Change of Thinking Needed As We Approach The Topic of Contemplation

First things first … we have to reverse our thinking about how contemplation is experienced.
Quite naturally, one can assume that contemplation is an activity similar to meditation or the deep musing of Scripture.
The spiritual masters of contemplation – and here I will include St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avilla, Michael Casey, Thomas Dubay and Iain Matthew (don’t worry if none are familiar to you) – upend our natural assumptions about it. They say, instead, that contemplation is something we undergo. The action is God’s.
Now, I thought the action was mine. I thought if I just concentrated hard enough, I would be contemplating – that I could somehow press God to meet me in this special union between Himself and me.
The experience of this union is the apex of prayer and Bible reading to the masters. In Teresa’s Interior Castles, this union is the innermost chamber. In John of the Cross’ The Ascent of Mount Carmel, this union is the top of the mountain.
And yet, this experience is not something we can walk up and purchase a ticket for: “One please? For contemplation. Thank you. Is the popcorn fresh?”
The action is God’s.
Thomas Dubay, who is a great summarizer of Teresa and John of the Cross, writes, “Repeatedly, Teresa insists that contemplative prayer is divinely produced. She calls this prayer even in its delicate beginnings ‘supernatural,’ meaning by this term what we now intend with the word ‘infused,’ that is, poured in by God.” (Fire Within, Page 59)
As you can see, when you read a bit about contemplative reading, you will find that the lines become blurred between reading and prayer, because contemplative reading, or lectio divina, is an ancient technique of prayer. It is familiar territory for monastics, but kind of foreign to us in the busy laity. There is no hard boundary between contemplative Bible reading and contemplative prayer. Am I praying, or am I reading? Maybe you are “preading.” Any thoughts?
That is enough for now. May the word of God dwell richly within you.