Fr. David Nix, a hermit priest from the Archdiocese of Denver, has announced that he will be teaching Catholic meditation via short talks of about ten to fifteen minutes uploaded to youtube on the Sensus Fidelium channel and his own Padre Peregrino channel. There will be three videos per week, one each on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. This isn't new-age stuff. It's Lectio Divina using the examples of St. Bruno, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Ignatius Loyola. He will also be doing a course on catechesis using the Catechism of St. Pius X. Those videos will be uploaded on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The talks will also be available via podcasts. I'm looking forward to this. With the help of God, I'm hoping that Fr. Nix's lessons will make a mystic out of me despite my having the attention span of a gnat. Here's his first video explaining all about it.
This is great information Dolors. Thank you! I like Fr Nix. I've heard him interviewed and have "lurked" around his twitter feed.
Dolours, Just a clarification. You include the Little Flower in your list above. Apart from Our Lady she is my favorite female saint. However, I believe Fr. Nix was not speaking of St. Therese of Lisieux, but St. Theresa of Avila. Safe in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary!
Thank you, Mario, for the clarification. I have corrected that in my previous post. Do you think the course will be worth following?
I am familiar with the meditative or mental prayer and the discernment of spirits of St Ignatius. Our parish priest taught a similar course on YouTube over the shutdown period which I followed along with. It has really brought the scripture to life and brought peace in a time of great uncertainty. I try to spend just 15 minutes each morning in mental prayer after reading a passage of one of the gospels. One thing that it has helped me with is those times of desolation when I just don't feel close to God or feel I am not getting anything from the time I spend praying. I wish I had learned this method of prayer a long time ago.
Dolours and Don_D, I'm thinking of doing this course, 3 days/week. But doing both the imaginative way and the non-imaginative way would be too much. I'm not trying to put either of you in a corner, but if one of us started a non-imaginative thread and another of us started an imaginative thread, then any other MOG members that "sign up" for one of the two would only be committing to 1o minutes 3 days a week of instruction and a max of 15 minutes 3 days a week of practice, That would total 75 minutes per week of additional prayer for any one who participates. I'm willing to moderate either the non-imaginative thread or the imaginative thread if someone else first chooses to moderate the other. Firstly, any other members want to join in? Secondly, any member want to moderate one of the two threads? All are welcome! St. Joseph pray for us!
I don't know anything about Fr. Nix but I'm interested in learning how to meditate and nowadays it's hard to find anything on Catholic meditation that doesn't include a sprinkling of pagan religions. No mention of Thomas Merton was a plus point in my book. Thanks, Don, for sharing your experience. It's reassuring for me because any mention of the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius brings to mind prominent Jesuits who preach and appear to practice a different religion than the Catholicism I was raised in. I mean no disrespect to the great St. Ignatius who probably wouldn't recognise the Society he founded.
I haven't a clue, Mario, so there wouldn't be any point in my offering to moderate a thread. I'm waiting for the video giving more detail about the two ways before deciding which one would be best for me. I might try both of them at the start and see which one is a better fit.
Wonderful, bless him for this. I love to believe we are all Mystics by virtue of the fact we are Catholic . Receiving the Eucharist for example is Mystical Christmas. Being a mystic is not about the passing gifts but growing in love
Isn't it strange that we're seeing outright Demonic attacks on all things Christian and we're not seeing the same thing in Europe? I wonder why this is? Hmmm
Thank you very much for posting this, Dolours! I am really looking forward to this series. My previous hesitant attempts at mental prayer haven't been successful and I'm so excited to hear Fr Nix say that he's going to make mystics even out of slobs, through this VLX series Deo gratias! +
This is the path I'm choosing, also. Due to my personality, I naturally lean toward the non-imaginative, but challenges are good for the soul and help keep one humble. St. Therese, guide me on this path!
In prayer, we can utilize our intellect, imagination, emotions, and will. Consider the Holy Rosary. I've heard some instructors praise the fact that a 5-decade Rosary can be prayed in 20 minutes or less. In group recitation, this is normal of course. But such a pattern of recitation would primarily engage the intellect, and we're tempted to think of the Rosary as a task to be completed so we can check it off our list. Many Catholics frown on Charismatic prayer because it engages the emotions in a public manner. Obviously this aspect can be unduly exaggerated, but in itself it is not wrong, but good. How many of us, in praying before the Blessed Sacrament, have at times experienced a blessing and shed a tear. So emotions in prayer are fundamentally good, they are part of who we are as humans. Engaging our imagination during the recitation of the Holy Rosary happens when our focus is not on completing the prayers, but when our focus is on contemplating the mystery at hand. Praying this way can be more difficult at first because we look at the Rosary less as a task and more as a reflective time with Jesus and Mary. It requires us to allow the Holy Spirit to lead. Here's a tough question: would Our Lady be upset if during the week there were 3 days we failed to complete the Rosary because our imagination was more engaged than usual? Which method would bear more fruit in our lives? And then there are the days we have to will ourselves to pray our Rosary because we're dry, dry, dry, or we are burdened by difficulties in our life. Such a dry Rosary can become a love offering to Our Lady because no consolation accompanies our prayer. It ends up being a matter of the will. I share these thoughts because those of us who attempt to follow Fr. Nix's ponderings will experience many of these same things. It is good to know some of you will be there with me. O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
I can see why Dolours. IMO there are many who may have used this method to come to some pretty off the wall conclusions about the teachings of the gospel driven by their own discernment of mental imaginings. I equate this method of prayer like I do praying the rosary; there are times when I have a hard time staying focused on a mystery and my mind wanders all over. It is important that proper formation and discernment is held and things that do not conform to "the religion you were raised in" are given no more attention than they deserve and set aside for that which stays true to the gospel. I think that it would be most beneficial with a trusted priest to speak with regularly about it but unfortunately that is not an option for a great many Catholics because of the decline in both vocations and in good orthodox priests.
thank you for this.... I will be tuning in as this proves to be a very informative spiritual lesson for me.
I would say a good rule of thumb is the slower you get at it the better you're doing. Best of all if you slow to a complete stop. This is so interesting in that it's totally against the way of the world which goes that busiest is best. It's TRUE that many people during the lock down realised that slower is better. That they had been too busy. Prayer should be like a hummingbird wings. Looking like they're stopped because they are moving so quick.
