Prayer of quiet is the beginning of infused contemplation. Which is a gift from God and cannot be attained on our own. We can just prepare the soil of our souls by daily mental prayer.
Hi Sanctus. I think this youtube channel could help you get more information about Christian practices of meditation, channel is called “Discover Christian mysticism with Jon Adams”. I have not watched a lot from him, but from what I have seen, he can speak quite clearly about this complicated topic and he is inspired by ancient Christian sources. Altough not Catholic from what I’ve found, he says he is speaking from his own experience of searching for God and deep spirituality using ancient Christian sources (I remember he mentioned some saints in his videos). This is what I’ve found about his background: “Jon Adams is a Bible scholar, writer, and pastor. Most importantly, Jon is a die-hard follower of Jesus. Jon has a BA in Christian Studies ies from Howard Payne University, and a MA in Religion from Logsdon Theological Seminary. His MA thesis was an exploration of the ancient Christian mystical tradition, its parallels with modern brain science, and its usefulness for lived spirituality today. Because the mystical approach to the gospel has meant so much to him, Jon is driven to share an enlightened, Jesus-centered spirituality with anyone who will listen.” You can give it a try a see it it fits you Here is his video about his experience of practicing mindfulness and it’s compatibility with christian spirituality:
In a way prayer is a bit like gardening. Before we get to see the flowers and taste the fruits we have to do a lot of hard work. We have to do a lot of digging and hoeing and planting and a hundred other things. Then later on after many months of waiting and work we get to see things bloom. The digging and hard work bit in prayer is the Meditation. This is part of gardening is fun too. But we have to get through it to get on the blooming and contemplative part. We cannot simply leap frog over the meditative hard work part to get straight into the contemplative part. First the planting and then the blooming. Anything else is extremely dangerous. There is a saying in science that nature abhors a vacuum. The same in prayer. So make your mind empty as a contemplative exercise risks anything that wants to jump in, including demons to do so. Another thing is we are Western Catholics. It is in our Spiritual DNA. Our railroad to prayer is through Western Spiritual practises hallowed over 2,000 years. They are meant for us and we for them. It is far, far better as Westerners to stick to our own Western Traditions and for Easterners to stick to theirs. Ham and eggs go together we would not serve eggs with cabbage. To take an interest in Eastern Traditions and practice is fine. But to employ them is something else entirely. I advise, as Western Catholics, against it.
