YOUCAT Lesson 502
YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth
502 What is the essence of
meditation?
The essence of meditation is a prayerful seeking that starts
with a sacred text or a sacred image and explores the will, the signs, and the
presence of God. [2705-2708]
The crypt of the
National Champion Shrine 16 miles northeast of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The statue marks the location where Mary,
Queen of Heaven appeared to Adele Brise in 1859. …..502
We cannot “read” sacred images and texts the way we read
things in the newspaper that do not immediately concern us. Instead, we should meditate on them; in other
words I should lift my heart to God and tell him that I am now quite open to
what God wants to say to me through what I have read or seen. Besides Sacred Scripture, there are many
texts that lead to God and are suitable for meditative prayer. 16
“Much knowledge is not what satisfies the soul and gives it
contentment, but rather interior meditation on things and savoring them.” St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556)
MEDITATION
2705 Meditation is above all a quest. The mind
seeks to understand the why and how of the Christian life, in order to adhere
and respond to what the Lord is asking. The required attentiveness is difficult
to sustain. We are usually helped by books, and Christians do not [lack] them:
the Sacred Scriptures, particularly the Gospels, holy icons, liturgical texts
of the day or season, writings of the spiritual fathers, works of spirituality,
the great book of creation, and that of history the page on which the "today"
of God is written. --Catechism of the
Catholic Church, Second Edition
2706 To meditate on what we
read helps us to make it our own by confronting it with ourselves. Here,
another book is opened: the book of life. We pass from thoughts to reality. To
the extent that we are humble and faithful, we discover in meditation the movements
that stir the heart and we are able to discern them. It is a question of acting
truthfully in order to come into the light: "Lord, what do you want me to
do?" –CCC
2707 There are as many and varied methods of
meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to
develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three
first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower.( Compare Mark 4:4-7,
15-19.)5 But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance,
with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of prayer: Christ Jesus. –CCC
2708 Meditation engages thought, imagination,
emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to
deepen our convictions of faith, prompt the conversion of our heart, and
strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian prayer tries above all to
meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great
value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the love of
the Lord Jesus, to union with him. --CCC
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