Methods of meditation.

A young Indian hunter trekked to the river, armed with a slingshot, to hunt wild ducks. Collecting frogs along the shore, he started launching them at the ducks waddling nearby. With just two frog-propelled shots, he hit and killed two ducks, although the projectiles splashed into deep water. Satisfied, the young man headed back to the city with two ducks in his backpack and a single frog in hand.

A jeweler stopped him near the bazaar and exclaimed in surprise: “Boy, you have a diamond in your hand that is worth at least a thousand rupees!” The young hunter turned pale and cried in despair: “But I am a fool! I used the diamonds to kill two ducks… If I had looked at them carefully, I would have been rich now, and this is how the water took them all away!”

Each day is like a precious diamond. It is important to realize this and not waste the hunt.

The same can happen with our prayer. I must know how to use the correct method, and if I find it, I must know how to use it correctly.

The method enables us to pray. It is an excellent and valuable prayer aid because we must do it with a technique. As the masters of the spiritual life teach, the process is a great help to those who begin their relationship with God; a method is needed for them. However, for those already “advanced,” the process may not always be useful. Opinions differ on this. Some say the technique is necessary for everyone, while others do not. It can be more of a danger for the more advanced. “There is only one norm for them: to be guided by the Spirit of God, which comes, and you do not know where it comes from and where it is going.”

Be that as it may, the method is necessary, despite the speculation about it. Every person is an original. And every method is and will be original. However, unless a praying person develops his own method of meditation, he has no choice but to use those already tried and tested. The methods are different, different from each other, and have their characteristics. We know the Ignatian method (according to St. Ignatius of Loyola), the Sulpician method (this is a French school of spirituality from the 17th century, named after the parish of St. Sulpice in Paris; its representative was Cardinal Peter de Berulle), the Carmelite method, and others. The Carmelite Method is not even a method. Instead, it is prayer itself.

What is a method?

The method is not the goal of prayer. It is only a means to an end. The characteristic of each method is to help the praying person to get close to God, that is, to be with him (cf. Mk 4, 13). Each of us has our way of praying, so we cannot convulsively stick to a fixed method. If I get in touch with God at the first point of the process (they will be discussed later), that is thorough enough for my prayer. The goal of worship is not me but God, my conversation with HIM.

Let’s try to think about the individual points of the contemplative method:

1. Preparation

How I prepare for prayer depends on its entire later course. We discussed preparation in one of the previous catechesis: External conditions of worship. Let’s think about the preparation in a little more detail.

We distinguish distant, closer, close, and immediate preparation. Remote preparation takes up our whole life, our work, and everything related to the life of prayer. Sv. In her work The Way to Perfection, Teresa of Jesus mentions three virtues that are necessary for our life of prayer: mortification, humility, and mutual love. We will try to acquire these three virtues throughout our lives. In the spiritual life, this is called asceticism.

The second essential preparation is the closer one. It consists in preparing a thought for contemplation. It can be some truth of faith, experience, or moral conflict. If I want to experience the prayer well, I must prepare well. That is why it is important to prepare for worship in the evening. It consists of choosing some passage thoughts that will help me later in prayer. Various books can help us – and do help us – in meditation; however, they can often cause us that these “artificial meditations” may not appeal to us and do not lead us to the essence. The best aid for meditation will be the Gospel – living water. Sv. Thérèse of Lisieux commented on this extraordinary aid – the Gospel – as follows: “Even if I open a book by a spiritual writer (how beautiful and touching), I immediately feel that my heart is constricted, and I read in such a way that I hardly understand it, or if I also understand, my mind stops and I cannot meditate… In this helplessness, the Holy Scriptures and Following Christ come to my aid. I find in them a strong and quite pure dish. But in contemplation, I run above all to the Gospel, where I find everything necessary for my poor soul. I keep discovering new lights in it, a hidden and mysterious meaning.” (Vol. 1: Story of my soul, 83vo, p. 214.)

