MEDITATION FOR YOU – Tomislav Ivančić

Tomislav Ivančić, from the book ‘Father’

HOW TO MEDITATE

The following notes apply to the introduction of each meditation and how it is practiced.  It is therefore necessary for beginners to read it before each meditation until they feel that they have acquired the habit of meditating. After that, they will already find their most suitable way of meditating.

1. Find a calm and quiet place. Remember where you have already felt peace and relaxation. It can be a room, a forest, a meadow, a church, some lonely bench…
2. Find time that will belong only to you. No one should bother you then. Meditate for at least ten, twenty, thirty minutes…
3. Sit down relaxed. You may sit on a stone, on the grass, on a chair, on the edge of the bed, or on the edge of the armchair. Sit upright, not slouched, close or just lower your eyes, place your hands resting calmly in your lap, place  your feet firmly on the ground and cross them at ankles.
4. Let go of all worries, anxieties, tensions, all urgency and busyness. Now, do not try to discuss, convince someone, prove or do something. Your imagination, feelings, thoughts, senses become empty and calm in anticipation of “living water” from the depths of being.
5. Breathe properly. Use abdominal breathing, taking deep breaths from the lower part of your body. Like a child. As if you were sleeping.
6. You can meditate while sitting, kneeling, lying down or walking.
7. You can practice meditation alone or in a group. If it is done in a group, then you have to follow all the instructions of the leader.

THE BEGINNING OF EVERY MEDITATION

1. Take a couple of deep breaths while slowly exhaling , and at the same time observe how the body calms down and how the center of your entire being descends into the depths of you and anchors there. At the same time, imagine that all worries, anxieties, and restlessness leave you and go away with the air. The meditation has already started with that. After that continue breathing without thinking about them.
2. As soon as you feel the body’s peace and inner relaxation, deeply say the words, “Here I am.” or the words, “You are here”. Say it calmly and let your breathing flow like a river.
3. Commit completely to the presence of God in yourself and around you. This commitment can be made in several ways. For example, at the start you are ready for a race. The moment when you start meditation is like a beginning a race in which you suddenly jump forward, into God’s presence. Another way is to gaze into God’s eyes in your spirit and persist in that gaze for some time. You can also do this by asking everything in you and around you that disturbs you to wait at the door of your heart, because you have an important conversation. It can be achieved by surrendering to God everything that disturbs you, and with that surrender you are already standing in God’s presence. The best way is to perceive that gathering as a moment of your conversion and commitment to God. Then you don’t allow anyone or anything to be more important than God at that moment.
4. Remove the sin that prevents you from meeting God. In your imagination, go to those with whom you have a strained relationship and reconcile with them. Then forgive yourself for your omissions, sins, indiscretions, failures, infirmities, weaknesses, defeats, stumbles and falls. Then return to the Lord and ask him to forgive you everything. Surrender all your sins and worries in his hands – one sin at a time, one desire at a time. Give everything to him.
5. Desire only the kingdom of God. Allow the kingdom of God to start materializing itself in you. Surrender to the Spirit of God. Let him cry out in you: “Abba”. That is Jesus’ prayer to the Father, and the same prayer is being prayed by the Holy Spirit in you. And you also say that prayer in the depths of your soul.

This introduction lasts as long as you feel that you are restless and not calm and until every problem has melted and softened, and the inside has started to feel light. After that, choose one of the following meditations that seem most suitable at this moment.

FLOW OF MEDITATION

1. Read the meditation text one or more times in a relaxed manner.
2. Surrender to the thoughts that strike you, think about them briefly and, like through a funnel, let them down into your depths so that they melt, soften, soak your heart with their truth and turn into the reality of life.

3. The texts are not some kind of information, but serve to let you feel the depth of your own soul.
4. The most important thing is not to keep the truths of the texts in your mind and head, but to soak your depths with them.
5. A thought that particularly struck you can sink into the depths of your heart if you repeat some word that specifically expresses that truth. You can hold it there until it “melts” and nourishes the heart.
6. Left to the development in the depths of the heart, remain calm and active as long as you feel that meditation is defending you. It will be at least fifteen minutes. But sometimes it will last even longer, maybe for hours.
7. If something starts to distract you, as soon as you notice it, return to the depths of yourself without disturbing yourself. You will notice that it did not interrupt your meditation at all.
8. If it is about scars and wounds of the psyche or about some spiritual, mental or physical illness, then you will first thank God for allowing you to be sick and wounded, with deep conviction that it is part of his saving plan for you. Then, try to forgive everyone who inflicted that psychological wound on you.

After that, forgive yourself, knowing that your illness will also have a good outcome. After that, try to tell God as a friend and Father in detail what hurts you and what causes your weakness. Immediately ask Jesus to touch your wound and heal it. During that time, constantly praise God; even thank him for every form of your illness. In fact, it is good that you give thanks for those wounds for some time after meditation. You will feel God’s strong presence and great joy inside you.

You will be overwhelmed by the news that God is taking care of your illness and that he will surely cure it soon. This disease can be a sin or a remnant, a consequence of sin. It can be psychological illness, trauma, stress or some scar on the soul. It can be an insult that others inflicted on you or wound caused by absence of love that you expected from others. It can be the loss of a loved one or an anxious fear of something. It can also be about a physical illness.

Giving thanks in such situations leads you to accept your trouble, and that is the first prerequisite for recovery. At the same time, you are aware that God loves you unconditionally. In this way, you get rid of anger because of your illness, of trying to negotiate with God to get healed, and finally, of inner depression. By accepting God’s will in illness, the healing process begins. Fear, anxiety and guilt are slowly disappearing. Such treatment should be repeated several times or, better, until complete health is achieved. The repetition of such a prayer is also required by the church rite “Initiation” in the third period of catechumenate.

9. Not only meditation in which one seeks to cure old memories and illnesses, but also any successful meditation should be repeated daily as long as the process of internal growth continues through it.

END OF MEDITATION

1. Do not end the meditation suddenly, but come out of it gradually. Thus, it will spill over into everyday life.
2. The meditation can end with the prayer “Our Father, Glory to the Father, or Soul of Christ, etc. It is also recommended to end the meditation with a suitable song.
3. In the final part of the meditation, it is best to spontaneously pray to God from the heart for the realization of what you recognized as vital and important in the meditation. It is a qualitatively different part of meditation than all the previous ones. In other words, this part of meditation places you explicitly and consciously before God. Consequently, you believe   that he really can and will fulfill what he has made  you understand. This is actually an essential part of Christian meditation. This is where faith or unbelief comes into play. Miracles happen at that point. It is a leap of faith from which you emerge reborn, healthy, faithful and new. God always fulfills his promises. Your faith must rely on it. He said: “Ask and you shall receive!”
4. If the meditation was performed in a group, then it is good for all participants to say a spontaneous prayer and thus support each other’s prayers and at the same time share the gifts received in meditation. Spontaneous prayer also provides an opportunity to confess with the mouth what is believed in the heart, which is a condition for complete salvation (cf. Rom 10, 9-10).
5. It is good to keep some known and experienced truths in your depths throughout the day in the form of a well-worded sentence and remember it often.