This mystery has been kept in the dark a long time, but now its open to all in belief.

We often associate Prayer with the Words we say. 

Contemplative prayer is a way ob being with God that does not depend on giving the Holy One information about what we would like done in the world. 

Just as friends can enjoy one another without conversing, contemplative prayer is about being with God without wordiness. 

In contemplative prayer we rest and wait.

Psalms 131 contains a wonderful image of a weaned child stilled and quieted in his mothers arms. 

A weaned child isn't looking to nurse, a weaned child comes to the mother for love and communion. 

The Psalmist writes, "I have stilled and quieted my soul :/ like a weaned child with its mother,/ like a weaned child in my soul within me. 

In contemplative prayer we rest in God, depending on him to indicate communion and communication. 

We don't ask for things, we simply open ourselves to the Trinity, trusting that we will be received in resting arms.

It can be helpful to use the imagination to put yourself in a receptive frame of mind.

Use a Scriptural image, imagine you are a weaned child sitting in your mothers lap, lean your head against her and rest. 

Or imagine that the good shepherd has led you beside the still waters (Psalm 23), lie down and rest with God. 

Contemplative prayer requires patience, but it is not the heavy work

that intercession can sometimes be.

It can be light, playful, tender and joyful. 

In a world given to activity and work, contemplative prayer is a way we join God in a place of Divine Rest and Love. 

Contemplative prayer is a response to God's invitation to "Abide in Christ." 

In Colossians 1:26-27, Paul writes of (1) the saving gospel to those without Christ, and (2) the "Mystery of the Gospel" to the saints, which is "Christ in you, the hope of Glory."

Contemplative prayer puts us in a place to become more receptive to the mystery of the Gospel, "Christ in You."

Contemplative prayer is a container 'Discipline' that includes a number of ways of being with Jesus in prayer: centering prayer, prayer of recollection, breath prayer and labyrinth prayer. 

Contemplative prayer need not be a mystical experience; it is far more likely to be a restful experience of Christ in me. 

Life makes it evident that what we contemplate shapes us. 

Saints  down through the ages have trusted that contemplating the Truth, Beauty, and Goodness of the Trinity could ultimately shape and change their souls. 

The interior transformation that the Saints call 

"Divine Union" is a fruit of this contemplation.

Share Reference: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook.