Christian Contemplative

Twenty minutes of quiet sitting. The fundamental gesture of contemplative life.

Pick a single word — love, mercy, abba, Jesus — to return to in centering prayer.

Sit in silence, return to the sacred word whenever you notice thinking. Method of Keating, Pennington.

Four movements with a passage — read, reflect, respond, rest. Slow reading as prayer.

Daily Ignatian review — where was consolation, where was desolation, what is being asked.

Short phrase coordinated with breath — Lord Jesus / have mercy. Continuous portable practice.

Prayer of unknowing. Letting go of every image and concept of the Divine.

Take prayer outside. The natural world as primary scripture.

Place yourself in a scripture scene with all senses. Ignatian imaginative contemplation.

Regular meeting with a director who helps you notice where God is moving in your life.

Continuous repetition of the Jesus prayer with prayer rope or beads. Hesychast tradition.

John of the Cross's name for the necessary loss of consolations. Patience with absence.

Care for the poor, the sick, the stranger as the form of prayer that completes the others.

The daily rhythm — lauds, vespers, compline — of the praying church.

Multi-day silence under a director. The deep work of the contemplative life.