By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: Jan 8, 2016
At the St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Squamish, the evening prayer has just ended but for some it’s time to open themselves to another medium to the divine. Every Wednesday, members of the Catholic Church sit together to meditate on the Lord, in a unique and a relatively new tradition of Christian meditation.
While traditional meditation aims to induce, through the chanting of a mantra, quiet in the mind by stripping it away of fear and anxiety, Christian meditation focuses instead on Jesus Christ and stories from the Bible to form a personal connection with God. In a historical sense, meditation in Christianity was ignored or even viewed with suspicion, an invitation to baser thoughts. But Christian meditation has found a revival in church across North America, where the idea has found acceptance among those who find it a more engaging method to forge a personal bond with Jesus or reflect on the verses from Bible surrounded by the silent devotion of like-minded people.
This is meditation that is personal, but it’s focussed on the self and your relationship with God, says Myriam Mokrzycki, who started the meditation group at the local Catholic Church in Squamish. When you stop and dive into your own self, you can find peace and you can relax, Myriam says, and use that peace to reflect on the word of God.
“You can talk to God. You don’t have to ask for things that you need but rather ask for understanding, for forgiveness and also use this moment to feel grateful,” she said.
Myriam has been part of Christian meditation retreats in Mexico, where she recalls every person attending the retreat spent an hour or so in the chapel alone, converging their thoughts and emotions to Jesus and narratives of the Bible. She remembers the experience as being in the presence of God where time suspends and faith fills the mind and the body.
At the St. Joseph Church, those who come to meditate sit in a semi-circle, surrounded by candles and Holy Bible. The service starts with a reading of the hymns followed by a silence to contemplate the sacred.
“It can be passage from the Bible or they can reflect on the spoken words but in the end, the ideal behind meditation is to take you to the presence of God,” she said.
Myriam said meditation helps her to feel more relaxed, more peaceful and helps her to not panic and get into fights and arguments with others. It helps me, she says, to stay calm and focussed.
“I don’t get into panic, don’t get engaged into fights, arguments and it makes be more conscious. It helps you engage with troubles of the daily lives and it helps you to stay calm and focussed,” she said.
Other mediations, she said, are an equally valid way of invoking the sacred and realising the God, but for her, Christian meditation takes her to the presence of God by focussing on the words of the Bible and life of Christ. It’s a way, she says, of opening a dialogue with God where you can ask for his forgiveness and his understanding and be grateful for his blessings.
Psalm 4, verse 4 (commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still) and Psalm 134 ( May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord) are examples of howmeditation is rooted in the Christian tradition, says Sister Flolyn Catungal, who helped start the St Joseph’s Catholic Church.
Sister Catungal, who came from Philippines in 2014, said she had been meditatingsince 1994 and found it an effective method of personal and communal prayer which allowed the worshipper to be God-centric. While regular meditation teaches one to be aware of breath, Christian meditation focussed on the word of God, a particular psalm, or Christ.
“The mantra is to repeat the words so you can be aware of God’s presence, to be aware of the Love and the presence of Jesus amidst you,” she said.
Christian meditation can relieve one of stress and help maintain peace of mind as you feel the God’s presence by reflecting on his words.
“It makes me a better person, a better nun and gives strength to my inner self, my personality and brings me closer to God which helps me remain focussed throughout the day,” she says.
The meditation group meets at St Joseph’s Catholic Church for one hour, where after an opening prayer, there is reading of the psalms, followed by a 20-25 minutes silence in which participants try to reflect on his words and be aware of his presence through breathing. Those interested can contact the church for more details about meeting time and hour.