About soul care/contemplative prayer

Contemplative prayer is all about experiencing and deeping your relationship with the divine. It is meditative and reflective and goes well with other practices such as yoga and mindfulness. It’s an invitation to be in the present moment, letting the divine speak to you exactly where you are and using the prayers as tools to lead you into deeper relationship with the divine.

In the book ‘Prayer of Heart and Body’, author Fr Thomas Ryan talks about atunement with the divine and uses the example of tuning into a particular radio station. The idea is that the divine is always there, we just need to tune in. This is not always easy to do and that’s why these spiritual practices can help us. I call them ‘soul care tools’ because they are useful tools to help us care for our souls.

Types of contemplative prayer

Lectio divina translates as ‘divine reading’ and involves reading or listening to a short passage of scripture three or four times and letting the divine speak to you through the words. There are short periods of silence in between readings for you to listen and speak to the divine. The readings don’t have to be from the bible – the divine can speak to you through all kinds of texts, including poetry, song lyrics and stories.

Prayer of examen is often done at the end of the day or week and involves inviting the holy spirit to help you as you look back through the day/week and bring things before the divine. For example, you might think of all the things you’re thankful for in the day and give thanks for them. the last part of the examen prayer involves looking forward to the next day or week and asking the spirit of love to help you.

Centering prayer is a silent prayer that uses a word or phrase as an anchor to help you centre your focus on the divine and draw your focus back if your mind wanders. There’s no shame in getting distracted while doing this, it’s completely normal and the idea is to just use the word or phrase to come back to the present moment.

Breath prayer is where you repeat a word or phrase on your inhale and/or exhale like a mantra. Probably the most common breath prayer is the Jesus prayer, but it doesn’t have to be long: repeating a single word – like ‘Jesus’, ‘holy’ or ‘come’ – can be just as effective.

Imaginative contemplation involves placing yourself in a bible story and imagining what it would be like. It can be a good way of bringing the story to life and connecting with Jesus. You can use your senses to imagine what it would have looked, smelled, tasted, felt and sounded like but you don’t need to aim for historical accuracy in imaginative contemplation – it’s simply a creative tool to help you connect with the divine.

Visio divina translates as ‘divine seeing’, and uses imagery and art to connect with the divine. You can use the picture as a starting point for a conversation with the divine using the different elements of the picture. You can then talk to the divine about anything that comes up. You don’t have to use religious art, it could be secular art, sculptures, photos, video, even looking around in nature.

Colloquay is simply a conversation with the divine, talking one-to-one as you would a friend. You might want to get things off your chest or use a theme, topic or question as a conversation starter. The idea is to come before the divine just as you are and be honest and real. You may want to spend some quiet time afterwards, listening for a reply.

Welcoming prayer is all about accepting every aspect of the present moment and inviting the divine into it. There’s time to be still and simply rest in the presence of the divine. Welcoming prayer also invites you to let go of the things that you are holding that might come in between you and the divine.

A note on language: so many of us (myself included) have experienced some form of spritual abuse in our faith communities. I’m deliberately avoiding words that can trigger spiritual trauma (including my own) by using words like ‘ the divine’ and ‘the spirit of love’. The bible is full of people who came up with their own names for the divine, based on characteristics like love and faithfulness – you might like to do the same. I also try to avoid using male pronouns for the divine (except for Jesus because we know that he was male). There will be times when I forget and revert to the names and pronouns that I was brought up with so I apologise in advance.

Useful resources

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