Chris Morris Handout
Chris Morris Handout
Chris Morris Handout
Contents
MEDITATION, WELLBEING & CATHOLIC IDENTITY
GUIDED/REFLECTIVE MEDITATION:
SILENT MEDITATION:
www.lessons4living.com/Finger%20Labyrinth.PDF
6 LEADING MEDITATION: TIME PROCESS
MEDITATION, WELLBEING & CATHOLIC IDENTITY
TRANSITION
INTENTION
ENGAGEMENT
SCAFFOLD
FOR LEADING What is the purpose
What does it mean
MEDITATION and meaning of the
for daily life?
practice?
MEDITATION
2. Intention: 4. Engagement:
Allow time to be mindful of intention. Allow time to engage with the world.
Contemplative prayer is an expression The following activities may be helpful
of our faith in, and desire for, union for this:
with God. The word or breath (in the
context of prayer) is an expression of our • Encouraging expression through
intention, of our faith in God’s presence. journaling, art - how do you move back
The following activities may be helpful into daily life with a deeper awareness
for this: of the sacred?
• Emphasising that meditation leads
• Suggesting that meditation provides to compassion and other fruits and
an opportunity: to be silent and make providing time for students to reflect
space; and to be present silently with on how this relates to their own lives.
God who is present with us.
• Suggesting that meditation provides
a time to centre and calm ourselves
which is helpful for stressful times
e.g. study, exams, relationships,
preparing to play sport etc.
• Exploring Scripture and meditation.
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SUGGESTED The Lost Sheep: Lk 15:3–6
SCRIPTURE The Good Shepherd: Jn 10:11–15
PASSAGES Jesus at Prayer: Mk 1:35, Lk 5: 16, Lk 6:12
Prayer: Mt 6:6-7, Lk 11:5–13
MEDITATION, WELLBEING & CATHOLIC IDENTITY
Timing: Word:
• Working together to build up the time • Saying the word without rush or force
of silence gradually – it is ok to have other thoughts going
on – just stay with the word/breath as
Posture: well.
• Developing the skills of being both • Spending reflection time choosing
“upright” (firm) and “comfortable” a word or phrase – and drawing/
(relaxed) to enable stillness. painting the word and/or including the
• Encourage closing the eyes, or looking students’ words/phrases as part of the
down at the palm of the hands/gazing prayer table
at a candle
Distractions
Breath: • Working together to continue
• Practice the experience of breathing – developing ways to deal with
‘loud and soft’ distractions – having suggestions
• Hold the stomach as it moves in and around the room (e.g. “I let
out distractions go out the window”, “I
• Have different points of focus for the focus on my body on the chair/floor”)
breath – e.g. at the nostrils or at the • Combining with other forms of prayer/
stomach meditation
• Lie down and balance a paper boat on • Use of beads/stress ball or the
the stomach as it rises and falls with labyrinth – these are to be used with
the waves of the breath caution with the aim of letting them go
over time
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as the knowledge of God based on the not an effort to make the mind a blank but
intimate experience of God’s presence to move beyond discursive thinking and
remained throughout the Middle Ages. affective prayer to the level of communing
Ascetical disciplines (such as fasting, vigils, with God, which is a more intimate kind
prolonged solitude, periods of silence, of exchange.
ascetical obedience, simplicity of lifestyle)
and more spiritual disciplines (such as In human relationships, as mutual love
discursive meditation, affective prayer, deepens, there comes a time when the two
veneration of icons, psalmody, chanting, friends convey their sentiments without
the rosary) always included contemplation words. They can sit in silence sharing an
as part of their Christ-centred goal. experience or simply enjoying each other’s
presence without saying anything. Holding
Lectio Divina is the most traditional way hands or a single word from time to time
of cultivating contemplative prayer. A can maintain this deep communication.
mainstay of Christian monastic practice
from the earliest days, it consists in —
listening to the texts of the Bible as if one
were in conversation with God and God
were suggesting the topics for discussion.
Those who follow the method of Lectio
Divina are cultivating the capacity to listen
to the word of God at ever deepening
levels of attention. Spontaneous prayer
is the normal response to their growing
relationship with Christ, and the gift of
contemplation is God’s normal response
to them.
question is how can we open our whole openness to the mutual knowing and inter-
MEDITATION, WELLBEING & CATHOLIC IDENTITY
an experience” (John Main). Being simple return to it whenever you get distracted. Be