This is a slightly technical post, but several times I get to call the thoughts of some people baloney, so you may be interested nonetheless. Sometime around 1620, according to the reports that I know of (but I could have bad information), the word “acquired contemplation” was invented. Now, of course, contemplation can have a variety of …
Tag Archives: Meditation
More and More a Simple Gaze
In acts of prayer, it is not necessary to reason much, because the simple act of theological faith is superior to reasoning. It becomes more and more a simple gaze which ought to be accompanied by admiration and love. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP (1877–1964)
Contemplation is for Everyone
Contemplation is for everyone. This is the traditional doctrine of Saint Teresa, Saint John of the Cross, Saint Francis de Sales, among others. In this, they’re following teachings of pseudo-Dionysius, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas, Saint Catherine of Siena, among others. And it’s not just a doctrine. It’s a matter of the Gospel penetrating our lives. …
What are Meditation and its Fruits?
The content of faith delivers the material for meditation. In meditation the soul occupies its faculties with that which we have accepted in faith, which we represent to ourselves in images, in intellectual reflection, and about which we have decided opinions. A habitual condition of loving knowledge is won as the fruit of meditation. Saint …
The Parts and the Whole of a Crown
One may behold the beauty of a rich crown in two ways: either by looking upon all its ornaments, and all the precious stones of which it is composed, one after the other; or again, having considered all the particular parts, by beholding all the work of it together in one single and simple view. …
Running the Multitude in Meditation and Arriving at Unity in Contemplation
Oh! how happy are they who, having run over the multitude of motives which they have to love God, reducing all their looks to one only look, and all their thoughts to one conclusion, stay their mind in the unity of contemplation. Saint Francis de Sales
Something a Bit Weird
One of the more bizarre phrases that I often hear is, “We need to use all of our faculties in prayer.” The operative word being use. This might make sense for meditation: discursive, seeking prayer. But for contemplation, while it more fully uses our faculties than any act of meditation, I wouldn’t say that we make the effort …
Nothing More than a Water Sprout
This path to God does not consist in having a multitude of meditations or particular practices, nor in having ecstasies… but rather in the one thing necessary… earnestly to deny oneself interiorly as well as exteriorly, and for Christ’s sake to be ready to suffer and die to self in every respect. Whoever schools himself …
Contemplation Trumps Meditation
It doesn’t matter when, it doesn’t matter how, contemplation trumps meditation. The only exception to this rule made by Doctors of the Church such as Catherine of Siena, John of the Cross, and Francis de Sales, is if one’s state of life necessitates a meditative practice or a series of vocal prayers (e.g., a priest reciting …
What is the Difference Between Meditation and Contemplation? (In the Easter Vigil)
In the Easter Vigil, we always have a reading about the Creation of the world (Gen 1:1–2:2). God made light, made a dome in the sky, gathered the waters, made several lights in the sky of day and night, made creatures in the waters and in the dome of the sky, brought forth living creatures …
Contemplative in the Mud 