Show Notes
There is a beautiful story of a young monk so eager to do his tasks correctly that he was oblivious to what was hiding in plain sight.
A little while ago, one of our practice community members emailed and said: ‘I’ve found myself suddenly and intensely seeing the beauty of so many things large and small, such as the cloud formations, flocks of migrating birds, the shapes of the leafless trees, and the way dew or rain drops shine on the spiders webs in the hedges. I’d ‘looked’ at all of them over the years before, but I’ve not ‘seen’ them as I have recently. My life has been so enriched by this. I can only put it down to my meditation practice.’
More from Christian Meditation: Weekly Teachings Podcast
In the first Beatitude, Jesus points to the wellspring from which all the Beatitudes flow: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is not speaking about the economically poor, but of those who know their utter dependence on God, who no longer need to exercise power and control over others and the world in order to sustain their sense of identity.
A member of our practice community recently emailed and said:
A contemplative reading of the story of the Parable of the Prodigal Son can yield a rich teaching for the practice of meditation and the cultivation of attention.
In his excellent book The Beatitudes of Peace, the prominent peace activist Fr John Dear recalls visiting Gandhi’s ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad in India.
A theme that comes through very clearly in many of the emails we receive is how important it is to know that to practice this way of meditation is to participate in an ancient tradition; and that this ancient way of silent prayer doesn’t just benefit us individually, but benefits all people, all beings.