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Contemplation 7: The Julian Meetings
The Julian Meetings is a national, UK-based organisation which fosters the teaching and practice of silent prayer. It works primarily through a network of local groups but its resources are available to individuals also. The Julian Meetings began in 1973 when an Anglican laywoman, Hilary Wakeman, wrote to a
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Contemplation 6: From singular to plural
When I first started to pray in silence, I did so on my own. It was my discovery and my response. It did not take long for me to realise that other people were praying in the same way. Not only that, they were praying in the same way as
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The wisdom of the desert
I wanted to pass on some insights on prayer that I have gained through reading Peter Tyler’s book Christian Mindfulness. These are based on his chapter 2 which is concerned with the spirituality of the Desert Fathers. Just as the early Christian pioneers went into the desert to find
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Contemplation 5: The ethical life
There is a close connection between prayer and life. Prayer changes us: we live differently. What does this mean in practice? What sort of people do we become when we pray? We very soon realise that the prayer of silence and our way of life need to be in harmony
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Contemplation 4: Always and everywhere
If we are faithful in the practice of silent prayer – if it becomes part of our life on a daily basis – then a number of changes will take place inside us. These are the fruits of prayer. They are not the direct result of anything we do. Instead this is
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Contemplation 3: Distractions
One of the main themes of silent prayer is stillness – moving from stillness of body to stillness of mind and eventually stillness of heart. But in practice, many people experience something quite different. As soon as they try to be quiet before God, distracting thoughts and emotions fill their mind
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Contemplation 2: The basics
Those who are new to this kind of prayer might ask some basic questions. What do I do? For how long? When and where? What actually happens? Silent prayer is something you can do anywhere, any time, in any situation. But this continuous life of prayer is most likely to
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Compline
Compline is the last service in what is known as the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours. These services constitute the public prayer of the Church, offered since the earliest days. The history To begin at the beginning: the practice of praying at different times of the day
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Contemplation 1: Introduction
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
Prayer
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