St Mary’s Church Killarney Christian Meditation Prayer Group online session (Friday 24 Jan 25)

READ THIS before we start if you wish to be reminded of the meditation technique we follow.
This is a pre-recording for the online session of the St Mary's (Church of Ireland) Killarney Christian Meditation Prayer Group on Friday 24th January 2025. The meditation lasts 30 minutes after a short introduction, there is then a short reflection afterwards.
The session begins with our sitting comfortably with a straight back and feet squarely on the floor.
We close the eyes and spend a short relaxing the body; this can be done by tensing and relaxing the various muscles; eg back, stomach, legs, arms, buttocks, etc.
We then become consciously aware that we are in the presence of God and that our intention is to meditate within that reality.
My Soul doth bless the Lord;
My Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
An advanced technique for preparation is introduced; it comes out of the proto-Orthodox desert tradition. Having called to our spiritual mind-our intellect and imagination-that we sit in the presence and power of God, we take that "positive energy" and, by our intention, draw it down the spinal cord and into our spiritual heart-our soul and the place of our love-and then we draw it further down our spinal cord and into our gut-the place of our spiritual instincts-and let it rest, in body mind and spirit. We do this twice more and then we proceed with another advanced technique drawn from the Desert Tradition of early Christianity.
When we draw into our mind the sacred word we look with our minds eye towards our heart. In this way we realise the truth of the wisdom that heart and mind are one. We now undertake our Meditation in the manner described in the following:
We follow the John Main tradition of Christian Meditation:
1. At the sound of the first gong, gently allow the sacred-word Ma-ra-na-tha to repeat in the mind; this is not forced or done vigorously, but gently like any other thought would occur in the mind. Do not focus on it-this is not Mindfulness!-but let it occupy your 'mind-space', neither ponder on it, nor worry if or desire that it synchronises with your breathing, it may, but it isn't necessary.
2. When you notice at anytime, and everytime, during the meditation that you've become distracted by a thought (however lengthy) or idea or image or sound or twinge/feeling then immediately, without fuss or anxiety, return to the sacred-word and keep on repeating it gently. (Sometimes the sacred-word can be hard to crystallise in the mind, this is natural, but even the mere sense of it is valuable and efficacious.) The presence of these distractions is entirely to be expected and is necessary to the experience and process of meditation; so we don't fret over them, just let them go (even the good ones). We never know when we stopped thinking the sacred-word; but we always know the moment when we realise it's not there; that realisation is the cue to return without fuss to the sacred-word.
3. At the sound of the second gong, keeping the eyes closed, let go of the sacred-word and start to bring the body back out of its relaxed state by again tensing/relaxing the muscles.
4. At the sound of the final gong, then gently open the eyes.
This is all.
The God, who invites our true-self into relationship with God's-self, is active at the deeper level, through the Spirit, in stripping out our inner tensions and distractions. Over time we become more present to the Divine Creator and this leads us to a more relaxed and peaceful countenance. The work is done by God, we just learn to be present; being, not doing.
If you have questions please avail of the Comments facility and we will get back to you with answers later.