As our preparation for Pentecost 2008, at St. Tim’s in Mesa, AZ we reflected on listening to the Holy Spirit in our every day lives.
The following text is only a short summary. I did not edit the text for language. Feel free to send me corrections.
For picture meditations look up www.ordinaryholiness.com – click on MEDITATION.
Session 1 BREATH
Meditation is a good way of listening to the Holy Spirit. Meditation is basically turning one’s attention to something, focusing one’s mind on something. Goals of meditation can be different: relaxation, reenergizing, achieving certain states of mind. Christian meditation aims at opening to God.
Technological advances have made our lives easier, but also faster. Our environment ceased to lead us naturally to meditation. Instead, it creates commotion within us. We have to force ourselves to meditate.
A seated position, conducive to meditation, includes: feet on the floor, relaxed body, lower back supported.
Let’s start with a very simple form of meditation: focusing on our breath. We follow the air through the nose to the lungs and back at our own pace. We try to stay focused only on this air.
Distractions will appear over and over again. Every time we catch ourselves with our attention away from our breath, we return peacefully in our mind to the inhaling (square one).
After a long while we may add: “Here I am Lord” or “Jesus Christ”, and the like. We surrender ourselves to God.
In case of distraction we restart with attention on the inhaling, the air within us, etc. There is no rush. It is no contest. We do not have to check off any items on an accomplishment list.
Take a moment to decide whether you would like to remeber something, or implement something in your life after this mediation. End with “Glory be…”
This form of meditating may be impossible if you are very tired or if you have recently dealt with a lot of emotional pain.
VARIATIONS
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Relaxing of muscle groups beginning with toes
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“Feeling” our leg or hand (How does it feel to have it?)
or – as long as performed slowly and rhythmically –
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Massaging a hand / foot
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Washing a hand / foot
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Walking on a level surface with few distraction so that we may focus on the very walking and its effect within the body
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the rosary, the Divine Mercy chaplet, etc.
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repeating of a sentence / verse from the Bible
Session 2 OBJECT
Meditation, at least the Christian ones, aims at opening us to whatever comes, making us receptive and welcoming, instead of controlling and steering at some desired direction.
We open ourselves to God and allow Him to act. He will. However, we do not give Him an agenda: “Ok, I’ll meditate for 5 minutes and I want to achieve inner peace, I will be reenergized and I will receive this sweet feeling of forgiveness for my mother-in-law”.
Instead, we focus to open ourselves to God.
If God chooses to let me feel something, fine. If I go away with a peaceful heart, fine. If I perceive no difference – I feel as tired and not reconciled with my mother-in-law as before the meditation – fine too. I came to open myself to God and let Him be God. I did not come to a vending machine coughing me up a product after I pushed the right buttons and inserted the right amount of coins.
Today we would like to have a look at a regular object, maybe something we have in our pocket. Other good examples would be an apple, an orange, a flower, an object on our desk, etc.
We focus on the object. We touch it, we smell it, we look at it. At our own pace, we look at the object as a whole, we study its details. What does it really look like? How does it feel in the hand? How does it smell?
We observe the shape with all the protrusions and cavities, shades of color, the texture.
We DO NOT “squeeze” a message out of the object we let it come out if there is one. We look at it peacefully, studying it. We DO NOT create a story of this object being a symbol of this or that. We are cautious with comparisons: “It’s soft like God’s love to us, etc.” Symbolism is not the primary interest in this form of meditation. Strong memories brought by the object maybe my “message” and may just as well be a distraction. A continued, peaceful observation of the object will help me to sift through the emotions.
We may ask ourselves what observation/s stand/s out. Possible questions: What new did I discover? What caught my attention? What keeps coming as an interesting thought?
I may remain now with this thought for a while. Where may this thought lead me to?
We do not rush to cheap, canned conclusions; symbolisms, etc. (e.g. feather – dove/angel – peace – God wants to give me peace).
Examples of scenarios: I discover different shades of colors on the apple skin. I am amazed by the sheer number of the shades of red. I realize that I live my life among such wonders and never marvel at them. I go away with the resolve to stop for 5 minutes every day and just marvel at things and pray to God.
I look at the car key in my hand. I feel the smoothness. I realize that somebody once had to figure out how to construct this key. Someone wanted it to be practical and smooth at the same time. Now I enjoy the result of that thinking and probably trying different approaches. I enjoy the fact that I belong to a bigger community of people, exchanging their talents and knowledge across time and space. I realize that my work makes sense. I belong. My work belongs.
