Lectio
“The greatest effect of contemplative prayer is love. It is caused by love. It is practicing love. And it results in love.”
— Fr. William Meninger, Contemplative Meditation
Meditatio
Contemplative prayer is not merely an act of prayer, in that it is, more so, an act of surrender. In this way, it is a profound act of worship. If the essence of worship is sacrifice, what greater sacrifice is there than to give oneself over entirely to the mercy and will of God — to give over mind, body, and soul, time, attention, and intention, in faithful consent, to the One who sustains us, entrusting Him with everything in us, even if only for a relatively brief amount of time each day?
Like the sacrament of marital union in its most holy manifestation, contemplative prayer is the utter abandonment of self, selfishness, and self-serving aspirations for the sake of communion. It is the dissolution of individual identity in service of relationship. And it is the merging of two into one, such that the wholeness that results is greater than the sum of its individual parts.
Contemplative prayer is an act of shared love. It is the answer to love’s invitation wherein love unfolds from within us, and through which we both express our love and receive love from the Source of all love. In this practice, silence becomes the altar upon which we give ourselves over in loving worship to our Creator, not because He demands it of us — for Christ’s sacrifice was and is perfect, lacking nothing — but because He invites us into this moment with Him within which Lover, Beloved, and Love shared rise together as a single fragrance, no longer distinguishable from one another, or from the offering itself.
Oratio
God Of Love
God of love
draw me into love
with your love
that I may love
as you have loved
for by your love
I was made from love
though I stray from love
I am never not loved
because you are love
pouring out love
as the very love
I return to in love
Contemplatio
If you were no longer distinguishable from the love that made you, what would you still have left to protect?
Related Scripture
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
— Romans 12:1 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Love Found Me in My Brokenness: On Being Seen and Healed by Love (Lectio Divina), which explores that same abiding Love from another angle — Love found in brokenness rather than Love offered up in surrender.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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