page_title: Christian meditation
section_title: Saint Francis de Sales
hierarchical_section_title: Christian meditation / Approaches to meditation / Saint Francis de Sales
context_page_description: Christian meditation is a form of prayer in which a structured attempt is made to become aware of and reflect upon the revelations of God. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study, and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God.
  Christian meditation aims to heighten the personal relationship based on the love of God that marks Christian communion. Both in Eastern and Western Christianity meditation is the middle level in a broad three-stage characterization of prayer: it involves more reflection than first level vocal prayer, but is more structured than the multiple layers of contemplative prayer. Teachings in both the Eastern and Western Christian churches have emphasized the use of Christian meditation as an element in increasing one's knowledge of Christ.
context_section_description: Saint Francis de Sales (1576–1622) used a four-part approach to Christian meditation based on "preparation", "consideration", "affections and resolutions" and "conclusions":
  In the preparation part, one places oneself in the presence of God and asks the Holy Spirit to direct the prayer, as in the Epistle to the Romans: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words."
  In the consideration part, one focuses on a specific topic, e.g. a passage from the Bible.
  In the affections and resolutions part, one focuses on feelings and makes a resolution or decision. For instance, when meditating on the Parable of the Good Samaritan one may decide to visit someone sick and be kind to them.
  In the conclusion part, one gives thanks and praise to God for the considerations and asks for the grace to stand by the resolution.
caption: Saint Francis de Sales
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