LEARN TO LIVE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

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HONG KONG
FROM THE HEART
    Hong Kong’s busy lifestyle often deters us from incorporating daily
    meditation into our prayer life.  But for those who persevere in the
    discipline, the effort to meditate will bear much fruit.  When I began to
    practise Christian meditation 15 years ago, I wondered if it was realistic
    to make such a commitment of time and energy.  Then I slowly
    discovered that not only is it possible, but also the times of meditation
    have become the stabilising factors in my life.  The secret is realizing it
    is not my efforts that count, but the Lord’s.  St. Paul wrote, “He who
    calls you is to be trusted.  He will do it.” When I started to meditate, I
    thought all the effort was mine.  But over the years I have come to see
    that it is the work of Jesus.  All I need is to do is give my attention to
    him—empty myself of my own ego, my own thoughts, my own words—
    and let Jesus pray within me.

    Father John Main taught that meditation is “simple, but not easy” I
    found it simple enough: just sit still and silent and recite the mantra
    slowly.  What could be simpler?  But it is not as easy as it seems.  In
    order to persevere, one has to put the ego-ridden self behind and put all
    one’s trust in God.  That’s the difficult part.  In mediation we learn to
    accept God’s love for us—just as we are.  Not the ideal me, but the me
    that is full of distractions and failures.  The security and approval I so
    relentlessly seek from others is already present to me in Jesus ----if
    only I would accept it.

    There was a newspaper article on Mao (Zedong) that said, “He filled an
    iconic --- almost spiritual –image needed in the minds of the people”.  
    For the Christian meditator, Jesus is the living icon in one’s mind and
    heart.  I believe the hunger and thirst for silent prayer, the prayer of the
    heart, is everywhere these days.  The bookstores are full of new-age
    remedies for just about everything.  In meditation we meet the remedy
    already within us; Jesus praying in the depths of our hearts.  In silence I
    am connected to this Jesus, to the mystery that St. Paul says is ‘Christ
    in you, the hope of glory”. My heart is one of the many mansions in
    which the Spirit of Jesus dwells.

    The effort to be still and silent and aware of God’s presence is a daily
    struggle.  But the tradition teaches me that I should come to meditation
    with no expectations, no goals, no objectives.  I am not trying to
    accomplish anything except to be in God’s presence.  No matter how
    long one has been meditating, each time is a new beginning.  We start
    afresh each time.

    Father Sean P. Burke MM
    Hong Kong
    July 2006