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difficult to sustain. We are usually
helped by books, and Christians 127 do not want for
them: the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy
icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, writings of
the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality, the great
book of creation, and that of history — the page
on which the ‘today’ of God is written.
2706 To meditate on what we read helps us to make it our
own by confronting it with ourselves. Here, another book is
opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to
reality. To the extent that we are humble and faithful, we
discover in meditation the movements that stir the heart and
we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting
truthfully in order to come into the light: ‘Lord, what
do you want me to do?’ 2707
There are as many and varied methods of meditation as
develop the desire to meditate regularly,
lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in
the parable of the sower.5 But a method is only a guide; the
important thing is to advance, 2664
with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ
Jesus. 2708 Meditation engages
thought, imagination, emotion and desire. This mobilization
of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions
of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart and strengthen
our will to follow Christ. e 516
tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as
in lectio
value, but e should go further: to the
knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.
2709 What is contemplative prayer? St
Teresa answers: ‘Contemplative prayer
[oraciôn mental] in my opinion is nothing
else than a close sharing between friends; it means
taking time frequently to
Contemplative prayer seeks him ‘whom my
soul loves’.7 It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We
seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of
love, and we seek him in that pure faith which causes us to
be born of him and to live in him. In this inner |
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