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CONTEMPLATIVE

Loving God Through Adoration

Character Traits

  • The contemplative seeks to perform the first work of adoring God. God is known and described as the heavenly spouse in whom all the contemplative’s delight is met.

  • While some seek to serve the Lord, others seek to celebrate him, and still others seek to explain him, the contemplative seeks to gaze lovingly into God’s face and be caught up in the rapture of a lover’s experience.

  • “The fact remains that contemplation will not be given to those who willfully remain at a distance from God, who confine their interior life to a few routine exercises of piety and a few external acts of worship and service performed as a matter of duty... God does not manifest Himself to these souls because they do not seek Him with any real desire.” - Thomas Merton

  • A contemplative reminds us that God seeks a passionate love that is so strong it burns all other bonds. See Duet. 7:7-8 & Psalm 63

  • They can be misunderstood. Martha, a caregiver, was rebuked not for performing service, but for judging Mary, a contemplative.

  • “There are so many Christians who have practically no idea of the immense love of God for them, and of the power of that Love to do them good, to bring them happiness.” — Merton

  • But contemplatives live for this love.

  • They want to enjoy God and learn to love him in ever deeper ways.

  • Contemplatives remind us of a startling fact: There is one thing that each individual Christian can do that nobody else can: give our personal love and affection to God.

What Are Our Pitfalls?

 

Losing Balance

Beware that your love for God is precluding enjoying the company of others or something God has made.

Creating a Vacuum

Be cautious of practices that speak of emptying yourself and creating a vacuum. A Christian wants to be filled with the Holy Spirit, not emptied out.

Suggestions for the Road

 

The Jesus Prayer

Through history, contemplatives made great use of the “Jesus Prayer,” that goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The purpose of the Jesus Prayer is to practice the presence of God.

When you are anxious, frightened, uptight, spiritually dry, or being tempted, the Jesus prayer calls you to a humble reliance on God.



Secret Acts of Devotion

A secret act of devotion is something you do — giving an anonymous gift, helping out someone “behind the scenes,” sending a card — without letting anyone, even the person who benefits, know you had anything to do with it.

The importance of secrecy is that it ensures that you are doing it for the love of God — only.

Examples include:

  • Anonymous gift of cash to someone in need
  • Poem written to God, then burned
  • Song sung only in the presence of God
  • Intensive, intercessory prayer with fasting
  • A symbol of your love for God, which you carry in your pocket or wear as a necklace or ring


Centering Prayer

Choose a word [i.e. Jesus or Father, etc.] as a focus for contemplative prayer. Repeat the word silently in your mind for a set amount of time [say, 15 minutes]. Fill you mind with thoughts of Jesus, or love, joy, or peace.

The goal is not to create a spiritual experience, but to simply rest in and enjoy the presence of God.



Stations of the Cross

Simply read through the events of Christ’s crucifixion, i.e. death sentence given to Jesus, Gethsemane, women mourning for Jesus, being stripped, beaten, mocked, nailed, Jesus speaking to John about Mary, dying, removed from cross, laid in tomb.

At each point pause and picture the truth of Scripture this episode highlights.

Want to learn even more?

 

Explore all the different ways people can connect to God and discover the value of each and every path.