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 the contemplative is aware that he/she has done nothing to deserve to reside in God’s presence. 

The sense of being loved by God is overpowering and at the same time empowering.  It is empowering for the realization that God’s love is there, and has always been there, at the center of one’s own being and is there to be shared by everyone.  It was always there, so close, that like the air we breathe, one cannot see it or feel it. 

Perhaps it is only movement, as air moves in order to feel it, toward the God created center of our being that allows us to perceive it now. This love is overpowering in that it fills the soul in constant communion with God.  This love spills out of us as water overfilling a cup. We have no choice but to carry this love to all we meet.  

All souls are worthy of God’s love for all are of creation.  God is pure mercy, pure forgiveness, for how could God reject that what God created?  At some time in the journey of interior spirituality, meditation becomes contemplation. 

Click to check out Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 2, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 3, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 4, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 5 and Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 6