HOW TO ENTER THE REALM OF THE SACRED
What might seem like an Indiana Jones fantasy adventure to enter the lost or forbidden realm of the Sacred is indeed the most simple, in keeping with everything about God. You simply go there. Contemplation is seeking God within you, among other places. Close your eyes in a place of silence and solitude and wait.
There are several ways I use to be in the presence of God. One of them is receiving Eucharist every day that I can, another is just sitting in Eucharistic Adoration and waiting for God to sit down with me, another is using Lectio Divina as a step-by-step way to reach the stage of contemplation. Here is how I use Lectio each day for at least thirty minutes. Every day!
The question I get most often is, how can I enter this realm of the Sacred and find the peace you are describing. Here are some ideas to try:
- Find a place of silence and solitude.
- Learn to wait for God to show up, no matter how long.
- Use Lectio Divina as the four steps to reach contemplation.
- Read a selection from Sacred Scriptures, no more than one sentence, maybe even one or two words. My eight words are in Philippians 2:5.
- Meditate on this sentence. Resist the temptation to move on to another sentence. Over and over, think about what is there, say it over and over and over.
- Pray about this sentence that you may gain humility and the ability to see with the “ear of your heart,” as St. Benedict writes in his Prologue to the Rule. Now that you have prepared yourself to be in the presence of God, wait.
- Contemplate means to sit on a park bench waiting for God to walk by and sit down with you and have a conversation. This level is about feeling the energy transfer from God to you. I call this transfer by the name of peace, joy and love. It is real and abiding. Don’t think of time. Don’t think of results. Don’t ask God for favors.
- Praise to Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and forever. The God is , who was and is to come at the end of the ages.–Cistercian Doxology
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