Read the words of the Benedictine Sister, Joan Chittister:

“Contemplation is a very dangerous activity. It not only brings us face to face with God, it brings us…face to face with the world, and then it brings us face to face with the self…” [1]

This quote is a reminder that true contemplation and meditation is not about cultivating spiritual rosy and fuzzy feelings.

Deep prayer and contemplation is about bringing us to the ends of our selves. But to get to the “end of the self” we must pass “through the self” through the many layers of being where we may confront our past, our pains, old memories, and trauma.

This is the territory that our ego loves to hang out in.

Sometimes there is peace and Presence in our contemplation, but other times there is disturbing mental and emotional debris from the past.

This is part of the healing process of contemplative prayer.

And so it is “dangerous” but it is a necessary danger in that there is a greater and greater freedom in the letting go and surrender of our past pains and trauma.

Underneath it all is a deep restful sense of self.

Larger than our past!

May you find some time today to sit and connect with this Larger self, rooted in God.

Be still and know that I am God.

References:

Adapted from Joan Chittister and Richard Rohr, Prophets Then, Prophets Now (Albuquerque, NM: Center for Action and Contemplation, 2006).