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Meditation and God
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Meditation and religion:
By KARAN MINNIS, Guardian Lifestyles Reporter -
Nassau, Bahamas:



Sharon Bowe, 46, is a devout Catholic. She attends Mass at St. Anselm's Parish, Bernard Rd., religiously on Sundays and is even involved in ministry. However, this practicing Christian, still wishes her relationship with God could be deeper, because she says that one can never be too close to Him.

"I am a strong believer in the power of commitment," she says. "I have made the commitment to obey God's word and to work in his church. With that said I have also committed myself to becoming closer to God, and to do that I have to put both time and effort into making it happen. I also know that this is not something that will happen over night, instead, it's something that I have to work on in the years to come, and it will take much effort. Although I'm prepared not to give up, I want to know if there is more that I could be doing. I feel like there is but I just don't know what that is," she said.

If you're like Bowe and also desire a closer relationship with God, pastors are suggesting that you try a simple technique called meditation.

"In the context of religion, meditation means concentration," says Reverend Dr. Philip McPhee of Mount Calvary Baptist Cathedral, Bailllou Hill Rd. "It means applying yourself to quiet time and to studying the word of God."

He said meditation takes you away from the busyness of the world, the contentions of what's happening around them, and causes them to focus on something more divine and spiritual. "During a time of meditation people should not allow themselves to become distracted with things that are around [them] or things that are trying to take you way from focusing on what God wants [them] to do," he said.

"Continuously the Bible talks about studying the word, reading the word and even digesting the word and you can do this though meditation."

Adding that meditation is more than just reading the word. McPhee says that meditation is more about letting the word become a part of your intellect and your being.

"The goal of meditation is to bring you to a more realistic understanding of what God wants from you and what God needs of you if you're going to be His servant. In order to conduct proper meditation you need a time for meditation and a place for meditation. This will give you an opportunity to not be distracted by visitations, the telephone, noise, and any other distractions. This will give you the opportunity to share intimate time with God because you know that will help you to develop your relationship with Him. It also helps you to understand God and everything else in life. Intimacy is most important when dealing with God and that's where meditation comes in.

"However, even though you should set aside a time to be intimate with God, there is no set time on how long your meditation should be. It can be as short as five minutes, or it can be as long as a day — even a week. I don't think that you can have a set time. Once you realize that the quality is not determined by the longevity of it, you will understand that the point of meditation is to get what you need for God, and at different points in your life the amount of time you need to do that will change."

According to Monsignor Alfred Culmer of St Thomas More Catholic Church, meditation also elevates our sprits and our lives before God.

"Meditation gives us tremendous insight to God. It's a form of spirituality, and if you're living your life day-to-day without stopping to reflect, that's how people end up with problems. It's the whole notion of God's word which says be still and know that I am God. This just means that when we come into the presence of God we should always be mindful of who we are, but in order to be in the presence of God we must pray and the deepest level of prayer is prayer done in silence or through mediation."

Adding that silence takes us beyond praying with words, Culmer says at this point we are no longer in control, and that God is.

Culmer also said that when meditating you can meditate on a lot of things, and that meditation leads sometimes to important decisions, which we have to reflect on and think through. But he says when it comes to the word of God, even though you can just read it, you have to step back and allow the word of God to penetrate for understanding. "You know the scripture says that the word of God is alive and active, but only when we step back from what we read or heard through meditation can we appreciate that fact," he said.

Rev. Marie Roach, assistant curate at St. Gregory's Anglican Church, adds that meditation is all about focusing on God.

"Meditation helps you to focus on God or to focus on God's word, depending on what you are mediating on," she says. "If you're meditating on scripture, mediation also helps you to internalize what God is saying to us and it helps us to quiet ourselves and become open to learning and understanding the messages that God is sending to us."

Adding that even meditation is not essential to a relationship with God, Roach says that it is a tool.

"Meditation is not an absolute when its comes to getting closer to God," she says. "It is a good tool but it is not absolute. However, it does better the quality of your relationship with God, because it is during those meditation hours that you are sharing and becoming one. It's just like if you're husband and wife, you understand that the more moments you spend together, getting to know each other, your relationship will be better. It's the same with God. When you spend those quiet moments with God, you will begin to feel closer to Him, and that's what we want. We want a closer relationship with Him and with Christ."

September 26, 2008 | 11:57 AM Comments  0 comments

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