by Chaplain Jesse Moore

When we are faced with the discomfort of disease we often become so focused on our body that we forget that we are also mind and spirit.  We become confused and do not know how to help ourselves beyond traditional medical intervention.

However, there are ways that we can personally help ourselves and one of these ways is through meditative prayer.   Prayer is commonly understood to be "speaking" to God while meditation is understood as "listening" to God.  Meditative prayer encompasses both of these concepts.  It involves quieting the mind by repeating a spiritual word or phrase for a period of 10 to 20 minutes twice a day.  This practice puts you in a state of mind that makes you more receptive to "hearing" God speak to us.  Examples of phrases that can be used are:  "Jesus" , "Abba", "Our Father", "The Lord is my Shepherd", "Sh'ma Yisroel", "Insha'allah", and "Om".  Whatever word or phrase you use should be personally meaningful and will express your intention to enter into intimate awareness and communion with God.

While repeating your personal word or phrase you are focusing your attention inward.  This inward focus helps quiet the chatter and noise that are constantly bombarding us and distracting us from realizing our true nature and union with God. You become more peaceful and can actually experience that peace that Christ referred to when He said, "My peace I give you" (John 14:27).  This is the peace that inspired the psalmist to write, "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10) and enabled King David to write the 23^rd Psalm which gives a peaceful pastoral image of God leading and being with us on our life-long journey.

By focusing our attention inward we arrive at a place that is not part of our disease but a part of our cure.  Modern research studies reinforce this concept by demonstrating that during meditation there are actual chemical changes taking place.  We begin to use 8-18% less oxygen.  We are able to reach a deep state of rest in as little as two minutes while it takes as long as 4 ½ to 5 hours to reach this state during sleep.  Other studies show that the heart rate and rate of breathing slow down and the body actually releases less adrenaline while in a meditative state.  Less adrenaline produces less stress.

Therefore, we not only benefit spiritually from meditative prayer, we also benefit physically because we put our bodies in a mode that helps us to heal, brings calmness to our mind, and peace to our spirit.

Father Thomas Keating, a Cistercian monk, priest, and abbot who resides in Snowmass, Colorado is actively promoting meditative prayer and has been instrumental in bringing the concept to lay people.  He has written many books on this subject and more information can be found at

http://www.centeringprayer.com/.