Comments on: Learning to Be Good

By: Davide

Davide — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:51:00 +0000

needed here

By: Mairie Gelling

Mairie Gelling — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:03:06 +0000

I agree with Tom. I was trained to teach Buddhist meditation and quickly adapted it to Christian imagery – later to find that I hadn’t actually invented Christian meditation at all. The Church has these wonderful practices that have been around forever and yet how many move towards Buddhism etc looking for ‘something’ else. We have meditation in our parish and the greatest hurdle is the idea of having to have special clothing or sitting on the floor. We use ordinary chairs and own clothes. Surprisingly it is the older parishioners that come along – maybe the younger ones haven’t realised what they could be missing. And it’s free.

By: Fr. Tom Zelinski

Fr. Tom Zelinski — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:11:31 +0000

Articles like this always make me a little sad. We have had a long tradition of meditation, mental prayer, contemplation in the Catholic Church, yet so often one reads of how some Catholic people feel they need to go to some other tradition to learn how to meditate. On the one hand, I am glad they find what they need. On the other hand, it seems “we” have not taught people very well when it comes to developing a sincere inner life and spirituality. It is something like people leaving the Catholic Church in order to “find Jesus.” I think I have been in touch with Jesus since I was a little kid.
On a lighter note, I am often amused by the pictures that accompany articles on meditation, as the one in this issue: two young women in their “meditation clothes” sitting out on a lawn. Sometimes it is at a beach or in view of some mountains. People do, after all, also pray in their bedrooms, living rooms, and, amazing, even in Church!

By: Jeanne Harris, OP

Jeanne Harris, OP — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:05:04 +0000

Sounds to me like you’re ready to take on the give-away-all-your-belongings-like-St.-Francis good. Give religious life a look—Franciscan or Dominican, and you’ll be living a dream that’s big enough for your type of vision—BIG! God bless your search.