Contemplative Prayer Session with the Domincan Sisters MSJ

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On Tuesday February 9, 2010, I ventured to Mission San Jose to participate in contemplatio - Contemplative (pronounced con-temp-lah-tive) Prayer session with the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. Contemplative Prayer is similar to soaking only you sit in a chapel where there are no sounds and no light. Only a single candle illuminates the room. My prayer session was led by Sister Beth of the Dominican Sisters. There were four of us in the chapel. We sat in chairs, setup in a semi circle around a large globe with a candle, on the floor. The purpose of the quiet and dark is to stay quiet before the Lord and long for God to be with us.

The Contemplative Prayer session on this evening, led by Sister Beth, was divided up into 3 sections. The first was a 20 minute session of silence. Sister Beth has a small chime she taps three times. We stand up and bow, our hands in front of us in praying hands position, and we acknowledge the presence of God in us in the room. Then we sit back down in our chairs and drive out thoughts as they impede the silence. This is not a meditation, the purpose is to push out thoughts out of our minds as they jump from thought to thought. It's basically clearing your mind and relaxing to make your soul receptive to God.

The 20 minutes goes by fast. I found this time to be very relaxing and very peaceful. The silence is broken as the prayer leader, Sister Beth, rings her chime three times. Again we stand up from our chairs and bow to acknowledge the presence of God in us.

We then walked slowly through the sanctuary in a contemplative walk. With our hands out, kind of like, standing with our hands out when we worship. Only we're walking, taking slow deliberate steps, and listening to the quiet of the Sanctuary. I later asked Sister Beth why we do 20 minutes of contemplative prayer and then walk. She stated it was just to break things up, and keep us from having to sit in a chair for an hour. When we completed the walk through the sanctuary, we returned to our chairs. Bowed to the presence of God and sat back down.

Sister Beth tapped the chime 3 times to start the last portion of the contemplative prayer session. Then she read scripture from Mark 7.

6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
   " 'These people honor me with their lips,
      but their hearts are far from me.
 7They worship me in vain;
      their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

Sister Beth read the scripture slowly 3 times and then started the third portion of the contemplative prayer for this evening. Now during this portion I felt my mind was totally relaxed and de-cluttered of racing thoughts that I was able to start receiving prophetic images.

At the end of this 20 minute session Sister Beth, struck the chime 3 times again and we rose up from our chairs and bowed to acknowledge God.

Contemplative prayer is completely new to me so I may not have explained things as well as they could be explained. It is quiet prayer, where we push out the thoughts in the first session, and then in the last portion you sit in the quiet and listen for and embrace God. It's different in the fact that your not mentally praying to God but opening yourself up to receive Him. Overall I found the experience very peaceful and enjoyed the quiet time with God.


Some notes I found on the net:
Christian Meditation: A History
One form of Christian meditation that has been used by believers since at least the fourth century AD is the lectio divina. It has been traditionally used in monastic religious orders and is enjoying a resurgence today. Lectio divina means "sacred reading" and has four stages: lectio (reading), meditatio (discursive meditation), oratio (affective prayer), and contemplatio (contemplation). In the lectio (reading) stage, one finds a passage and reads it deliberately. The next stage, meditatio (discursive meditation), is where one ponders the text. In the oratio (effective prayer) stage, one talks to God about the reading, asking Him to reveal the truth. In the final, contemplatio (contemplation) stage, one simply rests in the Lord's presence.

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