The love that I felt from God not only encompassed my being but extended to all including those who had perpetuated much injustice. I was led to understand the compassion for souls that seemed to be so much the focus of Jesus’ ministry even as he was led to death. This love and compassion is all-encompassing, all …
One experience I have described in an earlier blog, The Dark Night of the Soul: Part 2, with the losses from my business and the injustice done to my family. The stress became so overwhelming that I cried out to God in despair. Another dark night period, after I had lost my business and my employment contract had been prematurely …
During the dark night of the soul to struggle at this time is fruitless, for God has captured the soul and keeps it in abeyance. There is no longer illusion and worldly desire to comfort or self-identity to control what is happening. This is a period of timeless waiting and of purification of the soul, preliminary to …
For me, it took many years of meditation to move towards contemplation, although I did experience some moments and periods of illumination along the way. Contemplation began with the longing and burning desire to be with God. It is as though my soul was reaching out but could not immediately attain a deeper union with God. This longing was …
The point at which God-centered meditation becomes contemplation is totally dependent on God. Contemplation can be defined as a state of being in which the contemplative is absorbed into and in union with a loving God. It is a continuous state of being in the presence of God. It is a pure gift from God for …
For many years now, I have sensed gifts of the Spirit and the peace of God within me. It carries over into all the relationships that I have with others, and persons often comment about the peace that they see or sense in me. There is no doubt that this peace came to me in meditation and whenever I …
A particular gift of the Spirit that God seems to will for us in meditation is the gift of peace. One may experience a calmness or more peaceful state almost immediately upon beginning in meditation. However, as meditative prayer deepens and God becomes the revealed center of one’s life, the gift of peace comes to the …
Another time I received the gift of the Spirit, I took a retreat by myself to a cabin in the woods. I arrived late in the afternoon and it was already dark outside since the month was February. I decided to make a fire and spend some time in prayer before preparing dinner. As soon as the fire was roaring and I settled …
There are many gifts of the Spirit that may be experienced through meditation. God may call someone to tongues, prophecy, healing, the gift of tears, and the many other gifts enumerated by St. Paul. Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.(l Corinthians 12:1-11) One should neither be surprised …
One of the dependencies lost through “the dark night of the soul” is images or other such gratification. Prayer is no longer a function so much of the mind or imagination as it is a prayer of the heart, discussed earlier. Prayer of the heart seems to well up from the innermost being or core and …