🙏 Thank you for all of your loving comments and questions on last week’s video where I shared my love for the Catholic Church — especially its mystical tradition and deep teaching on the interior life.
I mentioned how the writings of St. Teresa of Ávila have been a great inspiration to me. She reminds us that prayer is meant to be simple yet deep. While many of our prayers are wordy and discursive (and that’s perfectly proper at the beginning of the spiritual walk), both St. Teresa and St. Alphonsus de Liguori teach that prayer must eventually mature into meditation. Without it, the soul risks getting stuck in its growth.
Unfortunately, many Christians shy away from meditation, believing it to be “new age” or foreign to our faith. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Christianity is, at its heart, a mystical faith — its ultimate aim is union with God, not just in the next life, but here and now.
The Carmelite tradition — and St. Teresa in particular — places great emphasis on this union in this life. If you want to begin practicing Christian meditation under the guidance of the Church’s greatest “Doctor of Prayer,” I recommend starting with this short but powerful book that beautifully illustrates the power and practice of Christian meditation.
✝️ What are your own experiences with prayer and meditation? Have you read St. Teresa or the Carmelite doctors? I’d love to hear your reflections below.
Elliott Hulse | WISDOM
🙏 Thank you for all of your loving comments and questions on last week’s video where I shared my love for the Catholic Church — especially its mystical tradition and deep teaching on the interior life.
I mentioned how the writings of St. Teresa of Ávila have been a great inspiration to me. She reminds us that prayer is meant to be simple yet deep. While many of our prayers are wordy and discursive (and that’s perfectly proper at the beginning of the spiritual walk), both St. Teresa and St. Alphonsus de Liguori teach that prayer must eventually mature into meditation. Without it, the soul risks getting stuck in its growth.
Unfortunately, many Christians shy away from meditation, believing it to be “new age” or foreign to our faith. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Christianity is, at its heart, a mystical faith — its ultimate aim is union with God, not just in the next life, but here and now.
The Carmelite tradition — and St. Teresa in particular — places great emphasis on this union in this life. If you want to begin practicing Christian meditation under the guidance of the Church’s greatest “Doctor of Prayer,” I recommend starting with this short but powerful book that beautifully illustrates the power and practice of Christian meditation.
✝️ What are your own experiences with prayer and meditation? Have you read St. Teresa or the Carmelite doctors? I’d love to hear your reflections below.
1 month ago | [YT] | 102