RESEARCH Christian meditation

http://www.totalwholeness.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/christian_meditation_1_ebook_1_copy_small.jpg

Meditation is a universal spiritual wisdom and a practice found at the core of all the great religious traditions, leading from the mind to the heart. It is a way of simplicity, silence and stillness. It can be practised by anyone, wherever you are on your life’s journey.

http://wccm.org/content/what-meditation

Prayer has been an essential part of Christianity since its earliest days. As the Middle Ages began, the monastic traditions of both Western and Eastern Christianity moved beyond vocal prayer to Christian meditation. These progressions resulted in two distinct and different meditative practices: Lectio Divina in the West and hesychasm in the East. Hesychasm involves the repetition of the Jesus Prayer, but Lectio Divina uses different Scripture passages at different times and although a passage may be repeated a few times, Lectio Divina is not repetitive in nature.^[1][2]

The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by Guigo II, aCarthusian monk who died late in the 12th century.^[3] Guigo II's book The Ladder of Monks is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition.^[4]

In Eastern Christianity, the monastic traditions of "constant prayer" that traced back to the Desert Fathers and Evagrius Pontikos established the practice of hesychasm and influenced John Climacus' book The Ladder of Divine Ascent by the 7th century.^[5] These meditative prayers were promoted and supported by Saint Gregory Palamas in the 14th century.^[1][6]

From the 18th century some components of meditation began to be de-emphasized in some branches of Western Christianity.^[7] However, the early part of the 20th century witnessed a revival and books and articles on approaches such asLectio divina aimed at the general public began to appear by the middle of the century.^[7]

Christian meditation and contemplation

In discursive meditation, mind and imagination and other faculties are actively employed in an effort to understand our relationship with God.^[3][4] In contemplative prayer, this activity is curtailed, so that contemplation has been described as "a gaze of faith", "a silent love"

In Christian mysticism, contemplative prayer or contemplation, for which the Greek term θεωρία theoria is also used,^[1] is a form of prayer distinct from vocal prayer (the recitation of words) and, strictly speaking, from meditation (a form of mental prayer, also called methodical prayer, based on discursive reflection on various considerations

Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God

Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion.^[3][4] Both in Eastern and Western Christianity meditation is the middle level in a broad three-stage characterization of prayer: it involves more reflection than first level vocal prayer, but is more structured than the multiple layers of contemplative prayer.^[5][6][7][8] Teachings in both the Eastern and Western Christian churches have emphasized the use of Christian meditation as an element in increasing one'sknowledge of Christ

Stages of infused contemplative prayer

Saint Teresa of Avila described four degrees or stages of mystical union:

1. incomplete mystical union, or the prayer of quiet or supernatural recollection, when the action of God is not strong enough to prevent distractions, and the imagination still retains a certain liberty;
2. full or semi-ecstatic union, when the strength of the divine action keeps the person fully occupied but the senses continue to act, so that by making an effort, the person can cease from prayer;
3. ecstatic union, or ecstasy, when communications with the external world are severed or nearly so, and one can no longer at will move from that state; and
4. transforming or deifying union, or spiritual marriage (properly) of the soul with God.

Christian meditation is different from the style of meditations performed in Eastern religions (such as Buddhism) or in the context of the New AgeWhile other types of meditation may suggest approaches to disengage the mind, Christian meditation aims to fill the mind with thoughts related to Biblical passages or Christian devotions.^[31] Although some mystics in both the Western and Eastern churches have associated feelings of ecstasy with meditation, (e.g. St. Teresa of Avila's legendary meditative ecstasy), St. Gregory of Sinai, one of the originators of Hesychasm, stated that the goal of Christian meditation is "seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit, beyond the minor phenomenon of ecstasy"

In Christianity this tradition of contemplation, the prayer of the heart or 'apophatic prayer', became marginalised and often even sometimes suspect. But in recent times a major recovery of the contemplative dimension of  Christian faith -and prayer - has been happening. This is transforming the different faces of the Church and revealing the way the Gospel integrates the mystical and the social. Central to this process now is the rediscovery of how to pray in this dimension and at this depth: finding a practice of meditation in the Christian tradition.

http://wccm.org/content/what-meditation

ABOVE: What is meditation ? by Laurence Freeman OSB

https://youtu.be/8NK1jQM-Gwk?list=UUVyZr8UvruQcx05H7TYnA_g