Contemplative prayer: what is it and how to do it?

Prayer can be done in different ways, which is why there are different types of prayer: recollection prayer, liturgical prayers, ejaculatory prayer, funeral oration…according to very different practices. Contemplative prayer or recollection, which can also be called mental prayer, prayer of the heart, meditative prayer, is a silent prayer that has its origin in the belief of Christians that God dwells in us. Entering into prayer is, therefore, entering oneself, recollecting oneself to draw closer to the Lord. This prayer is widely practiced in monastic orders, and the Carmelites They can spend up to two hours a day on it.

What is the prayer of recollection?

“You will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20)

Christ makes his abode in us. So it is in us that we have to find it. It is so simple and at the same time so difficult. Our fears, our weaknesses, our wounds, our pride, are so many walls that we build between Him and us. And yet he is just waiting for us to come closer and find him to let us love. Prayer is a way to get back on track and allow this divine encounter between our soul and God.

Finding God in us with Saint Augustine

“Too late I loved you, oh beauty so old and so new, too late I loved you! You were inside and I was outside, and that’s where I was looking for you, and by the grace of these things you did, I poor wretch, tortured me! You were with me and I was not with you; they kept me away from you, those things that still, if they did not exist in you, would not exist! You called, you shouted and broke my deafness, you shone, you shone and dispelled my blindness; you embalmed me, I breathed and panting I aspired to you, I tasted, and I was hungry and thirsty; you touched me and I rose in flames in your peace.” (San Agustin)

Enter the inner castle of the soul of Saint Teresa of Ávila

For Saint Teresa of Ávila, prayer is a “relationship of friendship with the one by whom we know that we are loved”. “I have considered our soul as a castle, made of a single diamond, or of a very pure crystal, in which there are, as in heaven, several dwellings. In fact, my sisters, the soul of the just, if one sets Come to think of it, it is nothing but a paradise, where God, as he himself says, delights. If so, what can I say? And what idea should we have of the abode where such a mighty monarch likes to live, so wise, so pure, so magnificent! For me, I find nothing with which to compare the dazzling beauty and prodigious capacity of a soul. No, however strong the faculties of our minds, they will not get a perfect idea And should we be surprised, when this great God, whom our understanding is far from comprehending, Himself declares that He created us in His image and likeness?” (Saint Teresa of Ávila – The inner castle of the soul)

Prayer of Saint John of the Cross

“Take me, Lord,
in the divine richness of your silence,
fullness capable of filling everything in my soul.

Make silence in me what is not You,
what is not your presence
all pure,
all lonely,
all peaceful.

silence my desires,
to my whims,
to my dreams of escape,
to the violence of my passions.
cover with your silence
the voice of my demands,
of my complaints.

impregnated with your silence
my nature too impatient to speak,
too inclined to outside action and noisy.
Impose even silence on my prayer,
so that it is pure impulse towards you;

bring down your silence
to the depths of my being
and make this silence rise towards you
in homage of love! “

How to practice measure prayer?

We need to get away from ourselves to focus on God. There is no protocol or code for this loving encounter with Jesus, but rather the need to be fully present, with fervor and humility, before this guest who awaits us with open arms.

• It is good to put yourself in good conditions: a stable position, a quiet place… that can help us in this interiorization.

• You have to be in silence with yourself to receive the presence of God; as in any meditation our mind can get distracted, – some days more than others – it is not serious, let us patiently return it to God every time we feel it lost, as many times as necessary.

• And above all, don’t get discouraged! It is a gift and a grace to feel this loving presence. The practice of prayer requires perseverance and humility.

We can ask a spiritual advisor to accompany us in this process. Another way to walk towards prayer is to practice lectio divina; that method that, starting from the reading of a passage from the Bible, leads us to prayer and contemplation.

Why should we pray the prayer of recollection?

to pray for oneself

“It is a source of light and, with respect to charity, fulfills the role of intelligence against the will; it precedes it, directs it and illuminates it at every step. By becoming contemplative, prayer transforms the soul, according to the word of the apostle , from clarity to clarity until the likeness of God.” (Father Maria-Eugene of the Child Jesus in The Prayer of Beginners)

Letting ourselves be loved by Christ and surrendering ourselves to this look that enlightens us makes us who we really are. We see ourselves in truth, as the wonders that we are for God, but also accepting our weaknesses, our wounds. We allow the Lord – Comforter and Savior – to carry out the work of his conversion.

For the church

“More people than one thinks would be capable of praying, but nobody teaches them. So, without this interiority, the baptized lose strength, their action becomes a sonorous cymbal, and even their religious practice withers” (San Juan -Paul II)

Prayer allows us to welcome new virtues, in particular humility, but also the spirit of poverty, of charity… As our relationship with God becomes more intimate; it also becomes more fertile. We are ready to bear fruit. The Christian whose soul is illuminated by this union with God can thus shine in the world.

Other types of prayer

The word prayer is synonymous with plea. Therefore, we find it in other types of practices other than meditative prayer:

• The funeral oration, when this notion refers mainly to a literary genre similar to speech and praise, has its origin in the prayers that were written for the dead.

• Ejaculation prayer, brief and spontaneous prayer.

• Liturgical prayers

• Sunday prayer, which is in fact the Our Father or more specific prayers such as the 15 prayers of Saint Bridget.

Practice meditative prayer with

offers you various spiritual proposals so that you can learn to pray and grow in your spiritual life.

For example, to practice the prayer of recollection, let Saint Teresa of Ávila guide you through the “inner castle” of your soul to the Lord, joining this novena.

Also, if you want to learn to pray, we invite you to be part of this online community so that prayer begins to be part of your daily life.