Contemplative Prayer
Introduction
Brief review of monastic prayer of The Hours
My experience with the Tridentine Seminarian
Reasons for Contemplative Prayer and prayer in general
- To “live” a Spiritual life in this mess we call a civilization DK
One of my favorite sages DK says this in Discipleship in the New Age. We have a tremendous challenge in our society of cell phones schedule and rapid transit. Not really conducive to the contemplative experience!
- To have/build Inner Peace
- To pray without ceasing—a life which is expressed as a prayer
- To know God Within
- To become a finite point of outpouring of God’s infinite power (Leadbetter)
Elements of Prayer
- Stopping the “babbler”—what we learn from the East
- Reaching “Past the Ceiling”
- Priming the pump
- Using set prayers—morning, office, etc.
- Revisiting the Rosary
- Guided Meditation/Seed Thought Meditation
- The Eucharist as a prayer or guided meditation
What Contemplative Prayer is not
- Bargaining for one’s own way
- Black magic to manipulate other—my experience in Africa and Rapid City
- Gossip session
- Sermon
- Rigid marathon of self-abuse
Types and Uses of Contemplative Prayer
- Solitary practice of God’s presence
- Perpetual adoration—my experience at Fatima
- Peripatetic prayer (not very pathetic)
- Using groups for contemplative prayer
- Rosary to unite a community in prayer—my experience with Fr. M. Adams
- Intercession—general and specific
- Becoming an energy modifier in a community
- Problem resolution in a group, community, nation, world, by consensus
- Intuitional growth through groups, meditations, and prayer with a leader
Getting Started
- As an individual—my experience at Christ’s Church
- As a church/community—my experience with Cursilo
- As a class—my experience with the Forum of Light and the Newcastle Study Group
Sources:
Discipleship in the New Age, Alice Bailey
Glamour a World Problem
A Western way of Meditation, The Rosary Revisited, David Buxton Bryan
Rosaries of Divine Union Fr. Michael Adams
The New Catholic Concise Liturgy and Other Useful Writings, Fr. Alan Kemp