A Guide to Christian Meditation by Fr. John Bartunek

Author:Fr. John Bartunek [Bartunek, Fr. John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781933271378
Publisher: Circle Press
Published: 2010-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

STEP 4: COMMIT

Towards the end of your meditation, it will be time for you to draw this heart-to-heart conversation to a close. There is a need to bring all the sentiments together, to wrap things up. Before you step back into life’s hectic activity, you need to renew your commitment to the mission God has given you. In your prayer, he has renewed his call and now you renew your answer, accepting once again the life-project that gives meaning to your existence – that of following him, of imitating Christ by your fidelity to God’s will in the big things as well as the small.

Usually this desire to renew your adherence to God’s will flows naturally and easily out of the consideration and conversation stages. The renewal and deepening of your commitment to Christ and his kingdom, whether or not it is accompanied by intense feelings, is actually a prayer of adoration, worship, and love: You know how weak I am, my Lord, but you also know how much I want to follow you. You have planted that desire in my heart: I am yours, Lord. Wherever I go, whatever happens, I belong to you. I never want to be separated from you. As hard as it is, I want to do your will, because you are God, my Creator and Redeemer, my Father and my faithful Friend. Thy will be done in my life today, Lord; thy kingdom come.

You may even find yourself responding to your considerations with acts of adoration similar to those during the Converse stage of the meditation – this is fine. It doesn’t mean you have to end your meditation right then. If you have Lime, you can go back and continue the consideration, or converse with other responses, like praise and gratitude. Then, at the end of the time you have set aside to meditate, you can return to this adoration, to this Commit step.8

If you can link this recommitment to the concrete tasks of your day, all the better. Most often, the daily meditation has followed themes connected to your program of spiritual work. In that case, you can recommit to following your program, or one particular point of your program, as a specific way of expressing your love for Christ. Sometimes, however, the Holy Spirit will nudge you towards a specific act of charity (i.e., visit your colleague who’s in the hospital), or of self-governance (i.e., call your brother and apologize) – this too can give substance to your recommitment.

The meditation itself has glorified God and nourished your soul, regardless of any specific resolution you make in Step 4. The lifeblood of the meditation is your heart-to-heart conversation with the Lord, a conversation that puts you in contact with God and his grace, gradually transforming you into a mature Christian. You have deepened your friendship with Christ through spending this time with him. A new specific resolution may be an appropriate way to express this friendship at the end of the conversation,

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