Introduction to Christian Contemplation: Contemplative Reading of Scripture 177

INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN CONTEMPLATIONCONTEMPLATIVE READING OF SCRIPTURE 177This book offers an introduction to Christian contemplative prayer. For three years I guided a group in contemplative prayer, hoping to teach people about prayer in the Carmelite tradition. At the end of that period, I realized that more basic steps were needed in order to make it possible for people to pray the Prayer of Quiet that St. Teresa describes. This book presents the Exercises that I made up to make people aware of the nature of their inner consciousness. My wish was to enable them to make some of their faculties still while allowing their capacity for inner attention to function. The capacity for inner attention allows us to come into the presence of the Trinity dwelling within our hearts. For people to become aware of their ability for inner attention and to be able to direct it likewise took several exercises. For people to be able to identify their inner faculties required several exercises. Then there was a need for people to learn to be inwardly still and to focus on the divine presence within. Meditations on Scripture became the means to make this possible. For each Scripture passage, I suggest a pattern of prayer, using the contemplative way of reading Scripture called CLASP. This pattern is a form of lectio divina, the prayerful way of reading Scripture. In the word CLASP, the letters stand for:Cor: We begin in our “heart” (cor) with the Prayer of the Heart to the Trinity. We spend 20 minutes in this prayer.Lectio: We “read” (lectio) through our Scripture passage.Auditus: We “listen” (auditus) to what this passage says to our hearts.Suspiria: We express in “sighs” (suspiria) to the Holy Spirit our longing to understand the Scripture more deeply.Pax: We end our prayer time in “peace” (pax). The most important aim was to teach people to pray in a contemplative way. The final exercise describes a method of prayer called “Prayer of the Heart to the Trinity.” When people can follow this Prayer, they are praying contemplatively. In this book all English quotations of Scripture are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition. Read more