The Pope in catechesis: meditation is a way of meeting Jesus

Renato Martinez – Vatican City

“Meditation involves thought, imagination, emotion and desire. This mobilization is necessary to deepen the convictions of faith, to arouse the conversion of the heart and to strengthen the will to follow Christ. Christian prayer is preferably applied to meditation on the mysteries of Christ, ”Pope Francis declared during the general audience on Wednesday April 28, continuing his cycle of catechesis dedicated to prayer. In his 31st catechesis devoted to this subject, the Pontiff reflected on “Meditation as a form of prayer”, from the biblical passage of the Gospel of Saint John (14.25-25; 16.12-15), in which Jesus announces to his disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes, “he will teach them everything and remind them of what I have said to them”.

Stand before the revelation

In this context, the Holy Father clarified that “for a Christian,” to meditate “is to seek a synthesis: it means to stand in front of the great page of the Apocalypse to try to make it ours, by assuming it. fully”. And the Christian, after having accepted the Word of God, does not close it within himself, because this Word must meet “another book”, which the Catechism calls “that of life”. That’s what we try to do every time we meditate on the Word.

In today’s world we all need to meditate

Likewise, Pope Francis pointed out that the practice of meditation is not only for Christians, but that there is meditative practice in almost all religions of the world, it is even a widespread activity among people who do not have a religious outlook on life. . “We all need to meditate, to reflect, to rediscover ourselves, it’s a human dynamic. Above all, in the voracious Western world – underlined the Pope – meditation is sought after because it represents a high slope against the daily stress and the emptiness which spreads everywhere ”. Meditation is a phenomenon that must be looked at with good eyes, said the Pontiff, in fact we are not made to run continuously, we have an interior life that cannot always be trampled on. Meditation is therefore a necessity for everyone.

Prayer is the encounter with the Other

This word, received in a Christian context, affirmed the Holy Father, assumes a specificity which must not be canceled. The great door through which the prayer of a baptized person passes – we remember him once again – is Jesus Christ. The practice of meditation also follows this path. “The Christian, when he prays, does not aspire to total transparency of himself, he does not seek the deepest part of himself; Christian prayer – he specifies – is above all an encounter with the Other with a capital O ”. If an experience of prayer gives us inner peace, or mastery of ourselves, or clarity on the path to be taken, these results are, so to speak, collateral effects of the grace of Christian prayer that is meeting with Jesus.

There are different methods of meditation

Pope Francis also recalled that the term “meditation” throughout history has had different meanings. Even within Christianity, it refers to different spiritual experiences. However, some common lines can be drawn, and in this the Catechism also helps us, which says: “The methods of meditation are as diverse as the spiritual masters. […] But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to move forward, with the Holy Spirit, on the only path of prayer: Christ Jesus. It is not possible to meditate without the help of the Holy Spirit.

The meditation method is a path, not a goal

Likewise, the Holy Father underlined that certain methods of Christian meditation are very sober, others more articulate; some emphasize the intellectual dimension of the person, others rather the affective and emotional dimension. “All of them are important and deserve to be practiced, inasmuch as they can help the experience of faith to become a total act of the person: not only the spirit of man prays, as it does not only do the feeling”. This is why we must always remember that the method is a way, not a goal: any method of prayer, if you want to be a Christian, is part of it. sequel Christi which is the essence of our faith.

Meditation is a way to find Jesus

Finally, Pope Francis said that it is therefore the grace of Christian prayer, that Christ is not far away, but that he is always in relation with us. “There is no aspect of his divine-human person that cannot become a place of salvation and happiness for us. Each moment of the earthly life of Jesus, by the grace of prayer, can become for us contemporary ”. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, we are also present in the different moments of the life of Jesus. There is no page of the Gospel in which there is no room for us. Meditation, for us Christians, is a way to find Jesus. And so, just like that, to rediscover yourself.