The indwelling Presence of Christ is the reason meditation works

If there is one single truth from Christ’s gospel that is the “engine” of meditational prayer, its the truth of Christ’s indwelling Presence in men and women. The reason “waiting on God” works so powerfully is that it places us in a place of surrender and receptivity that allows the Holy Spirit who is already within us to infuse peace, joy, love, strength, healing, wisdom and all of the other treasures of the divine nature that we share. This is where maximum transformation happens and our minds are renewed, or in more modern terms, our neural pathways are rewired.

If you think about religious practices in their range from maximum effort on the one hand to maximum receptivity on the other hand, silent prayer of the heart, meditation, is on that far side of restful surrender. In meditation there is no attempt to make anything happen because there is trust that God’s Presence is living, abiding and energetically working. There is no exertion of the soul, and no need to guide the process with thoughts, concepts and images. In meditation, there is no fear-driven attempt to appease God and no insecurity-driven attempt to please God. High-effort religious practices are an immature form of faith, especially if they are driven by the belief that God is far away, out there, and that pious effort and striving will bring God closer. This is the way of the Old Testament where only a handful of priests, prophets and kings had a close personal “anointing” of God and everyone else got second-hand scraps indirectly through them.

In meditation, the connection with God goes beyond thoughts, concepts and images (which are a form of effort) into the “inner room”, the secret place of the spirit where Christ’s living presence abides.

This fourth video in our “Espresso Series” on Centering Prayer delves into the way in which this central truth of Christ’s gospel flows into a living reality in silent meditation prayer.

We have a weekly group that practices Centering Prayer by video call. You can learn more here – on how to join or how to replay guided meditation sessions from this group.