barbara Crafton) might lead us through a “meditation” or reflection on the spiritual life. When speaking of what contemporary culture now commonly calls “meditation,” Christians historically used the term “contemplation” or “contemplative prayer.” Today, in part due to Thomas Keating’s movement to revitalize Christian contemplative practice, we sometimes hear the term “Centering Prayer.”

Here are some helpful definitions:

“Contemplative Prayer is the normal development of the grace of baptism and the regular practice of Lectio Divina. We may think of prayer as thoughts or feelings expressed in words. But this is only one expression. Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart - our whole being - to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing - closer than consciousness itself. Contemplative Prayer is a process of interior purification leading, if we consent, to divine union.”
The Method of Centering Prayer, by Thomas Keating, http://www.thecentering.org/centering_method.html

The Episcopal Church, on its website, defines “Centering Prayer” as follows:

“A method of quiet meditation in which a single symbolic word is used as a sign of one's willingness to wait on God and be available to God's presence. This word is used as a point of focus. The discipline involves setting aside twenty minutes or so for quiet prayer. This apophatic method has been widely taught and practiced in the Episcopal Church since the early 1980s. Thomas Keating's Finding Grace at the Center (1978) encouraged the practice of centering prayer.” http://www.episcopalchurch.org/liturgy_music.htm, Liturgy & Music, Glossary of Liturgical Terms.

WHY?

We can identify numerous “secular” reasons for meditation – stress reduction, healing and other medical benefits, experiencing psychological states of peace and bliss. . . .But why practice “Christian” meditation? Our own Archbishop of Canterbury articulates one rationale. He finds in contemplative prayer a pathway to unity:

“We do things differently, say things differently, and yet when we pray together there is. . . the same eternal prayer being prayed, the same eternal gift being given. . . . And in our search for unity the sharing of contemplation has to take a very important place. . . . We need a depth in our search for unity that has not always been there when our talk about unity has been preoccupied with negotiation. That depth will come when we are prepared to take those risks of silence together, not quite knowing what God will give us in that process.”

May they all be One … but how?, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury Ecumenical Conference, St Albans (May 17, 2003).

This question of “Why?”is even more beautifully answered by the Roman Catholic Church in a Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, (Oct 15, 1989):

“Christian prayer is . . . a personal, intimate and profound dialogue between man and God. It expresses therefore the communion of redeemed creatures with the intimate life of the Persons of the Trinity. . . . [T]he essential element of authentic Christian prayer is the meeting of two freedoms, the infinite freedom of God with the finite freedom of man.

This revelation takes place through words and actions . . . . These make man capable of welcoming and contemplating the words and works of God and of thanking him and adoring him, both in the assembly of the faithful and in the intimacy of his own heart illuminated by grace.

To find the right "way" of prayer, the Christian should consider what has been said earlier regarding the prominent features of the "way of Christ," whose "food is to do the will of him who sent [him], and to accomplish his work" (Jn 4:34). Jesus lives no more intimate or closer a union with the Father than this, which for him is continually translated into deep prayer. . . . [He] retir[ed] to a solitary place during his earthly sojourn to unite himself to the Father and receive from him new strength for his mission in this world. . . . Contemplative Christian prayer always leads to love of neighbor, to action and to the acceptance of trials, and precisely because of this it draws one close to God.”

Found at: http://www.cin.org/users/james/files/meditation.htm.

A summary of the above, rather lengthy, excerpt might be simply – because the example of Jesus tells us to pray in this way, and doing so will lead to love of God and love of neighbor – in concrete action. In Christian life we need to move from action to solitude and reflection, then back to action, then to solitude, and so on. One feeds the other, and neither alone is a complete path.

Anyone interested in participating in a Contemplative Prayer group at All Saints Church should contact Katie Yagerman at kyagerman@juno.com, or (212) 752-1486.

Resources on Christian Meditation:

Thomas Keating
http://www.thecentering.org/centering_method.html

World Community for Christian Meditation
http://www.wccm.org

Finley, James, Christian Meditation, Experiencing the Presence of God, A Guide to Contemplation, HarperSanFrancisco (2004); also available on CD from www.SoundTrue.com

Ryan, Thomas, Prayer of Heart & Body, Meditation and Yoga as Christian Spiritual Practice, Paulist Press (1995). See also http://www.tomryancsp.org/. Fr. Ryan is a Roman Catholic priest, who offers classes in yoga as a form of Christian prayer, at St. Paul the Apostle Parish Center on W. 59th Street in New York.

Merton, Thomas, New Seeds of Contemplation, New Directions (1961); See also www.mertonfoundation.org

-KSY

 

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