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# Contemplation 1: Introduction
- URL: https://violet-wood.ghost.io/contemplation-1-introduction/
- Published: 2026-08-17T13:58:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-22T16:52:58.000Z
- Author: Violet Wood
- Tags: Prayer

Silent prayer is sometimes known as Christian meditation, or contemplative prayer. It is a form of prayer in which we open ourselves to God and seek to remain in his presence without words. We do not have to do anything. Instead it is God who does all the work, within us, in ways too deep to comprehend.

Many people come to silent prayer later in life when more active forms of prayer have given way. And yet, it requires no experience or special knowledge or the wisdom of age. Children make very good contemplatives. They simply gaze on the unknown with a sense of wonder.

Silent prayer has been the most natural and often the only way in which I can pray. It was half a lifetime ago when I discovered this most wonderful way of being with God. Almost immediately, I found that other people were praying like this too, and not only on their own but also in small groups. It seems that the silence of a group is both very deep and also a means of mutual support.

One of the first books I read on this kind of prayer was Sheila Cassidy’s spiritual autobiography Prayer For Pilgrims (Fount, 1994). In chapter 1, On a Personal Note, she describes her first encounter with silent prayer through Fr Michael Holllings, the Roman Catholic chaplain at Oxford University. She found herself increasingly drawn to his regular practice of opening up the chapel and sitting in silence before God for half an hour before mass every day.

Later in the book, in chapter 6, entitled When Should We Pray?, she explains why prayer is so important and why it must become central to our lives, forming part of a daily routine:

> The most important thing to be learned about finding time for prayer is that it depends not on the organisation of time but on the attitude of mind. Most of us think of prayer as an important optional extra in life … The breakthrough comes when we realise that we have our priorities completely wrong and that we must make our relationship with God the axis of our life, the centre point around which all else revolves. Prayer must be the last thing to go when things get tight, not the first.

> Once we look at our lives in this light, all things fall into perspective. When we are too busy we must give up recreation time, study time, meal times, sleep – all – before we allow our prayer time to be invaded … Not only is it possible, but it is a way of living which leads to a fullness of being unattainable in any other way … Prayer is not a luxury but a necessity, and we are only fully human when we remember this and arrange our lives accordingly.

I return to this inspiring passage whenever my life is getting too busy because it reminds me of what really matters.