Good deal, Shasha.

I'm working on the relevant section of the Aumann book, cleaning it up, and will put it out as a pdf for the forum if I can get permission (or if it's public domain now).

quote:

Originally posted by Shasha:
Do you see the point that you can't make infused contemplation happen by your efforts like you can "enter into" (make happen) other states of awareness or connections with God-- like Centering Prayer, meditation, recollection, samhadi, or even Eucharistic liturgy. I think the CCC is using a broader-based definition of contemplative prayer than what the Carmelite doctors mean by infused contemplation.

Yes.

The authors of the Catechism use "contemplative prayer" to mean the entire movement of (using Guigo's formulation) lectio-meditatio-oratio-contemplatio. "Contemplative prayer" is not a synonym for the contemplatio part alone.

Again, from the Catechism:

2709 What is contemplative prayer? St. Teresa answers: "Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us."

So "contemplative prayer" is used as a translation of oracion mental, which was the sixteenth-century term for any prayer except "vocal prayer."

Hence the Catechism can say: "Entering into contemplative prayer is like entering into the Eucharistic liturgy."

"Contemplative prayer" does not mean infused contemplation.

Phil, if you go back a page on the website that provided the online text of the book you will see a link on the left providing the book in pdf, epub, kindle etc. formats.

Thanks, Jacques. Will do. Hopefully those other editions have been edited better than the .txt one that I linked to.

- - -

Jim and I went around on the meaning of "contemplative prayer" as well, and it seems that Thomas Keating and others use the term with respect to both an active practice and to the experience of contemplation. The Catechism is obviously referring to a practice as well. Even Fr. Aumann allows for this:

quote:

The word contemplation signifies knowledge accompanied by delight, and the object of the knowledge is usually of such a type that it arouses admiration and captivates the soul. Since contemplation is an operation of the cognitive powers, there is such a thing as a purely natural and acquired contemplation in the natural order.

But contemplation is a distinctive type of knowledge. It is an experimental knowledge in the sense that it calls into play the affective powers of the individual. Contemplation is, therefore, an operation in which one experiences the happy blending of the cognitive and the affective powers in an activity providing great delight. The knowledge involved is not discursive but intuitive; the movement of love is not toward the possession of the object loved but one of surrender to the object loved. Perhaps the best example of natural contemplation is found in the aesthetic experience of the beautiful.

All very much in the spirit of "contemplating" something -- of perceiving it in openness and an appreciative non-judgmental acceptance!

In the Prayer of Simplicity and even Mental Prayer and Affective Prayer, we turn out gaze to God as well. The P.S. is an especially simplified gazing unto the Lord, and if one wishes to call this a kind of contemplative prayer, I guess it's not the end of the world. But using the same terminology with respect to Supernatural Contemplation (infused mystical graces) muddies the water.

The Catechism doesn't make a distinction between Contemplative Prayer and Supernatural Contemplation (or, Contemplation, or Infused Contemplation), but it doesn't seem to refer to the latter. Fr. Keating and other CP teachers do, but often don't distinguish in their terminology, as noted above.

quote:

Supernatural or infused contemplation has been defined by various formulas, but the essential note that all definitions have in common is that supernatural contemplation is an experimental knowledge of God. Moreover, as a supernatural activity, infused contemplation requires the operation of faculties that are likewise supernatural, both in their substance and in their mode of operation. Consequently when we speak of contemplation as a grade of mystical prayer, we restrict the word to signify the loving knowledge of God that is experienced through the operation of the gifts of wisdom and understanding, presupposing, of course, faith informed by charity. St. Teresa calls this prayer infused recollection.
- by Fr. Aumann

Obviously, that's not something we can attain with our practice. We can only be ready/disposed to receive it, and we do not need to be free of thoughts to be properly receptive. When the grace suggests itself, one quickly loses interest in whatever thoughts one had been caught up in, so this emphasis on being thought-free implied in practice point #3 of CP seems ludicrous to me. Contemplation is:

quote:

2. The invasion of the soul by the supernatural. The soul feels in an unmistakable manner that it is permeated with something it cannot describe with precision, but feels clearly is something supernatural. It is, in fact, an effect of the operation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit which inundate the soul with supernatural life.
- Fr. Aumann

Iow, this is a real experience, not dependent on me being thought-free.

Sorry to keep pounding home this point, but it's an important one, and I think it highlights where some aspects of CP teaching are at odds with the traditional understanding of contemplation.

I've just learned that today is Fr. Keating's 90th birthday. Happy Birthday, Father!

Happy Birthday, Fr Keating .