VARIATIONS
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Taking a sentence / verse from the Bible and looking at it the way we studied an object (see above)
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We open the window and sit listening to the whole package of noises that come from the outside. We slowly identify some of them. We focus on one of them. We listen. We wait.
Example: Out of all the noises it strikes me that I hear a train in the distance. It dawns on me that, while I am sitting here, other people are busy now shipping cargo or traveling. I realize it is unpleasant to me. I realize I feel left alone and forgotten. I am angry with others going around their own business. I decide to pray for them and thank God for their lives. I invite God into my emptiness. I resolve to do this more often until He shows me a path forward.
Session 3 ENJOYING
Session 3a PHYSICAL PLEASURE
Today I would like to present a form of meditation that climbs a notch higher on the scale of “entertainment”. I like it mostly, because it helps to discover small joy in life in an easy way.
In Gen 1 and 1 Tim 4: 4-5 we learn that God enjoys His creation. And part of our calling is to enjoy it too. It is not a matter of an “additional” aspect of Christianity but a natural gesture of politeness toward God: we open the gifts He has been giving us all our lives every day. In this, we become like children – an attitude strongly recommended by Jesus. If we need inspiration in enjoying God’s gifts, let’s watch for a while how children react to small gifts.
Take time to take prayerful position that helps your body concentrate.
Focus on some physical aspect, e.g. your breath, a burning candle.
Proceed to visualize some type of food you really enjoy. Start enjoying this food in your mouth. Of course, this form of meditation makes most sense while you are actually letting the food melt on your tongue. Stay with the food a longer while, not gulping it down but enjoy it in little bits. Have you ever really discovered all the shades of its flavor? Have you ever investigated its texture, possible colors, a whole bouquet of the taste experience in one single bit of it?
Have you ever enjoyed this food in a peaceful, meditative manner with no restraints of false shame that you “should not” enjoy food? Do you like watching people or animals eat when you feed them? Do you know the sense of joy when someone visibly enjoys the food you provided? This is the joy God feels while watching you eat and consciously enjoy your food. Our joy is a gesture of politeness toward God. We can make it an act of love to God. We can allow our delight in food to go into an experience of God Himself.
Open yourself to God while enjoying your food. Tell Him, for example, “Heavenly Father. Here I am – enjoying what you gave me. Thank you for this …., thank you for the taste buds and all other organs that allow me to enjoy the food. Thank you for this sign of your love to me. I am so happy that my enjoying makes you happy. I am glad I can express my love to you in such an easy way.”
If there is something you discovered, something you would like to remember, please, do it now. Finish the meditation with: “Glory be…”
VARIATIONS
· Swimming laps at a slow rate and feeling the water
· Walking and feeling the pleasant warmth of the sun
· Enjoying a view from a window / mountain
· Listening to music
· Oh, come on, you must come up with at least 30 other ideas
Session 4 AN UNKNOWN PERSON
One of the big surprises in the spiritual formation is the discovery that God does not always give pleasant feelings and pleasant feelings do not necessarily indicate a spiritual growth.
According to the Catholic teaching and Tradition good prayer does not have to lead to pleasant feelings, moreover, it may put the believer even through suffering or boredom. It will, however, lead to growing maturity in Christian love and abandoning of egoism and sin.
Moreover, boredom is often our meeting place with God. As long as we run away from boredom, we will have to remain closed to part of our reality. Embracing boredom IF given by God (please, note the IF) is an important step toward God in our daily life, toward listening to the Holy Spirit on a regular basis.
During meditation as Christians we want to open ourselves to God. That is all. We do not want to tell Him what He should do. We allow Him to do nothing, to bore us. He will always respond but many times we will not feel that. Many times we will walk away wondering whether we made mistakes and whether it was worth our time at all.
Our meditation today will be based on a mental image. That is why we will start first with something more concrete in order to calm down and focus. It may be focusing on feeling our hands, looking at a lit candle, listening to the hum of the traffic, etc.
After a while focusing on a concrete sensory object let us recall a person we go past on a regular basis but who we pay no attention to. We want to look at somebody who does not stir any feelings within us, who we are indifferent to: a neighbor, a sales assistant, a janitor, a secretary, etc.
