A Few Thoughts on Contemplation…

One of the things that called me to my current post at St. Columba’s was the focus on contemplative practices, rooted in Celtic Christianity. Most religious traditions have long encouraged practices of meditation and silent contemplation, in order to more deeply connect with the Divine. Many people are familiar with these disciplines in the context of Buddhist, Hindu, Pagan or other non-Christian traditions, and they are at the heart of Judaism as well; but most Christians don’t realize that we have inherited a deep contemplative wisdom practice from our earliest days, drawing from the Judaic wisdom that Jesus and his contemporaries were raised on. In his book Contemplating Christ: The Gospels and the Interior Life, The Rev. Vincent Pizzuto (our rector at St. Columba’s) says,

“Without a commitment to a deep spiritual practice, the ability to recognize oneself and the world as begotten by love is too often masked by the scandalous proliferation of injustice, violence, and suffering… this is why a commitment to the contemplative life can never be a flight from the world… it is, rather, a flight precisely from the illusion of disunity, the illusion of separation that dominates the overarching narratives of our world.”

Online Prayer Resources 

Related Books

 

Some Links:

Saint Columba’s Virtual Chapel & Offerings
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Favorite Prayers Collected & Shared
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Daily Hours from Daily Prayer for All Seasons