Very approximately, a prayer time that works through rational

points can be called a meditation, and a prayer time that

works through imaginative points can be called a

contemplation. In a meditation we are thinking, in a

contemplation we are simply being there, absorbed in nothing

more than gazing.

Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things,

London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, p.81.

~~~

The threefold sequence: lectio, meditatio, oratio or reading,

meditation, prayer; Traditionally a fourth has sometimes been

added to the series: contemplatio. We read, we meditate, we

pray, and finally we contemplate. Contemplation is the climax

of all prayer, in the sense that when we are `just looking’ at

God we really do not want to do anything else.

Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things,

London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, p.103.

~~~

One of the most astonishing exercises in Sadhana is a

meditation on my own corpse (Exercise 29). This comes from a

buddhist series of reality meditations, and what is amazing is

that, however horrifying it sounds in prospect, it gives a

deep sense of inner peace.

There are nine stages: first you see your corpse cold and

rigid, then turning blue, then cracks appear in the flesh,

then decomposition sets in in some parts, then the whole body

is in full decomposition, then the skeleton appears with some

flesh adhering in some places, then there is the skeleton with

no flesh left, then there is a heap of bones, lastly there is

a heap of dust.

Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things,

London, Fountain Paperbacks, 1987, p.110.

~~~

One of the greatest pitfalls for people who go in for

spirituality, is to waft around in a spiritual zone seeking

peace, fulfilment and inner harmony, and leaving the world to

rot. Centres of spirituality flourish, master’s degrees are

taken in prayer, meditation becomes a boom industry, and

meanwhile the hungry go on being hungry, the naked go on being

naked, the sick and imprisoned have no one to visit them, and

the sinful structures of the world continue unchallenged.

For someone in the third world, a spirituality movement can be

bad news. The theologians of liberation draw attention to the

implicitly conservative nature of most of these movements when

they are found in Latin America – like the Cursillo retreat

movement, and the Charismatic renewal: by turning attention

away from the bitter reality of the way people live, they

leave everything the way it was.

Margaret Hebblethwaite, Finding God in All Things

London, Fount Paperbacks, 1990, p.201.

~~~

Recejac’s celebrated definition of mysticism, as `the tendency

to approach the Absolute morally and by means of symbols’,

covers, when we properly understand it, the whole spiritual

life of man; for the ground of the soul where his Spirit and

our freedom meet, is beyond the reach of our direct

perceptions.

John Garvey (Ed), Modern Spirituality, an Anthology

London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1985, p.24.

~~~

A great deal has been written and said about the ways in which

one can make use of the body to increase one’s ability to be

attentive, but on a level accessible to many, Theophane’s

advice seems to be simple, precise and practical. We must

learn to relax and be alert at the same time. We must master

our body so that it should not intrude but make collectedness

easier for us.

John Garvey (Ed), Modern Spirituality, an Anthology

London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1985, p.30.

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