Catholic Spirituality: Exploring Meditative Forms of Prayer

Catholic spirituality really depends on forming a habit of regular prayer. It’s really hard to get a prayer habit started when we are crammed into a “one size fits all” approach to praying styles. And Catholics are especially prone to taking a black-and-white (dare I say “gray”) view of praying. “This is true prayer. That is not.” Ironically, the Catholic spiritual tradition is filled with an abundance of expressions of prayer! We already saw in our discussion of what prayer is that God has welcomed a number of different forms of prayer – from petitions to contemplation. And for good reason!

• Prayer is a relationship with God
• God created us to be unique persons in union with him
• Our way of communicating with God will be as unique as we are!

Isn’t this true of human relationships? My way of relating to my daughter as her father is much different than the way my wife relates to her as her mother. God is the same yesterday, today and forever, but he is “big enough” to embrace a variety of expressions of prayer.

So I encourage you to try different styles of prayer and find the styles that work best for you. I have friends who really resonate with the charismatic style of prayer – vocalized praise, praying in tongues, expressing the gift of prophecy, all of that. And it’s wonderful! But my personal style is much more internal and meditative. It is amazing to think that our infinite, loving God embraces both styles of prayer as parts of his complete glory.

Some Meditative Styles of Catholic Spirituality for You to Try

For the sake of keeping this article a bit shorter, we’ll discuss the styles of prayer that are a little more . . . quiet . . . meditative. In the next article we’ll discuss styles of prayer that are more active.

Liturgy of the Hours

Also known as the “Divine Office,” Liturgy of the Hours is the traditional prayer that priests and religious are required to pray throughout the day. The Second Vatican Council invited all laity to participate in this prayer as well. Since it is a liturgy, it is a public prayer of the Church, which means when you pray Liturgy of the Hours you are praying in union with the entire Church. The “Hours” part of the prayer refers to the fact that each day’s liturgy is divided into parts that are prayed at different times of the day. There is a longer prayer for Morning Prayer (traditionally prayed at 6AM). The “daytime prayers” are shorter, consisting of midmorning, midday, and mid-afternoon prayers. Then evening prayer is a longer prayer again. Finally, night prayer is a medium-sized prayer. While those committed to praying Liturgy of the Hours every day are asked to pray all of the prayers, laity are invited to pray whatever prayers fit into their day. I tend to pray morning prayer every day, then try to fit in night prayer when my family schedule allows for it (i.e. when I remember).

Liturgy of the Hours will appeal to you if you are someone more prone to quiet, meditative prayer but it is a very flexible kind of prayer! If you are a reader, you can use the text of the prayer for meditative reading. If you are more social, get together with friends or with a prayer group and pray it together. There is even an apostolate that has recorded the entire Liturgy so you can pray it by listening, or by listening and reading. This is a very structured prayer – a “done for you solution.”

Lectio Divina

Another very effective and ancient meditative prayer is the Lectio Devina. The Lectio is a formula for meditating on passages of Sacred Scripture. It comes from the monastic tradition and has spread to the laity in a more grassroots way than the Liturgy of the Hours.

While this is a formula for prayer, there is no real set of rules. There are a number of versions of the Lectio available. Basically, here are the steps:

1. Slow, prayerful reading of a passage of scripture
2. Quiet, deep thinking about the passage (traditionally called “ruminating” which has as its root to “chew the cud” to go over and over in one’s mind).
3. Speak to God from our heart (transitioning from thinking to relating)
4. Listening – sitting in silence and listening for God’s

Here is a website that offers written guides for praying the Lectio Divina with different scripture verses.

Sometimes Lectio includes an imaginative element where you place yourself into the biblical story as one of the characters or as an outside observer, using your imagination to help you experience the event. This method is especially recommended for the stories of Jesus as a way to connect with Him through his presence to us in history.

Meditation – images, songs, spiritual reading

Continuing along the meditation style of prayer, let’s talk about a few methods of straight meditation. Meditation is a central and vital part of Catholic spirituality. It’s very simply thinking about the mysteries and truths of our faith in a way that leads us to greater intimacy with God. Getting started with meditative prayer is actually pretty easy. Mastering it takes a lot of time and effort. The easiest way to begin meditative prayer is to use a physical focus that represents the mystery you want to meditate on. You could use an image to focus on. A biblical scene would be a great way to meditate on the biblical story. An icon often represents a deep mystery of faith in very complex ways. You can also use songs and music to meditate on simpler themes. The relaxing, repetitive nature of music can easily put you into a meditative rhythm. Finally, you can find a ready aid to beginning meditation by doing some spiritual reading. In fact, reading is a great way to develop the interior life and I highly recommend to Catholics who say that they don’t read that they start.
Meditation is really where prayer and learning come together to draw you into a deeper intimacy with God. So if you feel drawn to meditation, you will want to give yourself plenty of meditative content by continuing to learn about your faith!

Eucharistic Adoration

I can’t understand why Eucharistic Adoration is still so controversial among some Catholics. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. While receiving our Lord is the fulfillment of the Eucharist, his abiding presence in the tabernacle has always been a focus for prayer. To focus on Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist is a great way to remind us what is really happening at the Mass. It’s also really nice to be able to pray directly to Jesus in his sacramental presence. God is always present to us in prayer, but in the Eucharist his is present to our senses as well as to our spirit.

Don’t get too hung up on what you’re going to do during Eucharistic Adoration. Many people get all nervous about spending a holy hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Sure, having other people adoring with you will rule out any noisy or overly active prayer, and probably the use of music as well. But pretty much any other kind of prayer is OK. Whatever you can do in God’s presence at home that doesn’t disturb the prayers of other adorers, you can do before God in adoration. I usually do spiritual reading, sacred silence (listening) and prayerful writing.

In the next article, we’ll continue looking at different ways to pray. In the meantime, your homework is to try one of the methods we discussed here and report in the comments on how it went. Remember, the goal here is to help you find a method of Catholic spirituality that fits you. So if you try one and it doesn’t fit, it’s OK to tell us that!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.

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