Contemplative
Spiritual
Formation

In much of Europe and North America, 10-20% of baptised Catholics attend weekly services. This is comparable to other mainline Christian denominations. Possible reasons for this low attendance include the harmful institutional teachings on sexuality, uninspiring sermons, the sexual abuse of minors by some clergy and subsequent coverups, clericalism, and systemic discrimination against women. Some Catholics also have trouble with the guilt-ridden language used in the Mass, such as the repetitive “I am not worthy.” “I have sinned through my fault… grievous fault”.
Where is God? Most of the spoken prayers at the Eucharistic liturgy imply a distant God. We pray for God to come to us, to be with us, to hear us, to bless us… This frames the Divine as principally a supernatural being who lives just above the sky. But how does this fit with our understanding of an expanding universe that is 13.8 billion years old? The mystics, though, spoke of the indwelling of God freely present in all humans, regardless of merit… and in all of Creation. Imagine the Holy Spirit being present in every breath you take from birth to death. And Christ being as close to you as your beating heart.

Karl Rahner, a leading theologian at Vatican II, said that the devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mystic’ – one who is experiencing the indwelling of Divine in oneself – or will cease to be anything at all.

The question then becomes: How do I engage with the Divine presence in me (and in every person)?  One important means is in prayers without words – contemplative prayer – through which we let go of all thinking and enter into the present moment – the only time when the Holy can be experienced.  In contemplative prayer, for 20 min. we let go of our monkey brain: often useless repetitive thinking which is largely rehashing the past over and over, and/or continually worrying about the future. 

Paradoxically, many people find it helpful to engage in silent prayer while in the presence of others. Contemplative prayer is one aspect of seeing the world and living contemplatively.