Meditation is a classical discipline practiced by many of the biblical characters: Eli, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, St. Paul, St. Peter, and Christ himself. Jesus often slipped away from the crowds to seek out his Father, to listen to Him, to commune with Him. He begs us to do the same. In Luke's work of Acts, detailing the works of Christ in the early Church, we see Christ, through His Spirit, teaching and guiding his children. Christ is alive and among us, as our Priest to forgive us, our Prophet to teach us, our King to rule us, our Shepherd to guide us.
In meditation we are "growing into a familiar friendship with Jesus," as Thomas a' Kempis puts it. The pious statement, "He walks with me and talks with me" becomes a reality in our lives. In meditation, we are able to hear God speaking to us, teaching us, guiding us, leading us. We are able to hear His voice and commune with Him. We will develop a friendship with Jesus that saturates every aspect of our life, and we will find ourselves transformed by bathing in His presence. We are able to understand and experience the idea of actual contact and communion with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who has called Himself Yahweh.
How does one meditate? According to Richard Foster, there are four major ways:
1) When reading the biblical narratives, we insert ourselves into the story with all our senses, and there we let God speak to us
2) We surrender all of our problems, trials, difficulties, and concerns to God, then bathe in the silence of God, awaiting His still, small voice
3) We meditate upon the created world; over Spring Break I plan on going down to Red River Gorge for back-packing, and this will be a great opportunity for me to practice this type of meditation
4) We meditate upon events in our lives or events in the world and try to see God in them
I hope to make meditation one of the spiritual disciplines of my life that I practice daily. Last Spring and May, for thirty days I practiced Lectio Divina three times a day. Reading my journal entries, I can just taste the peace, the joy, the tranquility. I know that meditation ferries us into beautiful, blissful communion with Yahweh, and I know this communion is transforming.
In meditation we are "growing into a familiar friendship with Jesus," as Thomas a' Kempis puts it. The pious statement, "He walks with me and talks with me" becomes a reality in our lives. In meditation, we are able to hear God speaking to us, teaching us, guiding us, leading us. We are able to hear His voice and commune with Him. We will develop a friendship with Jesus that saturates every aspect of our life, and we will find ourselves transformed by bathing in His presence. We are able to understand and experience the idea of actual contact and communion with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who has called Himself Yahweh.
How does one meditate? According to Richard Foster, there are four major ways:
1) When reading the biblical narratives, we insert ourselves into the story with all our senses, and there we let God speak to us
2) We surrender all of our problems, trials, difficulties, and concerns to God, then bathe in the silence of God, awaiting His still, small voice
3) We meditate upon the created world; over Spring Break I plan on going down to Red River Gorge for back-packing, and this will be a great opportunity for me to practice this type of meditation
4) We meditate upon events in our lives or events in the world and try to see God in them
I hope to make meditation one of the spiritual disciplines of my life that I practice daily. Last Spring and May, for thirty days I practiced Lectio Divina three times a day. Reading my journal entries, I can just taste the peace, the joy, the tranquility. I know that meditation ferries us into beautiful, blissful communion with Yahweh, and I know this communion is transforming.
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