Contemplative Prayer

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” — Matthew 6:6

Biblical Foundations

The Scriptures are rich with examples of sustained, attentive communion with God that goes beyond petition and intercession. For a broader treatment of prayer, see the companion article. Contemplative prayer represents the deepest dimension of the spiritual disciplines:

• Jesus regularly withdrew to solitary places to pray (Luke 5:16), spent entire nights in prayer (Luke 6:12), and taught his disciples to seek the Father in hiddenness (Matthew 6:6)
• Moses spoke with God “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11) and spent forty days on Sinai in the divine presence
• Elijah encountered God not in wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the “still small voice” — the qol demamah daqqah (קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה), a sound of thin silence (1 Kings 19:12)
• The Psalms repeatedly call the faithful to wait upon the Lord in silence and stillness (Psalm 27:14; 62:1, 5). The command dom (דּוֹם, “be silent, wait”) in Psalm 62:1 and the imperative harpu (הַרְפּוּ, “let go, cease striving”) in Psalm 46:10 both express a deliberate release of anxious activity into the hands of God

Hesychia — The Way of Stillness

Hesychia (ἡσυχία) — stillness, quiet, inner rest — became a central concept in Eastern Christian spirituality. The hesychast tradition teaches that through silence, watchfulness of the heart, and unceasing prayer, the believer can attain genuine communion with God.

Key elements of the hesychast way include:

• Stillness of body: withdrawal from noise and distraction
• Stillness of mind: releasing the constant stream of thoughts
• Stillness of heart: resting in God’s presence with loving attention
• Watchfulness (nepsis, νῆψις): a sober vigilance over one’s inner life. The verb nepho (νήφω) literally means “to be sober, free from intoxication,” and in the spiritual sense denotes a clear-eyed alertness of the heart (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:6; 1 Peter 5:8)

The great defender of hesychasm, Gregory Palamas (1296–1359), taught that through contemplative prayer believers could experience the uncreated divine energies — the same light that shone on Mount Tabor at Christ’s Transfiguration. This tradition is integral to the Eastern Orthodox understanding of theosis — union with God through the Spirit’s transforming work.

Lectio Divina — Sacred Reading

Lectio Divina (Latin: “divine reading”) is an ancient practice of prayerful Scripture engagement formalized by Guigo II, a twelfth-century Carthusian monk, into four movements:

1. Lectio (Reading) — Slow, attentive reading of a short Scripture passage
2. Meditatio (Meditation) — Reflecting on the text, turning it over in the mind and heart
3. Oratio (Prayer) — Responding to God in prayer arising from the meditation
4. Contemplatio (Contemplation) — Resting silently in God’s presence beyond words

This practice treats Scripture not merely as information to be studied but as a living word through which God speaks personally to the reader.

The Jesus Prayer

One of the most enduring practices of contemplative Christianity is the Jesus Prayer:

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

Rooted in the tax collector’s prayer (Luke 18:13) and the cry of blind Bartimaeus (Mark 10:47), this brief invocation has been practiced continuously in the Eastern Church since at least the fifth century. The great anthology The Philokalia (Φιλοκαλία, “love of the beautiful/good”), compiled by Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and Makarios of Corinth (first published 1782), and the anonymous Russian work The Way of a Pilgrim describe its use as an unceasing prayer of the heart, fulfilling Paul’s exhortation to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Practitioners traditionally coordinate the prayer with breathing:

• Inhale: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God…”
• Exhale: “…have mercy on me, a sinner.”

The goal is not mere repetition but the prayer’s gradual descent from the lips to the mind to the heart — becoming a continuous interior orientation toward Christ.

Centering Prayer

In the twentieth century, Trappist monks Thomas Keating (1923–2018) and Basil Pennington (1931–2005) developed Centering Prayer as a contemporary method drawing on the fourteenth-century classic The Cloud of Unknowing and the broader apophatic tradition.

The practice involves:

• Choosing a sacred word (such as “Jesus,” “Abba,” or “mercy”) as a symbol of consent to God’s presence
• Sitting in silence for twenty minutes, gently returning to the sacred word when distracted
• Letting go of thoughts, images, and feelings to rest in God beyond concepts

Keating described Centering Prayer as a preparation for contemplative prayer — a method of consenting to God’s presence and action within.

Critiques and Concerns

Some evangelical and Reformed Christians have raised concerns about contemplative prayer practices:

• Emptying the mind: Critics argue that biblical meditation involves filling the mind with Scripture (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2), not emptying it. Advocates respond that contemplative prayer is not about emptiness but about attentiveness to God beyond conceptual thought.
• Similarity to Eastern religions: Some note apparent parallels with Buddhist or Hindu meditation techniques. Proponents counter that Christian contemplation is fundamentally relational — directed toward the personal God revealed in Christ — and that silence before God has deep biblical roots.
• Lack of explicit biblical command: Some argue the practices lack clear scriptural warrant. Defenders point to the biblical examples of silence, waiting, and wordless communion noted above.
• Theological foundations: Concerns have been raised about the apophatic theology underlying some contemplative practices. Practitioners respond that apophatic and cataphatic (affirmative) approaches to God are complementary, not contradictory.

These concerns deserve honest engagement. The strongest forms of contemplative prayer remain firmly anchored in Scripture, centered on Christ, practiced within community, and submitted to the discernment of the broader Church.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” — Isaiah 30:15