We focus our inner eye on the person. We look at this person; we take this person in, slowly, without haste, step by step. We do not expect to achieve any particular conclusion, any deep feeling, or any moving discovery. We just look, inch by inch. What does the person actually look like? What do the eyes, the face look like? How are the body movements? How does the voice sound?
What are the person’s dreams? What are the concerns?
We invite God into this looking. He knows this person. He knows the dreams and the concerns. We may not care – we cannot care about everybody – but He cares very much. It is His beloved child. God wanted this person to be alive. God wants this person to be happy, happy in eternity.
We turn now to God to and talk to Him about what we feel, think and discover.
We ask ourselves whether there is anything we would like to take home from this meditation. We try to commit it to memory now.
We finish with :”Glory be …”
VARIATIONS
· We take a seat in front of a window and look at the view the window offers. We do not choose a scenic view – we just look at the view that is given.
· We look discreetly at an otherwise UNINTERESTING person while waiting at the dentist, etc.
· We read a tiny, otherwise unappealing entry in a newspaper and we take the message in.
· We take a Bible passage from the coming Sunday readings that does not appeal to us.
· We pray slowly a prayer that we know by heart very well and that we usually rattle off thoughtlessly.
In all the above cases, after a time of quiet taking in, we proceed to invite God into this piece of reality we are contemplating (or better: we proceed to realize that He is there already). We follow the steps from the “Unknown person”.
Session 5 A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME
Today we would like to have a look at the simple biblical truth that God is everywhere and that He is always with us.
At the beginning we focus our attention on something concrete / physical: a burning candle, a cross, sounds around.
We proceed to remember what we were doing at e.g. 10:00 am. We go back in our mind to the first memory around that time and we stay there. We visualize what we could see right then, what we could hear, what body posture was, who was around. We walk about the scene as a movie character in a frozen event. All stays immobile – only we look around.
Only after we have quietly taken in the sensory input, we turn our attention to what we were thinking and feeling at that moment. It is important to first have a good visual and auditory picture and only then to proceed to our inner experiences at that time.
We take time looking at the situation frozen in time, at ourselves, at our inner world at that point.
We realize that God was present there. We quietly contemplate this truth, without effortful search for a meaning to it. We just look at the whole situation again, this time aware (note: I did not say “feeling”) of God’s presence there.
If we are supposed to discover something deeper, we wait until it emerges. We do not try to steer our thought to a conclusion we THINK we should draw. We wait patiently until a conclusion emerges in our hearts. We allow God to give insights or not to give us any at all. We allow Him to lead us on some discovery trip or to bore us and let us wonder whether we are wasting our time. All we want is to make ourselves available to Him through this quiet time, through the effort of focus and through the openness to His and not our insights. We allow Him to use us the way He wants. We allow Him to work within us without us FEELING anything at all.
VARIATIONS
· Take a passage from the Bible which describes an event. Proceed like above.
Fr. Pawel,
Thank you for having the courage to speak about Christian Meditation. Three of us came to Thurs. night Mass. (My 16yr. son, husband and me) I think that all of us at every age can benefit being still before God, opening to God without words or agenda. I like how you explained breathing in and out at your own pace. I came very tired to mass and actually 5 minutes seemed very long for me. When you suggested to walk as a variation I knew this was my way of meditation. It is so wonderful being Catholic. We have so many ways to be present to God. I am going to share about meditation with my other kids too. By the way, my 16yr. enjoyed listening to your homily on Divine Mercy Sunday at the teen mass. God bless you, Genine Telepak
Dear Genine,
thank you for telling me this. I am always very happy to hear whether and how the message of my talk comes across.
Yes, any repetitive action during which our minds may be put on “remote control” can lead or even become a meditation, e.g. washing up, mowing the lawn, walking on an even surface without traffic or other distractions, raking leaves, ironing. That’s why monks and nuns in contemplative communities choose such forms of work – pottery, weaving, etc. What otherwise seems like a mind-deadening chore, becomes here an opportunity to encounter God.
In case of tiredness, these activities (more so than sitting and focusing on the breath) can serve as our prayer. We can, for instance, stand in the kitchen ironing and repeating: “Here I am, Lord” or “Jesus Christ”.
Blessings.