How should we proceed when choosing a text? Fundamentally, we choose a text that is for us. Nothing difficult. A state that is short and short. The optimal length of a state for meditation is eight verses. It can be a story from Jesus’ life (calling disciples, healing the sick, resurrection, conversation, for example, with a Samaritan woman…) We should prepare this text in the evening to use it in meditation in the morning. When we do not understand the text, we can also look for commentary to clarify some things. It should be an appropriate comment, preferably a Catholic one. Sv. Ignatius of Loyola said we should fall asleep with the text and return to it while sleeping or waking up. You may be wondering if this is possible. It is likely because even if we watch a movie in the evening, we often dream about different scenes from this movie, think about them, and even return to them the next day. So why shouldn’t we do the same with text? What is important is that during the “near” preparation, we look for “material” to meditate on and that this “material” helps us find the answer to our question.

Immediate preparation begins before the prayer itself. One must realize the moment of silence, which is very important. If I want to know how to pray, I must also know how to be silent. Sv. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila) recommends that the person praying should pray before the prayer itself. This is how he invites God into a mutual conversation. I concentrate on the closeness of God; I realize who I am standing in front of or what prayer position I am in right now. He is here, and I am standing in front of him. Many complain that they are not good at prayer, find it difficult to pray, and cannot even concentrate. Even if I were to focus all the time dedicated to worship and still struggle with being constantly aware of God’s nearness, it is not wasted time. The very desire to pray is prayer. Even if my prayer is focused on immediate preparation all the time, this time will be well spent.

2. Reading

Reading as a separate part of contemplative prayer should be discussed separately because it is already partially included in the preparation for prayer. However, it belongs to contemplative prayer, it is part of it. In what sense? We said that we would choose a suitable text in the evening. We did it. During the day, but also during the prayer itself, it would be advisable to return to this text more often. We have already talked about suitable reading. “The reading at the beginning of the prayer is not an ordinary spiritual reading. Prayer does not consist of reading. It’s just preparation. It is recommended to read for about 5 minutes. Even prepared meditations should fit into the mentioned time. I should read to help myself, not to read out of curiosity. If the reading is extended, it causes distraction in us, and constant reading can also be an escape from prayer, which is not what God wants from us. Saint Teresa of Jesus mentions the book during meditation. But it’s just a tool to help me arouse my desire for God with some suitable text – if I can’t concentrate. However, if I don’t read a book at all during prayer, it can border on pride, and in the practical life of prayer, a void can emerge. Contemplation fills this void. Through our senses and feelings, we navigate and meditate. When we find a passage or event from Jesus’ life that resonates with us, we enter a conversation with Him or other characters from the story. This is not a study session, but an encounter with Jesus. We can aid our imagination with a suitable picture of Jesus. As St. Theresa of Jesus recommends, a friendly conversation with Jesus is the goal of contemplation, fostering a spiritual friendship that extends beyond prayer to a deeper way of life, characteristic of Carmelite spirituality.

St. Theresia is conscientious that we perceive Jesus – his humanity – realistically. She writes: “Since I did not know how to think with my mind, I adhered to this way of praying. I tried to imagine Christ in my sou and succeeded best in meditating on those mysteries in which I observed him alone… That was my way of prayer.” Imagination plays a big role in prayer. Contemplation by reason is not the essence of worship. Prayer cannot be thinking but loving, as Teresa said from Jesus. And what about those who can’t imagine anything? When does the image fade or dissolve quickly? Such people should not strain themselves with imagination but should emphasize emotional movements.

3. The prayer itself

If we set out to pray 30 minutes a day, everything we have said so far should fit into 10 minutes. What about those remaining minutes? Prayer itself means looking to Him. To be with him and in front of him as I am. “Contemplation must bring the person praying before the living God. He must realize his holy reality, he must seek his holy face. A dialogue arises where the human “I” stands against the divine “you“ – against God.“ St. John of the Cross calls it: being in front of and with him, looking at him, finding love in him. Teresa of Jesus calls it a loving relationship with God. Prayer grows and, over time, only requires a few words. It becomes more and more simple. It becomes contemplation.

4. Resolution

The fruit of prayer is determination, which consists of a determined desire to serve God and neighbors more perfectly and with greater zeal. If this does not happen, something is wrong in our prayer, something is missing. Therefore, prayer should invite us to constantly work on ourselves, not waste God’s opportunities, and discover him as a precious diamond.