Christian Meditation: Beyond Devotion, Intellect
Part 1 by REV. CHARLES BRANDT (YDE)
THE EXODUS OF PILGRIMS from the West to the East has begun to ebb. There was the gut feeling that the Western Church was not providing – could not provide – a fulfillment of this deep seated hunger and yearning for the God – experience. Indeed, since the Reformation, the Church had all but lost its contemplative tradition.
So there has been a turning to the East. Monks and nuns, professional people in all walks of society, married men and women, and especially our youth dropped out of society and travelled to the East, hoping to find there what they seem to be denied in the West.
They were much like John Cassian and Germanus, who in the 4th century left Marseilles to travel to the East, to the monks and hermits of the Skete desert, searching for a teacher who could instruct them on prayer.
Now the tide seems to have turned, though still it is at the very beginning of the flood. We are discovering, and mostly since Vatican ll, that we do have a valid tradition and teaching on contemplative prayer, open not only to the “spiritual elite and the experts”, the Carthusians and Cistertcians, etc. but open to all of us.
WE ARE COMING TO discover that contemplation is the normal term and flowering of Christian meditation to which we are all called.
I would define Christian meditation (contemplation) as the loving knowledge of God based on the intimate experience of the presence. We arrive at this experience through listening to the Word of God, listening at ever deeper levels as we learn to enter our authentic selves.
We all realize that there can be no part-time Christians. So too can there be no part-time contemplatives. Deep within each of us our true self waits to be awakened by contemplation. We are all called to this deep prayer.
As we grow to maturity we come into touch with all levels of our being: body, soul and spirit as St Paul describes at the end of 1 Thessalonians. He calls us to become whole, to become holy.
BUT THERE IS A lot of polarization around: polarization of the active and contemplative life. This of course has harmful effects in that it has alienated the vast majority of Christians from deep prayer. We think of ourselves as active or contemplative.
This seems to determine our approach to the faith. And religious as well as lady make this distinction. As ‘actives’ our spiritual life rests on the devotional, or the intellectual.
We make no claim to a personal experience of God.
And as ‘contemplatives’, we are part of a small privileged minority, separated from the world perhaps by high walls, unusual customs and sometimes non- communication.
But make no mistake, there are some called to be solely listeners to the Word of God. These live on the margin of society, on the edge of the world’s busyness.
THEIR PRIMARY VALUES ARE silence, stillness and solitude where they live in the Spirit. Their spirit becomes open to the Spirit of Jesus who prays within them. His Spirit becomes their prayer, that stream of love between the parent and the heir.
Of ourselves we do not know even how to pray. And because this experience is an awareness of God’s love it does communicate itself to others because the experience is self- communicating.
THE CHURCH’S TRADITION WHICH which was taught uninterruptedly for the first fifteen centuries held that contemplation is the normal evolution of a genuine spiritual life and open to all. And this tradition of the West came to be almost completely lost in recent centuries and is just now being rediscovered.
Lectio divina, literally “divine reading” was the method of prayer proposed for lay persons and monastics in the first Christian centuries. It was a practice that involved reading Scripture, or more exactly listening to Scripture.
Christians would repeat the words of the psalms or New Testament with their lips so that their body entered into their prayer. They listened at ever deeper levels. Then they responded to the God they were listening to. They responded on three levels, a response consisting of three acts: meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio.
Pondering on the words of Scripture in the cave of their hearts, and here our Blessed Mother is the example par excellence – was called meditatio, “meditation”. The spontaneous movement of the will in response to these reflections was called oratio, “affective prayer”. One then moved to a state of resting in the presence of God, contemplatio, “contemplation”.
THESE THREE ACTS MIGHT all take place in the same period of prayer – discursive meditation, affective prayer and contemplation. At times one would praise the Lord with one’s lips, at other times with thoughts, sometimes with acts of the will, and sometimes with the alert attentiveness of contemplation, resting in God. It was something like Jacob’s ladder with the angels ascending and descending. One’s attention would go up and down the ladder of consciousness. Contemplation was regarded as the normal development of listening to the Word of God. This listening to God was not compartmentalized.
Father Charles Brandt, a priest of the Diocese of Victoria, lives as a hermit in Clack Creek in the Comox Valley.
Additional Notes:
Handwritten notes in scanned document by Charles, “reference to Jacob’s ladder”, “ but what of contemplation as Sarah’s Circle?” “What of Sophie’s presence: the spirit whom God sent after Jesus returned home.”
Jacob’s ladder is a biblical metaphor used to describe a vision that the patriarch Jacob had in the book of Genesis (28:10-19). According to the story, Jacob was fleeing from his brother Esau and stopped to rest for the night, using a stone for a pillow. While he slept, he had a dream in which he saw a ladder stretching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending on it. In the dream, God appeared to Jacob and promised to bless him and his descendants, and to protect him on his journey. When Jacob awoke, he realized that he had experienced a divine revelation and consecrated the site as a sacred place, calling it Bethel.
The ladder in Jacob’s dream is often interpreted as a symbol of the connection between heaven and earth, or between God and humanity. The angels ascending and descending on the ladder are seen as messengers or intermediaries between the divine and the earthly realms.
The story of Jacob’s ladder has inspired many interpretations and artistic depictions throughout history, and it has become a popular symbol in religious and spiritual contexts. It is often associated with themes of faith, hope, and spiritual growth, and is seen as a reminder that even in difficult times, we are not alone and that there is a higher purpose and plan guiding our lives.
The name “Sarah’s Circle” comes from the biblical story of Sarah, the wife of Abraham. In the story, Sarah was a woman who demonstrated hospitality, compassion, and strength in the face of adversity. She welcomed strangers into her home, cared for her community, and supported her family through difficult times. Sarah’s Circle embodies the values of compassion, community, and empowerment, which are reflected in the biblical story of Sarah.
Sophia is a Greek word meaning “wisdom,” and in many spiritual traditions, Sophia is regarded as a divine presence or feminine aspect of the divine. The concept of Sophia has been associated with various religious and philosophical traditions, including Gnosticism, Christianity, Judaism, and Neopaganism.
In Gnosticism, Sophia is seen as a goddess who is the embodiment of wisdom, but who also fell from grace and became trapped in the material world. In Christian mysticism, Sophia is associated with the Holy Spirit and is seen as a mediator between God and humanity.
In some modern spiritual movements, Sophia is viewed as a symbol of the divine feminine and a source of inspiration for women seeking to reclaim their spiritual power and autonomy. The presence of Sophia is often associated with qualities such as wisdom, intuition, creativity, and compassion, and is seen as a guiding force for those seeking to deepen their spiritual practice and connection to the divine.
The presence of Sophia represents a deep connection to wisdom and spiritual understanding, and is often invoked as a source of guidance and inspiration for those seeking to deepen their spiritual lives.
Quotes:
“We are discovering, and mostly since Vatican ll, that we do have a valid tradition and teaching on contemplative prayer, open not only to the “spiritual elite and the experts”…. but open to all of us.”
“I would define Christian meditation (contemplation) as the loving knowledge of God based on the intimate experience of the presence…..listening at ever deeper levels as we learn to enter our authentic selves.”