Is there Meditation in Christianity?

In a statement that Pope Francis made in April 2021 (see bibliography), he stated that meditation concerned to all people and it was necessary for them, even to those who did not profess a particular interest in any type of religiosity. Is this true?

The truth is that the practice of meditation is spreading more and more. In a world that prides itself on immediacy, noise and crowds, momentary solitude is an exquisite piece of peace candy that fewer and fewer people are resisting. However, in most cases it is an oriental type of meditation, be it Buddhist or Hindu. What, then, of Christian meditation?

In this article we will examine whether meditation really exists in Christianity and what are its basic differences from oriental-type meditation.

Is there meditation in Christianity?

The answer is resounding: yes, it exists. And it has existed for thousands of years, especially since the first hermits retired to live a contemplative life, dedicated exclusively to God.

Obviously, if we pose the question from an oriental perspective, we will come face to face with the doubt. Because, indeed,

Christian meditation, although it exists, is very different from the meditation practiced by Eastern religions, as we will see below. Not just the procedure; the ultimate intention is also intended to be diverse, since one aims at introspection and withdrawal into oneself, while the other is an active search for divinity. Let's see it.

What is meditation?

First of all, we should consider defining exactly what meditation is. The word concrete comes from the Latin meditation, and in this etymology we clearly see the diverse origin regarding oriental meditation. Because meditatio refers to a reflection, a kind of study on an idea, which directly admits a strictly active function in the meditating subject.

In fact, It was Origen of Alexandria (185-254), ascetic and early Christian scholar, who outlined the theme of meditation as one more step to access the understanding of God. This gave rise, already in the Middle Ages, to the lectio Divina, which consisted, specifically, of four parts:

• The lectio proper (that is, the direct reading of a passage of Scripture).
• The meditatio (reflection on the passage read).
• The oratio (a dialogue with God where he is asked for a revelation about the message).
• The contemplatio (where the Christian rests sheltered by God).

As we can see, the word "meditation" is directly linked to the Christian style of meditation, not to the Eastern one. Therefore, the fact that the term is currently used to refer to both Christian and Buddhist meditation does not mean that both practices are the same.

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The history of Christian meditation

Meditation as an approach to divinity was already very present in the Bible, for example, when Jesus withdrew to meditate and talk alone with God. But it was from the 3rd century, with the rise of hermitage, when the meditation established by Origen reached its peak.

It is the time of the anchorites, who retire alone to secluded places to live a contemplative life, far from the world. In the eastern part of the Roman Empire, hermitage led to the figure of the hermit, who withdrew into the desert to live an existence of mortification and deprivation, so that nothing deprived him of dialogue with God. Some of these first hermits were San Antonio Abad and Pablo the Hermit, and also the so-called "mothers of the desert", devout women who withdrew just like their male companions, as is the case of María Egyptian.

Little by little, these first hermits began to meet sporadically to pray, although they later returned to their meditations. That was the germ of what would later be cenobitism, or the origin of the monasteries that proliferated in the Middle Ages. A community of monks or nuns lived in the monasteries, but the fact of having abandoned the solitude of the early times did not change the essence of monasticism at all: escape from the world and seek union with God.

In the Middle Ages the lectio Divina Outlined by Origen, it was finally established in the four steps that we have mentioned above, as a path of communion with God through dialogue and reflection. Therefore, for the believer, the Christian sacred texts are not mere texts, but have a deep message towards which meditation is directed.

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What are the differences between Christian and Eastern meditation?

So, what exactly is the difference between the meditation of the Christian religion and that of the Eastern religions? We have already been outlining it throughout the article: while the first is something active and expansive (intends to go from the faithful to God, and vice versa), the second is introspective (goes from the subject to the same subject).

In Christian meditation, the intention is not to quieten the mind and body and contemplate thoughts without interacting with them.. It is rather the opposite; the meditation it is a tool to move towards God. Therefore, the thoughts that point towards the passage must be spurred on in order to access the deeper meaning of the text. For Christians, this path is guided by the Holy Spirit, who is sent by God to enlighten them and make them see the truth of the revelation.

There is also another difference. Eastern meditation looks "inwards", in part, because it "unifies" the subject with God. That is, creator and created merge and everything becomes the same vital energy. In general, in Eastern meditation there is no distinction between these concepts, while in Eastern meditation Christian yes there is, since in all meditation there is the faithful, on the one hand, and God, on the other, who "dialogue" each other. In other words, they never stop being two, although cohesive.

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conclusions

But, as always, things have nuances. Because, precisely, at the beginning, Hindu meditation was also a mechanism to "access" the cosmos and understand it and, in a similar way to meditatio, it was supported by sacred texts. On the other hand, The influence that Eastern religions had on the formation of early Christianity cannot be denied. and, especially, in the first anchorites. Let us remember that Hindu ascetics also practiced fasting and prayer in solitude.

What can we conclude about it, and in view of all the above? To answer the question with which we titled the article, we will say that yes, indeed, meditation exists in Christianity. However, and despite the fact that they have common links, it is not the same meditation that the Eastern tradition proposes, since its objective is very different, as well as its methods.