Website of the Week: 15th July 2018
The Wheel of Prayer
Talk by Fr Laurence Freeman, OSB
The Wheel of Prayer
Talk by Fr Laurence Freeman, OSB
“We do not know how to pray”, says St Paul, “but the Spirit prays within us, deeper than words”. That is the fundamental theology of all Christian prayer, says Fr Laurence Freemen, Benedictine monk and head of the ecumenical World Community of Christian Meditation, in this talk.
We are here, he reflects, to come to continuous prayer, to a constant openness to the prayer of Christ in our hearts. Continuous prayer, he says, must not be understood as saying prayers all the time but as the living in a childlike state of simplicity, in which our ego concerns are left behind, opening the way to interior silence, communion with God, and greater power of attention to others.
Meditation, with the aid of the ancient Christian tradition of the continuous saying of a mantra, is a path and a discipline to reach this state of simplicity and poverty of spirit of pure prayer called for by the Lord. For the prayer of the Spirit of Jesus to well up in our hearts, “flood our hearts”, as St Pauls says, and overflow in us, we have first to become still, to concentrate. For a brief introduction to the ancient and simple practice of meditation, click here.
We are here, he reflects, to come to continuous prayer, to a constant openness to the prayer of Christ in our hearts. Continuous prayer, he says, must not be understood as saying prayers all the time but as the living in a childlike state of simplicity, in which our ego concerns are left behind, opening the way to interior silence, communion with God, and greater power of attention to others.
Meditation, with the aid of the ancient Christian tradition of the continuous saying of a mantra, is a path and a discipline to reach this state of simplicity and poverty of spirit of pure prayer called for by the Lord. For the prayer of the Spirit of Jesus to well up in our hearts, “flood our hearts”, as St Pauls says, and overflow in us, we have first to become still, to concentrate. For a brief introduction to the ancient and simple practice of meditation, click here.
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