Contemplative prayer is the practice of gazing upon the nature of the infinite Christ. It is centering our thoughts and focusing our absolute being upon the awareness of God in our life. Alone with God in the silence, our hearts praise and seek the face of the one who makes the invisible visible. It is in the silence we open our hearts to the eternal mystery of a transcendent father and mother. We quiet the nonstop noise bantering in our heads that continually seeks an audience with us in our minds. In the prayer of our hearts, we pursue an audience of one to live in communion with the triune God.
Silence is the sanctuary for God’s presence in our hearts. (Silence is one of the Purest forms of Worship and Prayer) We hear God best when we are silent enough to listen to him speak to us through His word and Holy Spirit. When I desire the presence of God, I empty myself of all of me and seek the fullness of God’s divine nature to transform me. I surrender and abandon all my preconceived ideas and self-centered thinking so that I can yield my heart to His will and plans for me.
There in the silence is the divine awareness of our true identity. We are the children of God inner connected and related to everything that exists in the universe. We are brothers and sisters in the family of the exalted Messiah, who is the creator of everything seen and unseen. (Contemplation: Seeing the World through God’s Eyes)
Alone with God in the silence, we discover the secret of our true identity. Our character, as Thomas Merton would say, is hidden and revealed in the love and mercy of God. It is the awareness that love is our authentic nature, and our true destiny is conforming to the image of the one who has no beginning or end.
Scripture:
For God alone, my soul waits in silence; From Him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1 ESV
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