April 6 talk and meditation

Here is a link to Monday's meditation and talk: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/v5IocuGsp2g3HYKcswSDAPYoW9Toe62s13NMrKAKn061AHlQZAD3ZbEVYLfS81ZY6mtrMAAqpSP_MAji?autoplay=true&startTime=1586204676000

Below is a description of the basic meditation suggestions I mentioned in the talk that were in a Facebook post: 

Richard Hendrick

March 27 at 6:11 AM

Advice on Meditation:

In the past many seem to have found this post helpful... In these strange days when many are trying to take up or deepen the practice of meditation at home it may be useful... enjoy!

Over the years of being taught the ways of meditative prayer by our brothers many of them have shared a word of advice or teaching along the way… a few of them are recorded below; may they help you in your practice as they have helped me over the years.

1.) Be regular in your practice. So far as is possible practice at the same time and in the same place each day. You are a creature of habit. Let abiding in a state of prayer become habitual.

2.) At the start meditate for twenty minutes, twice a day. If this is too much begin with ten minutes. Better ten with attention than twenty with struggle.

3.) Begin with a formal gesture of invocation and intention. This may be the ringing of a bell or gong, the lighting of a candle or incense, or simply making the sign of the Cross deliberately and mindfully.

4.) Call on the heavenly helpers to assist you in your prayer. Your Guardian Angel, patron saints, holy ancestors and above all the Blessed Virgin want to assist you in your prayer, but they await your invitation.

5.) End with a moment of thanksgiving.

6.) Still yourself by noticing your senses and your breath. They are the gateways to the present moment.

7.) Use a short phrase or word to anchor yourself in the moment of prayer. The “prayer word” both unites us to God and gives the conceptual brain something to attend to until the thoughts quieten.

8.) The prayer word or phrase should be in a language other than the one you speak daily as this will prevent associative ideas from arising and getting in the way.

9.) Attend to physical needs first, or you will just spend your time thinking about your needs.

10.) Do not eat just before meditation. Your body is limited in its energy, eating before hand draws necessary energy for the meditation to digestion instead.

11.) Sit relaxed but straight, let your breath be open and gentle without altering the rhythm in any way. As you become still it will slow and deepen by itself.

12.) Surrender all thoughts, images, sensations, concepts as they arise. Simply notice them but do not grasp them. Remain instead in simple attention attuned towards meeting the Divine Presence in this moment, in this breath.

13.) Do not force anything.

14.) Do not expect anything.

15.) Try and meditate early in the morning as the sun rises and in the evening as it sets. In this way you will be united with the natural rhythm of the cosmos and its Divine order.

16.) You are just sitting, to sit. You are not owed anything. Anything you receive is a grace. Your job is just to show up, attend and be open.

17.) The distractions are part of the process. With each return from the distraction your faculty of attention will become stronger and your ability to maintain a centred awareness of the Divine Presence will grow.

18.) Remember God is already present within you and around you. You are simply tuning into His presence.

19.) There is nothing you can do to make God more present. There is much you can do to become more present to God.

20.) Rest. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved.

21.) In the end this is not your work. You are being worked upon and within. You must simply turn up, abide past the distractions and attend to Love’s gaze.

22.) Just close your eyes and get out of God’s way.

Here is a link to the YouTube video of David Godman on Life After Self Realization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7IfZXqeJGk

Here is the quotation from Robert Adams:   

When you stop searching and you calm down and you put your books away, and you confront yourself and see what you are all about, that will bring about bliss faster than anything you can ever imagine or ever do.

There is only one decision you need to make: You are either working at your Freedom or you are accepting your bondage.

The only way you will ever awaken is through silence, not through analyzation of facts. Not by sorting out good and bad, but through simple silence, letting go. Letting go of all thoughts, all the hurts, all the dogmas and concepts. Letting go of these things daily.