Christian Spirituality

Well, you probably won't get everyone to agree exactly on a definition - but let's take a fairly traditional Christian approach.

You can think of ways of prayerful meditation as falling into two distinct groups:

- kataphatic (from Greek: 'with images')
- apophatic

Odd words, eh?

Kataphatic prayer uses images - symbols, ideas, experience. Ignatian spirituality tends to be kataphatic - using imagination, words and pictures (inner or otherwise).

Apophatic prayer uses no content - it involves emptying ourselves of images, ideas and sensations. Carmelite nuns are expert in apophatic prayer - the still, centering prayer.

Lectio divina tends to straddle both traditions - kataphatic and apophatic. It depends really on how you use the scripture passage that is chosen.

Of course, we're all different, and it's good to try different ways of prayer to discover which approaches suit us - or even, suit us in particular circumstances. That's what this lens and its related lenses are about, really. Exploring tried and tested ways of praying in order that we might grow in spiritual maturity and awareness of God.

Anyway, enough of boring theory! Let's have a bit of practice! Shall we try a bit of apopathic meditation? It's probably best to read the next passage through once or twice before doing this - you might want to close your eyes!

But first remember that, in this type of prayer, the aim is not to achieve a void, but a 'being with' the living God.
Now, are you in a quiet, still environment?
Are you in a comfortable position?
Then, let's begin!

Be still, let your body and your mind calm down from the busyness of the day...

Relax each of your limbs in turn:
- right leg...
- left leg...
- right arm...
- left arm...
Feel your limbs getting heavier as they relax...

Now, allow your pelvis and your tummy muscles to loosen. Feel your weight in your legs and hips. And as your muscles begin to unwind, be aware of your thoughts and feelings becoming calmer too.

Next, move your attention to your chest and then move up to your neck and shoulders. Notice the big muscles there - sense them, feel them - you might want to move them - and then allow them to soften and lengthen...

Now for your face muscles - feel the muscles around your mouth, around your eyes, your jaw muscles, your forehead... let them loosen and become softer...
Allow your scalp and your temples to let go of any tension or tightness they are holding...

You are feeling calm and still.
Stay like that for a minute or so...
Calm and still...

Then...
...focus on your breathing - feel your breaths coming from deep in the pit of the stomach. Don't worry about the speed or regularity - just breathe comfortably and deeply from deep inside your tummy...

Now, on each in-breath say the words, "My God" or just "God",
and on the out-breath just be with your God.

After 5 or 10 minutes allow yourself to become aware of the room/space around you. And ask God to help you to continue to stay aware of God's presence in and around you as you 'come back' to your usual everyday awareness.

Now, share your thoughts with God as one friend to another.

And the blessing of God remain with you throughout the rest of your day/night.
Amen.

Poster from Allposters

I have been thinking about the maternal nature of God's love.

Now, before some of you rear up or start bristling, I'm not about to say that God is female. But there again, I'm not going to say that God is male, either. Personally, I believe that God transcends gender - God encompasses both the perfect male and female characteristics - after all, how else could God create women and men?

But for now, because it is in the forefront of my mind, I'd like to think of some of the ways in which the Bible talks about the feminine side of God - and focus on one Bible passage in particular.

If you want to do some homework, then you might choose to look up these references in the Bible.

Deuteronomy 32:18 ...the God who gave you birth
Psalm 22:9&10 ...God as midwife
Isaiah 42:14 ...God crying out like a woman in labour
Isaiah 49:15 ...God compared with a nursing mother
Isaiah 66:13 ...God like a mother comforting her child

But my favourite passage on this subject has to be Psalm 131.

Now you can approach this psalm in one of two ways (probably lots more, but I'm keeping to the things I know!). You can use the psalm to do a 'lectio divina' type of meditation - mulling and savouring. Or you can be more kataphatic and take your imagination for a little exercise - you can visualise being the weaned child at its mother's (God's) breast. I particularly like the fact that it says a 'weaned' child - not a colicky, fractious newborn, but a child who can smile, laugh and respond to its mother.

I once did a meditation based on this psalm when I was on a retreat at St Beuno's - curled up in a lovey comfortable armchair. It was a wonderful time of prayer for me and I will always remember it.

Enjoy the psalm.

Psalm 131

A song of ascents. Of David.

My heart is not proud, LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed myself
and quieted my ambitions.
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.

Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.

Many blessings

Take your time...

Have your sound switched on...

Enjoy - the labyrinth

These are some famous Christian prayers - both contemporary and old:

Famous Prayers

I have just discovered a rather lovely little book by David O'Malley called Prayers to Start the Day. It only cost me three GB pounds but it is a gem - light enough to pack easily in a suitcase or handbag and with short but thought-provoking prayers to start each day.

This is the short meditation that I read this morning:

We are called to be children of the light, open, playful, honest and dependent upon God. Darkness creeps into our lives when we forget to play, when we choose isolation and take ourselves too seriously, as independent people. We are not made for independence. We are made to belong to a loving Father. We are children of the light, not of darkness.
Our hearts are restless, until we recognise our dependence on God.

After this meditation David O'Malley asks the following questions for the day ahead:

What shadows are there inside me as the day begins?

Where will lightness and truth be most accessible today?

Who will need the light of my presence today?

Where will I find darkness a threat?

If you like to start the day with some kind of Daily Office and your lifestyle is busy, then this book might well be a useful resource for you.

Prayers to Start the Day by David O'Malley SDB; Don Bosco Publications: ISBN 0-9548388-0-7