Lesson 7

Contemplation & Communion

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Introduction to Real Prayer is based on Prayer Works: Getting a Grip on Catholic Spirituality by Matthew Leonard.

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Lesson Seven

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1. Why is it so hard to easily describe contemplative prayer?

Answer: It’s hard to describe because it is supernatural. Contemplation is something otherworldly that’s beginning to happen to us and we don’t have the vocabulary to explain exactly what’s taking place. That’s why even the saints have such a difficult time trying to describe it. St. Teresa of Ávila calls it a “close sharing among friends” and a “warmth” of God. St. John of the Cross calls it a “fragrance” of God. And they use these kinds of vague descriptions because they’re trying to describe something totally supernatural using natural language.

2. Can we do anything to cause contemplative prayer ourselves?

Answer: Strictly speaking, no, we cannot. Contemplative prayer is supernatural and essentially outside of our control. We can prepare for it, but as the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “it is a gift, a grace; it can be accepted only in humility and poverty” (CCC 2713).

While vocal prayer and meditation are more about our activity in prayer, contemplation is more about our receptivity. Only God can make this totally supernatural form of prayer happen. As St. Teresa of Ávila wrote, God grants this intimacy “to whom He wills, when He wills, and as He wills.”

3. What can we do to prepare ourselves for the gift of contemplation?

Answer: We can prepare ourselves to receive this gift by regularly practicing meditative prayer and doing our best to live a holy life. While can’t make contemplative prayer happen, we can show God that we desire it.

4. To what celebration does the Catechism directly connect our reception of contemplation?

Answer: The Catechism says there’s a direct connection between contemplative prayer and the mystical movement of the Mass. Paragraph 2711 says, “Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy: we ‘gather up’ the heart, recollect our whole being under the prompting of the Holy Spirit, abide in the dwelling place of the Lord which we are, awaken our faith in order to enter into the presence of him who awaits us.”

In other words, our reception of contemplation is like our reception of the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ in the sacrament. They’re both a gift given by God to draw us into union with him. Both are forms of communion. One is sacramental and one is mystical. Paragraph 2718 of the Catechism says, “The mystery of Christ is celebrated by the Church in the Eucharist, and the Holy Spirit makes it come alive in contemplative prayer.”

5. What happens in our prayer life to let us know we’re beginning to enter into contemplative prayer?

Answer: In the midst of prayer, you begin to receive gentle urges from the Holy Spirit to put aside your normal meditations like rosaries, books, etc.  Your desire begins to simply “be” with God, to sit quietly in his presence in a gaze of silent love. That doesn’t mean you’ll never pray a rosary or read again. Of course you will. But when these gentle nudges come to simply sit with the Lord, says St. John of the Cross, “the soul should content itself simply with directing its attention lovingly and calmly toward God." 

Don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you’re doing something wrong by stopping your normal prayer routine and simply being quiet in the presence of the Lord. This kind of inactivity and silence in the presence of God is exactly what we need to allow because the Lord wants to draw us even closer through this process. At its heart, contemplation is a quiet exchange of love, “a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus, an attentiveness to the Word of God, a silent love” (CCC 2724).

6. What is the end result of moving into contemplation? What does it do to us?

Answer: Put simply, it makes us more like God. As the Catechism says, “Contemplative prayer is a communion in which the Holy Trinity conforms man, the image of God, ‘to his likeness’” (CCC 2713). 

In contemplation we enter into a new level of intimacy with God that conforms us to Christ and changes the way we live. For example, we don’t lose our tempers so easily. We stop being so selfish. We seek more virtue. In short, we begin to live more like Christ because we’ve drawn closer to him.