Christian Meditation

The aim of meditation is to take consciousness away from external entanglements even for a short time and direct it inwards and ultimately achieve progressively the unfoldment of the practitioner's innate capacities through self-realisation. Through constant practise of meditation one is able to manifest all his potential to the peak and attain perfect harmony with his inner being and his external environment. All types of meditation techniques attempt to achieve this objective.

Christian Meditation differs fundamentally from Yoga Meditation in its approach and content. For Christians, the object of meditation is Christ Himself. The life of Christ, His Passion, His characteristics and His teachings form the main focus of concentration. Christ is the embodiment of love, humility and compassion. He is the Saviour of humanity and He gives heavenly peace and bliss. In Christian Meditation, the practitioner is required to exclusively contemplate on Christ. The idea is that one should emulate the life and character of Christ through repeated practise of meditation. Christian Meditation forms part of another kind of prayer without the aid of rosaries, prayer books and missals. It is an unstructured prayer in which a person establishes direct and personal communication with Christ.

St. Theresa of Avila has advocated a systematic approach to meditation. Th following are the five general steps formulated by her to practise meditation.

1. Preparation: In the preparatory stage the meditator is required to have complete surrender to God Almighty. Meditation should be approached with all humility for which he should physically feel the presence of Christ with the fond hope that Christ would help him all through the process of meditation. In Christian Meditation there is no question of mind control but the attitude with which tI1e meditation is taken up is very important.
2. Selection of Material: Since meditation implies conversations with Christ, 0111 is obliged to select a subject for meditation. This may be preferably taken from the Gospels. St. Theresa states that our meditation period will find us frequently occupied with our Lord, His life and His doctrine.
3. The Consideration: After having felt the presence of Christ and with the proper material selected, the meditator should begin to reflect upon the material. In order to make the reflection more effective one may ask oneself certain questions. Who is here in this scene? What is He doing? What does it mean to me? These questions mostly relate to the visualisation of the meditator during the hours of meditation.
4. The Conversation: This is the principal part of the meditation. The meditator practically begins the actual conversation with Christ. It should be a heart-to­heart discussion. The meditator is left free to converse on whatever he wants to discuss with Christ. During the course of such a conversation, the meditator affirms his faith in Christ. He may openly express his love for Him and also his desire to serve Him to the best of his ability. The presence of Christ must be physically felt. He. may ask His pardon for the wrong done and thank Him for the favours received and also request Him to provide more strength and will. power to withstand the temptations to commit sins and further assure Him about not committing any more sins in the future.
5. The Conclusion: During the concluding phase of meditation, the meditator evaluates the extent to which he was able to meditate on Christ and also thanks Him for the guidance He gave during Meditation. Further, he resolves to hold a better and purposeful conversation with Christ in the subsequent period of meditation. Emotional attachment to Christ is the prerequisite for successful completion of : Christian Meditation. Most Christian saints had the experience of reaching the ecstatic I state merely by meditating intensely on Christ. These persons experienced supreme joy, happiness and bliss during such an ecstatic state.