Center for Action and Contemplation – Father
Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation – Saturday, 4 January 2014 “Sabbath Meditation:
Introduction”
Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation
Introduction
“Sabbath Meditation”
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Remember: Introduction
We will follow the trajectory of life from
innocent beginning, through inevitable brokenness, to putting everything back
together, through ripening into union—with self, God, and others. (Tuesday)
Our contemplative practice is a “laboratory” in
which we learn to die and to receive the Divine gaze. (Wednesday)
We can’t achieve transformation; like grace, it
is given and can only be received. It is more about a deep willingness than any
willfulness. (Thursday)
Your life is not about you; you are about Life.
(Friday)
Rest: Sacred Time
I invite you to set aside time for
contemplative practice in this New Year. People ask me, “How long should I
pray?” I say, “As long as it takes you to get to an emotional and mental yes!”
Many find that they need two periods of twenty minutes a day to come to such
surrender. Perhaps it is early in the morning, before your brain has a chance
to begin its list-making and judgments. Or, it could be in the evening, which
might include an examen of consciousness, looking for the God-encounters during
your day. Maybe it is taking moments throughout the day to pause, breathe, be
still, and recognize how you have returned from yes and back to various kinds
of no.
The sacrament of Sabbath—keeping a chosen time
sacred (though all time is holy; there is no distinction or division between
profane and sacred!)—was offered by the Jewish people as a gift for all of
humanity. And in our busy, technology-driven culture, it is especially
important that we intentionally seek rest and re-creation. It might be saying
that at least one-seventh of life must be about non-performance and
non-egocentric pursuit, or we forget our life’s purpose.
Take a moment now. Perhaps breathe in and out
with this week’s Gateway to Silence, “My true self is love.” Rest in the
awareness of Presence. And know that you are never apart from it. When this
moment ends, Presence will still be here, now, always.
Gateway to Silence:
My true self is love.
For further study:
Contemplation AND Action (MP3 download)
Contemplation in Action (book)
Contemplative Prayer (CD, MP3 download)
Jesus and Buddha: Paths to Awakening (CD, DVD,
MP3 download)
Levels of Spiritual Growth (CD, MP3 download)
Loving the Two Halves of Life: The Further
Journey
(CD, DVD, MP3 download)
The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics
See (book)
True Self/False Self (CD)
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Center for Action and Contemplation
1705 Five Points Road SW
1705 Five Points Road SW
Albuquerque, NM 87105 (physical)
PO Box 12464
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PO Box 12464
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