Meeting the Lord
in Imaginative Prayer

Richard Rohr of the Centre for Action and Contemplation (www.cac.org) explains this method.

We at the Center often teach the transforming effects of silence and unknowing. It has been my personal practice for years.

At the same time, one of the great gifts of Jesuit spirituality is to teach us how to draw closer to God through images, words, verbal prayer, our imaginations, and the Bible itself.

Click on the button below to read how writer and retreat leader Margaret Silf invites people into the riches of Ignatian contemplation

Lectio
Divina

Lectio Divina is a method of prayer that uses Scripture to facilitate one’s relationship with God.

This form of spirituality is distinctly Catholic, but similar methods are found in other religions.  Traditionally, there are four steps in the process – lectio, meditatio, oratio, and contemplatio.  Each step is often thought of as “rungs on a ladder” leading up to the pure “experience of God” in contemplatio.  The process is also sometimes seen as circular, with each step enhancing the experience of the others.

Present,
Open,
Awake

Richard Rohr of the Centre for Action and Contemplation (www.cac.org) explains this method.

My friend and CAC teacher James Finley is a true contemplative!

I watch the crowds—from conferences to Living School students—settle in his presence almost immediately.

He is so centered in himself and in God that he is at peace and “transmits” the message with peace everywhere he goes.

Click on the button below for Jim’s gentle, loving instructions for what many consider traditional meditation: