Meditation awakens the heart. Awakens the heart to what? To who we truly are at the deepest level of our being, to our true-self, to who we are in God and who God is in us. And when we truly awaken to that – not as an intellectual idea, not as an abstract concept, but as an experiential truth – and when we truly awaken to that, we find we are changed. When we see from that perspective everything looks different because we have come to apprehend very deeply that in which we live and move and have our being. Meditation is both the doorway and the path to that discovery. That is the essence of ..read more

Words are inadequate to describe our meditation experience because that experience is ineffable. It   occurs at a level of consciousness deeper than our everyday self-consciousness and so it defies rational elucidation. Yet, when John Main or Laurence Freeman or other contemplative teachers speak about the experience of meditation, what they say can resonate deeply with us because we too have experienced it. So, while no combination of words can give adequate expression to it, they can point towards a truth we recognise because of that resonance. The words they use become steppin ..read more

The Experience of Meditation  by Noel Keating                                 For most people the word ‘experience’ has a very straightforward meaning. For example, we are all familiar with ‘work experience’. An advertisement for a full-time job may require that an applicant have a minimum of three years’ relevant work experience so that you can demonstrate you have developed a competence in that area. People refer as well to their life experience. They point to how they have been shaped by the events of ..read more

Holding the Light by Stuart Kestenbaum Gather up whatever is glittering in the gutter, whatever has tumbled in the waves or fallen in flames out of the sky, for it’s not only our hearts that are broken, but the heart of the world as well. Stitch it back together. Make a place where the day speaks to the night and the earth speaks to the sky. Whether we created God or God created us it all comes down to this: In our imperfect world we are meant to repair and stitch together what beauty there is, stitch it with compassion and wire. See how everything we have made gathers the light inside itself ..read more

The theme for 2023 for the world community of Christian meditation is ‘metanoia’. The full theme reads: ‘Metanoia – Let your minds be remade’. I’d like to reflect on metanoia as a contemplative path and as we go along  I’ll use some poems to help us engage with the theme. Fr Laurence Freeman writes that: ‘Metanoia is a Greek word that simply means change your mind. This is something that comes right from the heart of the Gospel. The call of Jesus at the beginning of his public teaching was to repent. The Greek word behind that is in fact metanoia: Change the way you’re looking, do ..read more

Dr Sarah Bachelard spoke recently in Australia at the launch of a new book by Dr Kerrie Hide. The book is ‘Love’s Oneing: A Book About Contemplation’. Speaking at the launch, Sarah reminded us that contemplation leads us beyond the egoic temptation to run life on our terms and it draws us, towards the possibility of sharing in the very relationship with God that Jesus knew – a relationship ultimately of communion or at-onement, God’s life living itself in ours, God’s love flowing out through ours. Dr Bachelard ‘s talk, which was hosted on the Australian website Living Water, is reproduced b ..read more

History of the Eye of the Needle At our recent Dublin and Environs Meet-Up, Caroline Stratton spoke about the contemplative path as a journey through the eye of a needle.  Her presentation is reproduced below – it can also be viewed as a video on the Balally Parish website: The “Eye of the Needle” has been claimed to be a gate in Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could not pass through the smaller gate unless it was stooped and had its baggage removed. Starting the Journey: Invitation and free will Jesus referred to the eye of the needle follo ..read more

Good evening everybody. And thank you for being here. My name is Noel Keating. I live in Carlow and have been meditating for about 18 years. I am currently National Coordinator for Christian Meditation Ireland, a community of people all across Ireland who meditate in the Christian tradition. We teach meditation as a universal practice which finds expression in diverse wisdom and religious traditions and our groups are open to all. The whole culture of Irish society has changed enormously in my lifetime and while there is much to be grateful for in those changes, one of the undesirable conse ..read more

It is important to be aware of the danger of using the imagination when you come to think about prayer or meditation. I don’t think it is any exaggeration to say that the imagination is the great enemy of prayer. This idea has been impressed on me by people I have met recently who seem to me to miss the whole point of prayer and the richness of the Christian understanding of prayer by an over-active imagination.  The imaginative stories I have heard people tell of praying in a church at night, when suddenly Christ walks down the aisle to speak to them. When I ask them. What did he look ..read more

At our November Meet-Up in Balally Parish and Meditation Centre, Mgr. Dermot Lane gave a wonderful reflection on Theology, Spirituality and  Contemplation. Introduction: The title of my talk points us to different 3 topics I want to discuss with you this morning. One of the tragedies of the 20th century is that theology, spirituality, and contemplation became separated from each other. They were hived off into different compartments and this has had a damaging effect on each of these three disciplines. Spirituality, devoid of theology, is in danger becoming rudderless and short lived ..read more