Dear Fr Pawel,
I am being fed by your teaching about listening to the Holy Spirit. The first week was a good reminder to me to take the time to be quiet and breathe and thank God for my breath. To really become present and just be. Last night’s teaching is something I do often. When you shared about how looking at an apple is a delight. Each one is so beautiful. I am a hair artist, and am very inspired by looking at art. I see an apple as God’s garden art. I often tell my clients how inspired I am when I go on a hike and see the different tree leaves or the wild flowers. As I grow closer to God I am finding it easier to let go of my agenda and open myself up to hear what He has to say to me, and then do whatever He tells me. As I pulled the object from my pocket to touch it and look at it I was amazed at what was there. I had a kleenex in my pocket and when I looked at it I could see it was in the shape of a bird. It was white, and I sensed a purity about it. As I touched it I felt comforted. It is an important object for us especially when we are crying tears of sorrow and tears of joy. Which lately I have had a lot of both. God has been teaching me how important it is to be pure in our thoughts and our intentions and bodies. I thank you for teaching us and leading us closer to God so that we can each hear His voice, and appreciate setting the table with joy in each action of everyday life.
Peace, In Jesus through Mary,
Rita Simmons
Mrs. Simmons,
thank you for sharing with us. This is always precious. It allows others to participate a bit in what God does in the lives of other people around them.
The comparison you mentioned may be what God wanted to tell you. Sometimes, however, it may be a shortcut we take, because we are so eager to “hear” something. To find out, it is good just to keep observing (“listening”).
Blessings.
Fr. Pawel,
Thank you so very much for sharing your time to teach us how to meditate. Its the foundation of my relationship w/ God. To build a intimate relationship you taught me to surrender all, listen to my heart & allow God to reveal himself totally. I’m just an ordinary person one year younger then yourself that has seen our parish go through so many trails over the years. This is a very special time for us we’ve been blessed by a miraculous miracle. Love, compassion & discipline reflects the Spirit here! Hope this will humble u, our community has prayed for u to join our family. Like spiritual adoption:) had to make u think! We asked God for your wisdom, talent/tenacity, understanding of a new language English/Polish & family values. Your doing a fabulous job! If we have to learn wisdom by learning how hamsters/mice multiple and are raised, we ALL luv your passion 4 life!
Anastasia Keefe
Ms. Keefe,
thank you for your feedback. Yes, surrendering and listening are the starting points. It sounds easy, however, it is much harder to implement. Please, do not give up when it gets more difficult. Hopefully our next sessions will be a good help on the way.
Blessings.
Dear Fr. Pawel,
As a single father responsible for precious 16-year-old twin daughters, I’m often challenged to maintain a good balance between family, friends, work, chores and my spiritual needs to pray, adore and grow closer to the Lord.
For many years Our Lady has helped bring me closer to Jesus. Paraphrasing Fr. John Corapi (EWTN) “Mary is my broker. I place myself in her Immaculate Heart and she takes me straight to her Son Jesus.”
Thank you for the teaching on meditation. Breathing, heartbeat, walking, objects are new ways I can be still and be open to God.
As you explained at the beginning, being tired can get in the way. It sure does. Here’s an example…
I was at the first two mediation sessions, but the connection just was way out of tune for me last Thursday. So I kept going back to square one. Later after Mass I began to notice something. While chatting outside with friends I observed, “I feel down. Something is not right.” Later that evening at home after focusing on breathing and being still an insight came – – IT’S BECAUSE I’M TIRED (Tax return preparation, taking a daughter out of school and running to the doctor for treatment of an infection, a long day at work, preparing dinner, doing laundry… you get the picture.)
Recently our Lord has been trying to get me to hear His message: “Go slow. Let me refresh you. Follow Me.”
Your teachings and tone of voice are uplifting to me. They highlight my need to be still and be open to God.
Thank you for helping me be a better listener for God’s voice.
Peace,
Christopher Gunther
Mr. Gunther,
I am so glad you shared about that. Tiredness is an issue that needs to be addressed if we want to love God.
The physical reactions to stress and exhaustion are His gift that should alert us to problems. Responding to these signals is responding to God’s will.
Tiredness prevents us from more sophisticated reflections, meditations, etc. We need to get a rest.
Never, however, should we stop having a prayer life just because of our tiredness.
The short-term approach is twofold:
1) shorter prayer times but very regular (humbling 5 minutes a day but reliably is better than ambitious plans that do not come true)
and
2) while praying just being there for God with my body, my breathing, an object in my hand (esp. a cross, rosary, etc), or a sentence from the Bible – giving Him all 100% we have -which at the moment may be just this.
This approach requires a strong resolve – a mid-term approach – which means couragously facing the issues which make me tired. In many cases this includes a talk with a right person.
Blessings.
