Tag: infinite love

Contemplation as Integrated Prayer: Part 3

Contemplation as Integrated Prayer: Part 3

By |

In contemplation, the supernatural becomes the natural. It is the way of life that encompasses all of life, which integrates the complexities and vagaries into a meaningful and harmonious whole.  

One taste of the infinite love that God has for each of us is sufficient to perpetuate a lifelong journey of basking in that love. It is so immediate and so direct it heightens all other loving relationships in our life. It also unifies all that is disparate for this love.  

For the contemplative, the many veils of violence and terror, human suffering, hurtful relationships, and arrogant use of power are all sad separations from the love that God wills for us.  

It is the underlying constancy of God’s love that is the reconciling force, to forgive all and redeem all. In the beginning as in the end and in simplicity, for the contemplative, God has only one request, 

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. You must love your neighbor as yourself  (Matthew 22: 37-40) 

Check out Contemplation as Integrated Prayer: Part 1 and Contemplation as Integrated Prayer: Part 2

Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 2

Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 2

By |

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 centered in my very being and as soon as worldly affairs pulled in the opposite direction, the longing intensified until a restful contemplation again gave partial relief.  

There was an innate knowing that only in contemplation would the object of desire be found.  Again and again, I returned to contemplative prayer in lasting hope that my will, the felt source of my burning desire, would become one with the Divine Will.  

My heartfelt prayer became, ”Not my will, but your will, Lord, be done.”

To deny the inclinations toward contemplative prayer would be to deny my very life sustenance. Deep within my being was sought what only God could satisfy; God was drawing my soul into an infinite love so that “I” no longer existed as “self” but was lost in God. 

God may not immediately gratify that which has been given up.  The soul may enter what we and others have described as the dark night of the soul.  

Click to check out Meditation Become Contemplation: Part 1, Meditation Become Contemplation: Part 3, and Meditation Become Contemplation: Part 4, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 5 and Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 6