meditation

For Passover & Resurrection Day – How to Know That You Know

By Don on March 4, 2013 0

Sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything.

Note from Roadturn: These words are from a modern-day monk and priest. Their author, Father Lazarus, is a pilgrim in the tradition of the Desert Fathers.

Before all we can ever see, touch or smell

Before all created things
Before even the world itself existed …

there existed the One.

The One was not created
The One was the creator
Revealed to the creation as Abba … Father
The One who existed before all things

Abba … Father

Only One Word was spoken
through the unity of the Holy Spirit
The Word who was Jesus
who was with Him and in Him from the beginning.

Jesus the Word was truly part of the One
who was entirely uncreated;
The One who always was and always will be.

Holy God, Holy and Immortal
Before time and after time

When the Word lives and prays in the heart
we come to have no prayer left for ourselves;
We come to see all existence as sacred
because it has flowed from the One
and exists according to His holy will .

We become transparent to God
We can do no other
than live to the Glory of God
Our prayer is that of the angels

to the Glory of Heaven
to the Glory of God

The Word and the silence have become One
in our hearts.

Father Lazarus

The Prayer of Abandonment

Father, I abandon myself into Your hands; do with me what You will.
Whatever You do I thank You.
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only Your will be done in me,
as in all Your creatures.

I ask no more than this, my Lord.

Into Your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to You, O Lord, with all the love of my heart,
for I love You, my God, and so need to give myself–to surrender myself into Your hands, without reserve and with total confidence;

for You are my Father.

Brother Charles of Jesus

How Can I be Too Busy for Prayer and Meditation?

By Don on December 2, 2012 2

Most people pray.

According to the Barna Research Group, more than 80% of us pray in any given week, and that statistic has remained fairly stable over the years.

We pray for health, for our children, for more money, for guidance, and for others. We say, “I’ll pray for you.” And we mean it.

But life tends to get in the way, doesn’t it?

We go to bed with the best of intentions. “Tomorrow,” we say, “I will get up early and spend at least an hour in prayer and study before beginning my day.” And we really do mean it.

But we don’t follow through. We oversleep. Or we get up, but by the time we have finished checking email and reading the morning news, it’s time to get the day going.

Work beckons. We will pray tomorrow.

The great paradox

This is what I know for sure: there is nothing more powerful, nothing I can do that affects my attitude and my life more than prayer and meditation. But I also know this: prayer and meditation are given less time, in my life, than anything else.

That doesn’t make sense, does it? Why do I not do what I know I should do, but constantly do those things I know are bad for me?

I need a solution. Do you? Have you found one? I am working with something, right now, that is showing results. More about that later. For now, I invite you to share your own experiences with prayer and meditation.

ADDENDUM: NEW GROUP: Join the Prayer & Meditation Community on G+

Shalom, my friend. May God bless and keep you always,

Don

(The public domain illustration is by Alexander Bida, 1874. It is entitled, “Jesus in Prayer.”

What to give your children

By Don on August 21, 2011 0

Do you want to give your children the very best? I do. Often, when the work is intense and I am tired–wanting to stop–I think of them. The desire to provide for my children, to keep them safe and well-fed, keeps me going through tough times.

I first discovered Thich Nhat Hanh through his book, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation. And the older I get, the more I realize the importance of being present to the moment.

True Presence – Children’s Talk from Plum Village Online Monastery on Vimeo.