Hello Fr. Pawel,
Thank you for your Thursday focus on teaching us to meditate. You are absolutely right that the pace of our lives and the lack of quiet makes it difficult for most of us to even learn how to meditate. I’ve always wanted to be more like Mary but have a life more like Martha. I also appreciate the little pauses you give us during Mass to say a quick thank you to God or reflect on something. It has always bothered me that St. Tim’s has never had any quiet times during weekend Masses. We focus so much on music that it drowns out the silence of God.
The Dominican Laity have our annual retreat coming up in a couple of weeks. I am going to think about how to include this approach to meditation in our retreat.
Peace and blessings to you,
Carol
Thank you for reminding me of the awe inspired by the Beautiful!
Dear Carol,
thank you for your positive feedback. I – as every human being – need it in order to serve better.
Marthas may learn to meditate through and while doing things – this is a direction I hopefully manage to show during the talks about meditation. There is not only one – Mary’s – way of praying.
What matters is our purpose of praying. If it is our opening to God – we may need to kneel down or we may go for a walk, we may retreat to silence or we may sing in a group. I believe that most of us need many approaches. But – yes – silence and meditation must belong to our repertoire of prayer forms.
Blessings
Dear Elisabeth,
blessings on you, your loved ones and on all the beautiful things God gave you today.
Fr. Pawel,
Do you know of any CD’s or tapes that have really good guided meditation, similar to what we have been doing on Thursdays? (i.e. just a framework, where someone is not telling you exactly what to feel or what Jesus would be saying in the meditation). I find it easier to stay on track and not get distracted when someone is speaking/guiding, so I was just wondering if you knew of any.
Thanks and God bless you,
Lindsay
Dear Lindsay,
no, I do not.
We are recording our Thursday sessions and we will offer them in the giftshop after we have completed them. In case you are interested, we will be happy to hear about your expectations, without you having to commit to purchase, of course. Initially I was planning to include only the introduction and let the listener do the meditation on h/h own. But we can also offer guided meditations in the fashion I have been doing them on Thursdays.
Blessings.
Dear Fr. Pawel,
I’m glad you are recording them. That’s a good idea. I think that I would rather hear the full guided meditations on the CD’s. Then, those people who would rather try them on their own or go a different direction with them could just stop the CD after the intro, I guess. Does that work? It’s just my opinion. I hope you will include the examples of variations with the CD too.
Peace,
Lindsay
Dear Lindsay,
thank you for your suggestions. I will be glad to include anything that is helpful. It will be the first time for me to work on any recording so I am not sure what are the technical limitations to my plans. But we will find out soon. If you have any other suggestions or know someone who has, please, let me know. As long as we have not started yet, we can include input from others.
Blessings.
I’d like to know more about your meditation sessions… where do you actually meet? I’m new to your church and I don’t know all the buildings attached to the church. I’d like any direction you could give me. The time is 7:00 pm on Thursdays, right?
Can we join in at any time, or do we need to wait for a new series to start?
I’m really looking forward to attenting your meditation sessions.
Brigitte
Dear Brigitte,
until Pentecost the meditations are included in the Thur 7pm Masses in the church. Anybody can join any time. If there is enough response, we can run them again or continue. We are working on putting the sessions on CDs.
Blessings.
Fr. Pawel,
Thinking of you today. You mentioned last week “good prayer doesn’t have to lead to pleasant feelings…” I read a quote from C.S. Lewis who joins your mindset. “What seems our worst prayers may really be, in God’s eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off guard.”
Living in His Light,
Genine
Dear Genine,
thank you for giving us the quote. C.S. Lewis is definitely an authority in modern spirituality. Could you tell us where to find this quote (book title, date, page) for those who would like to follow this up? Thank you.
Blessings.
Dear Father Pawel,
When you are planning your Thursday sermons, my husband and I hope that you will be continuing the meditations, which we find to be very helpful.
We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to inspire you as you labor in His vineyard!
Gratefully,
Elizabeth
Dear Fr. Pawel:
I heard that you recently spoke to the men of our parish about St. Joseph. I am wondering if you have ever heard of the Holy Cloak Novena to St. Joseph? Here is a link to a website that features this prayer.
http://www.catholictradition.org/Joseph/joseph28.htm
I recently completed reciting it for the recommended 30 days. It is quite lengthy but very beautiful–almost like a consecration to St. Joseph. Wanted to share with you this information.
God bless,
Mary